The Talking Tree

ONCE on a time there was a king who fancied he had gathered in his Castle all the rarest things in the world. One day a stranger came and asked permission to see the collection. He looked at everything minutely, and then said: "The best thing of all is wanting."

"What is wanting?" asked the king. "The talking tree," answered the stranger.

Yes, a talking tree was not among all those wonderful things. With this flea in his ear the king had no more peace. He could not even sleep at night. He sent messengers and exploring commissions throughout the whole world in search of the talking tree, but they all returned empty- handed.

The king then thought the stranger must have been making fun of him, and ordered him to be arrested. "Please," said he, "if your messengers and explorers have searched badly, how can it be my fault? Let them search better."

"But have you seen the talking tree with your own eyes?"

"I have seen it with my own eyes, and what is more, I've heard it with my own ears."

"Where?"

"I no longer remember now."

"And what did it say?"

"Well, it said:

"Ever to wait for what never comes,

Is enough to give one the worst doldrums.'"

So the story was really true! The king again sent off his messengers. A whole year passed, and they all returned as before, empty-handed. Then the king was so angry that he ordered the stranger's head to be chopped off.

"But what fault of mine is it if your Majesty's people have searched badly? Let them search better."

His persistence struck the king as singular! So he called together his Ministers and announced to them his intention of going himself in quest of the talking tree. He would not consider himself a king till he had it safe within his castle walls.

So he set out in disguise. He walked and walked. After travelling for many days he spent the night camping in a deep valley, where not one living soul was to be seen. He stretched himself out on the ground, and was just dropping off asleep when he heard a voice, as of someone weeping:

"Ever to wait for what never comes, Is enough to give one the worst doldrums!" He started up and lent an ear. Had he been dreaming? Then he heard it again. He had not been dreaming.

At once he asked, "Who are you?"

Nobody answered, but next morning, as soon as it was dawn, he noticed near at hand a beautiful tree with branches bending down to the earth. This must be the tree he was after. T make sure, he stretched out his hand and plucked two leaves.

"Ahh! why do you tear me?" said a sad voice.

The king was quite terrified in spite of all his daring; yet he asked:

"Who are you?"

"I am the daughter of a king of Spain," said the voice.

"And how did you come here?"

"One day I saw a fountain as clear as crystal and thought I would bathe in it. No sooner did its waters touch me than I fell under this enchantment.

"What can I do to set you free?"

"You must find out the words of the spell and swear to marry me."

"Okay, but tell me first why did not you answer me last night?"

"Ah!" sighed the tree, "the witch was there! Be quiet! Go away now! I hear her coming back. If by misfortune she found you here, she would throw the spell over you too."

The king ran and hid himself behind a sort of low wall that ran near, and saw the witch come riding on her broomstick.

"Who were you talking to?" asked she.

"To the wind that blows," answered the tree.

"But I see footmarks here!"

"They may be your own."

"Ah, they're mine, are they?" cried the enraged witch, and seizing a great iron club she struck the tree, screaming all the while:

"Wait till I get at you! I'll let you know."

"That will do!" shrieked the tree. "I shall do it no more! I shall never do it again!"

But the witch cried, "Ah, they're mine, are they? Wait till I get at you! I'll let you see!"

The king was greatly distressed at this, but as he could do nothing he saw it was useless to remain there any longer. He resolved to go and try to find out the spell. So he began to retrace his steps; but he took the wrong path due to a thick fog that gently surrounded him.

He came to think he had quite lost his way in the fog and could not find any way out of it. And since it was getting late, climbed up into a high tree to pass the night there, to be out of reach of the wild beasts.

But, lo and behold! just at midnight he heard a deafening noise that rang through the whole wood. It was an ogre coming home, with his hundred mastiffs barking and yelping at his heels.

"Oh, what a fine smell of white flesh!" cried the ogre; and he stopped at the foot of the tree our king was on, and began sniffing up in the air. "Oh, what a good smell!"

The poor king felt cold shivers pass all over him, while he heard the mastiffs rooting and growling among the brushwood around, scraping up the earth and snuffing at his footmarks. But, luckily it was as dark as pitch. The ogre looked about in vain for some little time, then at last went away and called off his mastiffs.

When daylight came, the king, still quaking with fear, slid down from the tree, and began going forward very cautiously. After some time he met a beautiful young girl.

"Lovely maiden," said he, "show me how I may get out of this wood. I am a traveller who has lost his way."

"Poor fellow! how on earth did you get here? My father will pass again in a short time, and will most surely eat you up alive!"

And indeed they could hear the barking of the mastiffs not far off, and the voice of the ogre calling them after him.

"I am lost this time!" thought the king.

"Come here!" cried the maiden; "throw yourself flat down on your face; I shall sit on you, and cover you over with my skirts. Don't even breathe!"

When the ogre saw his daughter, he stopped, "What are you sitting there for?"

"I am resting a little."

"Oh, what a good smell of flesh!"

"A little boy went past and I gobbled him up."

"Well done! And his bones?"

"The dogs ate them up."

Yet the ogre went on sniffing at the air.

"Oh, what a good smell!"

"Well, father, if you wish to reach the seashore in time, don't stop on the way." As soon as the ogre had gone off the king came out from his hiding-place and related his story to the kind maiden.

"If you will but promise to marry me, I can give you the spell you need to break the charm."

Now, this girl was a perfect beauty, and the king would have been nothing loath to wed her, but he remembered his former promise.

"Alas, fair maiden, I have already pledged my word!"

"That's unlucky for me. But no matter." She led him to a great mansion, and taking a pot of ointment that belonged to her father, smeared some of it on him, which at once spread a charm over him.

"And now, my pretty maid, you must please lend me an axe."

"Here is one."

"What is this grease on the edge?"

"It is but some oil from the whetstone on which it was sharpened."

With the charm he now had on him, the king was able to get back in a twinkling to the spot where stood the talking tree.

The witch was not there, so the tree said to him, "Take care! My heart is hidden away in the trunk. When you cut me down, don't mind what the witch says. If she tells you to strike high up, you must strike down. If she tells you to strike down, you must strike up; if not, you will kill me. Then you must cut the nasty old witch's head off at one blow, or it will be all over with you. Not even the charm can save you."

The witch came back after some time. "What are you seeking for in these parts?" she asked of the king.

"I am looking for a tree to make charcoal of, and I have just been considering this one."

"Will it suit you? I make you a present of it, on condition that in felling it you strike exactly where I tell you."

"Very well. Thank you!"

"Strike here." But instead, the king smote there.

"Oh, I made a mistake! Let me begin again."

All the while he could not manage to get a stroke at the witch, who was on her guard. At last he cried, "O-o-o-o-oh!"

"What do you see?"

"Such a fine star!"

"By daylight? That's impossible!"

"See, up there! Right over that branch!"

And while the witch turned her back to look right over the branch, the king aimed a mighty blow and cut her head clean off.

No sooner was the enchantment thus broken, than from the trunk of the tree there stepped forth a damsel so lovely one could scarcely look at her. The king, delighted at having saved her, brought her back with him to his castle, and ordered splendid rejoicings and preparations for the celebration of their wedding.

When the day came and the court ladies were dressing the queen in her bridal robes, to their great astonishment they perceived that she was made of wood, though so beautiful. One of them flew to the king.

"Please your Majesty, the queen is not of flesh and blood, but of wood!"

The king and his Ministers went to see this wonder. To the sight she was like a living woman any person would have been deceived but to the touch she was wood. Yet she could talk and move. The Ministers declared that the king could not marry a wooden doll, even though it could talk and move. And they countermanded the feasting and rejoicings.

"There must be still some other spell hanging over her!" thought the king. And then he remembered the grease on the axe. So he took a piece of meat, and cut it up with the axe. He had guessed aright. The bits of meat still seemed to all appearance to be meat anyone would have been deceived but to the touch they were wood. It was the ogre's daughter who had betrayed him through jealousy!

So he said to his ministers, "I am going away, but shall soon return."

And he travelled till he came to the wood where he had met the beautiful maiden.

"Here again? What good wind has brought you back?"

"I am come for you, dear!"

But the ogre's daughter would not believe him. "On your word of honour as a king, did you really come for me?"

"On my royal word!" And he said quite true; only she imagined it was for their wedding he had come. So, taking his arm, they went into the house together.

"See, here is the axe you lent me." And in giving it to her the king contrived to prick her hand with the point.

"Ah! what has your Majesty done to me? I am turning into wood!"

The king made believe to be much grieved at this accident.

"Is there no remedy for it?"

"Yes! Open that cupboard and you will find a pot of ointment in it; rub me all over with the oil it contains and I shall be cured at once."

So the king did as she bade him, and took the pot of ointment.

"Now, wait till I come back!" he cried, and dashed out of the house.

She understood, but too late, and began screaming after him, "Treason! treason!"

Then she unchained her father's great mastiffs to give him chase. But it was all of no use! - the king was already far out of sight.

So the queen was quite freed from the spell that bound her, and returned to her natural state again; and as she was no longer a wooden doll, the ministers agreed to celebrate the wedding.