The Gnome

Once upon a time there was a rich king who had three daughters. Every day they went for a walk in the palace garden. The king loved all kinds of beautiful trees, but there was one tree he loved so much that if anyone picked an apple from it, he would wish them a hundred fathoms underground.

When harvest time came, the apples on this tree were as red as blood. The three daughters went under the tree every day to see if the wind had blown down an apple, but they never found one.

The tree was so full of apples that it was almost breaking, and the branches hung down to the ground. Then the king's youngest daughter wanted an apple very badly and said to her sisters, "Our father loves us far too much to wish us underground.

I believe he would only do that to strangers." While she was speaking, she picked a large apple and ran to her sisters, saying, "Just taste, my dear little sisters, for never in my life have I tasted anything so delicious." Then the two other sisters also ate some of the apple, and all three sank deep into the earth, where they could hear no rooster crow.

When midday came, the king wanted to call them to dinner, but they were nowhere to be found. He looked for them everywhere in the palace and garden but could not find them. Then he was very troubled and announced to the whole land that whoever brought his daughters back would have one of them as his wife.

Many young men went out to search, so many that no one could count them, for everyone loved the three children because they were so kind to all and so beautiful. Three young huntsmen also went out, and after traveling for eight days, they arrived at a great castle.

Inside were beautiful rooms, and in one room a table was set with delicate dishes that were still so warm they were steaming, but in the whole castle no human being was to be seen or heard. They waited there for half a day, and the food still remained warm and steaming.

Finally they were so hungry that they sat down and ate. They agreed to stay and live in that castle, and that one of them, chosen by drawing lots, would stay in the castle while the other two searched for the king's daughters.

They drew lots, and the lot fell on the eldest. So the next day the two younger ones went out to search, and the eldest had to stay home. At midday a tiny little man came and begged for a piece of bread.

The huntsman took some bread that he had found there, cut off a piece, and was about to give it to him. But as he was giving it, the little man let it fall and asked the huntsman to please give him that piece again.

The huntsman bent down to do so, but the little man took a stick, grabbed him by the hair, and gave him a good beating. The next day, the second huntsman stayed home, and the same thing happened to him.

When the two others returned in the evening, the eldest asked, "Well, how did it go?" "Oh, very badly," he said, and they lamented their misfortune together. But they said nothing about it to the youngest, for they did not like him at all and always called him Stupid Hans, because he did not really belong to the forest.

On the third day, the youngest stayed home, and again the little man came and begged for a piece of bread. When Hans gave it to him, the elf let it fall as before and asked him to please give him that piece again. Then Hans said to the little man, "What!

Can't you pick up that piece yourself? If you won't take that much trouble for your daily bread, you don't deserve to have it." Then the little man grew very angry and said he must do it, but the huntsman would not, and he grabbed the little man and gave him a thorough beating.

The little man screamed terribly and cried, "Stop, stop, and let me go, and I will tell you where the king's daughters are." When Hans heard that, he stopped beating him. The little man told him that he was an earth gnome, and there were more than a thousand like him, and that if Hans would go with him, he would show him where the king's daughters were.

Then he showed him a deep well with no water in it. The elf said that he knew Hans's companions did not intend to deal honestly with him, so if he wanted to rescue the king's children, he must do it alone.

The other two brothers would also be very glad to recover the king's daughters, but they did not want any trouble or danger. So Hans was to take a large basket, sit in it with his sword and a bell, and be lowered down.

Below were three rooms, each with a princess and a many-headed dragon. The princess had to comb and groom the dragon's heads, but Hans must cut them off. After saying this, the elf vanished. When evening came, the two brothers returned and asked how he had done.

He said, "Pretty well so far. I saw no one except at midday when a little man came and begged for bread. I gave him some, but he let it fall and asked me to pick it up. I would not, so he got angry, and I gave him a beating.

Then he told me where the king's daughters are." The two brothers were so angry that they turned green and yellow.

The next morning they went to the well together and drew lots to see who would go down first in the basket. The lot fell on the eldest. He sat in the basket with the bell and said, "If I ring, you must pull me up immediately." After he had been lowered a short distance, he rang, and they pulled him up at once.

Then the second brother sat in the basket and did the same thing. Then it was the youngest's turn, but he let himself be lowered all the way to the bottom. When he got out of the basket, he took his sword and stood outside the first door, listening.

He heard the dragon snoring loudly. He opened the door slowly, and one of the princesses was sitting there, with nine dragon heads lying on her lap, combing them. He took his sword and cut off all nine heads.

The princess jumped up, threw her arms around his neck, hugged and kissed him many times, and took her stomacher made of pure gold and hung it around his neck. Then he went to the second princess, who had a dragon with five heads to comb, and rescued her too.

Then he went to the youngest princess, who had a dragon with four heads. They all rejoiced, hugged him, and kissed him without stopping. Then he rang loudly so that those above could hear, and he placed the princesses one after another in the basket and had them all pulled up.

But when it was his own turn, he remembered the elf's words that his comrades did not mean well by him. So he took a large stone that was lying there and put it in the basket.

When it was about halfway up, his false brothers above cut the rope, so that the basket with the stone fell to the ground. They thought he was dead and ran away with the three princesses, making them promise to tell their father that it was they who had rescued them.

Then they went to the king and each demanded a princess in marriage.

Meanwhile, the youngest huntsman was wandering about the three chambers in great despair, expecting to spend the rest of his life there. He saw a flute hanging on the wall and said, "Why do you hang there?

No one can be merry here." He looked at the dragon heads and said, "You cannot help me either." He walked back and forth for a long time until the ground was smooth. But then other thoughts came to him, and he took the flute from the wall and played a few notes.

Suddenly a number of elves appeared, and with every note he played, more came. He played until the room was completely filled. They all asked what he desired, and he said he wanted to get back above ground to daylight.

Then they seized him by every hair on his head and flew with him up to the earth. When he was above ground, he went straight to the king's palace, just as a wedding of one of the princesses was about to be celebrated.

He went into the room where the king and his three daughters were. When the princesses saw him, they fainted. The king became angry and ordered him to be put in prison at once, thinking he must have harmed the children.

But when the princesses came to, they begged the king to set him free. The king asked why, and they said they were not allowed to tell, but their father said they could tell it to the stove. So the king went out, listened at the door, and heard everything.

Then he had the two false brothers hanged on the gallows, and to the youngest he gave his youngest daughter. And on that occasion I wore a pair of glass shoes, and I struck them against a stone, and they went "Klink!" and broke.