What Came of Picking Flowers

Once upon a time there was a woman who had three daughters whom she loved very much. One day the eldest daughter went for a walk in a water meadow, when she saw a carnation growing in the brook.

She bent down to pick the flower, but as soon as her hand touched it, she disappeared completely. The next day the middle sister went out into the meadow to see if she could find any trace of the lost girl, and when a beautiful rose branch lay across the path, she bent down to move it away, and at the same moment she could not resist the temptation to pick a rose.

In an instant she too was gone. The youngest, who wondered what had happened to the other two, followed them and fell victim to a branch of delicious white jasmine. Thus the old woman was left without any daughters at all.

She wept and wept and wept, all day and all night, and she kept on weeping for so long that her son, who had been a little boy when the sisters disappeared, grew up to be a tall youth. One night he asked his mother what was wrong.

When he had heard the whole story, he said: "Give me your blessing, mother, and I shall set out and search the world around until I find them."

So he set off, and after travelling several miles without any incident, he came upon three big boys fighting on the road. He stopped and asked what they were fighting about, and one of them replied:

"Sir! Our father left us when he died a pair of boots, a key, and a hat. Whoever puts on the boots and wishes to be somewhere will be there at once. The key opens every door in the world, and with the hat on your head no one can see you. Now our eldest brother wants all three things for himself, and we want to draw lots for them."

"Oh, that is easily settled," said the young man. "I shall throw this stone as far as I can, and whoever first picks it up shall have all three things." So he took the stone and threw it, and while the three brothers ran after it, he quickly put on the boots and said: "Boots, take me to the place where I shall find my eldest sister."

At once he stood on a steep mountainside before the gates of a mighty castle, barred with bolts and bars and iron chains. The key, which he had not forgotten to put in his pocket, opened the doors one after another, and he went through a host of halls and corridors until he met a beautiful and richly dressed young lady who drew back in fright at the sight of him and exclaimed: "Oh, sir, how did you manage to get in here?"

The young man replied that he was her brother, and told her what means he had used to get through the doors.

She told him again how happy she was, except for one thing: her husband was under a curse that would never be broken until a man who could not die was killed.

They talked together for a long time, and then the lady said that he should go, for she expected her husband home any moment, and he might not like him being there. But the young man reassured her that he had a hat that made him invisible.

They were still in the middle of their conversation when the door suddenly opened and a bird flew in, but he saw nothing unusual, for at the first sound the boy had put on his hat. The lady sprang up and fetched a large golden vessel, into which the bird flew down, and it came out again at once as a handsome man.

He turned to his wife and cried: "I am sure there is someone in the room!" She became frightened and said she was quite alone, but her husband stood firm, and at last she had to confess the truth.

"But if he really is your brother, why did you hide him?" he asked. "I think you are lying to me, and if he comes back, I shall kill him!"

Then the young man took off his hat and stepped forward. The man saw that he really did resemble his wife so much that he no longer doubted her words and embraced his brother-in-law with joy. He drew a feather from his bird-skin and said: "If you are in danger and call out: 'Come and help me, king of the birds!', everything shall go well with you."

The young man thanked him and went away, and after he had left the castle, he said to the boots that they must take him to the place where his middle sister lived. As before, he found himself at the gates of a huge castle, and inside was the middle sister, happy with her husband who loved her dearly, but longing for the moment when he should be freed from the curse that kept him half his life as a fish.

When he came and was introduced by his wife to her brother, he received him warmly and gave him a fish-scale, saying: "If you are in danger, call to me: 'Come and help me, king of the fishes!', and everything shall go well with you."

The young man thanked him and took his leave, and when he was outside the gates, he said to the boots that they should take him to the place where his youngest sister lived. The boots carried him to a dark cave with iron stairs leading up.

Inside the cave she sat weeping and sobbing, and since she had done nothing else all the time she had been there, the poor girl had become very thin. When she saw a man standing before her, she sprang up and cried: "Oh, whoever you are, save me and take me away from this terrible place!" Then he told her who he was, and how he had seen her sisters, whose happiness was ruined by the curse that rested on both their husbands.

She in turn told her story: she had been carried off in the water meadow by a terrible monster who wanted to force her to marry him, and had kept her captive all these years because she would not bow to his will.

Every day he came to ask her to agree to his wishes and remind her that there was no hope of being set free, for he was the most steadfast man in the world, and moreover he could never die.

At these words the young man remembered his two cursed brothers-in-law and advised his sister to promise to marry the old man if he would tell her why he could not die.

Suddenly everything began to tremble as if shaken by a whirlwind, and the old man came in and threw himself at the girl's feet and said: "Are you still determined never to marry me?

If it is so, you must sit here and weep until the end of the world, for I shall always remain faithful to my wish to marry you!" "Well, I will marry you," she said, "if you tell me why you can never die."

Then the old man burst into loud laughter. "Ha, ha, ha! You are thinking of how you could kill me? Well, to do that you must find an iron chest that lies at the bottom of the sea and contains a white dove, and then you must find the egg that the dove laid, and bring it here and smash it against my head."

And he laughed again, confident that no one had ever gone down to the bottom of the sea, and that if they did, they would never find the chest or manage to open it.

When he could speak again, he said: "Now you must marry me, since you know my secret." But she begged him so earnestly to postpone the wedding for three days that he agreed and went away content, glad of the victory.

When he was gone, the brother took off the hat that had kept him invisible all the time, and told his sister not to lose heart, for he hoped she would be free in three days.

Then he put on the boots and wished himself at the seashore, and at once he was there. He drew out the fish-scale and called: "Come and help me, king of the fishes!" His brother-in-law swam up and asked what he could do.

The young man told the story, and when he had finished, the listener summoned all the fishes to him. The last to come was a little sardine, who apologised for being so late, but said she had hurt herself when she bumped her head against an iron chest that lay at the bottom of the sea.

The king ordered several of his largest and strongest subjects to take the little sardine as a guide and fetch the iron chest. They soon returned with the chest laid across their backs and placed it before him.

Then the young man took out the key and said: "Key, open that chest!" And the key opened it, and although they all crowded around, ready to catch it, the white dove inside flew away.

It was useless to run after it, and for a moment the young man's courage sank. But soon after, he remembered that he still had the feather, and drew it out and called: "Come to me, king of the birds!" A rushing sound was heard, and the king of the birds perched on his shoulder and asked what he could do to help.

The brother-in-law told the whole story, and when he had finished, the king of the birds commanded all his subjects to hasten to him. At once the air grew dark with birds of all sizes, and very last came the white dove, apologising for being so late by saying that an old friend had come to his nest, and he had been obliged to give him some dinner.

The king of the birds ordered some of them to show the young man the white dove's nest, and when they got there, the egg lay there that was to break the curse and set them all free. When it was safe in his pocket, he said to the boots that they should carry him straight to the cave where the youngest sister sat waiting.

Now it was already far into the third day, which the old man had fixed for the wedding, and when the young man reached the cave with the hat on his head, he found the monster there, urging the girl to keep her word and let the wedding take place at once.

At a sign from her brother, she sat down and invited the old monster to lay his head in her lap. He did so with delight, and the brother, who stood behind her back, gave her the egg without anyone seeing it.

She took it and smashed it right on the terrible head, and the monster started, and with a groan that people took for the rumbling of an earthquake, it toppled over and died.

The moment life left his body, the husbands of the two eldest daughters regained their true form, and they sent for their mother-in-law, whose sorrow was so unexpectedly turned to joy, and held a great feast. And the youngest sister became rich for the rest of her days with the treasures she found in the cave, gathered by the monster.