The Enchanted Princesses

In the days of King Bambita, his two noble daughters oppressed the

people, laying heavy taxes on them without the king's knowledge. The

people cursed them, and the curses did their work. The princesses

vanished. The king sent some of his servants to look for the

princesses. But the servants came back empty-handed. None of them

had been able to find the princesses.

Now, a captain and a lieutenant heard of the king's trouble. So the

lieutenant went to the king, and "I see," says he, "that you are in

trouble. I will go and look for the princesses."

"How much do you want for it?" asked the king.

"Twenty pounds."

The king agreed, and gave him the money. "If you find them," said he,

"half of my kingdom is yours."

The lieutenant and the captain had plenty of money now, so they went

to an inn and passed the time drinking. On the third day the captain

said: "To-day I will go to the king. If he gave you twenty pounds,

he is certain to give me more."

So he went to the king and said: "I see that your majesty is in

trouble. I should like to go and look for the princesses."

"How much do you want for it?" said the king.

"Thirty pounds."

Well, the king gave him the money without any more ado, adding that,

if he found the princesses, he would get half of his kingdom.

They fell to drinking again and had a splendid time.

There was a drummer near them, and he heard them saying that they

were to look for the princesses. So he went to the king and said:

"I hear that your majesty is prostrated by sore trouble. I, too,

would like to look for the princesses."

"How much do you want for it?"

"Forty pounds, at least."

The king gave him the money without more ado. The two officers and the

drummer left that inn for another, and so they went on spending their

money recklessly in one drinking-house after another. The drummer

went with the other two, but he was more careful than they were. He

was not such a spendthrift as the two officers.

They asked him where he meant to go.

"Wherever you go, I will go too," he replied.

"Then why don't you join us and lead a gay life?"

"That I can't do until I know where to find the princesses."

They invited him to join them, but he refused to do it.

At last they bought some bread and other food, and they all set out

together on their journey. They came to a dark forest, and for a

fortnight they searched it through and through, but they could find

nothing. They couldn't find their way out of the forest either, so they

agreed that one of them should climb to the top of the highest tree

to see which way they ought to go. The drummer, being the youngest,

climbed up a pine-tree. He called out:

"I can see a cottage. Look, I will throw my hat towards it, and do

you follow the hat."

Well, they went on until they reached the cottage.

"Go into the room," says the drummer.

"After you," said both the officers at once.

So the drummer stepped inside, and an old crone welcomed him.

"Welcome, Drummer Anthony," said she. "How did you get here?"

"I have come to deliver the princesses, and only for that."

"Well, you will find them, but those other two fellows will get them

from you by a trick."

She gave him a rope three hundred fathoms long and told him to bind

it round his body. She also gave him some wine and a sponge. Then

she said: "Not far from here there is a well. When you come to it,

you must say that you will let yourself down into the well, if the

other fellows will drink the fountain dry."

When they got to the well, the captain and the lieutenant began to

drink the fountain, but it was just as full as before.

"If we kept on drinking this fountain till doomsday," they said,

"we could not drink it dry."

So the drummer took the sponge, and at once the water began to

disappear, and soon the well was dry. They began to quarrel as to who

should go down the well. The one on the right side said the other

ought to go, but at last they agreed that the drummer, who was the

lightest, should go.

So he went down, and, when he reached the bottom of the well, he found

a stone there. He drew it aside, and then he saw the light of the other

world. He lowered himself on the rope into the other world. There

he saw a beautiful palace. He went towards it. When he reached it,

he saw that the table was laid for two persons. He ate his meal and

then went into the second room. There he laid himself down to sleep,

and when he awoke in the morning, he found the Princess Anne in the

third room.

"Welcome," she said; "what has brought you here?"

He told her that he had come to deliver her.

She said: "I don't know whether you will succeed in that. Here is a

sword; see if you can brandish it."

The drummer took hold of the sword, but he could not even lift it,

it was so heavy.

Then the princess gave him a ring. "Take this," she said, "and whenever

you think of me, you will become strong. I have to hold the dragon in

my lap for a whole hour. As soon as he comes, he will smell a man. But

you must cut him in two, for then I shall be delivered. Just at nine

o'clock he comes."

Just at nine o'clock the palace began to tremble and the dragon

came in. But the drummer encountered him and struck him in two with

the sword.

After that the princess took him into another room. "Now you have

delivered me," she said. "But my sister is in worse trouble still. She

has to hold a dragon in her lap for two hours, and that dragon is

even stronger than this one."

Then they went into the fourth room, where was the Princess

Antonia. She, too, greeted him, and told him that he would be able

to deliver her if he could brandish the sword beside her. He tried,

but he could not even move it. Then she gave him a ring and told him

that, whenever he thought of her, he would have the strength of two

hundred men. She said, too, that if he succeeded in setting her free

she would marry him.

Soon eleven o'clock came. The hall began to tremble and the dragon

appeared. But, as he was coming in, Anthony was ready for him near

the door, and he managed to cut the dragon in two.

Now, when the two princesses had been set free, they gathered all the

precious stones they could to take with them, and went to the opening

that led into the world. But the drummer had quite forgotten the old

crone's warning about the other two fellows, and he sent the princesses

up before him. Each of the officers took a princess for himself, and

the drummer was left behind at the bottom of the well. When his turn

came, he was careful enough to tie a stone to the rope. His companions

on the top pulled it up a little way and then suddenly let it drop,

throwing down other stones into the well to kill the drummer. But

he had remembered the crone's warning that his friends would try to

trick him. So he jumped aside and remained there in the other world.

He went back to the palace and entered the seventh room. On the table

were three boxes. He opened the first and found a whistle inside

it. He blew the whistle, and in came some generals and asked what was

his majesty's will. He said he had only whistled to find out if they

were attending to their duty. Then he looked into the second box, and

there he saw a bugle. He blew the bugle, and in came some officers,

who said just what the generals had said. In the third box he found a

drum. He beat the drum, and immediately he was surrounded by infantry

and cavalry, a great multitude of soldiers. He asked whether any of

them had ever been in Europe. Two men were found among them who had

been shipwrecked.

"Where is the ship?" said the drummer.

"Here on the seacoast," they replied.

At that, Anthony decked himself out in a royal robe and started on

his travels for Europe.

Meanwhile the two princesses had reached home. One was engaged to

be married to the lieutenant, the other to the captain. But when

the time for the wedding came, both the princesses, still thinking

of Anthony, asked for a delay of one year, and their royal father

granted their request.

Anthony arrived safely in that land. He met a traveller and said to

him, "Look here, why should you not change clothes with me?"

He was glad to do so, and Anthony went on to the town in which the

princesses lived and sought out a goldsmith. He asked the goldsmith

for work.

"I haven't work enough for myself," said the goldsmith.

"Well," said the drummer, "I have had an order for two rings, although

I was only walking the street."

"You are a lucky fellow," said the goldsmith, and his wife, when

she heard of it, spoke in the drummer's favour, so he was taken on

as assistant.

"Now," said he, "give me what I want and I will make the rings. But

nobody must enter my room: I will take my meals in at the door."

On the third day one ring was finished, and this one was meant for

the Princess Anne.

"You must take this ring to the Princess Anne, master," said he.

"So I will," said the goldsmith; "but what is your price for it?"

"A thousand pounds," said he.

"If that's so, I won't go. They would put me in jail."

"Be easy," said Anthony, "nothing will happen to you."

So the goldsmith went to the palace, and sent in a message that his

assistant had made a ring for the Princess Anne. She sent a message

that she had not ordered a ring, but she would look at it. As soon

as she saw it, she asked: "How much do you want for this?" He replied

that he was almost afraid to say that it was worth a thousand pounds.

"Oh! it is worth much more than that," she said, and she paid the

sum at once.

The goldsmith returned home and told his wife what he had got for the

ring. She wondered what sort of person their new assistant was. The

master brought the money to him, but the assistant would not accept it.

"You can keep the money for yourself," he said, "and I have just

finished the ring for the Princess Antonia. You will have to go to

the palace again with this."

This time the master-goldsmith was ready enough to go. "How much am

I to ask for this ring?" he said.

"Ask two thousand pounds."

So he was brought to the princess, and he told her that his apprentice

had made a ring for her. She answered that she had not ordered a

ring. "However, show it to me."

As soon as she glanced at it, she said: "How much do you want for

this?"

"Two thousand pounds."

"Oh! it's worth much more than that," she said.

So she paid down the money and told the master-goldsmith to fetch

his assistant to her. As soon as the master came home, he told his

wife everything. She was still more astonished.

"O Lord!" she said, "I cannot understand it at all."

The master told Anthony that the princess bade him come and see her.

"She can come to me," was his reply.

When the princess heard that, she lost no time, but took some royal

garments for him, and drove to Anthony's house in the royal coach. She

went straight to him and said, "I am come to bring you home with me,

Anthony."

She bade him put on the royal robe she had brought with her for

him, and they drove together to the palace, and their marriage was

celebrated not long after.

The two officers thought the king would banish them or inflict

some punishment upon them, but he pardoned them and gave them

sufficient money to live at the court. Anthony himself did not care

for royalty. He and his wife arranged that they would return to the

place where he had first found the princesses. So they departed for

that land, but a storm drove them on shore near to the place where

he had met the old crone. She gave him welcome.

"So you are back again," she said.

They explained to her that what they wished was to go back to that

palace beneath the fountain.

"Well," she said, "I will show you the way to the other world, and

I will let you down the well."

They came to the opening, and Anthony was about to enter the well,

but the old hag begged him to wait with her and let the princess go

on before.

So the princess was let down to the bottom of the well, and then

the crone said: "I won't let you follow her unless you first cut off

my head."

"This is a strange way to repay the good you have done me," said

Anthony.

"Well, unless you promise this you will never see your princess again."

So he had to promise, and with that she waved her wand and a road

appeared, which led them straight to the princess. Then Anthony struck

off the crone's head, and they found themselves amid crowds of farmers

who were ploughing and soldiers standing at attention, and one and

all welcoming their new lords. For this land was an enchanted land,

and the old crone was a witch.