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Popular Tales from the Norse

S >> Sir George Webbe Dasent >> Popular Tales from the Norse




'Now the ten dollars are mine', bawled out the lad; and so they were.




LITTLE ANNIE THE GOOSE-GIRL

Once on a time there was a King who had so many geese he was forced
to have a lassie to tend them and watch them; her name was Annie, and
so they called her 'Annie the Goose-girl'. Now you must know there
was a King's son from England who went out to woo; and as he came
along Ann sat herself down in his way.

'Sitting all alone there, you little Annie?' said the King's son.

'Yes', said little Annie, 'here I sit and put stitch to stitch and
patch on patch. I'm waiting to-day for the King's son from England.'

'Him you mustn't look to have', said the Prince.

'Nay, but if I'm to have him', said little Annie, 'have him I shall,
after all.'

And now limners were sent out into all lands and realms to take the
likenesses of the fairest Princesses, and the Prince was to chose
between them. So he thought so much of one of them, that he set out
to seek her, and wanted to wed her, and he was glad and happy when he
got her for his sweetheart.

But now I must tell you this Prince had a stone with him which he
laid by his bedside, and that stone knew everything, and when the
Princess came little Annie told her, if so be she'd had a sweetheart
before, or didn't feel herself quite free from anything which she
didn't wish the Prince to know, she'd better not step on that stone
which lay by the bedside.

'If you do, it will tell him all about you', said little Annie.

So when the Princess heard that she was dreadfully downcast, and she
fell upon the thought to ask Annie if she would get into bed that
night in her stead and lie down by the Prince's side; and then when
he was sound asleep, Annie should get out and the Princess should get
in, and so when he woke up in the morning he would find the right
bride by his side.

So they did that, and when Annie the goose-girl came and stepped upon
the stone the Prince asked:

'Who is this that steps into my bed?'

'A maid pure and bright', said the stone, and so they lay down to
sleep; but when the night wore on the Princess came and lay down in
Annie's stead.

But next morning, when they were to get up, the Prince asked the
stone again:

'Who is this that steps out of my bed?'

'One that has had three bairns', said the stone. When the Prince
heard that he wouldn't have her, you may know very well; and so he
packed her off home again, and took another sweetheart.

But as he went to see her, little Annie went and sat down in his way
again.

'Sitting all alone there, little Annie, the goose-girl', said the
Prince.

'Yes, here I sit, and put stitch to stitch, and patch on patch; for
I'm waiting to-day for the king's son from England', said Annie.

'Oh! you mustn't look to have him', said the king's son.

'Nay, but if I'm to have him, have him I shall, after all'; that was
what Annie thought.

Well, it was the same story over again with the Prince; only this
time, when his bride got up in the morning, the stone said she'd had
six bairns.

So the Prince wouldn't have her either, but sent her about her
business; but still he thought he'd try once more if he couldn't find
one who was pure and spotless; and he sought far and wide in many
lands, till at last he found one he thought he might trust. But when
he went to see her, little Annie the goose-girl had put herself in
his way again.

'Sitting all alone there, you little Annie, the goose-girl', said the
Prince.

'Yes, here I sit, and put stitch to stitch, and patch on patch; for
I'm waiting to-day for the king's son from England', said Annie.

'Him you mustn't look to have', said the Prince.

'Nay, but if I'm to have him, have him I shall, after all', said
little Annie.

So when the Princess came, little Annie the goose-girl told her the
same as she had told the other two, if she'd had any sweetheart
before, or if there was anything else she didn't wish the Prince to
know, she mustn't tread on the stone that the Prince had put at his
bedside; for, said she:

'It tells him everything.'

The Princess got very red and downcast when she heard that, for she
was just as naughty as the others, and asked Annie if she would go in
her stead and lie down with the Prince that night; and when he was
sound asleep, she would come and take her place, and then he would
have the right bride by his side when it was light next morning.

Yes! they did that. And when little Annie the goose-girl came and
stepped upon the stone, the Prince asked:

'Who is this that steps into my bed.'

'A maid pure and bright', said the stone; and so they lay down to
rest.

Farther on in the night the Prince put a ring on Annie's finger, and
it fitted so tight she couldn't get it off again; for the Prince saw
well enough there was something wrong, and so he wished to have a
mark by which he might know the right woman again.

Well, when the Prince had gone off to sleep, the Princess came and
drove Annie away to the pigsty, and lay down in her place. Next
morning, when they were to get up, the Prince asked:

'Who is this that steps out of my bed?'

'One that's had nine bairns', said the stone.

When the Prince heard that he drove her away at once, for he was in
an awful rage; and then he asked the stone how it all was with these
Princesses who had stepped on it, for he couldn't understand it at
all, he said.

So the stone told him how they had cheated him, and sent little Annie
the goose-girl to him in their stead.

But as the Prince wished to have no mistake about it, he went down to
her where she sat tending her geese, for he wanted to see if she had
the ring too, and he thought, 'if she has it, 'twere best to take her
at once for my queen'.

So when he got down he saw in a moment that she had tied a bit of rag
round one of her fingers, and so he asked her why it was tied up.

'Oh! I've cut myself so badly', said little Annie the goose-girl.

So he must and would see the finger, but Annie wouldn't take the rag
off. Then he caught hold of the finger; but Annie, she tried to pull
it from him, and so between them the rag came off, and then he knew
his ring.

So he took her up to the palace, and gave her much fine clothes and
attire, and after that they held their wedding feast; and so little
Annie the goose-girl came to have the king of England's son for her
husband after all, just because it was written that she should have
him.




INTRODUCTION TO APPENDIX

ANANZI STORIES


The Negroes in the West Indies still retain the tales and traditions
which their fathers and grandfathers brought with them from Africa.
Some thirty years back these 'Ananzi Stories', as they are called,
were invariably told at the Negro wakes, which lasted for nine
successive nights. The reciters were always men. In those days when
the slaves were still half heathen, and when the awful _Obeah_
was universally believed in, such of the Negroes as attended church
or chapel kept their children away from these funeral gatherings. The
wakes are now, it is believed, almost entirely discontinued, and with
them have gone the stories. The Negroes are very shy of telling them,
and both the clergyman of the Church of England, and the Dissenting
Minister set their faces against them, and call them foolishness. The
translator, whose early childhood was passed in those islands,
remembers to have heard such stories from his nurse, who was an
African born; but beyond a stray fragment here and there, the rich
store which she possessed has altogether escaped his memory. The
following stories have been taken down from the mouth of a West
Indian nurse in his sister's house, who, born and bred in it, is
rather regarded as a member of the family than as a servant. They are
printed just as she told them, and both their genuineness and their
affinity with the stories of other races will be self-evident. Thus
we have the 'Wishing Tree' of the Hindoos, the _Kalpa Vriksha_
of Somadeva, and of the German Fairy Tales in the 'Pumpkin Tree',
which throws down as many pumpkins as the poor widow wishes. In one
story we have 'Boots' to the life, while the man whom he outwits is
own brother to the Norse Trolls. In another we find a 'speaking
beast', which reminds us at once of the Egyptian story of Anessou and
Satou, as well as of the 'Machandelboom', and 'the Milk-white Doo'.
We find here the woman who washes the dirty head rewarded, and the
man who refuses to wash it punished, in the very words used in 'The
Bushy Bride'. We find, too, in 'Nancy Fairy', the same story, both in
groundwork and incident, as we have in 'the Lassie and her
Godmother'; and most surprising of all, in the story of 'Ananzi and
Quanqua', we find the very trait about a trick played with the tail
of an ox, which is met with in a variation to 'Boots who ate a match
with the Troll'. Here is the variation: 'Whilst he was with the
Troll, the lad was to go out to watch the swine, so he drove them
home to his father's house, but first he cut their tails off, and
stuck them into the ground. Then he went home to the Troll, and
begged him to come and see how his swine were going down to Hell. But
when the Troll saw the swine's tails sticking out of the ground he
wanted to pull them back again, so he caught hold of them and gave a
great tug, and then down he fell with his heels up in the air, and
the tails in his fist.'

They are called 'Ananzi Stories', because so many of them turn on the
feats of Ananzi, whose character is a mixture of 'the Master-thief',
and of 'Boots'; but the most curious thing about him, is that he
illustrates the Beast Epic in a remarkable way. In all the West
Indian Islands, 'Ananzi' is the name of spiders in general, and of a
very beautiful spider with yellow stripes in particular. [Footnote:
Compare Crowther's _Yoruba Glossary_, where _Alansasa_ is given
as the Yoruban for _spider_. The change of _n_ into _l_ is not
uncommon, even supposing the West Indian word to be uncorrupt.] The
Negroes think that this spider is the 'Ananzi' of their stories, but that
his superior cunning enables him to take any shape he pleases. In fact,
he is the example which the African tribes from which these stories
came, have chosen to take as pointing out the superiority of wit over
brute strength. In this way they have matched the cleverness and
dexterity of the Spider, against the bone and muscle of the Lion,
invariably to the disadvantage of the latter.

After this introduction, we let the Tales speak for themselves, only
premising that the 'Jack-Spaniard' in the first story is a very
pretty fly of the wasp kind, and, like his European brother, very
small in the waist; that the 'Cush-cush', is a little red yam which
imparts a strong red dye to everything with which it is boiled; and
that the 'Doukana' is a forest tree which bears a fruit, though of
what kind it is hard to say.




APPENDIX

WHY THE JACK-SPANIARD'S WAIST IS SMALL


Ananzi and Mosquito were talking together one day, and boasting of
their fathers' crops. Ananzi said his father had never had such a
crop in his life before; and Mosquito said, he was sure his father's
was bigger, for one yam they dug was as big as his leg. This tickled
Jack-Spaniard so much, that he laughed till he broke his waist in
two. That's why the Jack-Spaniard's waist is so small.




ANANZI AND THE LION

Once on a time Ananzi planned a scheme. He went to town and bought
ever so many firkins of fat, and ever so many sacks, and ever so many
balls of string, and a very big frying pan, then he went to the bay
and blew a shell, and called the Head-fish in the sea, 'Green Eel',
to him. Then he said to the fish, 'The King sends me to tell you that
you must bring all the fish on shore, for he wants to give them new
life.'

So 'Green Eel' said he would, and went to call them. Meanwhile Ananzi
lighted a fire, and took out some of the fat, and got his frying pan
ready, and as fast as the fish came out of the water he caught them
and put them into the frying pan, and so he did with all of them
until he got to the Head-fish, who was so slippery that he couldn't
hold him, and he got back again into the water.

When Ananzi had fried all, the fish, he put them into the sacks, and
took the sacks on his back and set off to the mountains. He had not
gone very far when he met Lion, and Lion said to him':

'Well, brother Ananzi, where have you been? I have not seen you a
long time.'

Ananzi said, 'I have been travelling about.'

'But what have you got there?' said the Lion.

'Oh! I have got my mother's bones--she has been dead these forty-
eleven years, and they say I must not keep her here, so I am taking
her up into the middle of the mountains to bury her.'

Then they parted. After he had gone a little way, the Lion said, 'I
know that Ananzi is a great rogue; I daresay he has got something
there that he doesn't want me to see, and I will just follow him';
but he took care not to let Ananzi see him.

Now, when Ananzi got into the wood he set his sacks down, and took
one fish out and began to eat; then a fly came, and Ananzi said, 'I
cannot eat any more, for there is some one near'; so he tied the sack
up, and went on further into the mountains, where he set his sacks
down, and took out two fish, which he ate; and no fly came, he said,
'There's no one near'; so he took out more fish. But when he had
eaten about half-a-dozen, the Lion came up, and said:

'Well, brother Ananzi, a pretty tale you have told me.'

'Oh! brother Lion, I am so glad you have come; never mind what tale I
have told you, but come and sit down--it was only my fun.'

So Lion sat down and began to eat; but before Ananzi had eaten two
fish, Lion had emptied one of the sacks. Then said Ananzi to himself:

'Greedy fellow, eating up all my fish.'

'What do you say, sir?'

'I only said you do not eat half fast enough', for he was afraid the
Lion would eat him up.

Then they went on eating, but Ananzi wanted to revenge himself, and
he said to the Lion, 'Which of us do you think is the strongest?'

The Lion said, 'Why, I am, of course.'

Then Ananzi said, 'We will tie one another to the tree and we shall
see which is the stronger.'

Now they agreed that the Lion should tie Ananzi first, and he tied
him with some very fine string, and did not tie him tight. Ananzi
twisted himself about two or three times, and the string broke.

Then it was Ananzi's turn to tie the Lion, and he took some very
strong cord. The Lion said, 'You must not tie me tight, for I did not
tie you tight.' And Ananzi said, 'Oh! no, to be sure I will not.' But
he tied him as tight as ever he could, and then told him to try and
get loose.

The Lion tried and tried in vain--he could not get loose. Then Ananzi
thought, now is my chance; so he got a big stick and beat him, and
then went away and left him, for he was afraid to loose him lest he
should kill him.

Now there was a woman called Miss Nancy, who was going out one
morning to get some 'callalou' (spinach) in the wood, and as she was
going, she heard some one say, 'Good morning, Miss Nancy!' She could
not tell who spoke to her, but she looked where the voice came from,
and saw the Lion tied to the tree.

'Good morning, Mr Lion, what are you doing there?'

He said, 'It is all that fellow Ananzi who has tied me to the tree,
but will you loose me?'

But she said, 'No, for I am afraid, if I do, you will kill me.' But
he gave, her his word he would not; still she could not trust him;
but he begged her again and again, and said:

'Well, if I do try to eat you, I hope all the trees will cry out
shame upon me.'

So at last she consented; but she had no sooner loosed him, than he
came up to her to eat her, for he had been so many days without food
that he was quite ravenous, but the trees immediately cried out
'shame', and so he could not eat her. Then she went away as fast as
she could, and the Lion found his way home.

When Lion got home he told his wife and children all that happened to
him, and how Miss Nancy had saved his life, so they said they would
have a great dinner, and ask Miss Nancy. Now when Ananzi heard of it,
he wanted to go to the dinner, so he went to Miss Nancy, and said she
must take him with her as her child, but she said 'No'. Then he said,
I can turn myself into quite a little child, and then you can take
me, and at last she said 'Yes'; and he told her, when she was asked
what pap her baby ate, she must be sure to tell them it did not eat
pap, but the same food as every one else; and so they went, and had a
very good dinner, and set off home again--but somehow one of the
lion's sons fancied that all was not right, and he told his father he
was sure it was Ananzi, and the Lion set out after him.

Now as they were going along, before the Lion got up to them, Ananzi
begged Miss Nancy to put him down, that he might run, which she did,
and he got away and ran along the wood, and the Lion ran after him.
When he found the Lion was overtaking him, he turned himself into an
old man with a bundle of wood on his head--and when the Lion got up
to him, he said, 'Good-morning, Mr Lion', and the Lion said 'Good-
morning, old gentleman.'

Then the old man said, 'What are you after now? 'and the Lion asked
if he had seen Ananzi pass that way, but the old man said 'No, that
fellow Ananzi is always meddling with some one; what mischief has he
been up to now?'

Then the Lion told him, but the old man said it was no use to follow
him any more, for he would never catch him, and so the Lion wished
him good day, and turned and went home again.




ANANZI AND QUANQUA

Quanqua was a very clever fellow, and he had a large house full of
all sorts of meat. But you must know he had a way of saying _Quan?
qua?_ (how? what?) when any one asked him anything and so they
called him 'Quanqua'. One day when he was out, he met Atoukama,
Ananzi's wife, who was going along driving an ox, but the ox would
not walk, so Atoukama asked Quanqua to help her; and they got on
pretty well, till they came to a river, when the ox would not cross
through the water. Then Atoukama called to Quanqua to drive the ox
across, but all she could get out of him was, 'QUAN? QUA? _Quan?
qua?_' At last she said, 'Oh! you stupid fellow, you're no good;
stop here and mind the ox while I go and get help to drive him
across.' So off she went to fetch Ananzi. As soon as Atoukama was
gone away, Quanqua killed the ox, and hid it all away, where Ananzi
should not see it; but first he cut off the tail, then he dug a hole
near the river side and stuck the tail partly in, leaving out the
tip. When he saw Ananzi coming, he caught hold of the tail,
pretending to tug at it as if he were pulling the ox out of the hole.
Ananzi seeing this, ran up as fast as he could, and tugging at the
tail with all his might, fell over into the river, but he still had
hold of the tail, and contrived to get across the water, when he
called out to Quanqua, 'You idle fellow, you couldn't take care of
the ox, so you shan't have a bit of the tail', and then on he went.
When he was gone quite out of sight, Quanqua took the ox home, and
made a very good dinner.

Next day he went to Ananzi's house, and said, Ananzi must give him
some of the tail, for he had got plenty of yams, but he had no meat.
Then they agreed to cook their pot together. Quanqua was to put in
white yams, and Ananzi the tail, and red yams. When they came to put
the yams in, Quanqua put in a great many white yams, but Ananzi only
put in one little red cush-cush yam. Quanqua asked him if that little
yam would be enough, he said, 'Oh! plenty', for I don't eat much.

When the pot boiled, they uncovered it, and sat down to eat their
shares, but they couldn't find any white yams at all; the little red
one had turned them all red. So Ananzi claimed them all, and Quanqua
was glad to take what Ananzi would give him.

Now, when they had done eating, they said they would try which could
bear heat best, so they heated two irons, and Ananzi was to try first
on Quanqua, but he made so many attempts, that the iron got cold
before he got near him; then it was Quanqua's turn, and he pulled the
iron out of the fire, and poked it right down Ananzi's throat.


THE EAR OF CORN AND THE TWELVE MEN

[This tale is imperfect at the beginning.]

Ananzi said to the King, that if he would give him an ear of corn, he
would bring him twelve strong men. The King gave him the ear of corn,
and he went away. At last he got to a house, where he asked for a
night's lodging which was given him; the next morning he got up very
early, and threw the ear of corn out of the door to the fowls, and
went back to bed. When he got up in the morning, he looked for his
ear of corn, and could not find it anywhere, so he told them he was
sure the fowls had eaten it, and he would not be satisfied unless
they gave him the best cock they had. So they were obliged to give
him the cock, and he went away with it, all day, until night, when he
came to another house, and asked again for a night's lodging, which
he got; but when they wanted to put the cock into the fowl-house, he
said no, the cock must sleep in the pen with the sheep, so they put
the cock with the sheep. At midnight he got up, killed the cock,
threw it back into the pen, and went back to bed. Next morning when
it was time for him to go away, his cock was dead, and he would not
take anything for it but one of the best sheep, so they gave it to
him, and he went off with it all that day, until night-fall, when he
got to a village, where he again asked for a night's lodging, which
was given to him, and when they wanted to put his sheep with the
other sheep, he said, no, the sheep must sleep with the cattle; so
they put the sheep with the cattle. In the middle of the night he got
up and killed the sheep, and went back to bed. Next morning he went
for his sheep, which was dead, so he told them they must give him the
best heifer for his sheep, and if they would not do so, he would go
back and tell the King, who would come and make war on them.

So to get rid of him, they were glad to give him the heifer, and let
him go; and away he went, and walked nearly all day with the heifer.
Towards evening he met a funeral, and asked whose it was? one of the
men said, it was his sister, so he asked the men if they would let
him have her; they said no, but after a while, he begged so hard,
saying he would give them the heifer, that they consented, and he
took the dead body and walked away, carrying it until it was dark,
when he came to a large town, where he went to a house and begged
hard for a night's lodging for himself and his sister, who was so
tired he was obliged to carry her, and they would be thankful if they
would let them rest there that night. So they let them in, and he
asked them to let them sit in the dark, as his sister could not bear
the light. So they took them into a room, and left them in the dark;
and when they were alone, he seated himself on a bench near the
table, and put his sister close by his side, with his arm round her
to keep her up. Presently they brought them in some supper; one plate
he set before his sister, and put her hand in it, and the other plate
for himself, but he ate out of both plates. When it was time to go to
bed, he asked if they would allow his sister to sleep in a room where
there were twelve strong men sleeping, for she had fits, and if she
had one in the night, they would be able to hold her, and would not
disturb the rest of the house. So they agreed to this, and he carried
her in his arms, because, he said she was so tired, she was asleep,
and laid her in a bed; he charged the men not to disturb her, and
went himself to sleep in the next room. In the middle of the night he
heard the men calling out, for they smelt a horrid smell, and tried
to wake the woman-first one man gave her a blow, and then another,
until all the men had struck her, but Ananzi took no notice of the
noise. In the morning when he went in for his sister and found her
dead, he declared they had killed her, and that he must have the
twelve men; to this the townsmen said no, not supposing that all the
men had killed her, but the men confessed that they had each given
her a blow-so he would not be satisfied with less than the twelve,
and he carried them off to the King, and delivered them up.




THE KING AND THE ANT'S TREE

There was a King who had a very beautiful daughter, and he said,
whoever would cut down an Ant's tree, which he had in his kingdom,
without brushing off the ants, should marry his daughter. Now a great
many came and tried, but no one could do it, for the ants fell out
upon them and stung them, and they were forced to brush them off.
There was always someone watching to see if they brushed the ants
off.

Then Ananzi went, and the King's son was set to watch him. When they
showed him the tree, he said, 'Why, that's nothing, I know I can do
that.' So they gave him the axe, and he began to hew, but each blow
he gave the tree, he shook himself and brushed himself, saying all
the while, 'Did you see me do that? I suppose you think I'm brushing
myself, but I am not.' And so he went, on until he had cut down the
tree. But the boy thought he was only pretending to brush himself all
the time, and the King was obliged to give him his daughter.

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