Grimm's Fairy Tales Originals

15. Crystal ball

THERE WAS once an enchantress who had three sons who lovedeach other as brothers, but the old woman did not trust them, andthought they wanted to steal her power from her. So she changedthe eldest into an eagle, which was forced to dwell in the rockymountains, and was often seen sweeping in great circles in the sky.The second, she changed into a whale, which lived in the deep sea,and all that was seen of it was that it sometimes spouted up a greatjet of water in the air. Each of them only bore his human form fortwo hours daily. The third son, who was afraid she might changehim into a raging wild beast- a bear perhaps, or a wolf- wentsecretly away.

He had heard that a King's daughter who was bewitched, wasimprisoned in the Castle of the Golden Sun, and was waiting fordeliverance. Those, however, who had tried to free her risked theirlives; three-and-twenty youths had already died a miserable death,and now only one other might make the attempt, after which nomore must come. And as his heart was without fear, he caught atthe idea of seeking out the Castle of the Golden Sun. He hadalready traveled about for a long time without being able to find it,when he came by chance into a great forest, and did not know theway out of it.All at once he saw in the distance two giants, who made a sign tohim with their hands, and when he came to them they said, "We2are quarreling about a cap, and which of us it is to belong to, andas we are equally strong, neither of us can get the better of theother. The small men are cleverer than we are, so we will leave thedecision to thee." "How can you dispute about an old cap?" saidthe youth. "Thou dost not know what properties it has! It is awishing-cap; whosoever puts it on, can wish himself awaywherever he likes, and in an instant he will be there." "Give me thecap," said the youth, "I will go a short distance off, and when I callyou, you must run a race, and the cap shall belong to the one whogets first to me."

He put it on and went away, and thought of theKing's daughter, forgot the giants, and walked continuallyonward. At length he sighed from the very bottom of his heart, andcried, "Ah, if I were but at the Castle of the Golden Sun," andhardly had the words passed his lips than he was standing on ahigh mountain before the gate of the castle.He entered and went through all the rooms, until in the last hefound the King's daughter. But how shocked he was when he sawher. She had an ashengrey face full of wrinkles, blear eyes, and redhair. "Art thou the King's daughter, whose beauty the whole worldpraises?" cried he. "Ah," she answered, "this is not my form;human eyes can only see me in this state of ugliness, but that thoumayst know what I am like, look in the mirror- it does not let itselfbe misled- it will show thee my image as it is in truth."

She gavehim the mirror in his hand, and he saw therein the likeness of themost beautiful maiden on earth, and saw, too, how the tears wererolling down her cheeks with grief.Then said he, "How canst thou be set free? I fear no danger." Shesaid, "He who gets the crystal ball, and holds it before theenchanter, will destroy his power with it, and I shall resume mytrue shape. Ah," she added, "so many have already gone to meetdeath for this, and thou art so young; I grieve that thou shouldstencounter such great danger." "Nothing can keep me from doingit," said he, "but tell me what I must do." "Thou shalt knoweverything," said the King's daughter; "when thou descendest themountain on which the castle stands, a wild bull will stand belowby a spring, and thou must fight with it, and if thou hast the luck tokill it, a fiery bird will spring out of it, which bears in its body aburning egg, and in the egg the crystal ball lies like a yolk.

Thebird will not, however, let the egg fall until forced to do so, and if itfalls on the ground, it will flame up and burn everything that isnear, and melt even ice itself, and with it the crystal ball, and thenall thy trouble will have been in vain." The youth went down to thespring, where the bull snorted and bellowed at him. After a long3struggle he plunged his sword in the animal's body, and it felldown. Instantly a fiery bird arose from it, and was about to flyaway, but the young man's brother, the eagle, who was passingbetween the clouds, swooped down, hunted it away to the sea, andstruck it with his beak until, in its extremity, it let the egg fall. Theegg did not, however, fall into the sea, but on a fisherman's hutwhich stood on the shore and the hut began at once to smoke andwas about to break out in flames.Then arose in the sea waves as high as a house, they streamed overthe hut, and subdued the fire. The other brother, the whale, hadcome swimming to them, and had driven the water up on high.When the fire was extinguished, the youth sought for the egg andhappily found it; it was not yet melted, but the shell was broken bybeing so suddenly cooled with the water, and he could take out thecrystal ball unhurt.When the youth went to the enchanter and held it before him, thelatter said, "My power is destroyed, and from this time forth thouart the King of the Castle of the Golden Sun. With this canst thoulikewise give back to thy brothers their human form." Then theyouth hastened to the King's daughter, and when he entered theroom, she was standing there in the full splendor of her beauty,and joyfully they exchanged rings with each other .