THE GOLDEN BLACKBIRD

Edition and rights: Original English text from Project Gutenberg ebook #7277, marked public domain in the USA. The literary text below is reproduced without AI rewriting.

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Once upon a time there was a great lord who had three sons. He fell very
ill, sent for doctors of every kind, even bonesetters, but they, none of
them, could find out what was the matter with him, or even give him any
relief. At last there came a foreign doctor, who declared that the Golden
Blackbird alone could cure the sick man.

So the old lord despatched his eldest son to look for the wonderful bird,
and promised him great riches if he managed to find it and bring it back.

The young man began his journey, and soon arrived at a place where four
roads met. He did not know which to choose, and tossed his cap in the air,
determining that the direction of its fall should decide him. After
travelling for two or three days, he grew tired of walking without knowing
where or for how long, and he stopped at an inn which was filled with
merrymakers and ordered something to eat and drink.

‘My faith,’ said he, ‘it is sheer folly to waste more time hunting for
this bird. My father is old, and if he dies I shall inherit his goods.’

The old man, after waiting patiently for some time, sent his second son to
seek the Golden Blackbird. The youth took the same direction as his
brother, and when he came to the cross roads, he too tossed up which road
he should take. The cap fell in the same place as before, and he walked on
till he came to the spot where his brother had halted. The latter, who was
leaning out of the window of the inn, called to him to stay where he was
and amuse himself.

‘You are right,’ replied the youth. ‘Who knows if I should ever find the
Golden Blackbird, even if I sought the whole world through for it. At the
worst, if the old man dies, we shall have his property.’

He entered the inn and the two brothers made merry and feasted, till very
soon their money was all spent. They even owed something to their
landlord, who kept them as hostages till they could pay their debts.

The youngest son set forth in his turn, and he arrived at the place where
his brothers were still prisoners. They called to him to stop, and did all
they could to prevent his going further.

‘No,’ he replied, ‘my father trusted me, and I will go all over the world
till I find the Golden Blackbird.’

‘Bah,’ said his brothers, ‘you will never succeed any better than we did.
Let him die if he wants to; we will divide the property.’

As he went his way he met a little hare, who stopped to look at him, and
asked:

‘Where are you going, my friend?’

‘I really don’t quite know,’ answered he. ‘My father is ill, and he cannot
be cured unless I bring him back the Golden Blackbird. It is a long time
since I set out, but no one can tell me where to find it.’

‘Ah,’ said the hare, ‘you have a long way to go yet. You will have to walk
at least seven hundred miles before you get to it.’

‘And how am I to travel such a distance?’

‘Mount on my back,’ said the little hare, ‘and I will conduct you.’

The young man obeyed: at each bound the little hare went seven miles, and
it was not long before they reached a castle that was as large and
beautiful as a castle could be.

‘The Golden Blackbird is in a little cabin near by,’ said the little hare,
‘and you will easily find it. It lives in a little cage, with another cage
beside it made all of gold. But whatever you do, be sure not to put it in
the beautiful cage, or everybody in the castle will know that you have
stolen it.’

The youth found the Golden Blackbird standing on a wooden perch, but as
stiff and rigid as if he was dead. And beside the beautiful cage was the
cage of gold.

‘Perhaps he would revive if I were to put him in that lovely cage,’
thought the youth.

The moment that Golden Bird had touched the bars of the splendid cage he
awoke, and began to whistle, so that all the servants of the castle ran to
see what was the matter, saying that he was a thief and must be put in
prison.

‘No,’ he answered, ‘I am not a thief. If I have taken the Golden
Blackbird, it is only that it may cure my father, who is ill, and I have
travelled more than seven hundred miles in order to find it.’

‘Well,’ they replied, ‘we will let you go, and will even give you the
Golden Bird, if you are able to bring us the Porcelain Maiden.’

The youth departed, weeping, and met the little hare, who was munching
wild thyme.

‘What are you crying for, my friend?’ asked the hare.

‘It is because,’ he answered, ‘the castle people will not allow me to
carry off the Golden Blackbird without giving them the Porcelain Maiden in
exchange.’

‘You have not followed my advice,’ said the little hare. ‘And you have put
the Golden Bird into the fine cage.’

‘Alas! yes!’

‘Don’t despair! the Porcelain Maiden is a young girl, beautiful as Venus,
who dwells two hundred miles from here. Jump on my back and I will take
you there.’

The little hare, who took seven miles in a stride, was there in no time at
all, and he stopped on the borders of a lake.

‘The Porcelain Maiden,’ said the hare to the youth, ‘will come here to
bathe with her friends, while I just eat a mouthful of thyme to refresh
me. When she is in the lake, be sure you hide her clothes, which are of
dazzling whiteness, and do not give them back to her unless she consents
to follow you.’

The little hare left him, and almost immediately the Porcelain Maiden
arrived with her friends. She undressed herself and got into the water.
Then the young man glided up noiselessly and laid hold of her clothes,
which he hid under a rock at some distance.

When the Porcelain Maiden was tired of playing in the water she came out
to dress herself, but, though she hunted for her clothes high and low, she
could find them nowhere. Her friends helped her in the search, but, seeing
at last that it was of no use, they left her, alone on the bank, weeping
bitterly.

‘Why do you cry?’ said the young man, approaching her.

‘Alas!’ answered she, ‘while I was bathing someone stole my clothes, and
my friends have abandoned me.’

‘I will find your clothes if you will only come with me.’

And the Porcelain Maiden agreed to follow him, and after having given up
her clothes, the young man bought a small horse for her, which went like
the wind. The little hare brought them both back to seek for the Golden
Blackbird, and when they drew near to the castle where it lived the little
hero said to the young man:

‘Now, do be a little sharper than you were before, and you will manage to
carry off both the Golden Blackbird and the Porcelain Maiden. Take the
golden cage in one hand, and leave the bird in the old cage where he is,
and bring that away too.’

The little hare then vanished; the youth did as he was bid, and the castle
servants never noticed that he was carrying off the Golden Bird. When he
reached the inn where his brothers were detained, he delivered them by
paying their debt. They set out all together, but as the two elder
brothers were jealous of the success of the youngest, they took the
opportunity as they were passing by the shores of a lake to throw
themselves upon him, seize the Golden Bird, and fling him in the water.
Then they continued their journey, taking with them the Porcelain Maiden,
in the firm belief that their brother was drowned. But, happily, he had
snatched in falling at a tuft of rushes and called loudly for help. The
little hare came running to him, and said ‘Take hold of my leg and pull
yourself out of the water.’

When he was safe on shore the little hare said to him:

‘Now this is what you have to do: dress yourself like a Breton seeking a
place as stable-boy, and go and offer your services to your father. Once
there, you will easily be able to make him understand the truth.’

The young man did as the little hare bade him, and he went to his father’s
castle and enquired if they were not in want of a stable-boy.

‘Yes,’ replied his father, ‘very much indeed. But it is not an easy place.
There is a little horse in the stable which will not let anyone go near
it, and it has already kicked to death several people who have tried to
groom it.’

‘I will undertake to groom it,’ said the youth. ‘I never saw the horse I
was afraid of yet.’ The little horse allowed itself to be rubbed down
without a toss of its head and without a kick.

‘Good gracious!’ exclaimed the master; ‘how is it that he lets you touch
him, when no one else can go near him?’

‘Perhaps he knows me,’ answered the stable-boy.

Two or three days later the master said to him: ‘The Porcelain Maiden is
here: but, though she is as lovely as the dawn, she is so wicked that she
scratches everyone that approaches her. Try if she will accept your
services.’

When the youth entered the room where she was, the Golden Blackbird broke
forth into a joyful song, and the Porcelain Maiden sang too, and jumped
for joy.

‘Good gracious!’ cried the master. ‘The Porcelain Maiden and the Golden
Blackbird know you too?’

‘Yes,’ replied the youth, ‘and the Porcelain Maiden can tell you the whole
truth, if she only will.’

Then she told all that had happened, and how she had consented to follow
the young man who had captured the Golden Blackbird.

‘Yes,’ added the youth, ‘I delivered my brothers, who were kept prisoners
in an inn, and, as a reward, they threw me into a lake. So I disguised
myself and came here, in order to prove the truth to you.’

So the old lord embraced his son, and promised that he should inherit all
his possessions, and he put to death the two elder ones, who had deceived
him and had tried to slay their own brother.

The young man married the Porcelain Maiden, and had a splendid
wedding-feast.

Sebillot.