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Fundevogel
FUNDEVOGEL
There was once a forester who went into the forest to hunt, and as he
entered it he heard a sound of screaming as if a little child were
there. He followed the sound, and at last came to a high tree, and at
the top of this a little child was sitting, for the mother had fallen
asleep under the tree with the child, and a bird of prey had seen it
in her arms, had flown down, snatched it away, and set it on the high
tree.
The forester climbed up, brought the child down, and thought to
himself: 'You will take him home with you, and bring him up with your
Lina.' He took it home, therefore, and the two children grew up
together. And the one, which he had found on a tree was called
Fundevogel, because a bird had carried it away. Fundevogel and Lina
loved each other so dearly that when they did not see each other they
were sad.
Now the forester had an old cook, who one evening took two pails and
began to fetch water, and did not go once only, but many times, out to
the spring. Lina saw this and said, 'Listen, old Sanna, why are you
fetching so much water?' 'If you will never repeat it to anyone, I
will tell you why.' So Lina said, no, she would never repeat it to
anyone, and then the cook said: 'Early tomorrow morning, when the
forester is out hunting, I will heat the water, and when it is boiling
in the kettle, I will throw in Fundevogel, and will boil him in it.'
Early next morning the forester got up and went out hunting, and when
he was gone the children were still in bed. Then Lina said to
Fundevogel: 'If you will never leave me, I too will never leave you.'
Fundevogel said: 'Neither now, nor ever will I leave you.' Then said
Lina: 'Then will I tell you. Last night, old Sanna carried so many
buckets of water into the house that I asked her why she was doing
that, and she said that if I would promise not to tell anyone, and she
said that early tomorrow morning when father was out hunting, she
would set the kettle full of water, throw you into it and boil you;
but we will get up quickly, dress ourselves, and go away together.'
The two children therefore got up, dressed themselves quickly, and
went away. When the water in the kettle was boiling, the cook went
into the bedroom to fetch Fundevogel and throw him into it. But when
she came in, and went to the beds, both the children were gone. Then
she was terribly alarmed, and she said to herself: 'What shall I say
now when the forester comes home and sees that the children are gone?
They must be followed instantly to get them back again.'
Then the cook sent three servants after them, who were to run and
overtake the children. The children, however, were sitting outside the
forest, and when they saw from afar the three servants running, Lina
said to Fundevogel: 'Never leave me, and I will never leave you.'
Fundevogel said: 'Neither now, nor ever.' Then said Lina: 'Do you
become a rose-tree, and I the rose upon it.' When the three servants
came to the forest, nothing was there but a rose-tree and one rose on
it, but the children were nowhere. Then said they: 'There is nothing
to be done here,' and they went home and told the cook that they had
seen nothing in the forest but a little rose-bush with one rose on it.
Then the old cook scolded and said: 'You simpletons, you should have
cut the rose-bush in two, and have broken off the rose and brought it
home with you; go, and do it at once.' They had therefore to go out
and look for the second time. The children, however, saw them coming
from a distance. Then Lina said: 'Fundevogel, never leave me, and I
will never leave you.' Fundevogel said: 'Neither now; nor ever.' Said
Lina: 'Then do you become a church, and I'll be the chandelier in it.'
So when the three servants came, nothing was there but a church, with
a chandelier in it. They said therefore to each other: 'What can we do
here, let us go home.' When they got home, the cook asked if they had
not found them; so they said no, they had found nothing but a church,
and there was a chandelier in it. And the cook scolded them and said:
'You fools! why did you not pull the church to pieces, and bring the
chandelier home with you?' And now the old cook herself got on her
legs, and went with the three servants in pursuit of the children. The
children, however, saw from afar that the three servants were coming,
and the cook waddling after them. Then said Lina: 'Fundevogel, never
leave me, and I will never leave you.' Then said Fundevogel: 'Neither
now, nor ever.' Said Lina: 'Be a fishpond, and I will be the duck upon
it.' The cook, however, came up to them, and when she saw the pond she
lay down by it, and was about to drink it up. But the duck swam
quickly to her, seized her head in its beak and drew her into the
water, and there the old witch had to drown. Then the children went
home together, and were heartily delighted, and if they have not died,
they are living still.
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