Tritill, Litill, and the Birds

Tritill, Litill, and the birds.

Directly the ogress returned home she flung herself with all her weight

on the bed, and the whole cave quivered under her. The pillows were

soft and full instead of being empty, which surprised her, but that did

not content her. She got up, shook out the pillow-cases one by one, and

began to count the feathers that were in each. “If one is missing I

will have your head,” said she, and at that the young man drew the

feather from his pocket and thrust it up her nose, crying “If you want

your feather, here it is.”

“You did not sort those feathers alone,” answered the ogress calmly;

“however, this time I will let that pass.”

That night the young man slept soundly in his corner, and in the

morning the ogress told him that his work that day would be to slay one

of her great oxen, to cook its heart, and to make drinking cups of its

horns, before she returned home “There are fifty oxen,” added she, “and

you must guess which of the herd I want killed. If you guess right,

to-morrow you shall be free to go where you will, and you shall choose

besides three things as a reward for your service. But if you slay the

wrong ox your head shall pay for it.”

Left alone, the young man stood thinking for a little. Then he called:

“Tritill, Litill, come to my help!”

In a moment he saw them, far away, driving the biggest ox the youth had

ever seen. When they drew near, Tritill killed it, Litill took out its

heart for the young man to cook, and both began quickly to turn the

horns into drinking cups. The work went merrily on, and they talked

gaily, and the young man told his friends of the payment promised him

by the ogress if he had done her bidding. The old men warned him that

he must ask her for the chest which stood at the foot of her bed, for

whatever lay on the top of the bed, and for what lay under the side of

the cave. The young man thanked them for their counsel, and Tritill and

Litill then took leave of him, saying that for the present he would

need them no more.

Scarcely had they disappeared when the ogress came back, and found

everything ready just as she had ordered. Before she sat down to eat

the bullock’s heart she turned to the young man, and said: “You did not

do that all alone, my friend; but, nevertheless, I will keep my word,

and to-morrow you shall go your way.” So they went to bed and slept

till dawn.

When the sun rose the ogress awoke the young man, and called to him to

choose any three things out of her house.

“I choose,” answered he, “the chest which stands at the foot of your

bed; whatever lies on the top of the bed, and whatever is under the

side of the cave.”

“You did not choose those things by yourself, my friend,” said the

ogress; “but what I have promised, that will I do.”

And then she gave him his reward.

“The thing which lay on the top of the bed” turned out to be the lost

princess. “The chest which stood at the foot of the bed” proved full of

gold and precious stones; and “what was under the side of the cave” he

found to be a great ship, with oars and sails that went of itself as

well on land as in the water. “You are the luckiest man that ever was

born,” said the ogress as she went out of the cave as usual.

With much difficulty the youth put the heavy chest on his shoulders and

carried it on board the ship, the princess walking by his side. Then he

took the helm and steered the vessel back to her father’s kingdom. The

king’s joy at receiving back his lost daughter was so great that he

almost fainted, but when he recovered himself he made the young man

tell him how everything had really happened. “You have found her, and

you shall marry her,” said the king; and so it was done. And this is

the end of the story.

[From Ungarische Mährchen.]