Joyfully the young man sprang into the saddle and rode away to the banks of the river.Then he threw himself off, and waited while the horse plunged in.The moment it dipped its head into the water its black skin vanished, and the most beautiful woman in the world was floating on the water.She came smiling towards the youth, and held out her hand, and he took it and led her back to the palace.
Great was the king's surprise and happiness when he beheld his lost wife stand before him, and in gratitude to her rescuer he loaded him with gifts.
You would have thought that after this the poor youth would have been left in peace; but no, his enemy the stableman hated him as much as ever, and laid a new plot for his undoing.This time he presented himself before the king and told him that the youth was so puffed up with what he had done that he had declared he would seize the king's throne for himself.
At this news the king waxed so furious that he ordered a gallows to be erected at once, and the young man to be hanged without a trial.
He was not even allowed to speak in his own defence, but on the very steps of the gallows he sent a message to the king and begged, as a last favour, that he might play a tune on his zither.Leave was given him, and taking the instrument from under his cloak he touched the strings.Scarcely had the first notes sounded than the hangman and his helper began to dance, and the louder grew the music the higher they capered, till at last they cried for mercy.But the youth paid no heed, and the tunes rang out more merrily than before, and by the time the sun set they both sank on the ground exhausted, and declared that the hanging must be put off till to-morrow.
The story of the zither soon spread through the town, and on the following morning the king and his whole court and a large crowd of people were gathered at the foot of the gallows to see the youth hanged.Once more he asked a favour--permission to play on his fiddle, and this the king was graciously pleased to grant.But with the first notes, the leg of every man in the crowd was lifted high, and they danced to the sound of the music the whole day till darkness fell, and there was no light to hang the musician by.
The third day came, and the youth asked leave to play on his flute.
'No, no,' said the king, 'you made me dance all day yesterday, and if I do it again it will certainly be my death.You shall play no more tunes.Quick! the rope round his neck.'
At these words the young man looked so sorrowful that the courtiers said to the king: 'He is very young to die.Let him play a tune if it will make him happy.' So, very unwillingly, the king gave him leave; but first he had himself bound to a big fir tree, for fear that he should be made to dance.
When he was made fast, the young man began to blow softly on his flute, and bound though he was, the king's body moved to the sound, up and down the fir tree till his clothes were in tatters, and the skin nearly rubbed off his back.But the youth had no pity, and went on blowing, till suddenly the old magician appeared and asked: 'What danger are you in, my son, that you have sent for me?'
'They want to hang me,' answered the young man; 'the gallows are all ready and the hangman is only waiting for me to stop playing.'
'Oh, I will put that right,' said the magician; and taking the gallows, he tore it up and flung it into the air, and no one knows where it came down.'Who has ordered you to be hanged?' asked he.
The young man pointed to the king, who was still bound to the fir;and without wasting words the magician took hold of the tree also, and with a mighty heave both fir and man went spinning through the air, and vanished in the clouds after the gallows.
Then the youth was declared to be free, and the people elected him for their king; and the stable helper drowned himself from envy, for, after all, if it had not been for him the young man would have remained poor all the days of his life.
[From Finnische Mahrchen.]
