GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES - online book

130 Fairy Stories Adapted & Arranged for young people

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THE WONDERFUL TRAVELLERS.
one to the right and the other to the left One old sergeant-major begged for mercy, he had received nine wounds, and was a brave fellow, who did not deserve to be so disgraced. The blower therefore sent him only a little way, so that he came back quite safely to the ground. Then he said to him, " Now go home to the king and tell him that if he sends any more cavalry regiments here, they will be blown away into the air in the same manner."
When the king received the message, he said, " Let the rascals go, they will meet their reward." So the six travellers carried the treasure home, divided it among themselves, and lived upon it contentedly ever after.
There was once a cook named Grethel who had shoes with red heels, and when she wore them out of doors, she would draw her* self up and walk proudly, and say to herself, " I really am a hand­some maiden.'' At home she would sometimes, in a frolic, drink a glass of wine, or if she took it in her head, she would eat up all the best things in the house, till she was satisfied, and say to her-self,-" The cook ought to know the taste of everything." " One day her master said to her, " Grethel, I have invited some friends to dinner to-day, cook me some of your best chickens."
" That will I do, master," she replied. So she went out and killed two of the best fowls and prepared them for roasting. v In the afternoon she placed them on the spit before the fire, and they were all ready, and beautifully hot, and brown by the proper time, but the visitors had not arrived. So she went to her master, and said, "The fowls will be quite spoilt if I keep them at the fire any longer. It will be a pity and a shame if they are not eaten soon."
Then said her master, " I will go and fetch the visitors myself," and away he went
As soon as his back was turned, Grethel put the spit with the birds on one side, and thought, " I have been standing by the fire so long that it has made me quite thirsty. Who knows when they will come ? While I am waiting I may as well run into the cellar,; and have a little drop." So she seized a jug, and said, "All right