Share page |
360 THE GOLDEN CASTLE OF STROMBERG. |
||
white horses; but she was already full of grief, and said, " Ah, I know he will be asleep."
*~ When she entered the garden, there he lay in a deep sleep by the tan-yard. She descended from the carriage, went to him, shook him, and tried all she could to wake him, but it was quite useless.
The next day, at noon, the old woman came again, and brought him meat and drink; he refused to take any, but she would not leave him alone, she did and said all she could to persuade him, and at last he drank a second time from her glass. At the hour of two he went out again to stand by the tan-yard, for he wanted to keep awake for the raven. But he found himself again so overcome with fatigue that his limbs could not support him; he could not help himself, but was obliged to lie down, and soon fell fast asleep.
In the meantime the raven drove up in a carriage, drawn by four brown horses, but she was still sorrowful. "I know he sleeps." she said; and so she found him lying in a deep sleep, from which nothing could awake him.
The next day the old woman said to him, " If you do not eat or drink you will die."
He replied, "I will not, and I dare not eat or drink."
However, she brought a dish with something very nice on it, and a glass of wane, and when the smell reached him he could withstand it no longer, and eat a good meal. When the time came for him to go out to the tan-yard and wait, he was as tired as on the previous day, and laying himself down, slept as soundly as if he had been a stone. At two o'clock came the raven again, this time with four black horses, and the carriage and all the harness were black also. She was, however, already sorrowful, and said, " I know that he sleeps, and cannot set me free." And she found her fears verified; there he lay fast asleep. She shook him and called to him, but he did not awake.
Then she placed a loaf of bread, a piece of meat, and a bottle of wine by his side, from which he could take what he liked. She also took a gold ring from her finger, on which her name was engraven, and placed it on his. And last of all she laid a letter on the ground close to him, in which she told him he might eat and drink what she had left for him; but that while he stayed in that place he would be unable to set her free. She then |
||