The tinder-box
A soldier
came marching along the highway: left, right! left, right! He had his knapsack
on his back and a sword at his side, for he had been out fighting a war, and
now he was on his way home. Out on the highway he met with an old witch – she
was horribly ugly, her lower lip hung right down on her chest. She said: ‘Good
evening, soldier! What a fine sword and a large knapsack you have, you’re a
real soldier! And now you’re going to have as much money as you want to own!’
‘Thank you, you old witch!’ the soldier said.
‘Can you see that big tree?’ the witch said,
pointing at a tree that stood next to them. ‘It’s completely hollow inside!
You’re to clamber up to the top of it and there you’ll see a hole you can let
yourself slide down through and get deep inside the tree! I’ll bind a rope
round your waist, for then I can haul you up when you give me a shout!’
‘What am I meant to do down in the tree?’ the
soldier asked.
‘Fetch money!’ the witch said, ‘now when you
get down to the bottom of the tree, you’ll find yourself in a large hallway
that is quite bright, for more than a hundred lamps burn there. Then you will
see three doors, you can open them, the keys are in the locks. When you go into
the first room, you’ll see a large chest in the middle of the floor with a dog
sitting on top; it’s got eyes the size of a pair of saucers, but don’t you
worry about that! I’ll give you my blue-checked apron, you can spread it out on
the floor – then go over quickly and pick up the dog, place him on the apron,
open the chest and take as many coins as you like. They are all made of copper,
but if you would rather have silver coins, you must go into the next room, but the
dog sitting there has a pair of eyes that are as big as mill-wheels, but don’t
you worry about that, place him on my apron and help yourself to the money! If
gold is more to your liking, though, you can have that, and as much as you’re
prepared to carry, when you go into the third room. But the dog sitting on the
money chest there has two eyes each of which is a big as the Round Tower. Now
that’s a real dog, believe you me! But don’t you worry yourself about that!
Just place him on my apron and he won’t do you any harm, and take as much gold
as you like out of the chest!’
‘That doesn’t sound at all bad!’ the soldier
said. ‘But what am I to give you, you old witch? For you’ll want something for
it, I imagine!’
‘No,’ the witch said, ‘I don’t want a single penny!
All you need fetch for me is an old tinder-box that my grandmother forgot last
time she was down there!’
‘Right, then! Fix the rope round my waist!’ the
soldier said.
‘Here it is!’ the witch said, ‘and here is my
blue-checked apron.’
Then the soldier clambered up into the tree,
let himself tumble down into the hole and now, as the witch had said, he found
himself standing in a large hallway where many hundreds of lamps were burning.
He now opened the first door. Uh! There sat the
dog with eyes as big as saucers glaring at him.
‘You’re a nice-looking chap!’ the soldier said,
placed him on the witch’s apron and took just as many copper coins as would fit
into his pockets, closed the chest, put the dog back on it again and went into
the second room. Ooh! There sat the dog with eyes as big as mill-wheels.
‘You shouldn’t stare at me so much!’ the
soldier said, ‘it might hurt your eyes!’ And he placed the dog on the witch’s
apron, butwhen he saw the many silver coins in the chest, he threw away all the
copper coins he had and filled his pockets and his knapsack with pure silver. Now
he went into the third room! Oh no, how ghastly! The dog there really did have
two eyes each as big as the Round Tower. And they spun round in his face, just
like wheels!
‘Good evening!’ the soldier said, raising his
hand to his peaked cap, for he had never seen a dog like it before; but when he
had looked at it for a bit, he thought that enough’s enough, lifted him down
onto the floor and opened the chest – goodness gracious! How much gold there
was! He could buy all of Copenhagen, and the cake-woman’s sugar-pigs, all the
tin-soldiers, whips and rocking horses that existed in the whole world! Yes,
this was money all right! Now the soldier threw away all the silver coins he
had filled his pockets and his knapsack with and took gold ones instead, yes, he
crammed even all his pockets, the knapsack, his cap and his boots full, so he
was scarcely able to walk! Now he really had money! He put the dog back on the
chest, slammed the door shut and shouted out up the tree: ‘Haul me up now, you
old witch!’
‘Have you got the tinder-box with you?’ the
witch asked.
‘Oh yes, that’s right,’ the soldier said, ‘I’d
completely forgotten about that!’ and he went and took it. The witch hauled him
up, and there he was again on the highway, with his pockets, boots, knapsack
and cap full of money.
‘What are you going to use that tinder-box
for?’ the soldier asked.
‘None of your business!’ the witch said,
‘you’ve got all your money! Just give me the tinder-box!’
‘Stuff and nonsense!’ the soldier said, ‘tell
me at once what you’re going to use it for, or I’ll draw my sword and cut off
your head!’
‘No!’ the witch said.
Then the soldier cut off her head. There she
lay! But he bound up all his money in her apron, took it as a bundle on his
back, stuffed the tinder-box into his pocket and went straight off to the town.
It was a fine town, and he put up at the finest
inn, ordered the very best rooms and the food he was most fond of, for now he
was rich as he had so much money.
The servant who was to polish his boots,
admittedly felt that they were a queer old pair of boots for such a rich man to
have, but the soldier hadn’t bought himself a new pair yet; the following day
he bought himself a proper pair, and splendid clothes as well! Now the soldier
had become a fine gentleman, and they told him about all the great doings of
the town, about their king, and what a charming princess his daughter was.
‘Where can one get to see her?’ the soldier
asked.
‘She can’t be seen at all!’ they all said. ‘she
lives in a large copper castle, with so many walls and towers around it! No one
except the king dares go in to her, because it has been predicted that she will
marry a simple soldier, and the king doesn’t like the idea one bit!’
‘Now she’s someone I wouldn’t mind seeing!’ the
soldier thought to himself – but he would never be allowed to do that!
He now led a gay life, went to the theatre,
drove in the Royal Gardens and gave the poor lots of money – and that was nobly
done! He knew from his own past how terrible it was not to have a penny! now he
was rich, had splendid clothes, and gained a great number of friends as well,
and all of them said what a fine fellow he was, a real gentleman – and the
soldier liked all of this! But since he spent money every day and did not have
any money coming in, he finally ended up with only a couple of small coins left
and had to move out of the fine rooms where he had been living up into a tiny
attic room, polish his own boots and sew them with a darning needle, and none
of his friends came to see him, for there were so many stairs to climb.
It was so dark in the evening, and he couldn’t
even afford to buy himself a candle, but then he remembered that there was a
small stump left in the tinder-box he had taken in the hollow tree that the
witch had helped him down inside.
He took out the tinder-box and the candle-stump,
but just as he struck a light and the sparks flew off the flintstone, the door
burst open, and the dog that had eyes as big as a pair of saucers, and that he
had seen down in the tree, stood in front of him and asked: ‘What does my
master command!’
‘Good gracious!’ the soldier said, ‘this is a funny
tinder-box – can I have whatever I want? Get me some money,’ he said to the dog
and whoosh, it was gone! Whoosh, there it was again, and in its jaws it was
holding a bag full of coins.
Now the soldier realised what a wonderful
tinder-box it was! If he struck it once, the dog that sat on the chest with the
copper coins came, if he struck it twice, the one with the silver coins, and if
he struck it three times, the one that had gold. Now the soldier moved back
into his beautiful rooms, put on his splendid clothes, and immediately all his
friends recognised him once more, and were extremely fond of him. Then he
thought to himself: It’s really is very odd that there is no way of getting to
see the princess! Everyone says that she is so lovely! But what’s the use of
that if she has to sit all the time inside the great copper castle with the
many towers. Can’t I get to see her at all? Where’s my tinder-box! And he
struck a light and whoosh, there was the dog with eyes as big as saucers.
‘I know it’s the middle of the night,’ the
soldier said, ‘but I so much wish to see the princess, just for a brief
moment!’
The dog was out of the door in no time, and
before the soldier had time to think, there it was again with the princess –
she lay sleeping on the dog’s back and was so lovely that anyone could see she
was a real princess; the soldier couldn’t help himself, he simply had to kiss
her, for he was a real soldier.
The dog then ran back with the princess, but
when morning came, and the king and queen were pouring out the tea, the
princess said that she had dreamt such a strange dream that night about a dog
and a soldier. She had ridden on the dog, and the soldier had kissed her.
‘That’s a pretty story, to be sure!’ the queen
said.
Now one of the old ladies-in-waiting was to
watch beside the princess’s bed the following night, to see if it was a real
dream, or what else it could possibly be.
The soldier so longed to see the lovely
princess once more, and then the dog came at night, fetched her and ran as fast
as it could, but the old lady-in-waiting put waterproof boots on and ran just
as fast after it; when she saw that it disappeared into a large house, she
thought to herself, now I know where it is, and drew a large chalk cross on the
door. Then she went home and lay down, and the dog came once more with the
princess; but when it saw that a cross had been drawn on the door where the
soldier lived, it took another piece of chalk and drew crosses on all the doors
in the whole town, and that was a wise thing to do, for of course the
lady-in-waiting couldn’t find the right door, now that there were crosses on
all of them.
Early the next morning, the king and queen, the
old lady-in-waiting and all the officers came to see where the princess had
been!
‘There
it is!’ the king said, when he saw the first door with a cross on it.
No, it’s over there, my dear husband!’ the queen said, who saw another door with
a cross on it.
But there’s one there and one there!’
they all said – wherever they looked, there were crosses on the doors. Then
they realised that there was no point in looking any further.
But the queen happened to be a very wise woman,
one who could do a lot more than just drive around in a carriage. She took her
large gold scissors, cut a large piece of silk into small sections, and then
sewed a nice little bag out of them; this she filled with small, fine grains of
buckwheat, bound it to the back of the princess, and when that was done, she
made a small hole in the bag, so the grains could trickle out wherever the
princess went.
That night the dog came again, took the
princess on its back and ran with her back to the soldier, who was so fond of
her, and would dearly have liked to be a prince so he could marry her.
The dog didn’t notice at all that the grains
trickled out all the way from the castle to the soldier’s window when he
clambered up the wall with the princess. The next morning, the king and queen could
clearly see where their daughter had been, and they had the soldier seized and
thrown into jail.
There he sat. Uh, how dark and unpleasant it
was, and then they said to him: Tomorrow you’re going to be hanged. That was
not a nice thing to hear, and he had forgotten his tinder-box back at the inn. When
morning came, he could see through the iron bars of the tiny window how people
were hurrying out of the town to see him be hanged. He heard the drums and saw
the soldiers marching. Everyone hurried off; there was also a cobbler’s boy
with a leather apron and clogs on, he ran at such a pace that one of his clogs
flew off and struck the wall where the soldier was standing looking out between
the bars.
‘Hey, cobbler’s boy! Don’t be in such a hurry!’
the soldier said to him, ‘nothing’s going to happen before I appear on the
scene! But if you’re prepared to run over to where I have been living and fetch
me my tinder-box, I’ll give you four shillings! But you must be quick about it!’
The cobbler’s boy was eager to get the four shillings, and off he shot to fetch
the tinder-box, gave it to the soldier, and – well now, just hear what happened after
that!
Outside the town a large gallows had been
raised, around it the soldiers stood along with many hundreds and thousands of
people. The king and queen sat on a fine throne opposite the judge and the
entire council.
The soldier was already up on the ladder, but
when they wanted to put the noose round his neck, he said that it was always
the custom to let a sinner have an innocent wish fulfilled before facing his
punishment. He would like to smoke a pipeful of tobacco, for that would be the
last pipeful he would ever have in this world.
Now the king wouldn’t deny him that, and so the
soldier took his tinder-box and struck a light – one, two, three! And there all
the dogs stood, the one with eyes as big as saucers, the one with eyes like
mill-wheels and the one that had eyes as big as the Round Tower.
‘Save me from being hanged!’ the soldier said,
and then the dogs went after the judges and the entire council, took one by the
legs and one by the nose and flung them way up into the air, so they fell down
and were smashed to pieces.
‘No, no, I won’t!’ the king said, but the
biggest dog took both him and the queen, and flung them up after all the
others; then the soldiers took fright and everyone shouted: ‘Little soldier,
you shall be our king and have the lovely princess!’
Then they placed the soldier in the royal
carriage, and all three dogs danced in front of it and shouted ‘Hurrah!’ And
the boys whistled through their fingers and the soldiers presented arms. The
princess came out of the copper castle and became queen, and she liked that!
The wedding lasted for eight days, and the dogs sat there at the table, their eyes
open wide.