同路人(五)

After there had been a little dancing, the princess told the magician that she had a new suitor, and therefore she inquired of him what she should think of to ask the suitor when he should come tomorrow to the palace.

"Listen!" said the magician, "I will tell you that: you must choose something very easy, for then he won't think of it. Think of one of your shoes. That he will not guess. Let him have his head cut off; but don't forget, when you come to me tomorrow night, to bring me his eyes, for I'll eat them."

The princess curtsied very low, and said she would not forget the eyes. The magician opened the mountain, and she flew home again; but the travelling companion followed her, and beat her again so hard with the rod that she sighed quite deeply about the heavy hail-storm, and hurried as much as she could to get back into the bedroom through the open window. The travelling companion, for his part, flew back to the inn, where John was still asleep, took off his wings, and then lay down upon the bed, for he might well be tired.

It was quite early in the morning when John awoke. The travelling companion also got up, and said he had had a wonderful dream in the night, about the princess and her shoe; and he therefore begged John to ask if the princess had not thought about her shoe. For it was this he had heard from the magician in the mountain. But he would not tell John anything about that; he merely told him to ask if she had not thought about one of her shoes.

"I may just as well ask about that as about anything else," said John. "Perhaps it is quite right, what you have dreamed. But I will bid you farewell; for, if I guess wrong, I shall never see you more."

Then they embraced each other, and John went into the town and to the palace. The entire hall was filled with people: the judges sat in their arm-chairs and had eider-down pillows behind their heads, for they had a great deal to think about. The old king stood up, and wiped his eyes with a white pocket-handkerchief. Now the princess came in. She was much more beautiful than yesterday, and bowed to all in a very affable manner; but to John she gave her hand, and said, "Good morning to you."

Now John was to guess what she had thought of. Oh, how lovingly she looked at him! But as soon as she heard the single word "shoe" pronounced, she became as white as chalk in the face, and trembled all over. But that availed her nothing, for John had guessed right! Wonderful! How glad the old king was! He threw a somersault, beautiful to behold. And all the people clapped their hands in honour of him and of John, who had guessed right the first time!

The travelling companion beamed with delight, when he heard how well matters had gone. But John folded his hands and thanked God, who certainly would help him also the second and third time. The next day he was to guess again.

The evening passed just like that of yesterday. While John slept the travelling companion flew behind the princess out to the mountain, and beat her even harder than the time before, for now he had taken two rods. No'one saw him, and he heard everything. The princess was to think of her glove; and this again he told to John as if it had been a dream. Thus John could guess correctly, which caused great rejoicing in the palace. The whole court threw somersaults, just as they had seen the king do the first time; but the princess lay on the sofa, and would not say a single word. Now, the question was,if John could guess properly the third time. If he succeeded, he was to have the beautiful princess and inherit the whole kingdom after the old king's death. If he failed, he was to lose his life, and the magician would eat his beautiful blue eyes.

That evening John went early to bed, said his prayers, and went to sleep quite quietly. But the travelling companion bound his wings to his back and his sword by his side, and took all three rods with him, and so flew away to the palace.

It was a very dark night. The wind blew so hard that the tiles flew off from the roofs, and the trees in the garden where the skeletons hung bent like reeds before the storm. The lightening flashed out every minute, and the thunder rolled just as if it were one peal lasting the whole night. Now the window opened, and the princess flew out. She was as pale as death; but she laughed at the bad weather, and thought it was not bad enough yet. And her white cloak fluttered in the wind like a great sail; but the travelling companion beat her with the three rods, so that the blood dripped upon the ground, and at last she could scarcely fly any farther. At length, however, she arrived at the mountain.

"It hails and blows dreadfully!" she said. "I have never been out in such weather."

"One may have too much of a good thing," said the magician. Now she told him that John had also guessed correctly the second time; if he did the same on the morrow, then he had won, and she could never more come out to him in the mountain, and would never be able to perform such feats of magic as before, and so she was quite dejected. "He shall not be able to guess," said the magician. "I shall think of something of which he has never thought, or he must be a greater conjuror than I. But now we will be merry." And he look the princess by the hands, and they danced about with all the little goblins and Jack-o'-lanterns that were in the room. The red spiders jumped just as merrily up and down the walls: it looked as if fiery flowers were spurting out. The owl played the drum, the crickets piped, and the black grasshoppers played on the Jew' s-harp. It was a merry ball.

公主跳了一会儿舞后,告诉魔法师,说自己来了一个新的追求者,因此她想问问,那个人明天来王宫的时候,她应该让他猜什么。

“听着,”魔法师说,“我来告诉你:你要想一个十分简单的事,这样他反倒猜不出来。想想你的一只鞋子,他怎么也猜不到,这样就能砍掉他的脑袋了。但你别忘记,明天晚上你来的时候,可要将他的眼睛给我带来,因为我要吃掉它们。”

公主深深地鞠了一躬,说自己不会忘记带眼睛的。魔法师打开山门,公主又飞回了家。那个旅伴跟着她,使劲地用那个枝条抽打她,她大口地叹气,抱怨冰雹下得太大了。她钻进窗户,急急忙忙地回到卧室。那个旅伴呢,则飞回了旅馆,约翰还在大睡呢。他脱去了翅膀,一头倒在床上,他确实给累坏了。

约翰一大早就醒了。旅伴也爬了起来,说他夜里做了个奇妙的梦,是关于公主和她的鞋子的。他请求约翰问公主,她是不是在想她的一只鞋。其实他是在山上从魔法师那里听到的。但他不想对约翰透露任何消息。他只是让约翰问问公主,她是不是想过自己的一只鞋。

“我会问这事的,当然也得问其他一些事。”约翰说,“也许你的梦是真的。不过我要和你道别了。因为如果我猜错,就再也见不到你啦。”

他们互相拥抱后,约翰就进了城,直奔王宫。整个大厅挤满了人。法官坐在扶手椅上,脑袋后面枕着鸭绒枕头,因为他们脑子得琢磨许多事;老国王站着,用白手帕擦眼睛。这时公主走进来了。她比昨天更漂亮,十分和蔼地向其他所有人鞠躬致敬。不过她把手伸给了约翰,说:“早晨好!”

现在约翰真该猜猜公主想的是什么了。啊!她望着约翰,那样子有多么可爱!可是她一听到“鞋”这个字,脸一下子变得像粉笔一样煞白,浑身都抖起来。但这有什么用呢,原来约翰猜对了。太好啦!瞧老国王高兴得的样子!他翻了一个跟头,真是好看。所有人都鼓掌,向国王和约翰致敬,因为约翰是第一个猜中了答案的人!

旅伴听说一切顺利,高兴得眉飞色舞。约翰合起双手,感谢上帝。他坚信上帝还会第二次、第三次帮他的。第二天他还得再来猜。

当晚又和昨天晚上一样。约翰睡着后,旅伴跟着公主,朝大山飞去。这次他打得更狠了,因为他带了两根枝条。没有谁能看见他,但他什么都能听到。公主这次想的是自己的手套。他又把这事告诉了约翰,假装说自己做了个梦。这样约翰又猜测对了,王宫里一片喜气洋洋。所有宫里的人都翻起了跟斗,就像老国王第一次翻的那样。但公主躺在沙发上,一言不发。现在的问题是:如果约翰第三次也猜对了,他就会娶公主,并且在老国王死后继承整个王国;但他要是失败,就会丢掉性命,魔法师吃掉他美丽的蓝眼睛。

那天晚上,约翰早早地上了床,做了祷告,然后就非常安稳地睡了。但旅伴依旧把翅膀绑到背上,佩带一把剑,手持三根枝条,又飞向王宫。

这是个黑漆漆的夜晚。狂风劲吹,将屋顶的瓦都刮走了。花园里树上挂的骷髅,被吹得就像芦苇似地摇晃着。一道道闪电,划破长空;一阵阵雷声,响彻云霄。这时窗户开了,公主飞了出来。她的脸色惨白,像死人一样。但她冲着恶劣天气狂笑着,觉得这还不够。在风中,她的白袍子撑得像一片巨帆。但旅伴使劲地用三根枝条抽打她,鲜血一滴一滴落到地面上,她几乎飞不动了。最后,她艰难地来到大山。

“多么可怕的冰雹和大风!”她说,“我还从来没有在这样的天气出过门。”

“天下哪有送上门的好事!”那个魔法师说。公主告诉魔法师,说约翰第二次也猜对了。如果他明天还能猜出来,那么他就赢了,自己便不能再来这座山,不能像以前那样施展魔法,因此她感到很沮丧。“他怎么也猜不出来的,”魔法师说,“我要想一件他根本想不到的东西,除非他是个比我更高明的魔法师。让我们现在痛痛快快地玩吧!”他拉起公主的手,和那些屋里的小精灵以及鬼灯一道跳舞。红蜘蛛在墙上快活地上蹿下跳,好像火花四溅似的。猫头鹰敲着鼓,蟋蟀吹着风管,黑蚂蚱弹起竖琴。真是一个快乐的舞会呀!(未完待续)