 Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree
Once upon a time there was a king who
had a wife, whose name was
Silver-tree, and a daughter, whose name was Gold-tree.
On a certain
day of the days, Gold-tree and Silver-tree went to a glen,
where
there was a well, and in it there was a trout.
Said Silver-tree, "Troutie,
bonny little fellow, am not I the most
beautiful queen in the world?"
"Oh! indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."
Silver-tree went home, blind with rage. She lay down on
the bed, and
vowed she would never be well until she could get the heart
and the
liver of Gold-tree, her daughter, to eat.
At nightfall the king came home, and it was told him that
Silver-
tree, his wife, was very ill. He went where she was, and
asked her
what was wrong with her.
"Oh! only a thing--which
you may heal if you like."
"Oh! indeed there is nothing
at all which I could do for you that I
would not do."
"If I get the heart and
the liver of Gold-tree, my daughter, to eat,
I shall be well."
Now it happened about this time that the son of a great
king had
come from abroad to ask Gold-tree for marrying. The king
now agreed
to this, and they went abroad.
The king then went and sent his lads to the hunting-hill
for a he-
goat, and he gave its heart and its liver to his wife to
eat; and
she rose well and healthy.
A year after this Silver-tree went to the glen, where
there was the
well in which there was the trout.
"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, "am
not I the most
beautiful queen in the world?"
"Oh! indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."
"Oh! well, it is long since
she was living. It is a year since I ate
her heart and liver."
"Oh! indeed she is not dead.
She is married to a great prince
abroad."
Silver-tree went home, and begged the king to put the
long-ship in
order, and said, "I am going to see my dear Gold-tree,
for it is so
long since I saw her." The long-ship was put in order,
and they went
away.
It was Silver-tree herself that was at the helm, and she
steered the
ship so well that they were not long at all before they
arrived.
The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-tree knew
the long-
ship of her father coming.
"Oh!" said she to the servants, "my
mother is coming, and she will
kill me."
"She shall not kill you
at all; we will lock you in a room where she
cannot get near you."
This is how it was done; and when Silver-tree came ashore,
she began
to cry out:
"Come to meet your own mother, when she comes to
see you," Gold-tree
said that she could not, that she was locked in the room,
and that
she could not get out of it.
"Will you not put out," said Silver-tree, "your
little finger
through the key-hole, so that your own mother may give
a kiss to
it?"
She put out her little finger, and Silver-tree went and
put a
poisoned stab in it, and Gold-tree fell dead.
When the prince came home, and found Gold-tree dead, he
was in great
sorrow, and when he saw how beautiful she was, he did not
bury her
at all, but he locked her in a room where nobody would
get near her.
In the course of time he married again, and the whole
house was
under the hand of this wife but one room, and he himself
always kept
the key of that room. On a certain day of the days he forgot
to take
the key with him, and the second wife got into the room.
What did
she see there but the most beautiful woman that she ever
saw.
She began to turn and try to wake her, and she noticed
the poisoned
stab in her finger. She took the stab out, and Gold-tree
rose alive,
as beautiful as she was ever.
At the fall of night the prince came home from the hunting-hill,
looking very downcast.
"What gift," said his wife, "would
you give me that I could make you
laugh?"
"Oh! indeed, nothing could
make me laugh, except Gold-tree were to
come alive again."
"Well, you'll find her alive
down there in the room."
When the prince saw Gold-tree alive he made great rejoicings,
and he
began to kiss her, and kiss her, and kiss her. Said the
second wife,
"Since she is the first one you had it is better for
you to stick to
her, and I will go away."
"Oh! indeed you shall not
go away, but I shall have both of you."
At the end of the year, Silver-tree went to the glen,
where there
was the well, in which there was the trout.
"Troutie, bonny little fellow," said she, "am
not I the most
beautiful queen in the world?"
"Oh! indeed you are not."
"Who then?"
"Why, Gold-tree, your daughter."
"Oh! well, she is not alive.
It is a year since I put the poisoned
stab into her finger."
"Oh! indeed she is not dead
at all, at all."
Silver-tree, went home, and begged the king to put the
long-ship in
order, for that she was going to see her dear Gold-tree,
as it was
so long since she saw her. The long-ship was put in order,
and they
went away. It was Silver-tree herself that was at the helm,
and she
steered the ship so well that they were not long at all
before they
arrived.
The prince was out hunting on the hills. Gold-tree knew
her father's
ship coming.
"Oh!" said she, "my
mother is coming, and she will kill me."
"Not at all," said the second wife; "we
will go down to meet her."
Silver-tree came ashore. "Come down, Gold-tree, love," said
she,
"for your own mother has come to you with a precious
drink."
"It is a custom in this country," said the second
wife, "that the
person who offers a drink takes a draught out of it first."
Silver-tree put her mouth to it, and the second wife went
and struck
it so that some of it went down her throat, and she fell
dead. They
had only to carry her home a dead corpse and bury her.
The prince and his two wives were long alive after this,
pleased and
peaceful.
I left them there.
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