The Master-Maid

Once upon a time there was a king who had many sons. I don't know exactly how many there were, but the youngest could not stay quietly at home. He wanted to go out into the world and try his luck. After a long time, the king had to let him go.

He traveled for several days and came to a giant's house. He hired himself as a servant. In the morning, the giant had to go out to pasture his goats. As he left, he told the king's son to clean out the stable.

"After you have done that," he said, "you don't have to do any more work today. You have come to a kind master, and you'll see that. But you must do what I set you to do well and thoroughly.

And you must never go into any of the rooms that lead off from the room where you slept last night. If you do, I will take your life."

"Well, he's an easy master!" said the prince to himself as he walked up and down the room, humming. He thought there would be plenty of time to clean the stable. "But it would be fun to peek into his other rooms," he thought.

"There must be something he doesn't want me to see." So he went into the first room. A cauldron hung from the wall, boiling, but there was no fire under it. "I wonder what's inside," he thought. He dipped a lock of his hair in, and the hair turned to copper.

"That's a strange soup. If anyone tasted it, their throat would be gilded," he said. Then he went into the next room. There was another cauldron, also boiling without fire. He dipped another lock of hair in, and it came out silver. "Such costly soup isn't in my father's palace," he said.

He went into the third room. Another cauldron hung there, boiling. He dipped another lock of hair in, and it came out shining gold. "This gets better and better," he said. "If he boils gold here, what does he boil in there?" He went into the fourth room.

There was no cauldron, but on a bench sat someone who looked like a king's daughter. She was so beautiful that he had never seen her equal.

"Oh! In heaven's name, what are you doing here?" said she who sat on the bench.

"I became a servant here yesterday," said the prince.

"May you soon have a better place, if you have come to serve here!" she said.

"Oh, but I think I have a kind master," said the prince. "He didn't give me hard work today. When I clean the stable, I'll be done."

"Yes, but how will you do it?" she asked. "If you clean it the usual way, ten pitchforkfuls will come in for every one you throw out. But I'll teach you. Turn your pitchfork upside down and work with the handle. Then everything will fly out by itself."

"I'll remember that," said the prince, and he stayed there the whole day. Soon they agreed to marry each other, he and the king's daughter. So the first day of his service did not seem long. When evening came, she said he should clean out the stable before the giant came home.

He went to the stable and tried working the way he had seen stable boys do in his father's stables. But soon he had scarcely any room to stand. So he did what the princess had taught him. He turned the pitchfork around and worked with the handle.

In the blink of an eye, the stable was as clean as if it had been scoured. Then he went back to his room and walked back and forth, humming and singing.

Soon the giant came home with the goats. "Have you cleaned the stable?" he asked.

"Yes, it's clean and fresh, master," said the prince.

"I'll see about that," said the giant. He went to the stable, and it was just as the prince had said.

"You have certainly been talking to my Master-Maid," said the giant. "You never got that out of your own head."

"Master-Maid? What kind of thing is that, master?" said the prince, pretending to be stupid. "I'd like to see that."

"Well, you'll see her soon enough," said the giant.

On the second morning, the giant had to go out with his goats again. He told the prince that today he must fetch home his horse, which was out on the mountain-side. After that, he could rest for the rest of the day. "For you have come to a kind master, and you'll find that," said the giant again. "But don't go into any of the rooms I spoke of yesterday, or I'll wring your head off." Then he went away with his goats.