The Glass Coffin

Let no one ever say that a poor tailor cannot do great things and win high honors. All that is needed is that he should go to the right smithy, and what matters most, that he should have good luck.

A polite and clever tailor's apprentice once went out traveling, and came into a great forest, and because he did not know the way, he got lost. Night fell, and he had no choice but to find a bed in this lonely and frightening place.

He could have slept on the soft moss, but he was too afraid of wild animals to rest there, so at last he decided to spend the night in a tree. He found a tall oak, climbed to the top, and thanked God that he had his iron with him, for otherwise the wind blowing over the treetop would have carried him away.

After he had spent some hours in the darkness, not without fear and trembling, he saw a flickering light quite close by. Thinking there might be a house where he would be safer than on the tree branches, he carefully climbed down and went toward the light.

It led him to a small hut woven from reeds and rushes. He knocked boldly. The door opened, and by the light that came out he saw a little gray-haired old man wearing a coat made of patches of colored cloth sewn together.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" asked the man in a grumbling voice. "I am a poor tailor," he answered, "whom night has caught here in the wilderness. I earnestly beg you to let me stay in your hut until morning." "Go away," replied the old man in a surly voice.

"I want nothing to do with runaways. Find shelter somewhere else." After these words he was about to slip back into his hut, but the tailor held him tightly by the corner of his coat and pleaded so pitifully that the old man, who was not as ill-natured as he wanted to seem, was at last softened.

He took the tailor into the hut, gave him something to eat, and then showed him a very good bed in a corner.

The weary tailor needed no rocking; he slept sweetly until morning. But he would not have thought of getting up if he had not been awakened by a great noise. A violent screaming and roaring forced its way through the thin walls of the hut.

The tailor, full of unusual courage, jumped up, put on his clothes in haste, and hurried outside. Close to the hut he saw a huge black bull and a beautiful stag getting ready for a fierce fight.

They rushed at each other with such fury that the ground shook with their trampling and the air echoed with their cries. For a long time it was uncertain which would win, but at last the stag thrust his horns into the bull's body.

The bull fell to the earth with a terrible roar, and the stag finished him off with a few more strokes.

The tailor had watched the fight in amazement and was still standing motionless when the stag bounded toward him at full speed. Before he could escape, the stag caught him on his great horns. He didn't have much time to think, for they raced over rocks and stones, mountains and valleys, woods and meadows.

He held on with both hands to the tips of the horns and resigned himself to his fate. It felt just as if he were flying. At last the stag stopped in front of a wall of rock and gently set the tailor down.

The tailor was more dead than alive and needed a long time to recover. When he had somewhat come to his senses, the stag, which had stayed beside him, pushed its horns with such force against a door in the rock that it sprang open.

Flames of fire shot out, followed by a great smoke that hid the stag from his sight. The tailor didn't know what to do or where to go to get out of this wilderness and back to human beings.

While he stood there uncertain, a voice sounded from the rock, crying, "Enter without fear; no evil shall befall you." He hesitated, but driven by a mysterious force, he obeyed the voice and went through the iron door into a large, spacious hall whose ceiling, walls, and floor were made of shining, polished square stones.

On each stone were cut letters that he did not recognize. He looked at everything with admiration and was about to go out again when he once more heard the voice, which said, "Step on the stone that lies in the middle of the hall, and great good fortune awaits you."

His courage had grown so great that he obeyed. The stone began to give way under his feet and sank slowly down into the depths. When it was firm again and the tailor looked around, he found himself in a hall as large as the first.

But here there was more to see and admire. Hollow places were cut in the walls, and in them stood vases of transparent glass filled with colored spirits or a bluish vapor. On the floor of the hall, two great glass chests stood opposite each other, which at once excited his curiosity.

When he went to one of them, he saw inside a handsome structure like a castle surrounded by farm buildings, stables, barns, and many other good things. Everything was small but extremely carefully and delicately made, as if carved by a skillful hand with the greatest precision.

He might not have turned his eyes away from this rarity for some time if the voice had not made itself heard again. It ordered him to turn around and look at the glass chest opposite. How his admiration grew when he saw in it a maiden of the greatest beauty!

She lay as if asleep, wrapped in her long, fair hair like a precious cloak. Her eyes were tightly shut, but the brightness of her complexion and a ribbon that moved to and fro with her breathing left no doubt that she was alive.

The tailor was gazing at the beauty with a beating heart when she suddenly opened her eyes and started up at the sight of him in joyful terror. "Good heavens!" she cried, "my rescue is near!

Quick, quick, help me out of my prison; if you push back the bolt of this glass coffin, I shall be free." The tailor obeyed without delay. She immediately raised the glass lid, came out, and hurried into the corner of the hall, where she covered herself with a large cloak.

Then she sat down on a stone, asked the young man to come to her, and after giving him a friendly kiss on the lips, she said, "My long-desired rescuer, kind Heaven has guided you to me and put an end to my sorrows.

On the same day my sorrows end, your happiness shall begin. You are the husband chosen for me by Heaven and shall live your life in unbroken joy, loved by me and rich beyond measure in every earthly possession. Sit down and listen to the story of my life."

"I am the daughter of a rich count. My parents died when I was still very young and commended me in their last will to my elder brother, who brought me up. We loved each other so dearly and were so alike in our thinking and inclinations that we both decided never to marry but to stay together for life.

In our house, there was no lack of company; neighbors and friends often visited us, and we showed great hospitality to everyone. One evening, a stranger came riding to our castle and, pretending that he could not reach the next place, begged for shelter for the night.

We granted his request with ready courtesy, and during supper he entertained us most agreeably with conversation and stories. My brother liked the stranger so much that he asked him to spend a few days with us. After some hesitation, the stranger agreed.

We did not leave the table until late at night. The stranger was shown to his room, and I, being tired, hurried to lay my limbs in my soft bed. I had hardly slept a short time when the sound of faint and delightful music woke me.

I could not imagine where it came from and wanted to call my maid, who slept in the next room, but to my astonishment I found that speech was taken from me by an unknown force.

I felt as if a mountain were weighing on my chest and could not make the slightest sound. Meanwhile, by the light of my night lamp, I saw the stranger enter my room through two doors that were tightly bolted.

He came to me and said that by the magic arts at his command, he had caused the lovely music to wake me, and that he now forced his way through all fastenings intending to offer me his hand and heart.

My disgust at his magic arts was so great that I gave him no answer. He stood still for a while, apparently waiting for a favorable decision, but as I kept silent, he angrily declared he would take revenge and find means to punish my pride. He left the room.

I spent the night in great turmoil and fell asleep only toward morning. When I woke, I hurried to my brother but did not find him in his room. The servants told me that he had ridden out with the stranger at daybreak to go hunting.

"I at once suspected something was wrong. I dressed quickly, ordered my horse to be saddled, and rode at full gallop into the forest, accompanied by only one servant. The servant fell with his horse and could not follow me because the horse had broken its leg.

I continued without stopping, and in a few minutes I saw the stranger coming toward me leading a beautiful stag by a cord. I asked him where he had left my brother and how he had come by this stag, out of whose great eyes I saw tears flowing.

Instead of answering, he began to laugh loudly. I flew into a great rage, pulled out a pistol, and fired at the monster, but the bullet bounced off his chest and went into my horse's head. I fell to the ground, and the stranger muttered some words that robbed me of consciousness.

"When I came to my senses again, I found myself in this underground cave in a glass coffin. The magician appeared once more and said he had changed my brother into a stag, and my castle with all that belonged to it he had shrunk by his arts and shut up in the other glass chest.

My people, who were all turned into smoke, he had confined in glass bottles. He told me that if I would now give in to his wish, it would be easy for him to put everything back as it was, for he had only to open the vessels and everything would return to its natural form.

I answered him as little as I had the first time. He vanished and left me in my prison, where a deep sleep came over me. Among the visions that passed before my eyes, the most comforting was that a young man came and set me free.

And when I opened my eyes today, I saw you and beheld my dream fulfilled. Help me to accomplish the other things that happened in those visions. The first is that we lift the glass chest in which my castle is enclosed onto that broad stone."

As soon as the stone was loaded, it began to rise up high with the maiden and the young man, and it rose through the opening in the ceiling into the upper hall, from where they could easily reach the open air.

Here the maiden opened the lid, and it was marvelous to behold how the castle, the houses, and the farm buildings enclosed inside stretched out and grew to their natural size with the greatest speed.

After this, the maiden and the tailor returned to the cave beneath the earth and had the vessels filled with smoke carried up by the stone. The maiden had scarcely opened the bottles when the blue smoke rushed out and changed into living men, in whom she recognized her servants and her people.

Her joy was even greater when her brother, who had killed the magician in the form of the bull, came out of the forest toward them in human form. And on that very same day, the maiden, in accordance with her promise, gave her hand at the altar to the lucky tailor.