Devil with three Golden Hairs
There was once a poor woman who gave birth to a little son;
and as he came into the world with a caul on, it was predicted that in his
fourteenth year he would have the King's daughter for his wife.
It happened that soon afterwards the King came into the
village, and no one knew that he was the King, and when he asked the people
what news there was, they answered, "A child has just been born with a
caul on; whatever any one so born undertakes turns out well. It is prophesied,
too, that in his fourteenth year he will have the King's daughter for his
wife."
The King, who had a bad heart, and was angry about the
prophecy, went to the parents, and, seeming quite friendly, said, "You
poor people, let me have your child, and I will take care of it." At first
they refused, but when the stranger offered them a large amount of gold for it,
and they thought, "It is a luck-child, and everything must turn out well
for it," they at last consented, and gave him the child.
The King put it in a box and rode away with it until he came
to a deep piece of water; then he threw the box into it and thought, "I
have freed my daughter from her unlooked-for suitor."
The box, however, did not sink, but floated like a boat, and
not a drop of water made its way into it. And it floated to within two miles of
the King's chief city, where there was a mill, and it came to a stand-still at
the mill-dam. A miller's boy, who by good luck was standing there, noticed it
and pulled it out with a hook, thinking that he had found a great treasure, but
when he opened it there lay a pretty boy inside, quite fresh and lively. He
took him to the miller and his wife, and as they had no children they were
glad, and said, "God has given him to us." They took great care of
the foundling, and he grew up in all goodness.
It happened that once in a storm, the King went into the
mill, and he asked the mill-folk if the tall youth was their son.
"No," answered they, "he's a foundling. Fourteen years ago he
floated down to the mill-dam in a box, and the mill-boy pulled him out of the
water." Then the King knew that it was none other than the luck-child
which he had thrown into the water, and he said, "My good people, could not
the youth take a letter to the Queen; I will give him two gold pieces as a
reward?" - "Just as the King commands," answered they, and they
told the boy to hold himself in readiness. Then the King wrote a letter to the
Queen, wherein he said, "As soon as the boy arrives with this letter, let
him be killed .
The boy set out with this letter; but he lost his way, and
in the evening came to a large forest. In the darkness he saw a small light; he
went towards it and reached a cottage. When he went in, an old woman was
sitting by the fire quite alone. She started when she saw the boy, and said,
"Whence do you come, and whither are you going?" - "I come from
the mill," he answered, "and wish to go to the Queen, to whom I am
taking a letter; but as I have lost my way in the forest I should like to stay
here over night." - "You poor boy," said the woman, "you
have come into a den of thieves, and when they come home they will kill
you." - "Let them come," said the boy, "I am not afraid;
but I am so tired that I cannot go any farther:" and he stretched himself
upon a bench and fell asleep