9. Interpretations of Fairy Tales

Once upon a time, something happened, but where was it? Yes, one might also ask: Where wasn't it? Once upon a time, there was a tailor's apprentice. He had only a penny left in his pocket, but that penny drove him to set out on his travels. He was hungry, and with that penny he could only buy a bowl of milk soup. As the milk soup stood before him, a whole swarm of flies flew into it, and when he had finished eating, the whole plate was covered with flies. So he struck the plate a few times with his hand and counted how many he had killed, and counted a hundred. Then he took a writing tablet from the innkeeper and wrote on it: “He killed a hundred at once!” And with this tablet hanging around his neck, he went on his way. He came to a king's castle. The king happened to be looking down and saw someone walking by with something written on his back. He sent his servant down to see what it said. The servant went and read: “He killed a hundred at once!” and reported this to the king. “Stop!” said the king. “This is someone I can use,” and he sent for him. “I can use you!” said the king. ‘Will you enter my service?’ ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I will gladly enter your service if you give me a proper wage, which I will tell you later.’ ‘Yes,’ said the king, ”I will reward you very well if you keep your promise.” Therefore, you shall eat and drink well as long as you like. But then you must also do me a service that is equal to your strength. Every year a whole troop of bears comes to my country and causes terrible damage. They are so strong that no man can kill them. You will certainly be able to do so if you keep your promise. “I will certainly do that,” said the journeyman, ‘but until the bears come, I must ask for as much food and drink as I want.’ For the tailor's journeyman said to himself, ‘If I cannot kill the bears when they come, at least I will have eaten and drunk well for a while.’ And so it went on for some time. When the time came for the bears to return, he did the following: He went into the kitchen and set up a table. He left the door wide open and laid out on the table all kinds of things that bears like to eat and drink, honey and so on. Then he hid himself. The bears came in, ate and drank until they could eat no more and lay down. Then he cut off the head of each of the bears and killed them in this way. When the king saw this, he asked him, “How did you do that?” And the journeyman said, “I simply let the bears jump over the blade and then cut off each one's head!” The king was already very faithful and said, “If you have done that, then you can do me an even greater service. Every year, large, strong giants come to our country. No one can kill or drive them away; perhaps you can do it?” The tailor said, ‘Yes, I will do it if you give me your daughter as my wife afterwards.’ The king was very keen to have the giants driven away, so he promised, and the tailor enjoyed himself again.