Prevod

Once upon a time there lived a man and his wife who had but one child and dwelt all alone in a secluded valley. One day the mother went into the woods to gather fir branches, taking little Hans, who was only two years old, with her. It was springtime, and the child delighted in the bright flowers, so she wandered farther and farther into the forest with him.

Suddenly two robbers sprang out of the bushes, seized the mother and child, and led them deep into the dark forest, where no one ever came from one year's end to the next. The poor woman begged the robbers earnestly to let her and her child go, but their hearts were made of stone. They paid no heed to her pleas and entreaties and forced her to go on.

After struggling through thickets and thorns for about two hours, they came to a rock face with a door in it. The robbers knocked, and it opened at once. They had to pass through a long, dark passage before at last reaching a great cavern lit by a fire burning on the hearth. Swords, sabres, and other murderous weapons hung on the walls, gleaming in the light, and in the middle stood a black table at which four other robbers sat playing cards, with their captain at the head. When he saw the woman, he came over and spoke to her, telling her to be calm and have no fear. They would do her no harm, but she must keep house for them, and if she kept everything in good order, she would not fare badly among them. Then they gave her something to eat and showed her a bed where she could sleep with her child.

The woman remained with the robbers for many years, and Hans grew tall and strong. His mother told him stories and taught him to read from an old book of chivalry she found in the cavern. When Hans was nine years old, he made himself a stout club from a fir branch and hid it behind the bed. Then he went to his mother and said, "Dear Mother, tell me now who my father is. I want to know, and I must know." His mother kept silent and would not tell him, lest he should grow homesick. She knew, too, that the wicked robbers would never let Hans leave; yet it nearly broke her heart to think that he should never go to his father.

That night, when the robbers returned from their raid, Hans fetched his club, stood before the captain, and said, "Now I want to know who my father is, and if you don't tell me this instant, I'll knock you down." The captain laughed and gave Hans such a box on the ear that he went tumbling under the table. Hans got up again, said nothing, and thought, "I'll wait another year and then try once more. Perhaps things will go better."

When the year was over, he brought out his club again, wiped off the dust, looked it over, and said, "This is a good, sturdy club." That night the robbers came home, drank one jug of wine after another, and began to nod over their cups. Then Hans fetched his club, stood before the captain once more, and asked him who his father was. Again the captain gave him such a powerful box on the ear that Hans rolled under the table, but in a moment he was on his feet again, striking the captain and the robbers with his club until they could no longer move their arms or legs. His mother stood in a corner, filled with wonder at his courage and strength. When Hans had finished his work, he went to his mother and said, "This time I meant business, but now I must know who my father is."

"Dear Hans," his mother answered, "come, let us go and look for him until we find him." She took the key to the entrance door from the captain, while Hans fetched a large flour sack and packed it with gold, silver, and whatever other fine things he could find until it was full, then hoisted it onto his back. They left the cavern, but how Hans opened his eyes when he stepped out of the darkness into daylight and saw the green forest, the flowers and birds, and the morning sun in the sky! He stood gazing at everything as though he had not quite got his wits about him. His mother searched for the way home, and after they had walked for a few hours, they safely reached their secluded valley and their little house.

His father was sitting in the doorway. He wept for joy when he recognized his wife and heard that Hans was his son, for he had long believed them both dead. But Hans, though only twelve years old, was a whole head taller than his father. They went into the little room together, but scarcely had Hans set his sack on the bench beside the stove when the whole house began to creak and crack. The bench collapsed, then the floor gave way, and the heavy sack sank into the cellar.

"Heaven preserve us!" cried his father. "What is this? Now you've broken our little house!" "Don't let that give you any grey hairs, dear Father," Hans replied. "There's more in that sack than we need for a new house." His father and Hans at once set about building a new house, buying livestock and land, and starting a farm. Hans ploughed the fields, and when he walked behind the plough and drove it into the earth, the oxen scarcely needed to pull.

The following spring Hans said, "Father, keep all the money, and have a walking staff made for me weighing a hundredweight, so that I can go out into the world." When the staff he had asked for was ready, he left his father's house, set off, and came to a deep, dark forest. There he heard a creaking and cracking, looked about him, and saw a fir tree twisted like a rope from top to bottom. Raising his eyes, he caught sight of a huge fellow who had seized the tree and was twisting it like a willow wand. "Hey!" Hans called. "What are you doing up there?" The fellow answered, "Yesterday I gathered some bundles of brushwood, and now I'm twisting a rope to tie them with." "Now that's something," thought Hans. "He's a strong one." And he called up to him, "Leave that be and come with me." The fellow climbed down and stood a whole head taller than Hans, who was no small man himself. "From now on, your name is Fir-Twister," Hans told him.

They went on their way and heard a knocking and hammering so loud that the earth shook with every blow. Soon they came to an enormous rock, and before it stood a giant, knocking great chunks off it with his fist. When Hans asked what he was about, he answered, "Whenever I try to sleep at night, bears and wolves and other vermin of that sort come sniffing and snuffling about me and won't let me sleep. So I'm going to build myself a house and lie down inside it, where I can have some peace." "Well now," thought Hans, "you could make use of him too," and he said, "Leave off building your house and come with me. You shall be called Rock-Splitter." He agreed, and all three roamed through the forest together. Wherever they went, the wild beasts took fright and fled before them.

That evening they came to an old, deserted castle, went upstairs, and lay down to sleep in the great hall. The next morning Hans went down into the garden, which had run completely wild and was full of thorns and bushes. As he wandered about, a wild boar charged at him, but he struck it with his staff and it fell dead on the spot. Then he slung it over his shoulder and carried it upstairs. They put it on a spit, roasted it, and made merry. Now they agreed that each day two of them should go hunting while the third stayed at home to cook, taking turns and preparing nine pounds of meat for each man.

On the first day Fir-Twister stayed at home, while Hans and Rock-Splitter went hunting. As Fir-Twister was busy cooking, a little old shrivelled man came into the castle and demanded some meat.

"Be off, you sneaking little fellow," he answered. "You don't need any meat." But how astonished Fir-Twister was when the little, insignificant man leapt up at him and pummelled him so fiercely with his fists that he could not defend himself, but fell to the ground gasping for breath. The little man did not leave until he had vented all his fury on him. When the other two came home from hunting, Fir-Twister said nothing about the little old man or the beating he had received. "When they stay at home," he thought, "they can try their luck with that little spitfire too," and the very thought gave him pleasure.

The next day Rock-Splitter stayed at home, and he fared just as Fir-Twister had: the little man gave him a terrible beating because he would not give him any meat. When the others came home that evening, Fir-Twister could see plainly enough what had happened to him, but both kept quiet, thinking, "Hans must have a taste of the same soup."

Hans, whose turn it was to stay at home the following day, went about his kitchen work as he ought, and as he stood skimming the pot, the little man came in and demanded a piece of meat without so much as a word of greeting. Hans thought, "He's a poor little fellow. I'll give him some of my share so the others won't go short," and handed him a piece of meat. When the dwarf had eaten it, he demanded more, and good-natured Hans gave it to him, saying that this was another fine piece and he ought to be satisfied with it. But the dwarf demanded meat a third time.

"You're growing insolent," said Hans, and gave him nothing. Then the wicked dwarf tried to leap up at him and treat him as he had treated Fir-Twister and Rock-Splitter, but this time he had met his match. Without the least effort, Hans gave him a few blows that sent him bounding down the castle stairs. Hans tried to run after him, but tripped over him and fell full length. By the time he had picked himself up, the dwarf had got ahead. Hans hurried after him into the forest and saw him slip into a cave in the rocks. Then Hans went home, taking care to remember the spot.

When the other two returned, they were astonished to find Hans so hale and hearty. He told them what had happened, and they no longer concealed how they had fared. Hans laughed and said, "It serves you right! Why were you so stingy with your meat? But it's a disgrace that great fellows like you should let a dwarf give you a beating."

Then they took a basket and a rope, and all three went to the cave into which the dwarf had slipped. They lowered Hans in the basket, with his staff beside him. When Hans reached the bottom, he found a door, and when he opened it, there sat a maiden of surpassing beauty—indeed, so beautiful that words cannot tell it—and beside her sat the dwarf, grinning at Hans like a monkey. But she was bound in chains and looked at him so sorrowfully that Hans was filled with pity. "You must free her from the wicked dwarf's power," he thought, and struck him such a blow with his staff that he fell down dead.

At once the chains fell from the maiden, and Hans was enchanted by her beauty. She told him that she was a king's daughter, and that a savage count had carried her away from her homeland and imprisoned her here in the rock because she would have nothing to do with him. The count had set the dwarf to guard her, and he had inflicted suffering and misery enough upon her.

Then Hans seated the maiden in the basket and had her drawn up. The basket came down again, but Hans did not trust his two companions. "They have already proved deceitful," he thought, "and told you nothing about the dwarf. Who knows what they may be plotting against you?" So he laid his staff in the basket, and that was his good fortune, for when the basket was halfway up, they let it fall. Had Hans really been sitting in it, it would have been the death of him. But now he did not know how to get out of the depths, and though he turned the matter over and over in his mind, he could think of no way.

"It's a sad thing," he said, "that you should have to perish down here." As he paced back and forth, he came once more to the little chamber where the maiden had been sitting and noticed that the dwarf wore a ring on his finger that glittered and gleamed. He pulled it off and put it on his own finger, and when he turned it, he suddenly heard a rustling above his head. Looking up, he saw spirits of the air hovering there. They said he was their master and asked what he desired.

At first Hans was quite speechless, but then he told them to carry him up. They obeyed at once, and it was just as though he were flying upwards. But when he reached the top, there was no one to be seen, and when he went to the castle, he found no one there either. Fir-Twister and Rock-Splitter had hurried away, taking the beautiful maiden with them. Hans turned the ring, and the spirits of the air appeared and told him that the two were out at sea. Hans ran and ran without stopping until he reached the seashore. Far, far out upon the water he saw a little boat in which his faithless companions were sitting. In a fury, without a moment's thought, he leapt into the water, staff and all, and began to swim. But the staff, weighing a hundredweight, dragged him so deep that he nearly drowned.

Just in time he turned the ring, and at once the spirits of the air appeared and carried him as swiftly as lightning into the little boat. Then he swung his staff, gave the wicked fellows the reward they deserved, and threw them into the water. After that he rowed home to the beautiful maiden's father and mother with the maiden, who had been in the greatest terror and whom he had now rescued for the second time. He married her, and there was great rejoicing among them all.