The Complete Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen & Virginia Haviland & Erik Christian Haugaard

Author:Hans Christian Andersen & Virginia Haviland & Erik Christian Haugaard [Andersen, Hans Christian]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Published: 2011-01-26T05:00:00+00:00

85

The Talisman

There once were a prince and a princess who had just gotten married. They were so very happy that they had only one worry: the thought that they might not always be as happy as they were now. Therefore, they wanted a talisman that could protect them against discontent in their marriage. They had heard of a wise hermit who lived out in the forest, of whom it was said that he had remedies for all the griefs of this world. The prince and the princess went to seek his advice and told him about what troubled their hearts.

The wise man listened to them and said, “Travel through all the countries of the world and, when you meet a couple who are truly contented in their married life, ask them to give you a small piece of the linen that they are wearing next to their bodies. Once you have that, keep it always with you. A little piece of such linen is, indeed, a very powerful charm!”

The prince and the princess set out on their journey. They had not ridden far when they heard of a knight who was supposed to be most happily married. They rode up to his castle and asked him and his noble wife if it were true, as it had been rumored, that they were perfectly content in their marriage.

“Yes,” answered the knight, “it is true, except for one thing. We have no children.” Here the talisman was not to be found, so the young royal couple continued their journey.

They came to a large city where lived an honorable citizen of whom it was said that he had lived a long life in perfect union with his wife. To his home they made their way to ask the couple if their marriage was as happy as everyone said it was.

“Yes, it is!” answered the good man. “My wife and I have lived in perfect harmony; if only we had not had so many children, for they have caused us so much trouble and grief.” Here, too, they need not ask for any talisman.

And the prince and princess traveled on, asking everywhere if anyone knew a couple whose marriage had brought them only joy, but nowhere were they told of any.

One day as they were riding through a meadow they saw a shepherd sitting and playing on his flute. Just at that moment his wife, carrying an infant in her arms, with a little boy beside her, came walking out to her husband. As soon as the shepherd spied his wife he jumped up and ran to meet her. He greeted her and took the babe from her arms and fondled and kissed it. The shepherd’s dog had come too; it jumped for joy around the boy and licked his hand. The wife put down a pot that she had brought with her and said, “Come, my husband, and eat.” The shepherd was hungry but the first bite he gave the baby, and the second he shared between his son and the dog.

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