A POOR maidservant was once traveling with her master’s family in a coach through a great wood. When they were in the very middle of the wood, a band of robbers sprang out of a thicket and killed every one of the travelers that they could lay their hands on. Only the maidservant escaped. She, in her fright, jumped out of the coach and hid behind a tree.
When the robbers had made off with their booty she came from her place of concealment and wept as she saw what had happened. “Alas!” she cried, “here I am left alone in this wild forest. I can never find my way out, and not a human creature lives in it, so that I shall certainly die of hunger.”
She wandered about for some time looking for a pathway, but could not find one. Evening came, and she sat down under a tree and made up her mind to spend the night there, no matter what might happen. But soon a little white dove came flying to her with a small golden key in its beak. It put the key in the girl’s hand, and said: “Examine closely the bark of the tree-trunk you are leaning against, and you will find a lock which this key will fit. Turn the key in that lock, and a door will open and reveal a cupboard in which is food and drink. Take all you need.”
The girl examined the tree, found the lock, and opened the door, and inside was a basin of milk, and some white bread to eat with it. So she made a good meal. When she finished, she said to herself: “At home the hens are going to roost now. Oh, that I had some shelter for the night!”
Then the little dove again came flying to her with another golden key in its beak, and it said, “This will open a door in yonder tree, within which you will find a nice bed.”
She opened the door and found a soft, clean bed inside, and she lay down in it and went to sleep. Next morning the dove came a third time and brought her a key. This opened a door in another large tree near by, and there she found many beautiful garments embroidered with gold and silver, and ornamented with precious stones. No princess could have desired anything finer.
For a long time the maid dwelt there in the forest, and the dove visited her every day and supplied all her wants. Her life was peaceful and happy. One day the dove came to her and said, “Will you do something for my sake?”
“With all my heart,” replied the maiden.
Then the dove said: “I will take you to a little house, which you must enter. By the hearth you will see an old woman sitting. She will bid you good day, but on no account speak a word to her, whatever she may say or do. Walk right past her, and at the far side of the fireplace you will see a door. Open it and go into the room beyond. There, on a table, you will find a heap of rings of every description. Many of them are very beautiful and glitter with precious stones, but take none of those. Instead, search for a small plain one, which is somewhere in the room. After you secure it, bring it to me as quickly as you can.”
So the dove guided the maiden to the little house, and she opened the door and saw the old woman, who stared and said, “Good day, my child.”
The maiden did not answer, but went on toward the inner door. “Whither are you going?” cried the old woman, seizing her by the skirt. “This is my house, and no one shall pass through that door without my permission.”
But the girl said never a word. She loosened her skirt from the woman’s grasp and went into the room beyond the fireplace. On a table lay a glittering heap of jeweled rings. She searched among them for the plain one, but could not find it. While she continued her search, the old woman slipped into the room and took up a bird cage, with which she started to slyly creep away. Her actions aroused the suspicions of the maiden, who ran after her and wrenched the cage out of her hands.
Then the girl saw that the bird inside held the plain ring in its beak. She took the ring and ran joyfully out of the house, thinking she would find the dove close at hand waiting for her, but no dove appeared. Anxious and fearful, she leaned against a tree, watching for the coming of the bird. As she stood there it seemed to her that the tree became soft and supple and bent its branches downward. Then two of the branches twined themselves around her, and behold, when she tried to free herself, they were not branches at all, but two strong arms. She looked up, and the tree was gone, and in its stead was a fine handsome man with his arms clasped about her.
“You have released me from the power of the old woman, who is an evil witch,” said he. “She changed me into a tree a long time ago, but every day I became a white dove for a couple of hours. So long as she possessed the ring I could not regain my human form. I am a king’s son, and I came hither accompanied by servants and horses, who were likewise changed into trees. But now you see them around me in their natural forms, and you must come with us to my father’s kingdom.”
When they reached their journey’s end the prince and the maiden married, and they lived happily ever after.
