THE KING OF THE RAVENS
One morning, while walking in this way, far from the castle, the queen saw a high, snowless mountain.
Here comes the queen. After seven hours of climbing, she arrived in front of a poor cabin, right next to a wash house. At the edge of the wash house, a washerwoman was working, wrinkled as old leather, and as old as a trail. The washerwoman sang, wringing a soot-black cloth:
Fairy, fairy,
Your laundry is
Not yet completed.
The Virgin
Bride,
Hasn't arrived yet.
Fairy, fairy.
Hello, washerwoman, said the queen. I'll help you wash your soot-black laundry.
With pleasure, poor thing.
The queen had no sooner plunged the linen into the water than it turned white as milk. Then the old washerwoman began to sing:
Fairy, fairy,
your laundry
Is completed.
The Virgin
Bride,
Has arrived.
Fairy, fairy.
Then the washerwoman said to the queen:
- Poor thing, I've been waiting for you for a long time. My trials are over, and you are the cause. You, poor thing, haven't finished suffering. Your husband gave you good advice. But advice is useless, and what must happen never fails. Now go your way, and don't come back here until a day of great need.
The queen returned to the castle, to resume her daily and nightly life. It had been exactly seven years, less a day, since the King of the Ravens had married her in front of the Green Man's house, on the edge of big forest. Then the queen thought:
- The time of my ordeal is about to end. One day more, one day less, it's nothing. Tonight I will know how the King of the Ravens is made. When evening came, the queen turned on a light in her chamber, and hid it so well that it was as black as an oven. That done, she lay down and waited. At the first stroke of midnight, there was a great noise of wings. It was the King of the Ravens coming home to go to bed. The queen heard him stripping off, as usual, his wings and plumage. This done, he got into bed, placed the drawn sword between himself and his wife, and fell asleep.
So the queen went to get the light she had hidden, and looked at her husband. He was a handsome man.
"My God, how handsome my husband is!" The queen approached the bed, with her light, to see better, and dropped a little boiling wax on her husband. The King of the Ravens woke up.
- Woman, he said, you are the cause of great misfortunes, for me, for you, and for my people. Tomorrow, our ordeal was over. I was truly going to be your husband, in the form in which you see me. Now I will be separated from the world. The wicked wretch who has me in his power will do with me what he wants. But what's done is done, and regret is useless. I forgive you for the harm you have done me. Get out of this castle, where things are going to happen that you shouldn't see. Go, and may God accompany you wherever you go.
The queen came out crying. Then the wicked wretch who held the King of the Ravens in his power entered the chamber, chained his enemy with an iron chain weighing seven hundred kilograms, and carried him off through the clouds to the top of a high mountain, in an island of the sea. There he drove the end of the chain into the rock, and strengthened it, with lead and sulfur, better than the best master locksmith could have done. That done, he whistled. Immediately, two wolves came running, as big as bulls, one black as soot, the other white as snow. The white wolf watched by day and slept at night. The black wolf watched at night and slept during the day.
Wolves, keep the King of Crows safe.
Master, you will be obeyed.
The wicked beggar left, and the King of the Crows remained alone, with the two wolves, chained, on the top of a high mountain, on an island in the sea.
While this was happening, the queen was out of the castle. She walked, walked, always straight ahead, and wept all the tears from her eyes. By dint of walking, she arrived, still weeping, at the summit of the high, snowless mountain, where the wash house and the poor cabin of the old washerwoman were.
Poor thing, said the old washerwoman, you are unhappy, as I told you. But advice is useless, and what must happen never fails. You did me a favor in the past, and you're doing well today. Hold. Here is a pair of iron shoes, to go in search of your husband, prisoner, at the top of a high mountain, in an island of the sea. Here is a bag, where the bread will not fail, for as long as you eat. Here is a gourd, where wine will not fail, as long as you drink. Here is a knife, to defend you, to cut the blue grass, the grass that sings night and day, the grass that breaks iron. When your shoes are broken, you will be ready to deliver the King of the Ravens.
Thank you, washerwoman.
And the queen left.