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_The White Silk Boy_ was written by Hans Christian Andersen 
(1805-1875), and was translated from the Danish by M. R. 
James (1862-1936) as part of his _Hans Andersen Forty-Two 
Stories_ (1930). 

Title: Hans Andersen Forty-Two Stories -- The White Silk Boy
Date of first publication: 1930
Place and date of edition used as base for this ebook:
  London: Faber and Faber, 1953
Author: Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875)
Translator: M. R. James (1862-1936)
Date first posted: 18 December 2007
Date last updated: 18 December 2007
Project Gutenberg Canada ebook #45

This ebook was produced by: Dr Mark Bear Akrigg




The White Silk Boy

by

Hans Christian Andersen

(from _Hans Andersen Forty-Two Stories_ [1930]),
translated by M. R. James)




There was a farm called Larkendal, and there lived an old
couple who had fallen into poverty. Well, they had a son,
and when he had been confirmed they could not afford to keep
him at home any longer. So his father told him that it was
time for him to travel out into the world and try his luck.
But they had nothing to give him to take away with him but a
pair of big mittens which his mother tied to him; it was
cold weather, and she didn't want him to get his hands
frostbitten. So off he set, to go to look for a place. The
last thing his mother told him was, never to pass by a
church without going into it.

At the first church he came to, he saw a lot of people
gathered in the churchyard and quarrelling with all their
might. He was inquisitive, as boys like that always are, and
he went up to them to listen to what was going on. It was
the people of the parish, and each of them had his plot in
the churchyard; but a poor man had just died who had no
plot, and nobody would have him in theirs for less than
three marks, and the three marks nobody would pay for him:
that was what they were quarrelling about. Well, one of the
men came up to this here poor boy and asked him what he
would take for his mittens. "You might give me three marks
for them," said he. The other man was willing to give that,
and they made a bargain of it. Then the poor boy went off
and paid the three marks to have the poor man buried, and
when that was all properly done, he set off again along the
high road.

When he had been walking a little time and it was now near
evening, he happened to look behind him and there was a boy
coming running after him in white silk clothes and with a
white silk cap on his head. So he began to run too, for he
didn't like the idea of getting in company with a person
like that whom he didn't know, but the faster he ran, the
faster this bit of a boy ran too, and at last he came up
with him. And this boy said, "What made you run away from me
like that?" "Why, I thought I could find room for to-night
easier alone than if there were two of us."

"Where are you going, then?" says he.

"Oh, wherever I can get a lodging for God's sake," says the
poor boy, "for I've nothing to pay for it with."

"Well, I won't do that," says the White Silk Boy. "I shall
lodge in the inn, and so shall you; I'll pay for both of us
all right. But shall we make it a bargain, and agree to go
shares in whatever we can earn here in the world?"

"That might do," said he, and so they came to the inn, and
the Silk Boy made him come in, though he wasn't much for it.
He ordered in wine and meat and cakes and it looked as if
they were to live like any lord. "It _looks_ well enough,"
the poor boy thought to himself, "but if this should be a
bit of a rascal and won't pay for me, what am I going to do
then? But anyhow they can't get more off the fox than the
skin."

At night time they were to be in one bed: and when late on
in the night the poor boy woke up, the other was gone. "Ah,"
he thought, "this looks well! Not a penny have I to give
them for all that bill, I'd best run off away from the whole
business." So he made up his mind to jump out of the window;
but just as he had got it open and was going to get out,
here comes the Silk Boy running and pushing him in at the
window again. "You meant to make a fool of me, I see, and
run away from me," said he. So they got into bed again and
slept till day. When the reckoning came, all went well, for
the Silk Boy paid for both of them.

Next day they came in the neighbourhood of a market town,
and the Silk Boy said, "Can you guess what I'll manage when
we get there?" No, that wasn't easy. But the lad repented of
the bargain he had struck, for he was afraid the other one
was a bad lot.

They went to a very large inn, and the Silk Boy said, "You
can stop here. I must go out into the town for a bit. You
can order something to eat, you mustn't sit and starve, and
I'll pay all right when I come back." So off he went, but
the other one durst not order anything. He was that hungry
that his belly cried out in his body. But meanwhile the Silk
Boy had been busy enough. He had been out in the town and
bought a coach with four black horses, and he had been to a
goldsmith and got four silver shoes put on each and every
horse, and he had bought a proper fine suit of clothes for
the poor boy. So he came driving into the inn yard and made
such a knocking as shook the whole place. Then the lad was
dressed up in the fine clothes, and then they got them
something to eat, and for the time being that was the best
of all, for he was that hungry that he whined with it. The
Silk Boy scolded him a bit for being so mistrustful. "It's
not according to our agreement," he said, and the other
promised to behave better in the future.

In the morning when they had had their breakfast, they were
to go out driving; and away they drove past a big palace,
and there sat one of the owner's daughters up on the second
floor, and she had the casement windows open and sat and
sewed. So they drove past, so fast that one of the horses
hinder shoes flew off, and fell into her lap. In she ran to
her father with it and called out, "Those must be some
pretty rich folk that drove by; they've got silver shoes on
their horses, for one flew up into my lap." "Well, you look
out when they come back," said he, "so that they can have
their shoe."

Well, she stood at the window and stared and looked for
them. They hadn't driven but a short way along the road when
they turned round; but when the Silk Boy got near the palace
he cracked his whip fit to shake the whole place, and they
flew by like a shooting star; so she got no chance to speak
to them and give back the shoe.

It was settled now, that the poor lad should give himself
out to be the master, and the Silk Boy was to be his
coachman and servant. He went out with his horses and drove
to the goldsmith to get him to take off the four silver
shoes and put four gold shoes to each horse instead.

Next day they were to go out driving again. The girl was
sitting up there at the window sewing, as on the day before,
and a gold shoe flew off one of the horses on to her lap, as
they went by at a great pace. So she ran in to her father
and called out: "Those must be terrible rich people that
came past here! Yesterday they had silver shoes, and to-day
they've got gold shoes to their horses." "So!" said he;
"well, we must look out for them when they come back, so
that they can have it."

When they had been out driving a bit, and had turned the
coach, the Silk Boy said: "Now, when we come near the
palace, they'll be standing outside and will be for giving
you the shoe; but you mustn't take it; you must say you
don't reckon of such things at all, and the young lady is
welcome to keep it. Then they will ask you in to dine with
them, and that you must accept. I shall be coming in too,
and I shall be put at the lower end of the table, but you
needn't mind about that. Then they'll want to know where you
come from, but you must say you come from a castle out in
the country here. Then the man will offer you his daughter's
hand, and you must accept her, and welcome."

Well, as soon as the Silk Boy had given him these
instructions, they drove past the palace. There stood the
owner and his daughter, outside the door. They clapped their
hands and beckoned to them to pull up, so they did; and the
daughter came to offer the gentleman the shoe that his horse
had dropped. Oh no, he didn't mind about that, she might
keep it, and welcome. "Well, would he please to come in and
take dinner with them?" "Yes, that he would." And so in he
went, and was set up at the high table, but the Silk Boy was
put at the lower table, for he was only the coachman. Then
they wanted him to tell them where he came from, and he
said, according as the other had told him, that he came from
a big castle out here in the country. Then the gentleman
made him the offer; wouldn't he perhaps take a fancy to his
daughter? Yes, he would. And they agreed on it, and as she
was just as ready, everything was settled and signed. The
wedding clothes were bought, and the wedding arranged, and
everything went off in great style.

When it was all over, the poor lad was to go home to his
castle with his wife. He didn't know where he was going to
take her, for one thing was quite certain, that he hadn't
got any castle--but he left everything to the White Silk
Boy. The closed carriage, with the four horses, drove up to
the door, and her father and mother were to come with them
and see the husband's home, and the Silk Boy sat up on a
dickey behind, but he looked after the driving all the same.
When they had driven a short way, they came to a paddock
where there was a big flock of sheep. Now, the White Boy had
given the bridegroom his instructions beforehand, so when
they asked whose sheep those were, he said: "Oh, they're
mine." "Now, I never knew the like of that," said his wife.
"My father has many sheep, and has had many sheep, but never
have I seen such good sheep and so many sheep as there are
here."

So they drove on a little, and they came past another
paddock, that was full of bullocks. "Whose might the
bullocks be?" said she. "Oh, they're mine," said the poor
lad. "Now, I never knew the like of that," said she; "no,
really now, I never could have believed you were so well
off. For my father has many bullocks, and has had many
bullocks, but never have I seen such good bullocks nor so
many bullocks nor such big bullocks as there are here."

So they drove on a bit, till they came to another paddock
that was full of cows and nothing else. "Whose might the
cows be?" said she. "Oh, they're mine," said the lad. "Well,
the farther I go the more I am surprised," said she. "My
father has many cows, and has had many cows, but never have
I seen such good cows, nor such big cows nor so many cows as
there are here." So they drove a little further, and they
came to another paddock that was full of horses. "Who might
be the owner of these horses?" said she. "Oh, that's me,"
said the lad. "No! now really, I never knew the like," said
she. "My father has many horses, and has had many horses,
but such good horses and such big horses and so many horses,
as there are here, I never did see."

A little after, they came to the fifth paddock, and that was
full of pigs and nothing else. "What! Are these really
yours, too, these pigs?" said she. "Yes, to be sure they
are." "Oh no, now really, never did I see the like," said
she. "My father has many pigs, and has had many pigs, but so
many pigs and such good pigs and such large pigs, I really
and truly never did see."

When they had driven a little farther, they could just see a
big castle, a long way off. So she asked him whose castle
that was. It was his, he said. Now really, she never had
known the like. Her father had a big castle, and she had
seen a number of them, but never had she seen one so big as
this here one.

Meanwhile, evening had come on, and they were driving
through a wood. It so happened, that the lad looked out of
the window, and the Silk Boy was gone! What was he to do,
now? He didn't know the way, and he did know that the whole
of what he had been sitting and stuffing up his wife with,
was lies from beginning to end. A regular bad lot, this boy
was, who was leaving him in the lurch at the end of it all.
Anyhow, he made up his mind that he would run away from the
lot of them. He threw open the carriage door and was just
jumping out, when at the very minute his servant came
running, and slammed the door to again, and said: "What sort
of a trick is this? Do you mean to make a fool of me again?"

So then they drove on a bit, and the coachman asked what it
was he could see up there. That was the big house they were
to go to, said the servant. It was dark, to be sure, but
when they got close up to it, they could see there was a
moat round it, and a drawbridge, too. Everything was in
readiness to receive them when they drove into the castle,
and the parents were in the greatest of delight, that they
had got their daughter married into such a nice place. So
they must go for a look round, and of course the lad must
show his wife over the castle; but he was as much of a
stranger there as she was, and the Silk Boy was gone out to
unharness his horses. But after all, he came, and he knew it
all and could show them all about. Every room they went into
was full of gold and silver, and there was store of all
manner of things, and it was like that all through the
place. And the parents, they were near losing their mouths
and noses at the sight of all the grandeur there was.

Now, when a day had passed by after their coming there, the
servant had disappeared again. The lad went and hunted for
him all round about, and at last he found him, round behind
the castle in a straw-stack. "Why will you make me so sad,
stopping away like this?" said he. "Ah! now I must be
leaving you," said the other. "Oh no, no! Why should you do
that? Do stay with me; there's enough for us both to live
on."

No, he couldn't do so, he said. "But now we ought to divide
up what we've got, together; that's what we agreed to do."
Yes, the lad was ready to do that, but what should they do
about his wife? "You'd better take the house and all that,
while I keep her; it isn't mine anyhow."

"Well, now I'll tell you how it all hangs together. It was I
that you paid three marks for, to have me buried in the
churchyard, and so I wanted to do you a good turn and repay
you. The first time I went off from you--that was at night
in the inn--I was out at the castle here, to kill a troll
who had taken possession of it; but I had no luck that time,
you woke too quick, and I was obliged to meet you at the
window. When we drove out here, by the road, I was off
again, and this time I got the better of the troll and got
everything ready to receive the gentry who I said were
coming. But it was something of a shock for me, when you
wanted to try and steal off again. I have no need of
anything that is here on earth, and so you may have it all
yourself. I don't wish for any of it at all, and so I must
bid you farewell." Thereupon, they took a solemn leave of
each other, and the poor lad went on living with his wife
there at the mansion, in great state and happiness, till
their dying day.


[End of _The White Silk Boy_ by Hans Christian Andersen, 
from _Hans Andersen Forty-Two Stories_, translated by
M. R. James] 