(from the german)
there was once upon a time a beautiful girl called helena. her own mother had died when she was quite a child, and her stepmother was as cruel and unkind to her as she could be. helena did all she could to gain her love, and performed the heavy work given her to do cheerfully and well; but her stepmother’s heart wasn’t in the least touched, and the more the poor girl did the more she asked her to do.
one day she gave helena twelve pounds of mixed feathers and bade her separate them all before evening, threatening her with heavy punishment if she failed to do so.
the poor child sat down to her task with her eyes so full of tears that she could hardly see to begin. and when she had made one little heap of feathers, she sighed so deeply that they all blew apart again. and so it went on, and the poor girl grew more and more miserable. she bowed her head in her hands and cried, ‘is there no one under heaven who will take pity on me?’
suddenly a soft voice replied, ‘be comforted, my child: i have come to help you.’
terrified to death, helena looked up and saw a fairy standing in front of her, who asked in the kindest way possible, ‘why are you crying, my dear?’
helena, who for long had heard no friendly voice, confided her sad tale of woe to the fairy, and told her what the new task she had been given to do was, and how she despaired of ever accomplishing it.
‘don’t worry yourself about it any more,’ said the kind fairy; ‘lie down and go to sleep, and i’ll see that your work is done all right.’ so helena lay down, and when she awoke all the feathers were sorted into little bundles; but when she turned to thank the good fairy she had vanished.
in the evening her stepmother returned and was much amazed to find helena sitting quietly with her work all finished before her.
she praised her diligence, but at the same time racked her brain as to what harder task she could set her to do.
the next day she told helena to empty a pond near the house with a spoon which was full of holes. helena set to work at once, but she very soon found that what her stepmother had told her to do was an impossibility. full of despair and misery, she was in the act of throwing the spoon away, when suddenly the kind fairy stood before her again, and asked her why she was so unhappy?
when helena told her of her stepmother’s new demand she said, ‘trust to me and i will do your task for you. lie down and have a sleep in the meantime.’
helena was comforted and lay down, and before you would have believed it possible the fairy roused her gently and told her the pond was empty. full of joy and gratitude, helena hurried to her stepmother, hoping that now at last her heart would be softened towards her. but the wicked woman was furious at the frustration of her own evil designs, and only thought of what harder thing she could set the girl to do.
next morning she ordered her to build before evening a beautiful castle, and to furnish it all from garret to basement. helena sat down on the rocks which had been pointed out to her as the site of the castle, feeling very depressed, but at the same time with the lurking hope that the kind fairy would come once more to her aid.
and so it turned out. the fairy appeared, promised to build the castle, and told helena to lie down and go to sleep in the meantime. at the word of the fairy the rocks and stones rose and built themselves into a beautiful castle, and before sunset it was all furnished inside, and left nothing to be desired. you may think how grateful helena was when she awoke and found her task all finished.
but her stepmother was anything but pleased, and went through the whole castle from top to bottom, to see if she couldn’t find some fault for which she could punish helena. at last she went down into one of the cellars, but it was so dark that she fell down the steep stairs and was killed on the spot.
so helena was now mistress of the beautiful castle, and lived there in peace and happiness. and soon the noise of her beauty spread abroad, and many wooers came to try and gain her hand.
among them came one prince fickle by name, who very quickly won the love of fair helena. one day, as they were sitting happily together under a lime-tree in front of the castle, prince fickle broke the sad news to helena that he must return to his parents to get their consent to his marriage. he promised faithfully to come back to her as soon as he could and begged her to await his return under the lime-tree where they had spent so many happy hours.
helena kissed him tenderly at parting on his left cheek, and begged him not to let anyone else kiss him there while they were parted, and she promised to sit and wait for him under the lime-tree, for she never doubted that the prince would be faithful to her and would return as quickly as he could.
and so she sat for three days and three nights under the tree without moving. but when her lover never returned, she grew very unhappy, and determined to set out to look for him. she took as many of her jewels as she could carry, and three of her most beautiful dresses, one embroidered with stars, one with moons, and the third with suns, all of pure gold. far and wide she wandered through the world, but nowhere did she find any trace of her bridegroom. at last she gave up the search in despair. she could not bear to return to her own castle where she had been so happy with her lover, but determined rather to endure her loneliness and desolation in a strange land. she took a place as herd-girl with a peasant, and buried her jewels and beautiful dresses in a safe and hidden spot.
every day she drove the cattle to pasture, and all the time she thought of nothing but her faithless bridegroom. she was very devoted to a certain little calf in the herd, and made a great pet of it, feeding it out of her own hands. she taught it to kneel before her, and then she whispered in its ear:
‘kneel, little calf, kneel; be faithful and leal, not like prince fickle, who once on a time left his fair helena under the lime.’
after some years passed in this way, she heard that the daughter of the king of the country she was living in was going to marry a prince called ‘fickle.’ everybody rejoiced at the news except poor helena, to whom it was a fearful blow, for at the bottom of her heart she had always believed her lover to be true.
now it chanced that the way to the capital led right past the village where helena was, and often when she was leading her cattle forth to the meadows prince fickle rode past her, without ever noticing the poor herd-girl, so engrossed was he in thoughts of his new bride. then it occurred to helena to put his heart to the test and to see if it weren’t possible to recall herself to him. so one day as prince fickle rode by she said to her little calf:
‘kneel, little calf, kneel; be faithful and leal, not like prince fickle, who once on a time left his poor helena under the lime.’
when prince fickle heard her voice it seemed to him to remind him of something, but of what he couldn’t remember, for he hadn’t heard the words distinctly, as helena had only spoken them very low and with a shaky voice. helena herself had been far too moved to let her see what impression her words had made on the prince, and when she looked round he was already far away. but she noticed how slowly he was riding, and how deeply sunk he was in thought, so she didn’t quite give herself up as lost.
in honour of the approaching wedding a feast lasting many nights was to be given in the capital. helena placed all her hopes on this, and determined to go to the feast and there to seek out her bridegroom.
when evening drew near she stole out of the peasant’s cottage secretly, and, going to her hiding-place, she put on her dress embroidered with the gold suns, and all her jewels, and loosed her beautiful golden hair, which up to now she had always worn under a kerchief, and, adorned thus, she set out for the town.
when she entered the ball-room all eyes were turned on her, and everyone marvelled at her beauty, but no one knew who she was. prince fickle, too, was quite dazzled by the charms of the beautiful maiden, and never guessed that she had once been his own ladylove. he never left her side all night, and it was with great difficulty that helena escaped from him in the crowd when it was time to return home. prince fickle searched for her everywhere, and longed eagerly for the next night, when the beautiful lady had promised to come again.
the following evening the fair helena started early for the feast.
this time she wore her dress embroidered with silver moons, and in her hair she placed a silver crescent. prince fickle was enchanted to see her again, and she seemed to him even more beautiful than she had been the night before. he never left her side, and refused to dance with anyone else. he begged her to tell him who she was, but this she refused to do. then he implored her to return again next evening, and this she promised him she would.
on the third evening prince fickle was so impatient to see his fair enchantress again, that he arrived at the feast hours before it began, and never took his eyes from the door. at last helena arrived in a dress all covered with gold and silver stars, and with a girdle of stars round her waist, and a band of stars in her hair. prince fickle was more in love with her than ever, and begged her once again to tell him her name.
then helena kissed him silently on the left cheek, and in one moment prince fickle recognized his old love. full of remorse and sorrow, he begged for her forgiveness, and helena, only too pleased to have got him back again, did not, you may be sure, keep him waiting very long for her pardon, and so they were married and returned to helena’s castle, where they are no doubt still sitting happily together under the lime-tree.
