When they all got to the church together, the beggar was already there,and he gave the child the name of Ferdinand the Faithful.
When he was going out of the church, the beggar said, "Now go home, Ican give you nothing, and you likewise ought to give me nothing." Buthe gave a key to the nurse, and told her when she got home she was togive it to the father, who was to take care of it until the child wasfourteen years old, and then he was to go on the heath where there wasa castle which the key would fit, and that all which was therein shouldbelong to him. Now when the child was seven years old and had grown verybig, he once went to play with some other boys, and each of them boastedthat he had got more from his godfather than the other; but the childcould say nothing, and was vexed, and went home and said to his father,"Did I get nothing at all, then, from my godfather?" "Oh, yes," said thefather, "thou hadst a key if there is a castle standing on the heath,just go to it and open it." Then the boy went thither, but no castlewas to be seen, or heard of.
After seven years more, when he was fourteen years old, he again wentthither, and there stood the castle. When he had opened it, there wasnothing within but a horse, a white one. Then the boy was so full of joybecause he had a horse, that he mounted on it and galloped back to hisfather. "Now I have a white horse, and I will travel," said he. So heset out, and as he was on his way, a pen was lying on the road. At firsthe thought he would pick it up, but then again he thought to himself,"Thou shouldst leave it lying there; thou wilt easily find a pen wherethou art going, if thou hast need of one." As he was thus riding away,a voice called after him, "Ferdinand the Faithful, take it with thee." Helooked around, but saw no one, then he went back again and picked itup. When he had ridden a little way farther, he passed by a lake, and afish was lying on the bank, gasping and panting for breath, so he said,"Wait, my dear fish, I will help thee get into the water," and he tookhold of it by the tail, and threw it into the lake. Then the fish put itshead out of the water and said, "As thou hast helped me out of the mud Iwill give thee a flute; when thou art in any need, play on it, and thenI will help thee, and if ever thou lettest anything fall in the water,just play and I will reach it out to thee." Then he rode away, and therecame to him a man who asked him where he was going. "Oh, to the nextplace." Then what his name was? "Ferdinand the Faithful." "So! then wehave got almost the same name, I am called Ferdinand the Unfaithful." Andthey both set out to the inn in the nearest place.
Now it was unfortunate that Ferdinand the Unfaithful knew everythingthat the other had ever thought and everything he was about to do;he knew it by means of all kinds of wicked arts. There was, however,in the inn an honest girl, who had a bright face and behaved veryprettily. She fell in love with Ferdinand the Faithful because he wasa handsome man, and she asked him whither he was going. "Oh, I am justtravelling round about," said he. Then she said he ought to stay there,for the King of that country wanted an attendant or an outrider, and heought to enter his service. He answered he could not very well go to anyone like that and offer himself. Then said the maiden, "Oh, but I willsoon do that for you." And so she went straight to the King, and toldhim that she knew of an excellent servant for him. He was well pleasedwith that, and had Ferdinand the Faithful brought to him, and wantedto make him his servant. He, however, liked better to be an outrider,for where his horse was, there he also wanted to be, so the King madehim an outrider. When Ferdinand the Unfaithful learnt that, he said tothe girl, "What! Dost thou help him and not me?" "Oh," said the girl,"I will help thee too." She thought, "I must keep friends with that man,for he is not to be trusted." She went to the King, and offered him asa servant, and the King was willing.
Now when the King met his lords in the morning, he always lamented andsaid, "Oh, if I had but my love with me." Ferdinand the Unfaithful was,however, always hostile to Ferdinand the Faithful. So once, when the Kingwas complaining thus, he said, "You have the outrider, send him away toget her, and if he does not do it, his head must be struck off." Thenthe King sent for Ferdinand the Faithful, and told him that there was,in this place or in that place, a girl he loved, and that he was tobring her to him, and if he did not do it he should die.
Ferdinand the Faithful went into the stable to his white horse, andcomplained and lamented, "Oh, what an unhappy man I am!" Then someonebehind him cried, "Ferdinand the Faithful, why weepest thou?" He lookedround but saw no one, and went on lamenting; "Oh, my dear little whitehorse, now must I leave thee; now must I die." Then some one cried oncemore, "Ferdinand the Faithful, why weepest thou?" Then for the firsttime he was aware that it was his little white horse who was puttingthat question. "Dost thou speak, my little white horse; canst thou dothat?" And again, he said, "I am to go to this place and to that, andam to bring the bride; canst thou tell me how I am to set about it?"Then answered the little white horse, "Go thou to the King, and say ifhe will give thou what thou must have, thou wilt get her for him. If hewill give thee a ship full of meat, and a ship full of bread, it willsucceed. Great giants dwell on the lake, and if thou takest no meat withthee for them, they will tear thee to pieces, and there are the largebirds which would pick the eyes out of thy head if thou hadst no breadfor them." Then the King made all the butchers in the land kill, and allthe bakers bake, that the ships might be filled. When they were full,the little white horse said to Ferdinand the Faithful, "Now mount me,and go with me into the ship, and then when the giants come, say,
"Peace, peace, my dear little giants,
I have had thought of ye,
Something I have brought for ye;"
and when the birds come, thou shalt again say,
"Peace, peace, my dear little birds,
I have had thought of ye,
Something I have brought for ye;"
then they will do nothing to thee, and when thou comest to the castle,the giants will help thee. Then go up to the castle, and take a couple ofgiants with thee. There the princess lies sleeping; thou must, however,not awaken her, but the giants must lift her up, and carry her in herbed to the ship." And now everything took place as the little white horsehad said, and Ferdinand the Faithful gave the giants and the birds whathe had brought with him for them, and that made the giants willing, andthey carried the princess in her bed to the King. And when she came tothe King, she said she could not live, she must have her writings, theyhad been left in her castle. Then by the instigation of Ferdinand theUnfaithful, Ferdinand the Faithful was called, and the King told him hemust fetch the writings from the castle, or he should die. Then he wentonce more into the stable, and bemoaned himself and said, "Oh, my dearlittle white horse, now I am to go away again, how am I to do it?" Thenthe little white horse said he was just to load the ships full again. Soit happened again as it had happened before, and the giants and the birdswere satisfied, and made gentle by the meat. When they came to the castle,the white horse told Ferdinand the Faithful that he must go in, and thaton the table in the princess's bed-room lay the writings. And Ferdinandthe Faithful went in, and fetched them. When they were on the lake, helet his pen fall into the water; then said the white horse, "Now I cannothelp thee at all." But he remembered his flute, and began to play on it,and the fish came with the pen in its mouth, and gave it to him. So hetook the writings to the castle, where the wedding was celebrated.
The Queen, however, did not love the King because he had no nose, but shewould have much liked to love Ferdinand the Faithful. Once, therefore,when all the lords of the court were together, the Queen said she coulddo feats of magic, that she could cut off any one's head and put iton again, and that one of them ought just to try it. But none of themwould be the first, so Ferdinand the Faithful, again at the instigationof Ferdinand the Unfaithful, undertook it and she hewed off his head,and put it on again for him, and it healed together directly, so thatit looked as if he had a red thread round his throat. Then the Kingsaid to her, "My child, and where hast thou learnt that?" "Yes," shesaid, "I understand the art; shall I just try it on thee also?" "Oh,yes," said he. But she cut off his head, and did not put it on again;but pretended that she could not get it on, and that it would not keepfixed. Then the King was buried, but she married Ferdinand the Faithful.
He, however, always rode on his white horse, and once when he was seatedon it, it told him that he was to go on to the heath which he knew,and gallop three times round it. And when he had done that, the whitehorse stood up on its hind legs, and was changed into a King's son.
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