And when she went away, Jack went down to the garden, and was wandering about there when the wee red man came up to him and asked him what was the matter, and he told the wee red man.
“Well,” says the wee red man, “I’ll try what I can do.” And so he took his Cloak of Darkness and watched for her that night again, and just before midnight, she came out and went off. He followed her, and she didn’t stop till she was in Hell, where the Devil was very glad to see her and kissed her, and they sat down side by side to chat.
The little red fellow, with his Cloak of Darkness, came up beside her and waited, and the first opportunity he got, he snatched the ring off her finger, and went off and gave it to Jack.
So when she came down to breakfast the next morning Jack handed her over the table her diamond ring; and this morning she was doubly as furious as on the morning before. “Well,” she said, “you’ve done two of the tasks, but the third you never will do.”
So that night she told him: “I will spend all the time between midnight and cockcrow neither on the earth nor under the earth; and I want you to have for me in the morning the lips I shall have kissed while I have been away. Your head I’ll surely have now, for the sword was never yet made by mortal man that can cut those lips.”
Then she went away.
Poor Jack, he wandered out into the garden very down-hearted at this, and sure and certain that he would lose his head in the morning.
The little red man came up to him and asked him what was the matter. Jack told him and the red fellow said: “Keep up your heart, and I’ll see what can be done.” And he reminded Jack that he had the Sword of Light, which was never made by mortal man.
He threw his Cloak of Darkness about him, took the Sword of Light with him, and watched by the Princess’s door. Just before midnight she came out and went off, and he followed her to Hell, where the Devil welcomed her with a kiss, and as he did so the little red man raised the Sword of Light and cut the lips off of him and went off as fast as he could.
So in the morning Jack handed them across the table to the Princess, who was shaking with rage, and then he demanded her hand in marriage. And she had to consent.
As soon as they were married, the little red man said to Jack: “I have a wedding present for you.” So he gave him ten blackthorns and told him to break one of these blackthorns on his wife every morning for ten mornings, and if he followed out his instructions faithfully, he would have a good wife on the tenth day.
Seeing the little red man had been such a good friend to him, Jack consented to do this. He broke a blackthorn on her every morning for ten mornings, and for every blackthorn he broke on her she was dispossessed of a devil. And on the tenth day she had lost all her rage and all her fury and all the devils, and she was the best and most perfect girl, as well as the most beautiful one, in all the world.
The little red man on the tenth day asked Jack if he remembered when he set out on his travels paying a hundred guineas to get a corpse buried. Jack said he did.
“Then,” said the little red man, “it was I whom you buried, and I have tried to repay you a little. Now, good-bye, and may you and your wife prosper ever after.”
The little red man disappeared, and Jack and his beautiful wife lived long and happily.
The Adventures of Ciad, Son of the King of Norway
CIAD, Ceud, and Mith-Ceud were the three sons of the King of Norway. All over the world they were celebrated as fine, brave fellows, and they had come to think themselves so, too.
On a day after Ciad had been walking by the shore for a long time, thinking, he came back to his father’s castle. He said to his father and his brothers: “Ceud and Mith-Ceud and Ciad are celebrated far and wide as great heroes and gallant champions, but I have just been thinking, do we deserve this? Neither of us has ever done anything great. I think it is not right to bear the name of champion without having done something to earn it. I will leave my father’s castle, and go away and prove my right to the title of hero, or, if I fail, I will never come back.”
The King of Norway tried hard to persuade him not to go, but Ciad would not be persuaded. He said: “I am sorely ashamed of myself for bearing a title that I have not deserved.”
Then, when the King found that Ciad was bent on going, he asked him to take the pick of his men to accompany him on his adventures.
Ciad said: “No, I’ll go by myself.”
The King could not induce him to take any men.
Early next morning Ciad was up and breakfasted. He took his arms and his shield with him, and started off. He went to the seashore, and traveled away and away, along it.
When he had been traveling for three hours, he saw a speck far out at sea, but it was coming nearer and getting bigger every minute. At last he saw it was a boat, and when it came still nearer, he saw that a woman sat in it. When it was nearer still, he saw that she was a very beautiful lady.
He stood his ground, as the boat was coming straight toward him. At length the boat’s keel grated on the gravel, and Ciad helped the young lady on shore. He said: “Beautiful lady, who are you? Where do you come from? Or where do you go all alone?”
“Before I answer that,” she said, “give me your name; for I will not reply to those questions unless you are of royal blood.”
He said: “I am of royal blood. I am Ciad, son of the King of Norway.”
She said: “I am glad of that. I am Dark Eye, the daughter of the King of France. From France I have come, but where I am going I do not know. For a year and a day I have been wandering over the seas in this little boat, seeking for a champion. A cruel stepmother has laid a spell on me, under which I have to leave home, and must wander forever and ever over the seas and the oceans in this little boat, unless I can find for her the bottle of loca [loca was a balm that could instantly cure all wounds, and even restore life itself to the dead] that is owned by the Queen of the Island of the Riches of the World. When I find that, my stepmother’s spell will be lifted off me. For three years now I have been wandering over the world seeking for this island, but cannot find it, and can find no one who knows where it is. I have already put geasa on the twelve greatest champions of the world, ordering them to bring me this bottle. None of them got it, but instead the twelve lost their lives. As you are a King’s son and a hero I put geasa upon you to bring me this bottle of loca of the Queen of the Island of the Riches of the World, and hand it to me on this spot in three years and a day from now.”
Ciad said: “I accept the geasa, Dark Eye.”
Dark Eye thanked him. He helped her into her boat; she pushed off, and sailed away and away until he lost sight of her. Then Ciad turned and walked back to his father’s castle. He told his father of his adventure and of the geasa that had been laid on him.
“My poor boy,” his father said, “I am very sorry for you. There are not three in all the world who know where the Island of the Riches of the World is, and even if you could find that, you would lose your life in trying to take the bottle of loca.”
Ciad said that better men than he had already lost their lives in the search, so it would be no shame for him if he, too, lost his.