The Grey Horse and the Widow

The Grey Horse and the Widow's Daughters (British Isles)

There was once a poor widow who lived in the Highlands with her three daughters. They were all fair to look upon, and indeed the young men admired them; but they had no dowry, so there was no word of them getting married.

All the widow had besides her cottage was a yard full of fine kale, which was the principal food of the household. But there was a big grey horse that would come, morning after morning, and feed upon the kale, and, try as they liked, he would not be driven away.

One day the eldest of the three daughters said: "Well indeed, mother, we must do something to keep the beast from eating all the kale on us ! See you tomorrow morning I'll take my spinning-wheel and go; and sit in the yard, and when he comes I'll try if I cannot drive him away."

"That's you for a brave lassie," said the widow. "When he comes in, just you give him the good hit with your distaff, and maybe he will not be coming again."

So the next morning when the horse arrived as usual, there was the eldest daughter spinning among the kale. Up she got in a fine rage, and, taking her distaff, over she went to him and gave him one crack! But, och! och!---when she did, it was herself got the fine fright, for the distaff stuck to the horse, and her hand stuck to; the distaff; and away went the horse---gallop, gallop---and she with him, to a green hillock not far away.

And there the horse stamped three times on the hillock, and called out: "Open, open, green hillock, and let in the grey horse that is son of a King! Open, open, green hillock, and let in the widow's eldest daughter!"

And the hillock opened---but it wasn't the inside of a hill they were in at all, but a beautiful Palace! And the eldest daughter found warm water waiting to wash her feet, and a soft bed to lie upon, and beautiful clothes to wear.

In the morning the grey horse came to her and said: "Well now, I am going to the hunting today. See you and prepare a good dinner for me. Here are the keys of this Palace. You can open the door of every room that is in it---all but the one that this little key is for. Swear to me that you will not open it."

So she promised she would leave that room alone, and the grey horse said, "Remember, if you are a good girl while I am away I will marry you before very long," and off he cantered.

The girl went into the grandest kitchen she had ever seen, and made ready a fine dinner; and then she thought she would see what the Palace was like; so she opened room after room, and each seemed more magnificent than the last.

Then, of course, she began to think about the forbidden room.

"I wonder what can be in it! If I give just one peep, who will be the wiser, and where will be the harm?" she thought. So she turned the key and opened the door a little way. But what she saw put the fear on her so that she fell into the room on her hands and knees; and when she was able to rise, her hands were bloody all over! For the room was full of poor dead ladies---a fearsome sight indeed it was.

She tried to wash the blood off her hands, but she could not get the stains out.

"Oh dear, oh dear ! " she sobbed in terror, "what am I to do?"

Then there came a small lean cat to her feet, and it said: "Give me a plate of milk---even a little drop---and I will lick the hands of you until they are clean."

But she said: "And if good warm water will not take out the stains, is it likely that a cat's tongue will? Shoo! Off you go! Ugly little beast!"

As she spoke, home came the grey horse himself, all pleased with his hunting, and asked for his food. And as he ate he said: "Well, were you a good woman today?"

"Oh yes, I think so," was her reply.

"Let me see thy hands and I will know whether thou speakest truth," he said, as he opened her clenched hands. And there was the blood on them!

"Oho!" he said to the terrified girl. "So that is the way of it!" And he took an axe and chopped her head clean off, and he threw her into the forbidden room---and went on with his meal.

Next morning the grey horse was feeding once more on the widow s kale; and the second daughter said to her mother:

"Well, mother, I am going out this morning to see if I cannot drive that beast from among our precious kale."

And the widow said: "That's you for a brave lassie!"

So out the second daughter went, taking with her a seam she was sewing, and she went right up to the horse and stabbed him with her needle. But could she get it away again ? No---nor the hand that held the needle! And away the horse went, and the girl with him, to the green hillock.

He stamped his hoofs and called out as before: "Open, open, green hillock, and let in the grey horse that is son of a King! Open, open, green hillock, and let in the widow's second daughter!"

And the hillock opened, and in they went; and everything happened as it had done before.

Next morning the grey horse gave the widow's second daughter the keys of the Palace, warning her by all she ever saw not to use the key of the closed chamber. And, telling her to have a fine dinner ready for him when he returned from the hunting, he went away and left her preparing the dinner.

After she finished doing that, she began opening up the rooms of the Palace and admiring all the beautiful things in them. And after looking again and again at the key of the forbidden room, she could no longer resist the temptation to peep into it, and she gently opened the door.

But what she saw made her let out a scream, for there was her sister, lying among a lot of poor dead ladies! And the fright made her fall on her hands and knees in the room, and when she rose up one of her hands was all over blood. She ran for warm water and scrubbed it again and again, without being able to get it cleaned---and terror came upon her.

Then came the little lean cat, saying as before: "I will lick your hand as clean as ever for a plate of milk."

But all the answer it got from her was: "Ugly little beast, be going with you! If the good warm water cannot cleanse my hand, is it likely that your tongue can? Shoo!"

"Well then, you will see what will happen when himself comes home!" said the cat, and it sat down and began licking itself.

Then came the sound of the horse's gallop, and he came in and called for his dinner. And when it was set before him he said to the second daughter:

"Well, were you a good woman to-day?"

"That I was," said she, shivering all the same.

Let me see your hands," he said, "and I will know."

She spread her clean hand open over the stained one but he pulled out the other hand from below, and when he saw the stains, "Oho!" he said, "so that is the way of it."

And he took his axe and chopped off her head, and then he threw her into the chamber beside her sister.

And next morning the youngest sister, who was knitting beside her mother, saw the grey horse back again among the kale. Both her sisters had disappeared, and neither she nor her mother had closed an eye all night wondering what had happened to them. But she said to her mother in a brave voice: "Well, mother, I am going out to see whether I cannot find out where my sisters have gone, and if necessary I, too, will go with the grey horse and look for them."

That's you for a brave lassie," said the widow but mind you come back to me."

So out went the youngest daughter, and over to the grey horse.

"Where are my sisters?" she said, and she stuck her knitting needle in his side. It stuck to him and her hand stuck to the knitting needle, and off they went to the green hillock. Again he stamped his hoofs and said: "Open, open, green hillock, and let in the grey horse that is son of a King! Open, open, green hillock, and let in the widow's youngest daughter!"

And everything happened to her as it had to her sisters, whom she saw next day, dead, in the forbidden chamber. With the shock of it she fell down, and her hands also became stained with blood; and although she tried and tried to wash them, the stains would not disappear.

But when the little cat came to her with its offer to lick her hands clean in return for a drop of milk, she did not repulse it as her sisters had done. Her answer was: "Look you---creature that you are---if you will do what you are promising and lick my hands clean, you are worth a good drink of milk. So come and take it."

And after the cat had lapped its fill of milk, it licked and licked the girl's hands until there was not a stain upon them.

So when the grey horse galloped home in the gloaming to get his dinner there was no fear in her heart. And when he asked to look at her hands and saw not one spot on them he was very pleased indeed with her, and he said:

"Aha! you are not like your sisters; and if you will be good for a few more days, we will be married."

And he went away again the next day to the hunting.

Then the little cat came and sat beside the girl, and it said: "See now, if you have a wish to marry a King's son I will tell you how to accomplish it. In the treasure-room of this Palace there are a number of old chests. Take out three of them and clean them up and then say to the grey horse that they can easily be spared, and that you would like him to leave them, one at a time, at your mother's house. And tell him also that he must on no account look inside them, for you will be spying from the tree-tops and will call out to him if he does. Now, if you look above the door of the treasure-room you will find a magic sword, which you must take down when the grey horse has gone hunting tomorrow. Take it into the forbidden room and wave it over your sisters, and they will come alive again. Then put them each into one of the chests, along with some of the jewels from the treasure-room, close the lids, and get the grey horse to carry the chests, one at a time, to your mother. When he has done what you ask, instruct him to carry the third chest also, and, taking with you the magic sword, slip into the chest when he is not looking, and he will carry you home. After this third journey the horse will return to the Palace, and when he finds that you are not there he will go back to your mother's cottage. You must be waiting there for him, and when you have a chance you must lay the magic sword hard to his neck, and you will then see how you are going to find the King's son."

The third daughter thanked the little cat and did exactly as it bade her. She restored her sisters to life by waving the magic sword over them; she put them in two of the chests and heaped in gold and jewels from the treasure-room along with them; and she told them what to say if the horse tried to see what he was carrying. She found him quite willing to do as she asked---though he certainly wondered what she had put in the chests; and when he came to a spot in the glen where he thought he would not be seen he tried to peep in. Immediately a voice came from---he knew not where---and it said: "Who is peeping? Who is peeping?"

And thinking that the sound came from the tree-tops he laughed and said, "Well, well! Surely you have the good sight!"---and went on with his burden. And when the third chest also was delivered at the widow's cottage, the horse went home for his dinner.

When he found no dinner and no one waiting to welcome him, he galloped back to the widow's cottage in a great state. The door was closed, but he crashed it through with his forehead. Behind the door the youngest daughter was waiting with the magic sword in her hand, and when his head crashed through, she brought the sword down on his neck with all her might, and he changed immediately into a beautiful youth!

"Oh!" she cried in wonder. "It is true, then---you are the King's son!"

"I am that, indeed," he replied, "and more than that, I am your husband-to-be."

And he took her hand, and leading her to the widow, he said: "Mother, this third daughter of yours has broken an evil spell that bound me. Will you give her to me, for indeed I love her truly?"

And the widow gave a glad consent.

Thanks to this same girl she had got back her two elder daughters, and with them enough gold and Jewels to ensure good husbands for them and comfort for herself for the rest of her life.

When the King's son took his bride home to his Palace, they found a pretty girl there who ran to the Prince and kissed him affectionately.

"Why, who is this?" said the young bride in astonishment.

"Who but my sister," he answered---my sister, who was the little lean cat! At the same time as you released me you released her from the spell that had changed her. She will be a sister to you and will live with us until she marries,"---and the two girls embraced each other tenderly.

They lived happily in the Palace under the hill, and many a time did the widow bless the day that brought the grey horse to eat her kale!