Halfman 2

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They said, "The king sent us here to broil these two partridges."

The door replied, "Stay here. First I must ask the lady of the house."

Then the outer door asked the first inner door, which in turn asked the second one, which in turn asked the third one, and so on, door to door, until the question reached the lady of the house. She ordered that the strangers be admitted, and suddenly all the doors opened by themselves, allowing the servants to come inside. They were greatly amazed when even the stones and the timbers welcomed them.

Entering the kitchen one of them said, "Where can we find some wood?"

The pieces of wood called out, "Here we are!"

Then they said to one another, "We have no salt and no butter," to which the salt and butter called out, "Here we are!"

After they had prepared the partridges, put them on the spit, and placed them next to the fire, they wanted to look around outside the kitchen to see if there were other things in the castle that could speak. However, they found so many such things and stayed away from the kitchen so long that the partridges had burned to charcoal when they finally thought about them and ran back to the kitchen.

They did not know how they could excuse themselves to the king for having burned up his partridges. Finally they decided to go directly back to him and tell him what they had seen.

The king did not believe them, and he sent other servants thither. They experienced the same things that the first ones had, and when the king heard them say the same thing, he decided that he would go there himself to see and hear with his own eyes and ears.

When he arrived at the outside door, it said to him, "Welcome, your majesty!"

When he went inside, all the stones and timbers called out the same welcome to him, and the king was amazed that here wood and stones could talk. Hearing that the king himself had arrived, the princess went to him to receive him. She led him into her splendid rooms, but did not tell him who she was. The king wondered about her correct manners and her elegant speech.

Meanwhile the servants in the kitchen wanted to broil the partridges that the king had brought, and the same thing happened to them that had happened to the others. Amazed at all they saw and heard, they let the partridges burn to charcoal.

When the king learned of this he became extremely angry, for he was very hungry and now had nothing to eat.

The princess said, "I beg of your majesty to do us the favor of dining in our humble house."

The king accepted, and she left him in order to look for Halfman, who had sneaked away from the king. Finding him, she said, "I invited the king to eat with us. Now speak a charm to provide a splendid feast with the appropriate servants, musicians, dancers, and everything else to go with it."

To this Halfman said, "Give me a fig, and I will speak the charm."

So the princess gave him a fig, and after he had eaten it he spoke the charm, asking for everything that the princess wanted, and suddenly a feast appeared, with everything that went with it.

As soon as the king and his servants were seated at the table the musicians began to play, and they played so beautifully that the king was amazed. He said, "I am a king, but I have never had such music in my castle."

Then the dancers began to dance, and they danced so beautifully that the king said to the princess, "I am a king, but I have never had such dancers in my castle. Tell me how you came to them."

The princess replied, "My father left them to me as an inheritance."

Then the princess went to Halfman and said, "You must speak a charm that will put a spoon into one of the king's boots."

Halfman replied, "Give me a fig and I will do so."

The princess gave him a fig, and he spoke the charm, granting the princess's wish.

When the king was about to depart, the princes said, "Wait a moment. I believe that something is missing."

This disturbed the king, who said, "No, that is not possible. We are not such people!"

But the princess would not be dissuaded. She called out, "Are you platters all there?"

"Yes!"

"Are you plates all there?"

"Yes!"

"Are you spoons all there?"

With that the spoon inside the king's boot called out, "I am stuck in the king's boot!"

Now the princess began to scold the king, saying, "I invited you into my house, prepared a feast for you, and granted you every honor, and now your are stealing one of my spoons! Are you not ashamed of yourself?"

The king said, "This is not possible! Someone put the spoon into my boot! You are doing me a severe injustice!"

To that the princess said, "You also did such an injustice to me when you put Halfman and me into a cask, although I had done nothing wrong."

The king stood there a long time, speechless with amazement. Then the princess brought Halfman to him, and Halfman explained everything that had happened.

The king was amazed at this tale. He took his daughter back home with him and married her to one of his noblemen. He appointed Halfman to be his chief bodyguard and gave him his most beautiful slave girl for a wife.

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