“But when the giants had more or less done away with the dragons, they too became haughty and presumptuous and began to persecute the pixies. Again the little people turned to God in their need, and He, in His omnipotence, created the knights to fight giants and dragons, and to live in harmony with the pixies. And with that, this aspect of God’s creation was completed, and it came to pass in times to come that giant and dragon always held together, as did knight and pixie. So, you see, my friend, we are one of the oldest races in the world, which is a greater honor but results in quite a few disadvantages.
For since on this earth nothing lasts forever, and all things that once were great must grow small, we too find ourselves diminishing constantly and growing smaller—especially the royal family, which is subject above all others to this fate because of its pure blood. Our sages therefore decided long ago that, from time to time, a princess from the royal house should be sent out into the land to marry an honorable knight, so that the race of pixies might be renewed and not die out completely.”
My beautiful lady told me all this most sincerely, but I could not help watching her with some suspicion, for it occurred to me that she might be pulling my leg. I didn’t doubt her story insofar as it concerned the fairylike quality of her origin, but that she had chosen me instead of a knight filled me with some distrust. I knew myself too well to believe that any of my ancestors might have been created directly by God. However, I hid my astonishment and doubt and asked amiably, “But tell me, dear child, how did you grow to be so tall and imposing? For I know few women who can equal your magnificent figure.”
“I shall tell you,” she said. “It was the policy of the pixie kings of old to beware of resorting to any extraordinary measures as long as possible, and I find this a quite natural and reasonable policy. And they might have hesitated much longer before sending a princess out into the land, if my little brother, who was born after me, had not turned out to be so tiny that his nurse lost him in his swaddling clothes, and no one ever found out what had become of him. Nothing like this unique case could be found in the whole annals of our kingdom. The wise men therefore held a conclave and…in short…it was decided to send me out into the world to find a husband.”
“It was decided!” I cried. “All well and good; things can be decided, but to give a pixie the form of a goddess…how did your wise men manage that?”
“That, too,” she said, “was ordained by our ancestors. In the royal treasure chest there was a huge gold ring. I speak of it now as it looked to me when I was shown it as a child. It is the ring I have on now, and this is how they set about it. I was carefully instructed in everything that was to take place, and told what I could and could not do.
“A magnificent palace was built after the pattern of my parents’ favorite summer residence. It had a main building, two ells, everything one could wish for, and it stood in the entrance of a rocky crevasse, embellishing it marvelously. On a certain day, the whole court repaired to it, and my parents with me. The army paraded, and twenty-four priests carried the miraculous ring on a precious litter, not without a great deal of effort. It was laid down on the threshold of the palace, just inside as you step over it. A ceremony followed; then, after bidding everyone a fond farewell, I set to work.
I walked up to the ring, laid my hands on it, and at once began to grow noticeably. In a few minutes, I had attained my present stature and I at once put on the ring. In no time at all, windows, doors, gate, and ells shrank into the main building, and in front of me, instead of the palace, stood a casket, which I immediately picked up and carried off, feeling quite pleased to be so big and strong even if I was still tiny compared to the trees and mountains, the rivers and vast plains. Still, beside grass and herbs, I was a giant, especially when compared to an ant. We pixies do not get along with the ants and are therefore often plagued by them.
“There would be much to tell of all the things that happened to me on my pilgrimage before I met you, but let it suffice to say that I tested many, and only you seemed to be worthy of renewing the wonderful line of Eckwald and perpetuating it.”
As she spoke, I could feel my head move every now and then, but I was careful not to shake it in negation. I asked a lot of questions, but did not receive very satisfactory answers to any of them. To my dismay, however, I heard that, after what had happened between us, she would have to return to her parents. She hoped to be able to come back to me, but at this moment there was no getting around her putting in an appearance at home or all would be lost for both of us. The sacks would soon cease to pay, and there would be other disastrous consequences. When I heard that there was a possibility of our running out of money, I asked no further questions. I shrugged and was silent, and she seemed to understand.
We packed and took our seats in the carriage, the casket opposite us. It didn’t look like a palace to me. Thus we drove past several stations. The moneybags provided simply and liberally for tips and the fare until we reached mountainous terrain. We stopped, my lovely lady got out and hurried on ahead, and I followed with the casket at her request. She led me up a steep path to a narrow valley where a clear spring bubbled and wound its way through a meadow. Pointing to a rise in the ground, she told me to put the casket down and said, “Farewell. You won’t have any difficulty in finding your way back. I hope we shall meet again.”
But I could not leave her. It was one of her most beautiful days or, if you like, her loveliest hour. To be alone with such a ravishing creature on a green sward, between grass and flowers, hemmed in by rock and rushing water—what heart could have remained unfeeling under such circumstances? I wanted to grasp her hand and embrace her, but she pushed me away and, in terms that still were loving, threatened me with great peril unless I left immediately. “Is there no possibility of my staying with you?” I cried. “Can’t you keep me with you?”
My words were spoken in such heartrending tones and accompanied by such desperate gestures that she seemed touched and after some deliberation finally admitted that a continuation of our life together was not entirely out of the question.
Not a man on earth could have been happier than I! I became more and more importunate and at last forced her to speak. She revealed the fact that if I was prepared to become as small as she had been when I had seen her in the casket, I could stay with her in her residence and kingdom and become a member of her family.
I can’t say that the idea appealed to me, but at that moment it was quite impossible for me to part from her, and since I had become accustomed to the miraculous some time ago and was in a rash mood, I agreed and told her to do with me what she liked.
Immediately she asked me to stretch out the little finger of my right hand; she put hers against it and, with her left hand, gently slipped the golden ring from her finger onto mine. This had scarcely taken place when I felt a dreadful pain in that finger; the ring shrank and caused my agony. I screamed and reached out for my beautiful love, but she had disappeared. I simply cannot express what I felt at that moment, and there really is nothing to tell except that I very soon found myself a shrunken, tiny figure, standing beside my beloved in a forest of grass. Our joy at finding each other again after such a brief yet strange separation or, if you like, a reunion without a parting, defies description. I threw my arms around her, she returned my embrace, and as a tiny couple we were just as happy as we had been when we were big.
We walked up a hill—which was not easy, because the grass meadow had become almost impenetrable forest for us—and finally managed to reach a clearing. To our astonishment, we found there an evenly constructed solid that we soon recognized as the casket. It was still in the condition in which I had set it down.
“Go up to it, my friend,” my beloved said. “Knock on it with your ring, and you will see marvelous things.”
I did as she told me, and had scarcely knocked when the marvels began to take place.
