Lammet og fisken


The lambkin and the little fish


Der var engang en lille bror og en lille søster, som holdt så meget af hinanden. Deres rigtige mor var død, og nu havde de en stedmor, som ikke brød sig om dem og gjorde dem al den fortræd, hun kunne. Engang legede de med nogle andre børn på en eng, hvor der var en dam, som gik helt om på den ene side af huset. Børnene løb rundt og legede og sang:
There were once a little brother and a little sister, who loved each other with all their hearts. Their own mother was, however, dead, and they had a stepmother, who was not kind to them, and secretly did everything she could to hurt them. It so happened that the two were playing with other children in a meadow before the house, and there was a pond in the meadow which came up to one side of the house. The children ran about it, and caught each other, and played at counting out.

"Eneke, beneke, lad mig i live,
"Eneke Beneke, let me live,

så skal en køn, lille fugl jeg dig give.
And I to thee my bird will give.

Fuglen skal samle græs og strå,
The little bird, it straw shall seek,

og det skal den rare, blakkede få,
The straw I'll give to the cow to eat.

al dens søde mælk jeg så tager,
The pretty cow shall give me milk,

og bringer det hen til den gamle bager,
The milk I'll to the baker take.

han skal en dejlig kage lave,
The baker he shall bake a cake,

og den skal den lille missekat have.
The cake I'll give unto the cat.

Katten ihjel skal musene bide, og de skal
The cat shall catch some mice for that,

så hænge side om side oppe ved ovnen,
The mice I'll hang up in the smoke,

i damp og røg, så piber de ej og gør ingen støj."
And then you'll see the snow."

De stod i en kreds, og den, som ordet støj faldt på, skulle løbe, og de andre skulle så fange ham. Mens de legede nok så fornøjet, stod den onde stedmor i vinduet og ærgrede sig. Men hun forstod sig på trolddomskunster og forvandlede drengen til en fisk og pigen til et lam. Fisken svømmede bedrøvet frem og tilbage ude i dammen og lammet gik sørgmodigt rundt på engen, uden at spise noget. Der gik nu lang tid, men så kom der en dag fremmede på slottet. "Her er jo en passende lejlighed," tænkte den onde stedmor, og sagde til kokken: "Gå ud og slagt det lam, der løber ude på engen, ellers har jeg ingenting at give de fremmede." Kokken gik ned og hentede lammet, trak det ind i køkkenet og bandt benene sammen på det, og det fandt sig tålmodigt i det altsammen. Da han havde taget kniven frem, og stod og hvæssede den på tærskelen, så han, at der nede i rendestenen svømmede en lille fisk, som blev ved at se op på ham. Det var den lille dreng, for da han havde set, at kokken gik af sted med lammet, var han svømmet med hen til huset. Lammet råbte nu:
They stood in a circle while they played this, and the one to whom the word 'snow' fell, had to run away and all the others ran after him and caught him. As they were running about so merrily the stepmother watched them from the window, and grew angry. And as she understood arts of witchcraft she bewitched them both, and changed the little brother into a fish, and the little sister into a lamb. Then the fish swam here and there about the pond and was very sad, and the lambkin walked up and down the meadow, and was miserable, and could not eat or touch one blade of grass. Thus passed a long time, and then strangers came as visitors to the castle. The false step-mother thought: "This is a good opportunity," and called the cook and said to him: "Go and fetch the lamb from the meadow and kill it, we have nothing else for the visitors." Then the cook went away and got the lamb, and took it into the kitchen and tied its feet, and all this it bore patiently. When he had drawn out his knife and was whetting it on the door-step to kill the lamb, he noticed a little fish swimming backwards and forwards in the water, in front of the kitchen-sink and looking up at him. This, however, was the brother, for when the fish saw the cook take the lamb away, it followed them and swam along the pond to the house; then the lamb cried down to it:

"Min lille bror, i det dybe vand, nu mister
"Ah, brother, in the pond so deep,

din stakkels søster sit liv. Slet intet mere
How sad is my poor heart!

mig redde kan, hør, kokken hvæsser sin
Even now the cook he whets his knife

skarpe kniv."
To take away my tender life."

Og fisken svarede:
The little fish answered:

"Af smerte mit stakkels hjerte brister,
"Ah, little sister, up on hig

hvis min egen,
How sad is my poor heart

lille søster jeg mister."
While in this pond I lie."

Da kokken hørte, at lammet talte så sørgmodig med fisken, tænkte han, at det kunne vist ikke være noget rigtigt lam, den onde kone havde nok forhekset det. "Vær du kun rolig, jeg skal ikke slagte dig," sagde han, satte et andet dyr for gæsterne og bragte lammet til en god bondekone, som han fortalte, hvad han havde hørt. Konen havde imidlertid været den lille piges amme og tænkte straks at det var hende. Hun gik hen til en klog kone, som sagde nogle trylle ord over lammet og fisken, og de blev da til mennesker igen. Hun førte dem så begge to ud i skoven til et lille hus, og der levede de ganske alene, men glade og lykkelige.
When the cook heard that the lambkin could speak and said such sad words to the fish down below, he was terrified and thought this could be no common lamb, but must be bewitched by the wicked woman in the house. Then said he: "Be easy, I will not kill thee," and took another sheep and made it ready for the guests, and conveyed the lambkin to a good peasant woman, to whom he related all that he had seen and heard. The peasant was, however, the very woman who had been foster-mother to the little sister, and she suspected at once who the lamb was, and went with it to a wise woman. Then the wise woman pronounced a blessing over the lambkin and the little fish, by means of which they regained their human forms, and after this she took them both into a little hut in a great forest, where they lived alone, but were contented and happy.