The beam


Hanebjælken


There was once an enchanter who was standing in the midst of a great crowd of people performing his wonders. He had a cock brought in, which lifted a heavy beam and carried it as if it were as light as a feather. But a girl was present who had just found a bit of four-leaved clover, and had thus become so wise that no deception could stand out against her, and she saw that the beam was nothing but a straw. So she cried, "You people, do you not see that it is a straw that the cock is carrying, and no beam?" Immediately the enchantment vanished, and the people saw what it was, and drove the magician away in shame and disgrace. He, however, full of inward anger, said, "I will soon revenge myself?"
After some time the girl's wedding-day came, and she was decked out, and went in a great procession over the fields to the place where the church was. All at once she came to a stream which was very much swollen, and there was no bridge and no plank to cross it. Then the bride nimbly took her clothes up, and wanted to wade through it. And just as she was thus standing in the water, a man, and it was the enchanter, cried mockingly close beside her, "Aha! Where are thine eyes that thou takest that for water?" Then her eyes were opened, and she saw that she was standing with her clothes lifted up in the middle of a field that was blue with the flowers of blue flax. Then all the people saw it likewise, and chased her away with ridicule and laughter.
Der var engang en troldmand, som stod midt i en stor skare folk og foreviste sin kunster. Han havde også en hane, der bar en bjælke så let, som den var en fjer. Der var imidlertid en pige til stede, som havde fundet en firkløver, der havde gjort hende så klog, at intet blændværk kunne skuffe hende, og hun opdagede straks, at bjælken ikke var andet end et halmstrå. "Kan I ikke se, at det er slet ingen bjælke, men bare et halmstrå," råbte hun, og straks blev trolddommen magtesløs, og folk jog troldmanden bort med hån og spot. Nogen tid efter skulle pigen have bryllup, og gik med hele følget over marken hen til kirken. Pludselig kom de til en brusende bæk, og der var ingen bro derover. Bruden løftede rask sin kjole op og ville vade igennem den, men da hun stod midt i vandet råbte en af mændene, som ikke var nogen anden end troldmanden, spottende: "Hvor har du gjort af dine øjne, at du tror, det er vand?" I samme øjeblik opdagede hun, at hun stod med højt opløftede klæder på en mark af hør med blå blomster. Alle folk så det nu også og jagede hende bort med hån og latter.