Clever Maria

Clever Maria

There was once a merchant who lived close to the royal palace, and had

three daughters. They were all pretty, but Maria, the youngest, was the

prettiest of the three. One day the king sent for the merchant, who was

a widower, to give him directions about a journey he wished the good

man to take. The merchant would rather not have gone, as he did not

like leaving his daughters at home, but he could not refuse to obey the

king’s commands, and with a heavy heart he returned home to say

farewell to them. Before he left, he took three pots of basil, and gave

one to each girl, saying, “I am going a journey, but I leave these

pots. You must let nobody into the house. When I come back, they will

tell me what has happened.” “Nothing will have happened,” said the

girls.

The father went away, and the following day the king, accompanied by

two friends, paid a visit to the three girls, who were sitting at

supper. When they saw who was there, Maria said, “Let us go and get a

bottle of wine from the cellar. I will carry the key, my eldest sister

can take the light, while the other brings the bottle.” But the king

replied, “Oh, do not trouble; we are not thirsty.” “Very well, we will

not go,” answered the two elder girls; but Maria merely said, “I shall

go, anyhow.” She left the room, and went to the hall where she put out

the light, and putting down the key and the bottle, ran to the house of

a neighbour, and knocked at the door. “Who is there so late?” asked the

old woman, thrusting her head out of the window.

“Oh, let me in,” answered Maria. “I have quarrelled with my eldest

sister, and as I do not want to fight any more, I have come to beg you

to allow me to sleep with you.”

So the old woman opened the door and Maria slept in her house. The king

was very angry at her for playing truant, but when she returned home

the next day, she found the plants of her sisters withered away,

because they had disobeyed their father. Now the window in the room of

the eldest overlooked the gardens of the king, and when she saw how

fine and ripe the medlars were on the trees, she longed to eat some,

and begged Maria to scramble down by a rope and pick her a few, and she

would draw her up again. Maria, who was good-natured, swung herself

into the garden by the rope, and got the medlars, and was just making

the rope fast under her arms so as to be hauled up, when her sister

cried: “Oh, there are such delicious lemons a little farther on. You

might bring me one or two.” Maria turned round to pluck them, and found

herself face to face with the gardener, who caught hold of her,

exclaiming, “What are you doing here, you little thief?” “Don’t call me

names,” she said, “or you will get the worst of it,” giving him as she

spoke such a violent push that he fell panting into the lemon bushes.

Then she seized the cord and clambered up to the window.

The next day the second sister had a fancy for bananas and begged so

hard, that, though Maria had declared she would never do such a thing

again, at last she consented, and went down the rope into the king’s

garden. This time she met the king, who said to her, “Ah, here you are

again, cunning one! Now you shall pay for your misdeeds.”

And he began to cross-question her about what she had done. Maria

denied nothing, and when she had finished, the king said again, “Follow

me to the house, and there you shall pay the penalty.” As he spoke, he

started for the house, looking back from time to time to make sure that

Maria had not run away. All of a sudden, when he glanced round, he

found she had vanished completely, without leaving a trace of where she

had gone. Search was made all through the town, and there was not a

hole or corner which was not ransacked, but there was no sign of her

anywhere. This so enraged the king that he became quite ill, and for

many months his life was despaired of.

Meanwhile the two elder sisters had married the two friends of the

king, and were the mothers of little daughters. Now one day Maria stole

secretly to the house where her elder sister lived, and snatching up

the children put them into a beautiful basket she had with her, covered

with flowers inside and out, so that no one would ever guess it held

two babies. Then she dressed herself as a boy, and placing the basket

on her head, she walked slowly past the palace, crying as she went:

“Who will carry these flowers to the king, who lies sick of love?”

And the king in his bed heard what she said, and ordered one of his

attendants to go out and buy the basket. It was brought to his bedside,

and as he raised the lid cries were heard, and peeping in he saw two

little children. He was furious at this new trick which he felt had

been played on him by Maria, and was still looking at them, wondering

how he should pay her out, when he was told that the merchant, Maria’s

father, had finished the business on which he had been sent and

returned home. Then the king remembered how Maria had refused to

receive his visit, and how she had stolen his fruit, and he determined

to be revenged on her. So he sent a message by one of his pages that

the merchant was to come to see him the next day, and bring with him a

coat made of stone, or else he would be punished. Now the poor man had

been very sad since he got home the evening before, for though his

daughters had promised that nothing should happen while he was away, he

had found the two elder ones married without asking his leave. And now

there was this fresh misfortune, for how was he to make a coat of

stone? He wrung his hands and declared that the king would be the ruin

of him, when Maria suddenly entered. “Do not grieve about the coat of

stone, dear father; but take this bit of chalk, and go to the palace

and say you have come to measure the king.” The old man did not see the

use of this, but Maria had so often helped him before that he had

confidence in her, so he put the chalk in his pocket and went to the

palace.

“That is no good,” said the king, when the merchant had told him what

he had come for.

“Well, I can’t make the coat you want,” replied he.

“Then if you would save your head, hand over to me your daughter

Maria.”

The merchant did not reply, but went sorrowfully back to his house,

where Maria sat waiting for him.

“Oh, my dear child, why was I born? The king says that, instead of the

coat, I must deliver you up to him.”

“Do not be unhappy, dear father, but get a doll made, exactly like me,

with a string attached to its head, which I can pull for ‘Yes’ and

‘No.’”

So the old man went out at once to see about it.

The king remained patiently in his palace, feeling sure that this time

Maria could not escape him; and he said to his pages, “If a gentleman

should come here with his daughter and ask to be allowed to speak with

me, put the young lady in my room and see she does not leave it.”

When the door was shut on Maria, who had concealed the doll under her

cloak, she hid herself under the couch, keeping fast hold of the string

which was fastened to its head.

“Senhora Maria, I hope you are well,” said the king when he entered the

room. The doll nodded. “Now we will reckon up accounts,” continued he,

and he began at the beginning, and ended up with the flower-basket, and

at each fresh misdeed Maria pulled the string, so that the doll’s head

nodded assent. “Who-so mocks at me merits death,” declared the king

when he had ended, and drawing his sword, cut off the doll’s head. It

fell towards him, and as he felt the touch of a kiss, he exclaimed,

“Ah, Maria, Maria, so sweet in death, so hard to me in life! The man

who could kill you deserves to die!” And he was about to turn his sword

on himself, when the true Maria sprung out from under the bed, and

flung herself into his arms. And the next day they were married and

lived happily for many years.

[From the Portuguese.]