The drummer didn’t need to be told a second time. As soon as he shut his eyes, she turned a wishing ring on her finger and said, “Water up, fish out.”
Whereupon, like a white fog, all the water rose out of the pond and wafted away with the other clouds, and the fish flipped about and leapt onto the shore and lay themselves neatly side by side, according to kind and size.
When the drummer woke up, he was stunned to see that the task had been accomplished.
The girl said, “One of the fishes isn’t lying beside its sort but is all alone. When the old woman comes this evening and sees that all was done as she instructed, she will ask you, ‘What is that fish doing there all alone?’ Then fling the fish in her face and say, ‘That one’s for you, old witch!’ “
That evening the old woman came by, and when she asked him the question, he flung the fish in her face. But she pretended not to take any notice, said nothing, and just scowled.
The next morning she said, “Yesterday you had it easy. I’ll have to think up a more difficult task. Today you have to cut down the entire forest, cut the wood into planks, pile the planks in cords, and everything must be done by nightfall.” She gave him an ax, a mallet, and two wedges. But the ax was made of lead, and the mallet and wedges of tin. As soon as he swung the ax, it twisted out of shape, and the mallet and wedges folded in two.
He did not know what to do, but at midday the girl came again to bring him food and comforted him. “Lay your head on my lap and sleep,” she said. “When you wake up the task will accomplished.”
She turned the wishing ring, and then and there the entire forest collapsed with a crash, and the wood split into planks and stacked itself into cords. It was as if an invisible giant had done the job.
When he woke up, the girl said, “You see, the wood is all split and stacked; just one limb is left over. When the old woman comes by this evening and asks about that limb, pick it up, strike her with it, and say, ‘That’s for you, old witch.’ ”
The old woman came. “You see,” she said, “how easy it was, but why is that leftover limb lying about?”
“For you, old witch,” he replied, and struck her with it.
But she pretended not to feel the blow, sneered, and said, “Tomorrow you will lay all that wood in a big pile and set it afire.”
At daybreak he got up and started dragging the wood, but how can one man drag an entire forest? The work did not progress. But the girl did not leave him in the lurch. At midday she brought him his meal, and once he’d eaten, he lay his head in her lap and fell asleep. When he woke up, raging flames rose from the entire pile, the tongues of which reached the sky.
“Listen well,” said the girl. “When the witch comes, she will assign you all kinds of tasks – do everything she asks without showing any fear, and she won’t be able to do you any harm, but if she sees that you’re frightened, the flames will lap you up and burn you to a crisp. Finally, once you’ve done everything she’s asked, then grab her with your two hands and fling her into the glowing embers.”
The girl went away and the old woman came skulking by. “Brrr! I’m freezing,” she said. “Here is a fire to warm my old bones, now that feels good. But there’s a block of wood that doesn’t want to burn, go fetch it for me. If you do that last thing for me, you’re free to go wherever you wish. So hop to it.”
The drummer didn’t hesitate for long and leapt into the flames, but they did him no harm, and not a hair on his head was singed. He hauled out the block and lay it on the ground. But no sooner did the wood touch the earth than it transformed itself, and the beautiful girl who had helped him out of his tough fixes was standing there before him – and by the silken, gold-embroidered clothes she wore he recognized that she was indeed the princess. But the old woman gave a nasty cackle and said, “You think you’ve got her, but you haven’t got her yet.” At that very moment she reached for the girl to drag her off, but he grabbed the old woman with both his hands, lifted her in the air, and swung her into the tongues of fire that lapped her up as though well-pleased to consume a witch.
Whereupon the princess looked at the drummer, and when she saw that he was a handsome youth, and considered that he had risked his life to save her, she reached out her hand to him and said, “You risked everything for me, but I will also do everything for you. If you promise to be true, then you will be my husband. We’ve riches enough, there’s plenty of booty here that the witch amassed.” She led him into the house, and there stood chests and chests full of treasure. They left the gold and silver and only took the diamonds. They did not want to stay any longer on Glass Mountain. Then he said to her, “Sit yourself beside me on this saddle, and we’ll fly off like a bird.”