“The Iron Stove.” The Yellow Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, London, New York, Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1906, pp. 32-37.

Tale Summary

There was once a prince who was cursed by an old witch to sit in a large iron stove in the forest, where he lived for many years. One day, a king’s daughter became lost, and after nine days of wandering she found the stove. She heard a voice inside which asked about her, and she explained her plight. He promised to help her if she agreed to marry him, and to come again soon with a knife to scrape a hole in the iron. She reluctantly consented to this, and was given a guide to bring her back home. Once there, she told her father what had happened, and they devised a plan so that she could be free of her promise. They sent a beautiful miller’s daughter in her place and instructed her to scrape the stove with a knife, but after 24 hours of doing so she could not make a dent and accidentally betrayed her origins. Another beautiful girl was sent, the daughter of a swine-herder, but she also could not finish the task and revealed that she was not of noble birth. The princess herself goes into the woods and scrapes a hole in the stove and sees that the prince inside is very handsome. She consents to marry him, but before she was to go with him to his home country she wished to say goodbye to her father. He agreed, but warned her not to speak more than three words. She did not heed what he said, and could not find the stove when she returned. She walked at night and was afraid, and so sought refuge in a little old house. Inside were many toads and a set table, and when the girl knocked a small toad was sent by the biggest toad to let her in. She told them everything which had happened and they treated her well, and the next morning the big toad gave her three large needles, a plough-wheel, and three nuts to use in times of need. The toad told her that to find her husband she must cross a glass mountain, three cutting swords, and a great lake. When the princess reached the mountain, which was very slippery, she used the three needles to climb safely up. Then she came to the three cutting-swords and rode over them with her plough-wheel, and then crossed the great lake to a beautiful castle. She presented herself as a servant and was put to work in the kitchen. She heard that her husband was to marry another princess, as he thought his bride was dead, and so in the evening she cracked one of the nuts. Out came a beautiful dress, which the new bride desperately wanted, but the princess would not give it to her until she consented to let her sleep outside the prince’s door. She allowed this, but gave the prince a sleeping potion so that he could not hear her speak to him all night. The servants, however, did hear, and told their master. The next night, she bit into the second nut, and an even more beautiful dress came out which the new bride insisted on having. The true bride was again granted her wish to stay outside the groom’s door, but again he was given a drought and could not hear a word she said. The servants heard her, and told her master. On the third night the princess cracked open the last nut, and found the most beautiful dress made of pure gold. She gave it to the new bride under the same conditions as before, but that night, the prince did not take the sleeping draught and so heard what she had to say and they were reunited with joy. They got in a carriage together with the false bride’s clothes and made it back to the little old house the same way the princess had come. When they stepped inside it transformed into a large castle and the toads were freed from a spell and became little princes. The princess and her love were married and her father was fetched to live with them, so they had two kingdoms that they ruled happily together.