her castle
of Breitenburg in Schleswig to the help of a dwarf-woman, and in return
received, according to one account, a large piece of gold to be made
into fifty counters, a herring and two spindles, upon the preservation
of which the fortunes of the family were to depend. The gifts are
variously stated in different versions of the tale, but all the versions
agree in attaching to them blessings on the noble house of Ranzau so
long as they were kept in the family. The Frau Von Hahnen, in a Bohemian
legend, receives for her services to a water-nix three pieces of gold,
with the injunction to take care of them, and never to let them go out
of the hands of her own lineage, else the whole family would fall into
poverty. She bequeathed the treasures to her three sons; but the
youngest son took a wife, who with a light heart gave the fairy gold
away. Misery, of course, resulted from her folly; and the race of Hahnen
speedily came to an end.[31]

It is quite possible that the spoons bestowed by Vitra upon the
clergyman's wife in Lappmark were once reputed to be the subject of a
similar proviso. So common, forsooth, was the stipulation, that in one
way or other it was annexed to well-nigh all fairy gifts: they brought
luck to their possessor for the time being. Examples of this are
endless: one only will content us in this connection; and, like Vitra's
gift, we shall find it in Swedish Lappmark. A peasant who had one day
been unlucky at the chase, was returning disgusted, when he met a fine
gentleman who begged him to come and cure his wife. The peasant
protested in vain that he was not a doctor. The other would take no
denial, insisting that it was no matter, for if he would only put his
hands upon the lady she would be healed. Accordingly the stranger led
him to the very top of a mountain, where was perched a castle he had
never seen before. On entering it he found the walls were mirrors, the
roof overhead of silver, the carpets of gold-embroidered silk, and the
furniture of the purest gold and jewels. The stranger took him into a
room where lay the loveliest of princesses on a golden bed, screaming
with pain. As soon as she saw the peasant she begged him to come and put
his hands upon her. Almost stupefied with astonishment he hesitated to
lay his coarse hands upon so fair a dame. But at length he yielded; and
in a moment her pain ceased, and she was made whole. She stood up and
thanked him, begging him to tarry awhile and