The Strange Tale of the Snake Ring Read Online Free

with my blessing and a piece of advice: travel north until you come to the Kingdom of the Shining Sea. Everyone says that the king of that country is the richest and most generous nobleman in the whole of Germany.”
    So early the next morning, Thomas set out on his travels once more. The weather had turned fine and warm, and travelling was pleasant in that part of the country. Nevertheless, it was a very long way to the Shining Sea, and it was several more weeks before Thomas, tired and footsore, arrived at the palace of the king. By now he knew that the kitchen was the place where it was possible to obtain employment, but when he arrived at the kitchen door, there were already about twenty men and boys of different ages lining up outside.
    â€œGet to the back of the queue!” called several of them. “If there’s any work going, it’s first come, first served here,” said one.
    The door opened and a tall man in a chef’s hat and white apron stepped out. “I’m the head cook,” he announced, “and I can tell you that there is a job for only one man today.” The man at the head of the queue stepped forward.
    â€œHave you ever worked in a nobleman’s kitchen before?” the chef asked him.
    â€œNo, I haven’t,” replied the man.
    â€œYou are no good then,” said the chef. “The king told me only to employ men with experience. Have any of you others ever worked in a nobleman’s kitchen?” No one answered. The chef turned and was just about to disappear into the kitchen again, when Thomas suddenly remembered his experience with the ‘Peculiar Prince’.
    â€œYes! I have worked for the Prince of Schwarzburg,” cried Thomas loudly. He thought it wise not to mention that he had only worked there for a few hours.
    The chef turned back, and said to Thomas, “In that case, you are just the man I want. Congratulations! You have just been appointed dishwasher to the king. Come with me, and as for you others, off you go as quickly as possible. You can see that this young man has been given the appointment.”
    The chef led the way into the kitchen, and Thomas followed.

Chapter 5
    Gerda in Despair

    Gerda missed Thomas very much. She went about her work on the farm very much as before, but she rarely sang at her work as she had done in the past. When she did, her little song had changed, and the words were now like this:
    â€œI once had a sweetheart, but now I have none;
    And I’m so unhappy now Thomas has gone.”
    Every day after her work was done, she waited for a while at the gate, but no one ever came. The weeks and months went by. Winter came and spring, and then haymaking season came round again.
    One day Gerda had been sent alone to begin mowing the field by the river. It was hard work, as she could never get her scythe as sharp as Thomas used to make it. After a while she tried to lighten the work by singing, but found that the words had changed again:
    â€œWhat use is a scythe that’s too blunt to cut hay?
    What use is a sweetheart who is so far away?”
    As soon as she had sung the last line, she was sorry, and thought to herself,
I should not sing words like that, as I expect Thomas is working very hard to make enough money to come home and marry me
. And she was so unhappy that she stopped her work, sat down on the riverbank and began to cry. To comfort herself, when she had rubbed the tears from her eyes, she took off the ring that Thomas had given her, and pressed it between her hands.
    But her fingers were wet with her tears, and the next moment she had dropped the ring, which rolled down the steep bank into the water. Immediately Gerda stooped down and stared into the water. The river ran deep by the bank, and all she could see in the depths was a large fish, which flicked its tail and disappeared into the middle of the stream.
    Although Gerda had lived by the river all her life, she had never learned