The Miller’s Apprentice

Once upon a time, there was an old miller who had no children to help him in his work. So instead, he employed three young men as apprentices. One day, the miller, who was growing too old to work anymore, said to the three young men, “Go out into the world, and whichever one of you brings me back the finest horse shall have the mill as his own.”

The name of the youngest apprentice was Hans, and the other two disliked him. So when the miller had gone, they said to him, “You might as well stay here in the village, Hans. What chance have you of finding a horse?”

That night, when Hans was fast asleep, the other apprentices tiptoed out of the room and away into the night. When he awoke in the morning, Hans was alone except for a tortoiseshell cat.

“Where are you going, Hans?” said the cat.

“Why do you want to know? Can you help me?” asked Hans.

“Yes, I know the task that the miller has set you,” said the cat. “If you will be my faithful servant for seven years, I will give you the finest horse that you have ever seen.”

The cat took Hans to her enchanted castle, and there he met the other cats, which waited on her and played music to her in the evening.

The next day, Hans was hard at work, chopping wood for the castle fires with a silver axe and a silver saw, which the cat had given him. Hans remained at the castle for a long time and one day asked the cat if it was time for his reward.

“No,” she replied. “There is one more thing you must do for me.”

The cat gave Hans a box of silver tools and told him to build a silver house. By the time Hans had finished his task, the seven years were over and it was time for him to leave.

The cat showed Hans to her stables, and there he saw twelve of the finest horses in the land, with beautiful silken coats and strong, slim legs.

“Go home now, Hans, and after three days, one of these horses will follow you. He will be yours,” said the cat.

When Hans arrived home, he found that the other two apprentices had arrived there before him.

“What did we tell you?” they said. “We knew you would return without a horse.” When Hans tried to explain where he had been for the past seven years and that the finest horse in the land would be his in three days’ time, the other two boys laughed at him.

On the morning of the third day, a magnificent carriage, drawn by fine horses, drew up at the door of the mill. Out of the carriage stepped a beautiful princess. She asked the miller if she might see Hans. When he came, she gave him one of the horses which had been pulling the carriage. “This is your reward for being such a faithful servant,” she said. “The mill is yours as well,” said the miller, for the horse was the finest he had ever seen. All Hans could say was, “But I worked for a tortoiseshell cat for seven years, not a beautiful princess like yourself.”

“It is true,” replied the princess. “I was once a cat, but now the wicked spell has been lifted from me, and now I am a princess, just like I used to be.

“Come with me, Hans. The miller can keep his mill, for the silver house that you built me has changed into a wonderful palace.”

Hans said farewell to the miller and the apprentices and rode off with the princess to her palace. There, they were married and lived happily ever after.