Long Stout and Sharpeyes

Once upon a time, there lived a king who had only one son. One day, the king said to his son, “My boy, it is my greatest wish to see you happily married before I die. Take this golden key and climb to the top of the very highest tower in the castle. There you will find a tiny room. Unlock the door and look carefully at what you see.”

The prince did as his father had told him. There were twelve windows in the room, and in each window, there was a portrait of a beautiful girl. The twelfth window was covered by a heavy velvet curtain, and as he pulled it aside, he saw the portrait of a beautiful girl dressed in a white robe and wearing a crown of pearls. She looked very beautiful and sad, and the prince fell in love with her at once. He returned to his father and told him that he would marry no one else.

“I was afraid you would say that,” said the king, shaking his head sadly. “You see, that girl is a princess, and she is the prisoner of a wicked wizard who keeps her locked up in his castle. Many princes have tried to rescue her, but they have never been seen again.”

The young prince saddled his horse and rode off at once in search of the castle. Soon, he wandered into a dark forest and was completely lost.

Suddenly, he heard a voice calling, and turning around, the prince saw the tallest, thinnest man he had ever seen.

“Take me with you. You will never regret it, for my name is Long, and I live up to it,” he said. “Wait here, and I will fetch you that bird’s nest.” He pointed to the tallest tree in the forest, stretched up until he was as tall as the tree, and lifted out the bird’s nest. Then he shrank back to his normal size.

The prince was delighted and amazed, and he asked Long if he would show him the way out of the forest. Long stretched up until he could see over the tops of the trees and quickly found the way out. They left the forest behind, and as they traveled over a wide plain, a large, fat, and very round man came towards them. “This,” said Long, “is my friend Stout. Take him into your service, too.”

“I will be very useful to you,” said Stout, “for I can make myself as fat as I wish.” He drew in his breath and grew fatter and fatter until he almost filled the open plain.

All three continued on their journey, and before long, they met a man with two dark patches, like pirates wear, one over each eye. “This is our friend Sharpeyes,” said Long and Stout together. “He has such sharp eyes that he has to wear patches over them, and if he takes them off and stares hard at anything, it either catches fire or crumbles to dust. He can see many miles.” Sharpeyes, too, joined the prince and his companions.

It would have taken many days to reach the castle had it not been for Long, who lifted his three friends up and strode up to the castle in three quick strides. Inside, there were many stone statues of princes dressed in fine clothes.

In one room, there was a table laid for four people, so the friends sat down to eat. Then, with a sudden flash and a puff of blue smoke, the wizard and the princess appeared before them. “I know why you have come to my castle,” said the wizard. “The princess is yours if, for three nights, you can guard her in this room. If she is not there when I return at daybreak, you shall all be turned to stone.” Then in another puff of smoke, he disappeared.

The four friends settled down to guard the princess. Stout puffed himself up until he covered the door. Long stretched his body right the way round the room, and Sharpeyes gazed through his patches at the princess, but they could not keep awake, and soon they had dropped into a deep sleep.

When the prince awoke, it was nearly dawn, and to his horror, he saw that the princess had vanished. He woke his three friends. “I can see her,” said Sharpeyes, staring through the window, “but she is a hundred miles away. She is in the middle of a forest. She has been changed into an acorn and is on the very top of the tallest oak tree.”

In a few strides, Long had reached the forest. He stretched up until he could pluck the acorn from the top of the tree, then he returned and handed the acorn to the prince just as the door opened and the wizard entered. The prince threw the acorn to the floor. Immediately, the princess stood in its place, and the angry wizard stormed out of the room.

As the second night fell, the four friends took up their places again, but again, they all fell asleep. It was nearly dawn when the prince awoke, and the princess had disappeared. He woke his friends, and again Sharpeyes found the princess. “This time she is a jewel, buried in a rock, two hundred miles away,” he said.

Long quickly carried Sharpeyes there. He had only to look at the rock, and it began to crumble so that they were able to pick out the jewel. They gave it to the prince, who just had time to throw the jewel to the floor as the wizard walked in through the door. There stood the princess.

The third night, the same thing happened, and in the morning, Sharpeyes gazed out of the window. “The princess is very far away this time,” he said. “Three hundred miles from here is a deep black sea. Right at the bottom is a shell, and inside the shell is a gold ring. That is the princess.”

With Stout under one arm and Sharpeyes under the other, Long strode off to the distant sea, but although he stretched his arm as far as he could, he still could not reach the shell on the sea bed. Then, blowing and puffing, Stout blew himself up as far as he could go without bursting, and in one enormous gulp, he drank so much of the sea that Long could reach down, pick up the shell, and take out the ring. Then all three set off back to the castle, but they were barely halfway there when Sharpeyes saw the wizard about to enter the room.

Long drew back his arm and hurled the ring, so that it went in through the castle window, hit the floor, and changed into the princess, just as the wizard entered.

He was furious, but his magic had failed, and suddenly he changed into a big, black crow and flew out of the window.

All the stone statues at once turned back into princes again, and the princess was free. The prince and his beautiful bride returned home, where they were married and lived happily ever after. As for Long, Stout, and Sharpeyes, they continued on their travels around the world, looking for people who needed help.