Austria




To the Golden Star hotel at Innsbruck there once came a very rich foreign princess. She was suffering from a terrible disorder that had baffled every doctor that had tried to cure her. Now the princess had heard of Dr. Theophrast, and had come to Innsbruck to consult him there. But he too said it was a malady that he had no control over, even though people said he was a wonder doctor. This was a terrible shock to the princess who had travelled so far in hopes of a cure.

One day when she was lying inconsolable in her bed, a tiny little man came into the room and offered his services. He also gave her a potion, and told her it would restore her to health.

But the little fellow added that on that day next year he should return, and if she had forgotten his name, which was Hahnenkikerle, she must promise to marry him and to live with him under the Hottinger Gorge. The princess gladly accepted this proposition, and she awoke on the following morning as fresh and healthy as a May rose.

She remained in Innsbruck, where she gave feast after feast, and in this way the year soon passed by. All at once she remembered her promise to the little dwarf, whose name had escaped her, and every effort to recall it was in vain. "Oh, why didn't I write it down at once and read it over several times?" she lamented.

She went on and asked many people, but no one could tell her. She confided her anxiety to her friends, but they could neither help her nor give her any advice. Only a poor servant girl, who came to hear of it, decided to try and help the princess. So she went into the Gorge, hoping to hear something certain there. She listened as she crept about all over, and at last she heard in the depth of the Klamm a joyous shouting, and down below she saw the dwarf jumping and singing, "Hurrah! the princess in the Golden Star hotel doesn't know that my name is Hahnenkikerle." The girl hurried home as fast as she could, and told the princess all she had heard. Now the princess remembered the name, and when the day came and the dwarf appeared, she called out to him, "Hahnenkikerle!"

At hearing this the dwarf rushed away raging into the mountain. The girl was rewarded by the princess; and when she married an honest burgher of Innsbruck, she received a princely dower.

Source: Here