Reading Notes: Lang's European Fairy Tales I, Part B

In the story, "The Voice of Death," a man only wants to be wealthy; it is all he can think about. One day, his wish comes true. He does not want to lose his wealth and possessions by dying, so he sets out to find a place without death. He went from country to country, asking if people died there. When he heard that they did, he moved on to the next country. He reaches a place where the people say they do not even know the meaning of the word death. The man asks if there are several people there since nobody dies. The people say no, because every so often they can hear a voice calling and someone goes to find it only to never return. They say the person can both hear the voice and see who is calling. The man thinks whoever follows the voice is stupid. He returns home to get his possessions and family to bring them to the land where nobody dies. He tells his family to not follow the voice if they ever hear it once they have settled into their new home.

Several years go by, and one day, the man's wife stands up from their table and yells, "I am coming! I am coming!" The man grabs his wife and reminds her to not follow the voice. She replies that she only wants to know why she is being called and she will return immediately. She eventually slips out of her husband's grasp and runs towards the voice. The husband tells himself that there's nothing he could have done to stop her if she is that foolish.

More years pass and the man is getting shaved at the barber's. The man sits up and yells, "I won't come, do you hear me? I won't come!" The mans keeps yelling for the voice to go away. He grabs the razor from the barber and runs out the door to hunt down the voice. The barber chases after his razor, but the man falls down into a precipice never to return. The barber returns to town and tells everyone what happens when someone follows the voice. People went to find the pit people fall in, but only see a vast plain. From that point on, people in that town die just like everywhere else.

Grim Reaper by Yuri_B

Story source: The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1890)

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