There was an emperor who had three sons. One day the eldest son went
out hunting, and when he got outside the town, up sprang a hare out
of a bush, and he after it, and hither and thither, till the hare
fled into a water-mill, and the prince after it. But it was not a
hare, but a dragon, and it waited for the prince and devoured him.
When several days had elapsed and the prince did not return home,
people began to wonder why it was that he was not to be found. Then
the middle son went hunting, and as he issued from the town, a hare
sprang out of a bush, and the prince after it, and hither and
thither, till the hare fled into the water-mill and the prince after
it; but it was not a hare, but a dragon, which waited for and
devoured him. When some days had elapsed and the princes did not
return, either of them, the whole court was in sorrow. Then the
third son went hunting, to see whether he could not find his
brothers. When he issued from the town, again up sprang a hare out
of a bush, and the prince after it, and hither and thither, till the
hare fled into the water-mill. But the prince did not choose to
follow it, but went to find other game, saying to himself: 'When I
return I shall find you.' After this he went for a long time up and
down the hill, but found nothing, and then returned to the
water-mill; but when he got there, there was only an old woman in
the mill. The prince invoked God in addressing her: 'God help you,
old woman!' The old woman replied: 'God help you, my son!' Then the
prince asked her: 'Where, old woman, is my hare?' She replied: 'My
son, that was not a hare, but a dragon. It kills and throttles many
people.' Hearing this, the prince was somewhat disturbed, and said
to the old woman: 'What shall we do now? Doubtless my two brothers
also have perished here.' The old woman answered: 'They have
indeed; but there's no help for it. Go home, my son, lest you follow
them.' Then he said to her: 'Dear old woman, do you know what? I
know that you will be glad to liberate yourself from that pest.' The
old woman interrupted him: 'How should I not? It captured me, too,
in this way, but now I have no means of escape.' Then he proceeded:
'Listen well to what I am going to say to you. Ask it whither it
goes and where its strength is; then kiss all that place where it
tells you its strength is, as if from love, till you ascertain it,
and afterwards tell me when I come.' Then the prince went off to the
palace, and the old woman remained in the water-mill. When the
dragon came in, the old woman began to question it: 'Where in God's
name have you been? Whither do you go so far? You will never tell me
whither you go.' The dragon replied: 'Well, my dear old woman, I do
go far.' Then the old woman began to coax it: 'And why do you go so
far? Tell me where your strength is. If I knew where your strength
is, I don't know what I should do for love; I would kiss all that
place.' Thereupon the dragon smiled and said to her: 'Yonder is my
strength, in that fireplace.' Then the old woman began to fondle and
kiss the fireplace, and the dragon on seeing it burst into a laugh,
and said to her: 'Silly old woman, my strength isn't there; my
strength is in that tree-fungus in front of the house.' Then the old
woman began again to fondle and kiss the tree, and the dragon again
laughed, and said to her: 'Away, old woman! my strength isn't
there.' Then the old woman inquired: 'Where is it?' The dragon began
to give an account in detail: 'My strength is a long way off, and
you cannot go thither. Far in another empire under the emperor's
city is a lake, in that lake is a dragon, and in the dragon a boar,
and in the boar a pigeon, and in that is my strength.' The next
morning when the dragon went away from the mill, the prince came to
the old woman, and the old woman told him all that she had heard
from the dragon. Then he left his home, and disguised himself; he
put shepherd's boots on his feet, took a shepherd's staff in his
hand, and went into the world. As he went on thus from village to
village, and from town to town, at last he came into another empire
and into the imperial city, in a lake under which the dragon was. On
going into the town, he began to inquire who wanted a shepherd. The
citizens told him that the emperor did. Then he went straight to the
emperor. After he announced himself, the emperor admitted him into
his presence, and asked him: 'Do you wish to keep sheep?' He
replied: 'I do, illustrious crown!' Then the emperor engaged him,
and began to inform and instruct him: 'There is here a lake, and
alongside of the lake very beautiful pasture, and when you call the
sheep out, they go thither at once, and spread themselves round the
lake; but whatever shepherd goes off there, that shepherd returns
back no more. Therefore, my son, I tell you, don't let the sheep
have their own way and go where _they_ will, but keep them where
_you_ will.' The prince thanked the emperor, got himself ready, and
called out the sheep, taking with him, moreover, two hounds that
could catch a boar in the open country, and a falcon that could
capture any bird, and carrying also a pair of bagpipes. When he
called out the sheep he let them go at once to the lake, and when
the sheep arrived at the lake, they immediately spread round it, and
the prince placed the falcon on a stump, and the hounds and bagpipes
under the stump, then tucked up his hose and sleeves, waded into the
lake, and began to shout 'Dragon! dragon! come out to single combat
with me to-day that we may measure ourselves together, unless you're
a woman.'[15] The dragon called out in reply, 'I will do so now,
prince--now!' Erelong, behold the dragon! it is large, it is
terrible, it is disgusting! When the dragon came out, it seized him
by the waist, and they wrestled a summer day till afternoon. But
when the heat of afternoon came on, the dragon said: 'Let me go,
prince, that I may moisten my parched head in the lake, and toss you
to the sky.' But the prince replied: 'Come, dragon, don't talk
nonsense; if I had the emperor's daughter to kiss me on the
forehead, I would toss you still higher.' Thereupon the dragon
suddenly let go of him, and went off into the lake. On the approach
of evening, he washed and got himself up nicely, placed the falcon
on his arm, the hounds behind him, and the bagpipes under his arm,
then drove the sheep and went into the town playing on the bagpipes.
When he arrived at the town, the whole town assembled as to see a
wondrous sight because he had come, whereas previously no shepherd
had been able to come from the lake. The next day the prince got
ready again, and went with his sheep straight to the lake. But the
emperor sent two grooms after him to go stealthily and see what he
did, and they placed themselves on a high hill whence they could
have a good view. When the shepherd arrived, he put the hounds and
bagpipes under the stump and the falcon upon it, then tucked up his
hose and sleeves, waded into the lake and shouted: 'Dragon, dragon!
come out to single combat with me, that we may measure ourselves
once more together, unless you are a woman!' The dragon replied: 'I
will do so, prince; now, now!' Erelong, behold the dragon! it was
large, it was terrible, it was disgusting! And it seized him by the
waist and wrestled with him a summer's day till afternoon. But when
the afternoon heat came on, the dragon said: 'Let me go, prince,
that I may moisten my parched head in the lake, and may toss you to
the sky.' The prince replied: 'Come, dragon, don't talk nonsense;
if I had the emperor's daughter to kiss me on the forehead, I would
toss you still higher.' Thereupon the dragon suddenly left hold of
him, and went off into the lake. When night approached the prince
drove the sheep as before, and went home playing the bagpipes. When
he arrived at the town, the whole town was astir and began to wonder
because the shepherd came home every evening, which no one had been
able to do before. Those two grooms had already arrived at the
palace before the prince, and related to the emperor in order
everything that they had heard and seen. Now when the emperor saw
that the shepherd returned home, he immediately summoned his
daughter into his presence and told her all, what it was and how it
was. 'But,' said he, 'to-morrow you must go with the shepherd to the
lake and kiss him on the forehead.' When she heard this she burst
into tears and began to entreat her father. 'You have no one but me,
and I am your only daughter, and you don't care about me if I
perish.' Then the emperor began to persuade and encourage her:
'Don't fear, my daughter; you see, we have had so many changes of
shepherds, and of all that went out to the lake not one has
returned; but _he_ has been contending with the dragon for two whole
days and it has done him no hurt. I assure you, in God's name, that
he is able to overcome the dragon, only go to-morrow with him to see
whether he will free us from this mischief which has destroyed so
many people.'
[15] This is intended as an insult. 'Azhdaja,' a dragon, is
feminine in Servian.
When, on the morrow, the day dawned, the day dawned and the sun came
forth, up rose the shepherd, up rose the maiden too, to begin to
prepare for going to the lake. The shepherd was cheerful, more
cheerful than ever, but the emperor's daughter was sad, and shed
tears. The shepherd comforted her: 'Lady sister, I pray you, do not
weep, but do what I tell you. When it is time, run up and kiss me,
and fear not.' As he went and drove the sheep, the shepherd was
thoroughly cheery, and played a merry tune on his bagpipes; but the
damsel did nothing but weep as she went beside him, and he several
times left off playing and turned towards her: 'Weep not, golden
one; fear nought.' When they arrived at the lake, the sheep
immediately spread round it, and the prince placed the falcon on the
stump, and the hounds and bagpipes under it, then tucked up his hose
and sleeves, waded into the water, and shouted: 'Dragon! dragon!
Come out to single combat with me; let us measure ourselves once
more, unless you're a woman!' The dragon replied: 'I will, prince;
now, now!' Erelong, there was the dragon! it was huge, it was
terrible, it was disgusting! When it came out, they seized each
other by the middle, and wrestled a summer's day till afternoon. But
when the afternoon heat came on, the dragon said: 'Let me go,
prince, that I may moisten my parched head in the lake, and toss you
to the skies.' The prince replied: 'Come, dragon, don't talk
nonsense; if I had the emperor's daughter to kiss me on the
forehead, I would toss you much higher.' When he said this, the
emperor's daughter ran up and kissed him on the face, on the eye,
and on the forehead. Then he swung the dragon, and tossed it high
into the air, and when it fell to the ground it burst into pieces.
But as it burst into pieces, out of it sprang a wild boar, and
started to run away. But the prince shouted to his shepherd dogs:
'Hold it! don't let it go!' and the dogs sprang up and after it,
caught it, and soon tore it to pieces. But out of the boar flew a
pigeon, and the prince loosed the falcon, and the falcon caught the
pigeon and brought it into the prince's hands. The prince said to
it: 'Tell me now, where are my brothers?' The pigeon replied: 'I
will; only do me no harm. Immediately behind your father's town is a
water-mill, and in the water-mill are three wands that have sprouted
up. Cut these three wands up from below, and strike with them upon
their root; an iron door will immediately open into a large vault.
In that vault are many people, old and young, rich and poor, small
and great, wives and maidens, so that you could settle a populous
empire; there, too, are your brothers.' When the pigeon had told him
all this, the prince immediately wrung its neck.
The emperor had gone out in person, and posted himself on the hill
from which the grooms had viewed the shepherd, and he, too, was a
spectator of all that had taken place. After the shepherd had thus
obtained the dragon's head, twilight began to approach. He washed
himself nicely, took the falcon on his shoulder, the hounds behind
him, and the bagpipes under his arm, played as he went, drove the
sheep, and proceeded to the emperor's palace, with the damsel at his
side still in terror. When they came to the town, all the town
assembled as to see a wonder. The emperor, who had seen all his
heroism from the hill, called him into his presence, and gave him
his daughter, went immediately to church, had them married, and held
a wedding festival for a week. After this the prince told him who
and whence he was, and the emperor and the whole town rejoiced still
more. Then, as the prince was urgent to go to his own home, the
emperor gave him a large escort, and equipped him for the journey.
When they were in the neighbourhood of the water-mill, the prince
halted his attendants, went inside, cut up the three wands, and
struck the root with them, and the iron door opened at once. In the
vault was a vast multitude of people. The prince ordered them to
come out one by one, and go whither each would, and stood himself at
the door. They came out thus one after another, and lo! there were
his brothers also, whom he embraced and kissed. When the whole
multitude had come out, they thanked him for releasing and
delivering them, and went each to his own home. But he went to his
father's house with his brothers and bride, and there lived and
reigned to the end of his days.