lofty gallows were erected on the western side of the royal town, and
the whole population went out to the place where the execution was to
take place. The hangman tied the handsome lad's hands behind his back,
when the sword again clanked at the lad's side. The assembled people,
who a moment ago were so noisy, grew silent, when the king's preacher
read out the sentence. Suddenly a great hubbub arose, and a gorgeous
coach, from which a white flag was waving, was seen driving rapidly up
to the gallows; in the coach sat the King of the Magyars. The coach
stopped underneath the gallows, and the King of the Magyars jumped out
and asked for the handsome lad's reprieve, who was blindfolded. The
angry king informed him that he had great reason to have the scoundrel
hanged, because he thrashed his daughter for no other cause than her
asking him to reveal his secret. The secret was a dream which he could
only tell when it was realised. "My royal colleague, hand the culprit
over to me," said the king of the Magyars, "I'm sure he will tell me his
secret. I have a pretty daughter who is like the Morning Star, and she
will get it out of him." The sword again clanked at the side of the
handsome lad. The king handed the prisoner to the Magyar king, who bade
him sit in his carriage, and asked him his secret. "It is impossible, my
king and master," said the sad lad, "until the dream is fulfilled." "You
will tell my daughter," said the Magyar king smiling. "To none!" said
the lad resolutely, and his sword gave a terrific clank. The king and
the handsome lad arrived at Buda in a few days. The king's daughter was
just promenading in the garden when her father arrived with the handsome
lad. The pretty girl hurried to her father, and as she kissed his hand
she noticed the handsome lad, the like of whom she had never seen
before. "Have you brought him for me?" inquired the love-sick maid,
"from fairy land? No woman has yet carried, has yet borne, such a child
in her arms!"
"My dear daughter, I've brought him not from fairy land, but from the
gallows," replied the king, who was vexed with his daughter for having
so quickly fallen in love with him, although she had never spoken to a
man before. "I don't care, my dear father," said the blushing maid,
"even if you brought him from the gallows, he's mine, and I am his, and
we shall die together." The last words were addressed by the king's
daughter to the handsome lad, who smothered the pretty princess with
kisses. "You will soon be angry with him, my dear daughter," said the
sorrowful king, "if you ask his secret; he's a coarse fellow, he's of no
royal blood, his place is among the servants." "If he killed me, if he
gouged out my eyes, or bit off my nose, I couldn't get angry with him,"
said the princess. "He will tell me his secret, his lodging will be in
the room set apart for my guests, and he will find a place in the middle
of my heart!"
But the king shook his head, and sent the lad down into the
summer-house, where he could amuse himself with reading. No sooner had a
week passed than the girl, who was as pretty as a fairy, put her best
dress on and went to the summer-house to pay a visit to the lad who
lived secluded there, to get his secret out of him. When the young lad
saw the pretty girl and had examined her beautiful dress, the book
dropped from his hand, and he stared but could not utter a single word.
The princess thereupon addressed him in such a beautiful voice as his
ear had never heard before, "Tell me, my handsome lad, why have I come
to see you, if you guess it I will be yours?" "My dove, my angel!" said
the lad with glowing cheeks, "I won't tell you my secret, and if you
wish to get back safely to your royal father's palace you had better not
ask any more questions about the matter." But the girl would not listen
to the lad's warning but pressed for an answer more urgently and
embraced him and kissed him. The lad at last got so angry that he
slapped the princess's face and made her nose bleed. The princess ran
screaming back to the palace, where her father was waiting for her
answer; when the king beheld the blood running down upon the pretty
girl's beautiful dress, he yelled down from the window into the garden,
"I will starve you to death, you son of a dragon!" and began to wash his
daughter's cheek and nose.
The very same day the king summoned all the masons and bricklayers in
the town, and gave them orders to run up in all haste a square building
in which there was to be just room for a stool and a small table, the
table to be so small that only a prayer book could find room on it. In
two hours a small tower was built; the masons had already left off work,
and were going to inform the king that the structure was finished. They
met the king's daughter, who asked one of the masons to stay, the one
who appeared to be the eldest, and asked him whether he could make so
small a hole in the tower that a plate of food and a bottle of wine
could be passed through, and which could not be noticed by any one. "To
be sure," said the grey old mason, "I can and I will make it." The hole
was ready in a quarter of an hour; the king's daughter paid the mason
handsomely and hurried home.
At sunset, among a large crowd of people, the secret-keeping lad was
conducted into the stone structure, and after all his misdeeds had been
once more enumerated he was walled in. But the king's daughter did not
allow him to suffer either hunger or thirst, she visited her sweetheart
three times every day; and brought him books for which he asked. The
king sent every third day his secretary to look after the prisoner and
to see if he were dead, but the scribe found him still alive, and the
king was very much astonished. One day the Turkish Sultan sent a letter
to the Magyar king; the messenger bearing the letter brought with him
also three canes; the Turkish Sultan wrote in the letter, that if the
king could not tell him which of the three canes grew nearest the root,
which in the middle, and which at the top, he would declare war against
him. The king was very much alarmed, and became sad. His daughter
noticed her father's sorrow, and inquired, "Why are you so downcast, my
royal father?" "How can I be otherwise, my dear daughter," said the good
king; "look here, the Turkish Sultan has sent me three canes, and
writes, that if I cannot tell him which is the cane's root-end,
middle-part, and top-end, he will send his army against my country."
"_The God of the Magyar's_ will help you, my dear father," said the
girl; and hurried to the tower, and informed her sweetheart through the
secret hole of the Turkish Sultan's message, and of her father's sorrow.
"Go home, my love, my sweetheart; go to bed and sleep, and when you wake
tell your royal father that you have dreamt that the canes have to be
placed in lukewarm water, and he will then be able to tell on which part
of the plant the canes grew: the one that sinks to the bottom is the one
from nearest the root; the one which does not sink and does not float
on the surface, comes from the middle; and the one that remains on the
surface is from the top." The girl ran home, went to bed and slept, and
told her father her dream, as her sweetheart had instructed her. The
king did as his daughter advised him, and marked the three canes,
namely, with one notch the root-piece, the middle-piece with two
notches, and the top-piece with three, and sent the explanation to the
Sultan; and, actually, the canes had grown as the Magyar king had picked
them out; and the Sultan did not declare war against the Magyar.
After a year the Sultan wrote another letter to the Magyar king and sent
him three foals; in the letter he asked him to guess which of the three
animals was foaled in the morn, which at noon, and which in the evening,
and threatened with war in case a correct guess was not forthcoming. The
king was again sorrowful, and his daughter asked him the reason. "How
should I not be sorrowful, my pretty sweet daughter," said the old king,
"I had another letter from the Sultan, and he sent me three foals, and
if I cannot tell him which was foaled in the morn, noon, and even, he
will declare war against me." "The Lord will again help you, my dear
royal father," said the girl quite joyfully. In half an hour she was
again with her sweetheart, and communicated to him her father's trouble
and sorrow. "Go home, idol of my heart," said the captive lad; "go to
bed and sleep. In your dream scream out, and when your father asks you
what is the matter, tell him that you dreamt that the Sultan had sent
some Turks in order to carry your father off to captivity, as he was not
able to guess when the foals were born; but just as they were pinioning
him, you dreamt that the lad who had slapped your face got out somehow
from his prison, and told you which of the foals was foaled in the
morning, which at noon, and which in the evening." The king's daughter
ran home and did exactly as the immured lad had told her. Next morning
the tower was pulled down and the handsome lad conducted before the
king. "The Lord has preserved you in your long captivity, my son, and I
also feel inclined to grant you pardon. But before doing this you will
have to help me in an important matter. I hand you here the Sultan's
letter, read it; the three foals are in my stables; can you answer his
query?" "I can, my king and master," said the liberated lad, "but I must
ask you some questions. Have you got three exactly similar troughs?"
"No, but I will get some," replied the king. In a quarter of an hour
three troughs of the same size and colour were ready. "Give orders, my
king," said the lad, "to have some oats put into one, some live coals in
the other, and some dry coal in the third: the foal which goes to the
oats was foaled in the morning, the one to the live coals, at noon, and
the one which goes to the dry coals, in the evening." The king did as
the lad advised him. He marked the foals and sent them home. The Sultan
was satisfied and did not send any troops against the Magyar king.
The Sultan had an aunt who was a witch, whom he consulted what to do in
order to get possession of Hungary, and to tell him how he could get to
know who was the man who answered all his questions so cleverly. "Alas!
my dear relative," said the witch, "it isn't the Magyar king who
answered all your queries: he has a lad who is the son of a very poor
woman, but who will become king of Hungary; so long as you do not kill
him you will covet Hungary in vain." Another letter came to the king of
Hungary, in which it was written that if the lad who was kept by the
king, and who was the brat of a poor woman, be not sent to Turkey, war
shall be declared against the king. The king shewed the letter to the
good lad in great sorrow, who, after having read the haughty monarch's
lines, spoke thus: "I'm not afraid of bald-headed dogs, and I will cut
to pieces the whole lot of them." At these words the sword clanked as it
never did before. "I do not want anything save two lads; they must be
both alike, and I will paint a mask resembling their features, and if we
three look alike I'm not afraid of the whole world."
In the royal town were two brothers who were exactly alike, and the
handsome lad painted himself a mask and put it on, and all three went to
Turkey. The witch smelt the strangers' approach from a great distance.
When they arrived in the Sultan's palace they all three saluted him, and
all three bowed simultaneously; they answered the Sultan's questions all
together; they sat down to supper all together; they all conveyed their
food to their mouths at the same time; they all got up at the same time;
after supper they all three bowed, and at the signal from the Sultan all
three went to bed. The Sultan could not see any difference between the
three, but he did not like to kill all three. The witch, however,
recognised the lad, and explained to her nephew his distinguishing
feature, but the Sultan could not understand her explanation. "Well, you
will know to-morrow morning, my Sultan and relative, which is the one
whom we intend to kill," said the witch; "you will know him by his
shirt-collar, which will have a scissors-cut in it; he is the Magyar
king's man." An hour before midnight, at the time the witches are
invisible, and when they are able to pass through the eye of a needle,
the old witch glided through the keyhole into the bedroom where the
youths soundly slept. All three were lying in the same bed, the handsome
lad on the outside. The witch produced a pair of small scissors, and
clipped out a piece of his shirt-collar, and then crept out of the room.
But the handsome lad, when dressing in the morning, noticed in the
looking-glass the damaged shirt-collar and marked his two mates' collars
the same way. The Sultan asked the three lads to breakfast. The old
witch stood in the window, and was very much surprised that the
shirt-collars of all three were marked in the same way. After breakfast,
they bowed and retired, and were allowed to return home. The king's
daughter was very anxious until her sweetheart returned, but when she
saw him one evening in her father's palace in good health and safe she
was greatly delighted, and begged her father's permission to marry him.
The king, however, made no reply, and the girl was very vexed with her
father. One evening when she was again pleading on his behalf she
suddenly fainted away; her eye fell on a letter sent by the Turkish
Sultan asking her Father to send him this strange lad alone, because he
was a dangerous man to Hungary. The old king sent the letter to the lad
by his daughter, which the girl handed to him with tears. "Do not weep,
love of my heart. God is with me, and his power." Thus he consoled her.
"I will start at sunrise to-morrow, and in a year's time we shall be
each other's." The brave hero went alone to the Sultan; he met the old
witch in the courtyard, who whispered to him, "It is the last time you
will come to beautiful Turkey." The sword clanked, and the youth would
not even listen to the old woman's words. When he stepped across the
Sultan's threshold, fifteen armed Turks confronted him: the sword darted
forth from its scabbard, and cut up the Turks into pulp. It did not
touch the Sultan, but went back into its scabbard. At night the old
witch tried to steal the lad's sword, but the sword jumped out and
chopped off the witch's iron nose. Next morning the Sultan arrayed an
enormous army against the lad, but the sword did its work so swiftly
that not a sword, nor an arrow even so much as scratched the lad, and
all the Turks were killed in a heap.
The daughter of the Magyar king was nearly in despair, because her
sweetheart did not return on the appointed day, and she bothered her
father with her requests until he led an army against Turkey. The girl
led the troops herself in military uniform, but the troops had not to
march more than a mile, as the lad was already on his way home with his
little sword. The king's daughter and the army conducted him to the
royal palace, and proclaimed him viceroy. The young hero with a few
thousand soldiers returned to the country where he was born. His mother
was very much frightened when she saw the soldiers approach, as she
thought that they had come to destroy the town; and was still more
frightened when she discovered that, while other courtyards were free
from soldiers, her own was full of them, so full that one could not even
drop a needle among them. She trembled, when a handsome fellow got off
his horse, and approached her, but was very much surprised when the same
handsome fellow took hold of her hand and kissed it, saying: "Well, my
dear mother, I will now tell you what I have dreamt. I dreamt that I
should become king of Hungary, my dream has become true, and I may tell
you now what it was, because it is an accomplished fact, and I am king
of Hungary. I wouldn't tell you in my childhood when you asked me,
because had I told you my dream the Magyar king would have killed me.
And now may the Lord bless you that you did beat me; had you not beaten
me the king would not have taken me; had he not taken me he would not
have sentenced me to the gallows; had the king not sentenced me to the
gallows the other king would not have carried me off.... I am now off to
get married." And so it happened; he went home with his soldiers, and
married the daughter of the Magyar king. He is still alive if he has not
died since!
SHEPHERD PAUL.
There was once, I don't know where, a shepherd, who one day found a
little boy in a meadow; the boy was not more than two days old, and so
the shepherd took him to an old ewe and it nursed the child. The little
boy was suckled by it for seven years, his name was Paul; and he grew so
strong that he was able to uproot good-sized trees. The old shepherd
kept the boy another seven years on the old ewe's milk, and after that
he grew so strong that he could pull up oak-trees like weeds. One day
Paul betook himself into the world in order to see countries, to get to
know something of life, and try his luck. He went on and on, and on the
very first day he met a man who was combing huge trees like one does
flax. "Good day, my relative," said Paul; "upon my word, you are very
strong! my Koma!" "I am Tree-Comber," said the man, "and am very anxious
to wrestle with Shepherd Paul." "I'm the man you name; come along and
let us wrestle," exclaimed Paul. And thereupon he seized Tree-Comber and
threw him to the ground with such force that he sunk into the ground as
far as his knees. But he soon recovered, jumped up, seized Paul, and
threw him to the ground, so that he went in as far as his waist; and
then Paul again caught him, and put him in as far as his neck. "That
will do!" called out Tree-Comber; "I can see that you are a smart
fellow, and should be glad to become your ally." "Well and good," said
Paul, and they continued their journey together.
They went on and soon after found a man who was crushing stones to
powder with his hands, as if they were clods. "Good day," said Paul;
"you must be a strong chap, my Koma." "I am Stone-Crusher, and should
like to wrestle with Shepherd Paul." Thereupon Paul wrestled with him
too, and defeated him the same way as he had done Tree-Comber; and he
too became an ally, and all three continued their journey. After a short
time, they came across a man who was kneading hard iron, as if it were
dough. "Good day," said Paul; "you must have the strength of a devil,
Koma." "I am Iron-Kneader, and should like to fight Shepherd Paul,"
answered this man. Paul wrestled with him and defeated him, and they all
four became allies, and continued their journey. About noon they settled
down in a forest, and Paul thus addressed his mates: "We three are going
to look for some game, and you, Koma Tree-Comber, will stop here in the
meantime and prepare a good supper for us." The three went hunting, and
Tree-Comber in the meantime commenced to boil and roast, until he had
nearly got the meal ready, when a little dwarf with a pointed beard
came to the place, and said, "What are you cooking, countryman? Give me
some of it." "I'll give you some on your back if you like," replied
Tree-Comber. The little dwarf made no reply, but waited till the
sauerkraut was done, and then, suddenly seizing Tree-Comber by the neck
and pulling him on his back, he placed the saucepan on his belly, ate
the sauerkraut, and disappeared. Tree-Comber was rather ashamed of this,
and in order to hide the real facts from his friends, commenced working
afresh; however, the vegetable was not done by the time his mates
returned, but he did not tell them the cause of it.
Next day, Stone-Crusher remained behind, while the others went hunting;
he fared like Tree-Comber with the dwarf with the pointed beard, and the
same thing happened to Iron-Kneader on the third day. Thereupon, Paul
spoke thus: "Well, my Komas, there must be something behind all this, I
think; none of you have been able to do the work while the rest of us
were hunting. I propose that you three go hunting, while I remain and
prepare the food." They went in high glee, chuckling that the little
dwarf would teach Shepherd Paul a lesson also. Paul hurried on with the
cooking, and had nearly finished, when the little fellow with the
pointed beard came and asked for something to eat. "Be off," shouted
Paul, and picked up the saucepan, so that the little fellow could not
get it. The dwarf tried to get hold of his collar, but Paul swiftly
seized him by his beard and tied him to a big tree, so that he could not
move. The three mates returned early from their hunting, but Paul had
the supper ready, and thus spoke to the three astonished men: "You, my
Komas, are a fraud, you weren't able even to outwit that little dwarf
with the pointed beard. Now let us have our supper at once, and then I
will show you what I have done with him." When they finished, Paul took
his mates to the place where he had fastened the dwarf, but he was gone,
and so was the tree, as he had pulled it up by its roots and run away.
The four fellows thereupon decided to give chase to him, and they
followed the track made by the tree, and thus arrived at a deep hole,
and as the track of the tree stopped here they came to the conclusion
that the dwarf must have for a certainty got down into the deep hole.
They held a short consultation and came to the resolution that they
would lower Paul in a basket, and that they would remain above until
Paul should pull the rope, and thus give them a signal to haul him up
with all haste. So they lowered Paul, and deep below in the earth among
beautiful valleys he found a splendid castle, into which he at once
entered. In the castle he found a beautiful girl who at once warned him
to run away as fast as possible if he valued his life, because the
castle belonged to a dragon with six heads, who had kidnapped her from
earth, taken her to this underground place, and made her his wife; but
Paul decided to await the dragon's return, as he was desirous of
liberating the pretty girl. The monster with six heads soon arrived and
angrily gnashed his teeth at the foolhardy Paul, who thus addressed him,
"I am the famous Shepherd Paul, and I've come to fight you." "Well
done," replied the dragon; "so, at least, I shall have something for
supper, but first, let's have something to whet our appetites."
Whereupon he commenced to devour a few hundredweights of huge round
boulders, and, after he had satisfied his hunger, offered Paul one. Paul
took a wooden knife and cut in two the stone offered to him, which
weighed one hundredweight, and took up both halves and launched them
with such power at the dragon that two of his heads were smashed to
pulp. The dragon thereupon got into an awful rage, and made a furious
onslaught on Paul, but he with a clever sword-cut slashed off two more
of the monster's heads, and took him round the waist, and dashed him
against the rock with such force, that the brains splashed out of the
remaining two heads. The pretty girl thereupon with tears in her eyes
thanked Paul for his services, for having liberated her from her ugly
tormentor, but at the same time informed him, that two younger sisters
of hers were languishing in the possession of two more powerful
dragons.
Paul thereupon at once made up his mind to liberate the other two, and
to take the girl with him. The girl handed him a golden rod, with which
he struck the castle; and it became a golden apple, which he put in his
pocket and went on. Not far off in a gorgeous castle he found the second
girl, whose husband and tormentor was a dragon with twelve heads. This
girl gave Paul a silk shirt in order to make him more fit for the
struggle with her husband. The shirt made Paul twice as strong. He had
dinner with the twelve-headed dragon, and after a long struggle
succeeded in defeating him, and took away all his twelve heads; he then
transformed the castle with a golden rod into a golden apple, and
continued his way with the two girls. Not far off in a castle they found
the third girl, who was the youngest and the prettiest, and whose
husband was a dragon with eighteen heads, who, however, assumed the
shape of a little dwarf with a pointed beard whenever he went on his
expeditions on the surface of the earth.