Fidel and his wife go. While they are at breakfast the old general
asks Fidel if he also does not know something to relate? He replies
"Yes," that he knows some (stories), but more than one would not
be pleased with what he would tell. Then the king says, placing his
sword upon the table:
"The point of my sword shall know news of the heart of him who
shall speak."
Fidel begins then, how he went to the war with an old horse, blind
and lame, but that in spite of that he had carried off the keys of
the treasure and the papers. The king says to him that he has not
seen them yet--that he is still expecting them. Fidel takes out the
papers and gives them to the king. He gives also the keys of the
treasury. The king assures himself that they are the real ones. He
then narrates how he has sold in exchange for two golden apples that
precious water. At this instant his wife rises and says to him:
"Where have you these golden apples--you?"
As it is she who has spoken the first words, Fidel takes up the king's
sword and strikes his wife dead. [117] The king was grieved to see
that, but Fidel says to him:
"Do not disturb yourself for that; as I have taken away her life I
will give it her again."
He takes out his water which rekindles dead men, and rubs some on
her temple, and she suddenly returns to life. Everyone is astounded
at this great deed, and at all that he has already done. The king
tells him that he has already gained the crown, but that he must be
cured of this terrible scab [118] first. His wife rises, takes off
his kerchief which he had upon his head, and shows the shining head
of her husband, saying:
"See, this is the scab of my husband!"
The king says that the crown will shine much better on his head. He
goes to fetch it, and places it upon this precious head. He banishes
his sons-in-law with his two daughters to the same desert place where
Fidel formerly lived. And Fidel and his wife lived much richer than
the king was. His precious head gave him this power; and as they
lived well they died well too.
Laurentine.
We have another version almost identical with the above, except at
the commencement. Ezkabi really has the scab. On his journey, after
leaving his home, he pays the debts of a poor man whose corpse is being
beaten in front of the church, and buries him. There is nothing about
a white mare. An old woman is the good genius of the tale. He goes as
gardener, and the king's daughter falls in love with him, from catching
a sight of his golden hair from her window; for the rest the stories
are identical, except that this is a shorter form than the above.