|
|
| I'm all alone |
| in my thoughts |
|
100% |
[ 26 ] |
|
| Total Votes : 26 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:34 pm
The Love for Three Oranges
A king anxiously wanted his only son to marry. One day, the prince cut his finger; his blood fell on white cheese, and he declared that he would marry only a woman as white as the cheese and as red as the blood. He set out to find her. He wandered until he came to the Island of Ogresses, where two little old women each told him he could find what he sought here, if he went on, and the third gave him three citrons, with a warning not to cut them until he came to a fountain. A fairy would fly out of each, and he had to give her water at once.
He returned home, and by the fountain, he was not quick enough for the first two, but was for the third. The woman was red and white, and the prince wanted to fetch her home properly, with suitable clothing and servants. He had her hid in a tree. A black slave, coming to fetch water, saw her reflection in the water, and thought it was her own and that she was too pretty to fetch water. She refused, and her mistress beat her until she fled. The fairy laughed at her in the garden, and the slave noticed her. She asked her story and on hearing it, offered to arrange her hair for the prince. When the fairy agreed, she stuck a pin into her head, and the fairy only escaped by turning into a bird. When the prince returned, the slave claimed that wicked magic had transformed her.
The prince and his parents prepared for the wedding. The bird flew to the kitchen and asked after the cooking. The lady ordered it be cooked, and it was caught and cooked, but the cook threw the water it had been scalded in, into the garden, where a citron tree grew in three days. The prince saw the citrons, took them to his room, and dealt with them as the last three, getting back his bride. She told him what had happened. He brought her to a feast and demanded of everyone what should be done to anyone who would harm her. Various people said various things; the slave said she should be burned, and so the prince had the slave burned.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:35 pm
Lovely Ilonka
A prince wanted to marry, but his father told him to wait, saying that he had not been allowed until he had won the golden sword he carried.
One day he met an old woman and asked her about the three bulrushes. She asked him to stay the night and in the morning, she summoned all the crows in the world, but they had not heard. Then he met an old man, who also had him stay the night. In the morning, all the ravens in the world had not heard. He met another old woman, and she told him it was well that he greeted her, or he would have suffered a horrible death. In the morning, she summoned magpies, and a crippled magpie led him to a great wall behind which were the three bulrushes.
He started to take them home, but one broke open. A lovely maiden flew out, asked for water, and flew off when he had none. He split the second, and the same thing happened. He took great care of the third, not splitting it until he had reached a well. With the water, she stayed, and they agreed to marry.
He took her to his father's country, where he left her with a swineherd while he went to get a carriage. The swineherd threw her into a well and dressed up his daughter in her clothing. The prince was distressed but brought back the swineherd's daughter, married her, and received a crown, becoming a king.
One day, he sent a coachman to the well where Ilonka had been drowned. He saw a white duck, and then the duck vanished and a dirty woman appeared before him. This woman got a place as a housemaid in the castle. When she was not working, she spun: her distaff and spindle turned on their own, and she was never out of flax to spin. The queen, the swineherd's daughter wanted the distaff, but she would sell it only for a night in the king's chamber. The queen agreed and gave her husband a sleeping draught. Ilonka spoke to the king, but he did not respond, and she thought he was ashamed of her. Then the queen wanted the spindle, Ilonka decided to try again, but again the king slept.
The third time, the queen made the same agreement for the flax, but two of the king's servants warned him, he refused everything, and when Ilonka appealed to him, he heard her. He had the swineherd, his wife, and his daughter hung and married Ilonka
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:37 pm
The Lute Player
A king lived happily with his queen, but after a time, wanted to fight and so win glory. He set out against a wicked king, but lost and was captured. He sent a message to his queen to ransom him.
His queen thought that if she went herself, the wicked king would take her as one of his wives, and she did not know whether she could trust her ministers. She cut her hair, disguised herself as a boy, and set out with a gusli. She reached the court of the wicked king and charmed him with her music. He promised her whatever she wished, and she said she wanted a companion on the way, so she asked for one of his prisoners. He let her choose, and she picked the king.
They went back to their country without his discovering who she was. She left him before he reached his court. He was angry that his wife had not ransomed him, and even more angry that she had vanished and just returned, assuming she had been unfaithful. She disguised herself as the musician again, and her husband promised her whatever reward she wished. She told him she wanted him, and revealed she was the queen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:38 pm
Madschun
Once, there was a young man who, even from childhood, had never grown any hair. One day, he saw the Sultan's daughter and became determined to marry her. He first sent his mother to tell the Sultan that her son wanted to marry his daughter. The Sultan was intrigued by the request, and told the woman to send her son. However, by the time the son arrived, the Sultan's interest had waned, and he only wanted to be rid of the boy. So he told the boy that he must first gather all the birds of the world and bring them to the Sultan's garden, which had no birds. After wandering for a time, the boy met a dervish, and asked his help. The dervish told him to go to a huge cypress tree down the road, and hide in its shadow until he heard a huge rush of wings. This would be all the birds in the world coming for a rest. He was to wait until they were sitting, then say the word "madschun", which would cause them to freeze and become motionless. He could then gather the birds and take them to the palace. And that is what the boy did. The sultan was a little dismayed. He told the boy that he could marry the princess - after he grew a full head of hair. Upset, the boy went home and brooded until he heard that the princess was to marry the son of the wazir. At this, he sneaked into the palace, found where the princess, the wazir's son, and some others were waiting, and said "Madschun". This froze all of them to the spot. The Sultan sent for a magician to explain what had happened, and the magician told him that it was because the Sultan had mistreated the boy. The Sultan sent for the boy at once, and the boy, hiding nearby, raced home. The boy told his mother that she was to tell the sultan's messengers that the boy had left awhile ago, and that if they asked her to go look for the boy, she was to say that she was too poor to travel. She did this, and the messengers gave her a bag of gold for expenses and asked her help. After they left, the boy went to the palace, freed everyone, and married the princess.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:39 pm
Maestro Lattantio and His Apprentice Dionigi
In Sicily, in the town of Messina, Maestro Lattantio had learned to be both a magician and a tailor. He took an apprentice, Dionigi, to teach to be a tailor, but Dionigi spied on him and lost all interest in being a tailor because of his desire to learn magic. Lattantio sent him away, but his father sent him back, where Lattantio often punished him for his laziness, but Dionigi bore it because he could watch Lattantio secretly and learn his magic. One day, his father found him doing housework rather than learning to be a tailor, and brought him home, grieved that after his money was spent, his son had not learned a trade.
Dionigi turned himself into a horse, and had his father display him for sale. Lattantio saw it and realized that it was Dionigi. He changed himself into a merchant and bought the horse. The father would not sell the bridle, but Lattantio increased his price until the father agreed. Lattantio then took the horse home and mistreated it. His two daughters pitied the horse and were kind to it. One day, they took it down to the stream to drink, where it dashed into the water and became a little fish. Lattantio, finding the horse gone, got his daughters to tell him what had happened, and turned himself into a tunny to chase Dionigi. Dionigi swam near the shore, and jumped into a basket carried by a handmaiden of the king's daughter, turning himself into a ruby ring. Violante, the king's daughter, found the ring and put it on. At night, when she went to bed, he changed into his own form, prevented her from screaming, and explained his plight; she promised to help him as long as he respected her honor. She kept him as a ring by day, and at night would talk with him in human form.
The king fell ill. Lattantio came and cured him, asking the princess's ring as his reward. The king summoned Violante, with orders to bring all her jewels, but Violante left behind the ring. Lattantio realized it was missing and said she could find it. She returned to her room and wept over the ring. Dionigi told her that the man was his enemy, and that she should bring the ring and when giving it, throw it against the wall as if in a temper. When she was finally compelled to bring the ring, she did as he had asked, and the ring became a pomegranate that, when it hit the floor, scattered seeds. Lattantio became a rooster and ate the seeds to put an end to Dionigi, but one seed hid out of his reach, and when it had a chance, turned to a fox and bit off the rooster's head. Dionigi told the king the story and with his consent married Violante.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:40 pm
The Magic Book
A boy called set out to seek service. He was rude to an old man, refusing to give up the way, but entered his service. The old man set him to keep some rooms clean and scatter sand on the floor, told him where to find food and let him wear clothing that was there, and forbade him to enter one room. The boy immediately cleaned nothing but his own room, and then, after some days, went into the room. He found a heap of bones and some books; he took one book, found it was magical, and learned shapeshifting from it. He ran away to home, but his father thought he had stolen the fine clothing and sent him off. The boy told him to sell the dog he would find by the door the next day, but be sure to take the strap back. The dog appeared, and at his wife's insistence, the father sold it and kept the strap. When the boy appeared again, his father still would not admit him. The boy told him to sell a cow that would appear the next day, and to the king, but he must take its halter and come back by the forest. The cow appeared, and the man sold it, but when the butcher went to kill it, it turned to a dove and flew off. The king sent men after the man, but he had gone by the forest, and they did not find him.
The father would still not accept his son. The next day, it was a horse, but because the buyer offered as much for the bridle as for the horse, the father sold it as well. The old man led the horse off to have it shod. The smith offered him a drink first, and the horse persuaded a servant maid to free him. He turned to a dove and flew off. The old man pursued as a hawk, but the boy turned into a gold ring and fell before the princess, and she took him up. He turned into a man alone with her, and they met often for a long time. One day, the king saw him, and had his daughter shut up in a tower. But the princess and the boy fell through a tunnel there, to a golden castle, and when the king opened the tower for the funeral, there were no bodies. He sent a soldier down it. The soldier told them that the king was sorry. The boy went back to him, disguised as a king, and asked what should be done to a king who had buried his daughter alive for loving a peasant. The king said that he should be burned and his ashes scattered. The boy told him that he was the man, but pardoned him, and the wedding was held.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:41 pm
The Magic Swan Geese
A couple left their daughter in charge of her younger brother, but she lost track of him, and the magic swan geese snatched him away. She chased after him and came to an oven. It offered to tell her if she ate its rye buns; she scorned them, saying she doesn't even eat wheat buns. She also scorned similar offers from an apple tree, and a river of milk. She came across a little hut built on a hen's foot, in which she found Baba Yaga with her brother; Baba Yaga set her to spin flax and left. A mouse scurried out and said it would tell her what she needed to know if she gave it porridge; she did, and it told her that Baba Yaga was heating the bath house to steam her, then she would cook her. The mouse took over her spinning, and the girl took her brother and fled.
Baba Yaga sent the swan geese after her. She begged the river for aid, and it insisted she eat some of it first; she did, and it sheltered her. When she ran on, the swan geese followed again, and the same happened with the apple tree and the oven. Then she reached home and safety.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:41 pm
The Magic Swan
Two older brothers abused the youngest son. An old woman advised him to run away. When he did, she told him he should go to a certain tree, where he would find a man asleep and a swan tied to a tree; he should take the swan without waking the man, and everyone would fall in love with its plumage, but when they touched it, he could say "Swan, hold fast" and they would be prisoners. With this, he could make a princess who never laughed to laugh.
He collected a great string of people, and the princess laughed at the sight. The king offered him a choice of land or gold, and he took the land. Then he trapped the princess with the swan and won her as his wife, but the swan flew off.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:42 pm
The Magician's Horse
A king's three sons went hunting, and the youngest got lost. He came to a great hall and ate there. Then he found an old man, who asked him who he was. He told how he had become lost and offered to enter his service. The old man set him to keep the stove lit, to fetch the firewood from the forest, and to take care of the black horse in the stables.
The man was a magician, and the fire was the source of his power, though he did not tell the prince.
One day, the prince nearly let the fire go out, and the old man stormed in. Frightened, the prince threw another log on it and nursed it back.
The horse told him to saddle and bridle it, to use an ointment that made his hair like gold, and to pile all the wood he could on the fire. This set the hall on fire. The horse then told him to take looking-glass, a brush and a riding-whip, and ride off on him. The magician chased on a roan horse, but the prince threw down the looking glass, the horse cut its feet on it, and the magician had to go back to put new shoes on him, but then he chased the prince again. The horse had the prince throw the brush on the ground. This produced a thick wood, and the magician had to go back and get an axe to cut through it, but then he chased the prince again. The prince threw down the whip; it became a river, and when the magician tried to cross it, it put out his magical fire and killed him.
The horse told the prince to strike the ground with a willow wand. A door opened, making a hall in which the horse stayed, but he sent the prince through the fields to take service with a king. He wore a scarf to hide his golden hair. He worked as a gardener and every day brought half his food to the horse.
One day, the horse told him that the king's three daughters would choose their husbands: a great company of lords would gather, and they would throw their diamond apples into the air. The man at whose feet the apple stopped would be the bridegroom. He should be in the garden, nearby, and the youngest's would roll to him; he should take it up at once.
He did. The scarf slipped a little, the princess saw his hair and fell in love at once, and the king, though reluctant, let them marry.
Soon after, the king had to go to war. He gave the prince a broken-down nag. The prince went to the black horse; it gave him arms and armor, and he rode it to battle and won the battle, but fled before he could be clearly seen. Twice more, he went to war, but the third time, he was wounded, and the king bound his wound with his own handkerchief. The princess his wife recognized it and revealed it to her father. There was great rejoicing, and the king gave him half his kingdom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:43 pm
The Magpie's Nest
All the birds came to the magpie, because it was the wisest, and asked it to teach them how to build nests. The magpie started to demonstrate, but each time she did something, another bird concluded that was all there was to it. By the time she was done, only the turtledove was left, and it had been paying no attention, but singing "Take two." The magpie said that one was enough but looked up and saw that every bird had left. She became angry and would not teach any more.
That is why birds build their nests differently.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:44 pm
Maid Maleen
A princess named Maid Maleen and a prince fell in love, but her father refused his suit. When Maid Maleen said she would marry no other, the king had her and her servants locked up in tower, with food that would be enough to feed them for seven years.
After seven years, the food ran out. However, no one came to release or deliver more food to the princess and her servants. They then decided to escape from the tower, with a knife that they had. What they found was that the king was gone and the kingdom no longer existed. Without knowing where to go, they finally arrived at the country of Maleen's lover, and sought work in the royal kitchen.
The prince had been betrothed by his father to another princess. This princess, lacking of confidence in herself, did not think that she would be good enough for the prince. She would not leave her room and let him see her. On her wedding day, not wishing to be seen, the princess sent Maid Maleen in her place.
At the wedding, the prince put a golden necklace around Maid Maleen's neck as a proof for the marriage. At night, the prince went to the wedding chamber where the princess was waiting. He did not see the golden necklace around her neck. Immediately, he knew that the princess was not the one he was married to. Meanwhile, the princess had sent out an assassin to kill Maid Maleen. The prince, who left the wedding chamber to look for his true bride, was guided by the shine of the golden necklace and came in time to save her. With the golden necklace as the proof of marriage, they were married and lived happily ever after.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:45 pm
Maiden Bright-eye
A man had a son and a daughter known as Maiden Bright-eye. His wife died, and he married another woman, who had a daughter. The stepmother was cruel to her stepdaughter. One day, she sent her to watch the sheep and pull heather; she gave her pancakes where the flour had been mixed with ashes.
Maiden Bright-eye pulled up some heather and a little fellow in a red cap popped up to ask why she was pulling off the roof. She apologized and shared her dinner with him. He granted her three wishes and chose them himself: she would grow much more beautiful; a gold coin would fall from her mouth when she opened it, and her voice would be like music; and she would marry a young king. He also gave a cap, which could save her life if it were in danger, by putting it on.
She told her stepmother about meeting the little man, but not about sharing her dinner. The stepmother sent her own daughter, who was rude and received ugliness, a toad falling from her mouth when she opened it, and a violent death.
Meanwhile, the son had gone into the king's service. He went home and saw his sister. The king, hearing the tales of her beauty, asked him if they were true, and the brother said they were. The king decided to marry her and sent the brother in a ship to fetch her. The stepmother had a mask made for her daughter and sent her off with the stepchildren. But when the ship was sailing, her daughter pushed the stepdaughter off. The king married her, thinking she was the sister, but saw her face and threw the brother into a pit of snakes.
The stepdaughter had gotten the cap on her head in time, and it turned her into a duck. She swam to the king's castle, waddled up the drain to the kitchen, and met her little dog. She asked it after her brother and stepsister, and it told her their fates; she then said she would only come twice more. Serving maids had heard it, and talked. The next night, a great number came to listen. She asked again, said she would come once more, and escaped. The third night, a cook put a net outside the drain and caught her. She had many gold feathers, so they took good care of her.
The brother dreamed that his sister had come to the castle as a duck and could change back if someone cut her beak. He told someone, and word got to the king. The king had him taken out and asked if he could produce his sister. He said he could if someone produced a knife and the duck. When they did, he cut the duck, and Maiden Bright-eye appeared in her own form.
The stepsister was put in a barrel with spikes all around it, and dragged off by horses, but the king married Maiden Bright-eye.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:46 pm
The Maiden with the Rose on her Forehead
A prince had a garden, which he allowed no one to tend but himself. One day, he had to go to war; his sister promised to look after it. She remained in the garden day and night and became pregnant. Ashamed of herself, she gave birth to her daughter, who had a rose on her forehead, and raised her secretly, sending her to school with directions to never let anyone know who she was. The prince saw her at school, and she made a shirt for him but never revealed anything. One day, the children played with cherry pits, and one fell on the girl; her mother thought she had revealed herself, killed her, and put the body in an iron chest in a room. Her grief and guilt killed her; before she died, she gave her brother the key and forbade him to enter.
The prince married and forbade his wife to enter the room. His mother-in-law encouraged her daughter, and they went in and found the girl in the iron chest, sewing. Jealous, they burned her all over with a hot iron and told the prince that she was a mulatta they had bought to run errands.
When the prince went to the fair, he asked her what she wanted; she asked for a talisman. When he brought it, he was curious and hid to learn what she would do; she poured out her story to the talisman, and the prince burned his wife and mother-in-law as they had burned his niece and turned them out of his home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:47 pm
The Man of Stone
A king and queen had no children. A black man or Arab came to the king and offered a potion that would make the queen pregnant. The cook prepared it and, not knowing its powers, tasted some before coming to the queen. Both the cook and the queen became pregnant and each gave birth to a son.
When the prince was grown, the king had to go to war. He gave the keys to the castle and told him not to go into the door locked by the golden key. The prince went into it and found a spy glass that showed him the beautiful Princess Kiralina, and he fell so in love with her that he was sick and near dying. The king sent messengers but her father refused to let them marry. The prince decided to go ask her himself, and his foster brother, the cook's son, went with him.
They came to a hut where an old woman could not tell them; her son, the North Wind, might turn them to ice, so she sent them on to the Wild Wind. They could not stay there, either, but went on the house of the Spring Wind. The wind's mother, a tall and elegant woman, hid them because her son might kill them. When the wind came, his mother asked him how to reach Princess Kiralina, and the wind told her how it would take ten years; a fairy log, in a black forest by a river of pitch, could carry anyone there instantly, but whoever told that would turn to stone to his knees. Once there, the person had to make a golden stag and use it to smuggle himself into the princess's room, but whoever knew that would be turned to stone up to his waist. If that succeeded and the princess married, the Northwind's mother would spitefully send her a dress of cobwebs, and unless she washed in the tears of doves, she would be killed. The prince slept through it, but the cook's son heard it.
The cook's son told the prince to trust him and carried him to the princess by the log. The princess fell in love with him at sight and grew ill with longing. A hag told the king that a golden stag, put in her room, would cure her. The cook's son turned the log into a golden stag and hid the prince inside it. The cook's son agreed to hire it to the king, and the king brought it to the princess's room. At night the prince sneaked from the form and kissed the princess; the next night, she feigned sleep and caught him. When the cook's son came to take it back, the princess came alongside it, and the cook's son turned the stag into a chariot that carried them all off. The prince and princess married.
Later, when the princess was queen, she bought a gown of cobwebs. Secretly, the cook's son sprinkled her with the tears of doves, but was seen and accused of kissing the queen. The prince, now a king, ordered him beheaded. The cook's son explained what he had heard and was turned to stone. Later, the king and queen had a child and dreamed if they killed the child and put the blood on the statue, it would come to life. They did, and the statue did. The cook's son pricked his finger and put the blood on the dead child, who came back to life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:48 pm
Maroula
A childless woman tells the Sun that if she could only have a child, the Sun could take the child when she was twelve. Then she has a daughter, Maroula or Letiko. When Maroula is twelve, a fine gentlemen meets her while she is gathering herbs and tells her to remind her mother of her promise.
In Megas's variant, this happens twice; the first, the mother instructs Maroula to tell the Sun that she forgot; the second, the Sun has her put an apple in her headdress to remind her by falling out in the evening; the mother keeps her a long time, and finally sends her again, and the Sun returns, so she tells Maroula to tell the Sun that he may take "it" when he finds it, and so he takes Maroula.
In Lang's variant, her mother stops up the house to keep all sunlight out, but she leaves open a key hole, and when the light falls on Letiko, she vanishes.
In both variants, she is miserable in the Sun's house and makes up excuses.
In Megas's, she scratches her own cheeks and blames, in turn, a cockeral, a cat, and a rose bush for scratching her.
In Lang's, she is sent after straw; she sits in the shed and laments being taken from her mother; when she returns, she claims her shoes were too large and slowed her, so the Sunball shrinks them. The same thing happens when she is sent for water, except that she says her petticoat was too long; and then when she is sent for slippers, and says her hood blocked her sight.
Finally, the Sun realized she is unhappy and decided to send her home. He summons animals to ask whether they would take her home, and then what they would eat on the way. In Megas's variant, both lions and foxes say they will eat Maroula; only foxes say the same in Lang's. Then he asked two hares in Lang's version and two deer in Megas's, and they would eat grass and drink from streams. They set out. When they became hungry, the animals told her to climb a tree while they ate.
In Megas's version, a lamia sent her three daughters to get water from the well; each one saw Maroula's reflection in the well, took it for her own, and decided she was too pretty to fetch water. The lamia herself came and realized what it was. She complained that Maroula had made her leave her bread she was making, and Maroula kept sending her back to finish it before she ate her.
In Lang's version, a lamia just came. She tried to lure her down by comparing their shoes, but Letiko said hers were finer, and when the lamia said her house needed sweeping, Letiko told her to sweep it and come back. When she did, the lamia compared their aprons, and then tried to cut down the tree to eat her, but she could not cut it down. Then she tried to lure her down because she had to feed her children, but Letiko told her to go and do it, and when she left, Letiko summoned the hares and they fled.
The lamia chased after them. They passed a field and the lamia asked if they had seen anyone; they answered only that they were planting beans. Or, they passed a mouse that gave answers about what it had been doing, not what it saw, until several questions in.
As she approached home, the dog, the cat, and the rooster each announced her return, and her mother told them to be quiet before her heart broke with grief, but Letiko returned. The lamia was so close that she took part of one of the hare/deer's tails, but nothing more. The mother, delighted, silvered its tail for bringing Letiko back to her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
