Once upon a time there was a great fairyland, in the middle of which was a great forest, in the middle of the great forest was a great flowery meadow, in the middle of the great flowery meadow was a great velvet island, in the middle of the great velvet island was a great silver river, in the middle of the great silver river was an old well, from which I drew my tale from the operetta; And let all who will not hearken to it, or who will not take an unwanted plunge into it, strike the barrel of the god-violet as often as there are ferns in the Danube and the Tisza.
Once upon a time there was a poor man in the world, and he had as many children as there were trees in the forest and stars in the sky, so that the poor man could not find a man in his village.
Well, if he can't find you, he thought to himself, it's a big world, there must be someone somewhere.
So the poor man threw a sack or two of chips into the bag and set off across the country in search of a commune. But he didn't have to go far, for God had brought him together with a rich merchant who had no more children than a bunch of cakes.
- Where to, poor man? asks the rich squid.
- I'm off to find a friend.
- Never bother, if you accept me, I'll be me.
- I did so, not with one hand, but with two, for in my native village, though I would not have minded if he had been a gypsy or a heathen, there was no one.
So the rich merchant became the poor man's lord, and adopted the two youngest children, who were born with one belly, one a boy and the other a girl, and brought them up as his own.
When or when not, I dare not say with any certainty, suffice it to say that on a certain day, after neither the calamari nor his wife was at home, the two brothers, who had already reached the age of 16-16 years, began to play cards.
They play and play and play, so much so that the boy has won all his sister's money. It pulled his mouth aside and burst into tears.
- "Don't cry," said the boy, "I'll give you your money back, and some of mine too.
And he did as he said; he gave back his sister's money. Then they went to the game again; but now, that they had not, the sow turned, for fortune is on the wing, and he who gets it, gets it; the little girl was the winner, and even won the last farthing from her brother; but the girl, unlike the boy, did not give back the money, but kept it for herself.
- Give me my money back, the boy asks.
- I will not give it, said the girl.
- Give it back, have I given it back?
- What do I care, you were quite foolish!
- Give me back, for I am your brother.
- I won't give it to you.
- If you will not give it, I will take it by force!
- I'm not giving it to you now!
So word by word, and more and more, the two brothers quarreled, and the girl began to curse and curse her brother, and denied that she was not his brother.
- Brother, if you have cursed me and denied me, I curse you also: you shall never give birth to a child until I have released you from it by putting two of my fingers on your breast.
At this word a seven-headed dragon snatched the maiden away, and her fame and name were never heard of again. But from that hour the boy had no home to stay in, for one thing he feared for his foster parents, and another he wished to see his brother: so he tied a boot on his feet, made friends with Pál Wind, and went into hiding all over the country.
And he went on his way against seven and seven countries, even across the sea of Operentia, and once he came to a royal residence. He went in to the king, and saluted him as he ought:
- God grant you a good day, Your Majesty!
- You bet, slave bastard! What are you doing here?
- I seek service, if your Majesty will hear me.
- You have come at the right time, my son, I need a coachman: if you like, I will take you, and you will have nothing to do but to guard three bad horses. In the morning you will take them here and there, to this island and that, by water, but in such a way that you will not cross a bridge or swim in the water, and that the horses will not get their nails wet, and in the evening you will bring them home by that way and in that manner.
All right, the poor man's son has become a coachman. Early in the morning he takes the three bad horses out, sits on the mother horse and takes them to the water.
When he came to the bank of the water, and when he was intact, he began to think how he could get the three horses across the water without crossing a bridge or fording a river, and without the horses getting even their little nails wet: And the three horses came, and went over the water, and their little nails were not wet: but no wonder, for all three horses, as I have lived, were as I have seen them, and as I have seen them now, they were all wet.
Then Nicholas, for it must be said that the poor man's son was called so, unhitched the horses' heads, put frogs on their feet, and let them graze on the silk moor, while he himself lay down at the foot of the golden apple tree to take a nap.
But before he fell asleep, a singing sound struck his ears, and he looked around to see what it was, and saw thirteen swans flying towards him, singing so beautifully. And when they came near, they landed on the silken clay, and came close to her, and shook themselves, and changed into maidens.
All the twelve maidens were beautiful, for there was not one of them fair, but the thirteenth was the fairest of all, and she stood out from the rest, and went to sit by Nicholas on the silk grass.
- Here you are, fair love of my heart, fair Nicholas, said the fairy queen, I have long awaited your arrival, my heart has long yearned for you: I will therefore make thee a vow, that if thou wilt not tell any man, not even the King himself, that I have been here, and that I am come to thee, in the space of a year, while thou servest this King, here is my weak white hand, and we shall be husband and wife, and this silken field, and the golden apple-trees upon it, shall be thine and mine. But if you betray me to any man, even to the king himself, you shall see me no more on this silken moor, nor anywhere else.
Our Nicholas promised to heaven and earth that he would be as silent as a fish in water, and not say a word to anyone. And who was happier now than our Nicholas, for who had a lovelier mistress than he, for this great fortune he dared not even dream of, that a fairy queen should cast her eyes on him. Every goddess-day, when he took his horses to the silken pasture and let them graze freely, the fairy queen appeared before him in the form of a swan, and, being led away from her twelve chamber-maids, she took upon herself a human form, and there they made love, and there they made love with the sweet kisses of love.
But here, my soul created what happens of it, what doesn't, once the king gave a great ball for his servants, and about ten o'clock he himself came down among the reveling people, and was quite shocked to see Nicholas nowhere in the room, and then he asked:
- Where is my dear coachman Miklós?
- Sitting in the doorway, said one of the others.
The king goes there, and sees Nicholas lamenting alone like an orphan.
- "Well, Nicholas," said the king, "what is it that you neither eat nor drink nor dance when the music is playing?
- "Hello, your majesty," said Nicholas, "that's why I don't dance, because I don't have a suitable dancer.
- Well, don't be sad, I'll send it to you! And with that the king rose up and said to his daughter:
- Well, my daughter, go down to the ball, dance with the coachman of the Tartar horses, for it is very sad.
The princess didn't have to say it twice, because on the one hand her feet itched a lot, and on the other hand she could dance with Nicholas, for in vain, our Nicholas was a handsome fellow, and the princess's heart was not made of stone.
Izibe dresses up, goes down to the ball and asks Nicholas to dance, saying:
- Well Miklós, here I am, come with me, let's dance together!
- "Surely I do not dance," said Nicholas, lightly, "for I have a lover a hundred times better than the princess!
The Princess, as if she had been slapped in the face, turned her mouth away and went up to her father in tears to complain.
- "Why, my daughter," said the king, "why weepest thou, why rhyme so bitterly?
- "How could I not weep," said the Princess, when Nicholas said that he would not dance with me, for he had a lover a hundred times better than I!
- Did he really say that?!
- There is no other way!
- Well, don't cry, my sweet daughter, you'll regret this sentence, I believe that one!
And with that the king went down to the ball in a great rage.
- Come out, Nicholas!
- I'm here, I'm here.
- Is it true that you said to my daughter that you would not dance with her, because you have a hundred times better mistress than my sweet daughter?
- What toleration is denial, your majesty, I have found to say to him; for if your majesty come to-morrow at such and such a time to the island, you may see for yourself that it is no otherwise; for my mistress is a fairy queen.
The king said nothing, but the next day, wondering what was the matter, he went to the island, and saw that a fairy queen, white as a dove, red as a rose, and fair as the dawn, was indeed making love to Nicholas, and her twelve maids were also playing with their golden apples on the grass of the silk meadow.
Only then did the fairy queen realise that she had been betrayed.
- "No, Nicholas," he said to the lad, "God be with you! Either you will ever see me, or never, God only knows, but I must go away forever, since you have betrayed me, and wait no longer for the silk under the golden apple-tree, for I shall not grow a swan's wing to fly home!... And you must know," he said to the king, "that not a hair of this boy's head shall move; for it was not for you that I planted this silk field, nor for you that I planted the tree of the golden apple, but for his sake!
And with that, the fairy queen and the 12 maids were shaken and turned into swans and flew away.
There was a pretty fairy queen, there is no pretty fairy queen. Was, no! Only then did Nicholas' chin drop, only then did he scratch his head where it did not itch, and he felt terribly sad.
So he hung the world around his neck, intending to go until he found the fairy queen.
Then he went on against seventeen countries, even beyond the sea of the Operentia, and came once to a mill, the mill of the fairies, which was driven by the river of meekness.
He comes in, saying:
- Good day, master miller!
- You bet, Nicholas! Where art thou now in this strange land, where no bird walks?
- I'm looking for fairyland, have you not heard my brother's news?
- Didn't I hear it? how could I not, when I grind flour for them! But thou, Nicholas, while the world is yet to come, thou canst never get there in such a state, for it is farther from here than heaven from earth, and this is just as well, is it not? But do not grieve, we will help the matter, for there is a griffin bird in my mill, which carries away the flour. And he shall carry two sacks at once: therefore I will put thee in one of them, if thou wilt, and in the other I will put flour of the same weight; for the two sacks of flour must be of the same weight, or else he cannot carry it.
They put Nicholas neatly into one bag, and then into the other they put flour of the same weight. Here comes the great griffin-bird, and cutting one nail in one bag, and another in the other, he snatches it up into the air; but he could not fly fast enough, for he was now carrying a much heavier load than usual. And yet a great black cloud was coming towards him, though fairyland was far off! The griffin bird flew faster and faster, but still the black cloud caught up with him, and the rain fell as if it had been poured from a kettle, and one of the sacks of flour was much heavier than the other, so the griffin bird's sides were always being pulled down lower and lower, so that he could hardly fly.
Now what was the griffin bird to do, he could not take the two sacks with him to fairyland, so he put down the two sacks, the one with our Nicholas in it, in a large wild forest, and flew on with the other.
And so our Nicholas was left in the lurch, who then took out his star-shaped knife, split open the sack, and threw it out, and set off into the great wilderness.
Once, as a stallion goes, he finds a sleeping child. He kicks its legs to wake it up. The child was on its feet and when it saw Nicholas, it just started:
- But you have already arrived, my sweet master, for I have been waiting for you for a long time. Even if you don't tell me, I know where you're going, but I'll be your guide, I'll lead you to where your heart desires, just follow me.
Nicholas followed the child, who led him into a large forge.
- Is the master at home, said the child?
- Here I am, said the master.
- So let him make for us twenty-four pairs of iron boots and iron handles, twelve pairs for my master, and twelve pairs for me.
But while the blacksmith was making the 24 pairs of iron boots and iron handles, our Nicholas and the servant of the squire, for he had made the child one, went into the blacksmith's room, where the woman was busy bustling about the guests, and laying out food and drink before them.
Here the little squire turned and went out of the room, and the blacksmith's wife, who, it may be said, was a witch, and who was very fond of our fair Nicholas, and would have had her own bright-eyed daughter to put upon him, followed the child, and thus questioned him:
- Come, my little sock, will you tell me where you are going?
- Why should I not tell thee, for it is neither good nor evil to me; but, my lord, seest thou this great mountain, which here before us supports the sky? Well, if thou seest, we will go thither, for to the top of that mountain every day the fairy queen, who is my master's mistress, goes to milk her milk.
Then the old woman persuaded the child that when they came to the top of the great mountain, and to the place where the fairy queen used to drink milk, they would wait for her arrival: with a little blowing-wind, which he gave to the child, he shall give his lord a little wind, and when the fairy queen is gone, he shall anoint his temples with a little potion in a little bottle; for if he do all these things, the fairy queen, if she loved Nicholas before, will love him seven times more. And he shall do so three days in succession. But say nothing of this to any creature, for the child shall have his way, and so shall he have his way.
The child, how could he not, took the old hag's talk and put both the little blower and the little bottle in his pocket.
Well, that's stopped. The blacksmith then soon made twenty-four pairs of iron boots and as many iron handles, which Nicholas and his armour-bearer took with them, and set out to climb that great mountain; but when they reached the top, all twenty-four pairs of iron boots and iron handles were worn out. But all this our Nicholas did not care much for, for he had been up there once. At the top of this hill lay the fairy queen's fairy garden, where she used to go every god-given day to froth in milk.
Then they passed through three forests: the first was copper, the second silver, and the third gold, and then they came to the silk forest. In the midst of it stood a golden apple-tree, and under the golden apple-tree a golden vat, and in it was the sweet milk of the fairy queen, in which she used to drink.
Long ago Nicholas had been on his way here, and when he arrived he lay down under the golden apple tree and waited for the fairy queen to arrive.
As he was turning over in his mind that his beloved would be long coming, long coming: the little boy let out a little wind from the blowpipe he had with him, which made him fall asleep, and he might not have woken up till the next day.
And behold, the thirteen swans flew, and when they came under the golden apple tree, they were shaken and changed into maidens. Only then did the fairy queen realize that here was her Nicholas. She went to him, called him, but he did not hear her, she kissed him, but he did not feel her, and then she wept for a long time, saying:
- Wake up, my heart's beautiful love! Awake, my heart of my heart, fair Nicholas, Awake from your deep sleep, my sweet bud, For I can only come twice more, I'll come no more.
But Nicholas did not wake up, but slept like a log, and the fairy queen had to go home, so she kissed her lover once more, shook herself, became a swan, and flew away with her thirteenth.
The little squire then anointed Nicholas's temple with the potion in the bottle, and he woke up immediately, saying:
- My little sock, I slept well and had a good dream! For I dreamed that here she was, and the fairy queen came in her swan's clothing, and then, shaken, she turned into a maiden, sat down here, and then beside me; she made love to me, but I did not wake, she kissed me, but I did not feel it, and then she wept at me, saying: "Awake, fair love of my heart, Awake, fair Nicholas of my heart, Awake from thy deep sleep, my sweet blossom; For I can come but twice more, I will come no more." Is it not so, Hansel, for so they believed the little squire, that this was but a fair dream?
- But it was not a dream, sweet master, for here indeed was the fairy queen, who, though she called with her fair voice, woke me with a sweet kiss, and made me cry with a loud wail, yet you did not wake.
- Don't talk, Hansel; is it true-this?
- No, it doesn't.
It was only then that Nicholas sat down, but he could not explain to himself why he did not wake up, and he resolved not to go to bed the next day, lest he should be overcome by sleep again.
Here comes the other day, Nicholas, as he said, did not go down under the golden apple tree, but went up and down under it.
Just walking, just walking, once our Nicholas's face was hit by a faint breeze, before his eyelids began to get heavy, both knees buckled and then quietly sat down on the silk ears, fell asleep.
Again the damned gun-carrier gave him a little wind from the windward side, and again it put him to sleep.
And now the thirteen swans fly under the golden apple tree, and shake themselves and take human form. Then the fairy queen stood out from the rest, came to Nicholas, called to him but could not hear, kissed him but could not wake him, kissed him but could not feel him, and then she wept at him, saying:
- Wake up, my heart's beautiful love! Awake, my heart of my heart, fair Nicholas, awake from your deep sleep, my sweet bud, for I can only come once more, I will come no more.
But Nicholas did not wake up, but slept like a baby. Then the fairy queen, seeing that she could not breathe life into Nicholas, kissed him once more, shuddered, became a swan, and flew away with thirteen others.
Then the little squire went to Nicholas, and anointed his temples with the medicine the old hag had given him, and his master woke up, saying:
- My little sock, I slept well and had a good dream. For I dreamed that thirteen swans came down to me, and shook me, and took on human form, - among them was my lover, who sat by me, and brooded, but I did not wake, and called, but I did not hear, and kissed, but I did not feel, and then he wept at me, saying: "Awake, fair love of my heart, Awake, fair heart of my heart, fair Nicholas, Awake from thy deep sleep, my sweet blossom; For I can come but once more, I will come no more!" Is it not so, Hansel, that this was but a sweet dream?
- But, my dear master, it was not a dream - if only it had been! - for here indeed was the fairy queen thirteenth with thee, who, though she moved with her sweet words, sweet kisses, honeyed speech, and loud lamentations, yet thou wast not awake.
It was only then that Nicholas sat up, only then that he was sad that his lover was here and he had not woken up. But he consoled himself, he would come again, and would rather prick himself with a needle, but he would not fall asleep.
But his poor head could have done anything, for when the hour came when they were waiting for the arrival of the fairy queen, a faint breeze struck our Nicholas's face, and his eyelids began to grow heavy, as if they had been two millstones, and his two knees buckled, and he fell asleep, quietly, on the silk ears.
It was that damned gun-carrier who gave him that faint whiff with the little blower, and he fell asleep so fast that he wouldn't have woken up for a day.
Again the thirteen swans fly under the golden apple tree, and then they shake and take human form. Then the fairy queen of the others came out, came to Nicholas, called him, but he could not hear her, kissed him, but he could not feel her, and then she wept at him, saying:
- Wake up, my heart's beautiful love! Awake, my heart's heart, fair Nicholas, Awake from your deep sleep, my sweet bud, For now I am here for the last time, And I can come no more.
But Nicholas did not wake up, but slept like a baby. And the fairy queen, seeing that Nicholas could not be wounded with a knife, turned to the armour-bearer, and found him saying:
- Tell your lord I thank him well, and if he had hung his weapon on the greater nail from the lesser nail, he should no longer be an orphan in a strange land!
And with that, the fairy queen kissed Nicholas once more, and for the last time, and then she shook herself, became a swan, and flew away with the thirteen.
No sooner had the fairy queen departed than the little squire woke his master, anointing his temples with the very potion the smith had given him.
- My little sock, said Miklós, I slept well and had a good dream! For I dreamed that thirteen swans came towards me, and landed beside me, and shaking themselves, took on human form. Among them was my lover, who came to me, called to me, but I heard him not, made love to me, but I woke not, kissed me, but I felt him not, and at last he wept at length, saying, "Awake, fair love of my heart, awake, fair Nicholas, fair love of my heart, awake from your deep sleep, my sweet blossom, for this is the last time I am here, and I shall come no more." Is it not so, my little sock, that this was a beautiful dream?
- But it was no dream, said the little squire, though it had been! - for here indeed was the fairy queen with her thirteen, who, though she moved you with sweet words, sweet kisses, sweet speech, and loud lamentations, yet you did not wake, and at last she turned to me and said to me to tell you thank you, and if you had hung your weapon from the smaller nail on the larger nail, you would no longer have to hide in a strange land.
Only then did the cataract fall from Nicholas' eyes, only then did he see why he had not woken up, that his little sock had done something to him: so he took his good sword from him, and cried out angrily, saying:
- What have you done to me that I didn't wake up, my best son?!
- 'Mercy, my Graecian head,' said the little armour-bearer, 'I am not to blame for anything, for I have been deceived by the fairies' smith's wife, who gave me these potions to give you a gentle breeze with this little blow, and from this little bottle, when the fairy queen has gone, to anoint your temples.
But Nicholas was so bitter that he would not have spared even his own dear brother: so he drew his good sword and put an end to the life of the little squire.
Then, climbing down from the great mountain, he hung the world around his neck again, and once more he gave up hiding.
Then he went on his way against seventeen countries, even beyond the sea of operincense, even beyond the glass mountains, even beyond where the little pig with the short tail is, beyond the sea, beyond this, beyond that, and once he came to a great valley, where he came upon a royal residence, from whose window looked out a beautiful queen, who was none other than his sweet sister Ilonka, who had been taken by the dragon.
Both Miklós and Ilonka immediately hugged each other. Miklós needed no more, he ran up the twelve white marble garadishes, took the golden handle and pushed open the panelled door, but his sister did not run to him, for she could not, for it was seven years since she had been unable to bear her child because of the curse.
Then Nicholas laid his sister on the bed, put two fingers on her breast, and without pain she gave birth at once to a child of seven years old, with golden hair and gold teeth, who, as soon as he was born, could walk and talk; and no wonder, for the boy was a gap-toothed boy.
- "Now, mother," said the little boy, "fear not, cry no more, for I will rid you of that ugly worm with seven heads; for I know well what his power is, and therefore give me the keys of the cellar. There is a stone barrel in the seventh vault of the cellar, an iron barrel in the stone barrel, a copper barrel in the iron barrel, a silver barrel in the copper barrel, a gold barrel in the silver barrel, a crystal barrel in the gold barrel, a diamond barrel in the crystal barrel, and in this is a wine of life, and if I let it go, the wicked worm will lose his great power at once.
The dragon-queen, from among the many keys, fetched the keys of the cellar, which the golden-haired boy took in his hand, and the three of them went down to the cellar, where the stone-barrel was indeed in the seventh cage.
Then the little boy of the lake, from whence he came, took out a great hammer, with which he struck the stone barrel with a great blow, saying:
- Let the stone wreck break, let the stone barrel perish!
And indeed the stone-barrel broke in pieces, and again he took up the great hammer, and struck the iron-barrel, saying:
- Tear the iron wreck, destroy the iron barrel!
And he broke the iron barrel to pieces, and took up the great hammer a third time, and struck the copper barrel, saying:
- Rupture the brass tire, destroy the brass barrel!
And the copper barrel also broke in pieces, and he took up the great hammer a fourth time, and struck the silver barrel, saying:
- Let the silver tire break, let the silver barrel perish!
And he broke the silver barrel in pieces, and took up the great hammer a fifth time, and struck the gold barrel, saying:
- Let the golden hoop break, let the golden barrel perish!
And he broke the golden barrel to pieces, and took up the great hammer a sixth time, and struck the crystal barrel, saying:
- Let the crystal wrecks break, let the crystal barrels perish!
And the crystal barrel also broke to pieces, and at last he lifted the great hammer for the seventh time, and struck the diamond barrel, saying:
- Let the diamond-bronze be broken, let the diamond-barrel be destroyed.
And the diamond-barrel also broke to pieces, and the wine of life gushed out of it, and the little boy with the goblet of wine, taking a taste of it, rolled in it, and the weapon did not touch his body.
Then he took the cup in his hand, took a good swig from it, and gave it to his brother to drink, and then he gave his mother a swig, and she drank a few drops, and what little was left she drank herself.
And from this drink, both the little boy, and our Nicholas, and his sister, gained sevenfold strength.
When they had done their work in the seventh cellar, they came up into the open air, and the seven-headed dragon was dragging home, so ill that he had hardly the strength to walk, for he dragged his feet as if they had not been his, as if he had borrowed them.
- "Well, dog," said the boy, "do you no longer desire my mother's dear world, and will you no longer torment a spirited animal?
- "Only spare my life, only spare my life," the dragon begged.
- I will not extinguish the world of that, as you were my father; but come into the three hundred and sixty-sixth room, and let me play there as the world's shuffle!
He brought the seven-headed dragon into the three hundred and sixty-sixth room, and there he nailed him to the wall; he drove a nail into his right wing, another into his left, and a third into his tail. When he had done this, he shut the great iron door, turned the key seven times, and put on nine padlocks.
When he had done this, he went to his good brother and said to him:
- No, brother, since I owe my birth to you, come with me, and I will show you where the fairy queen is... Do you see the great mountain that supports the sky before us? If thou canst see it, in the midst of it thy lover sleeps, cursed with a curse; but we will hang him, but thou shalt hearken to my word; for if thou doest not do as I bid thee, thou shalt never see the bright sun again, but shalt lie down to sleep with the fairy queen: therefore listen well! I will lead thee into the belly of this high mountain. Wherever we go, take no heed but always to follow me; for if you step aside once, the door will close upon us, and both you and I shall be cursed like the fairy queen.
In the way we go there are all sorts of creeping things, snakes and frogs; but be careful not to step on any of them, for if one should scurry away, it may be as if the death knell had been sounded above us. When we once reached the belly of the mountain, we found thirteen raised beds, in each of which lay a beautiful maiden.
Which one is yours, I need not say, for your heart will tell you, and when you have found it, lie down beside it and kiss it three times. At the first kiss she moves, at the second she takes breath, and at the third she rises and wakes. Then in the room where the thirteen fair maidens lie, there is an almshouse with bars; open the door of it, and take out the golden rod, with which thou shalt shake the fair maidens, one by one, three times, saying, "Awake, awake, for it is the dawn." And they all leap up one after another.
When you have done this also, strike the first snake or frog that comes to you three times, saying, "Awake, arise, and come out of your snake-frog skin. And one by one they shall cast off their serpent-skin or skin-clothes, and take upon them the form of men; for they, too, from one to the last, are all cursed fairies and fairy-maidens.
And with that the little Tartar boy turned, and from whence or whence not, it is enough, he brought in his arms three hundred and sixty-six hundredweight of torches, and, giving the torch to his brother, they set off for the great mountain.
When they came to the foot of the great mountain, after much running and searching, the boy from the valley struck the rock in one place, saying:
- Open the door for us!
And in the blink of an eye, the rock door burst open and he slid through it. It was dark in the hole, so dark you could almost bite it, but what were all those torches for, if not to give light? One by one they began to light the torches, and all at once their paths were illuminated.
The little boy went first, and our Nicholas went after him, who was only anxious to follow in his brother's footsteps. Wherever they went, all sorts of snakes and frogs crawled under their feet, and they had to be careful not to step on any of them, lest they should be scuffed, for otherwise it would have been like the tolling of a death knell to them; but thank God, they did not step on any.
After much toil, crawling, and climbing, they came at last to the belly of the mountain, where they found a round spacious room, in which lay the 13 fair maidens, ever-sleeping, and in the midst of them slept the fairy queen virgin, motherless, with only her long golden hair, which covered her like a silken sheet.
Then the little boy disappeared, as if swallowed up by the earth, and fair Nicholas was left alone, and he lay down in his clothes and lay down beside the fairy queen. Then when he kissed the fairy queen for the first time, she moved.
He kisses her a second time, the one with a big sigh, taking breath.
He kisses her a third time, she wakes up, and opening her eyes, sees no one beside her but her dear lover, the beautiful Nicholas, for whom she has suffered so much and for whom she has just slept under a curse.
Then Fair Nicholas rose from the fairy queen's side, went to the latticed almshouse, opened the door, and took out the golden rod, with which, going round the sleeping fair maidens, he struck each one three times, saying:
- Wake up, wake up, for the dawn is here!
And one after another they jumped up, and clambered after their clothes, which were under each man's head; they were ashamed to stand before a man in his bare feet.
When fair Nicholas was done with this, he struck the snake or frog that came first before him with the golden rod three times, saying:
- Awake, awake, come out of your snake-frog clothes and assume human form, for the hour of deliverance is here!
And they were shaken, and they came out of their serpent-frog garments, and took the form of men.
And then the beautiful music played, the band struck up, and behold, our Nicholas found himself in a beautiful fairy palace, whom the fairies took into the bathroom, bathed in milk, wiped in gold, and then they bleached his golden hair, gave him a robe of velvet and wine, and crowned him with a crown of merit as their king of deliverance. On the right stood the little ladyboy, and on the left his wife, the fair fairy queen.
And so the poor man's son became a fairy king, and the blessing fell on his old father so that he needed no more, and his poor head knew not whence it came, though his son had poured his abundance on his head.
(László Merényi: Hungarian folk tales from the Danube region)
