Once upon a time, across seven and seven countries, there was a poor man, and his big adolescent son, called Bandi Kolontos. And not for nothing was this lad called Colossus, for all his actions were foolish. His father and his mother were made to feel very sad that their sons would twist them out of everything by their great stupidity.
Among other things, the woman says to her son:
- Go, my son, water the flowers, for they will all wither in the heat!
Bandi takes himself, goes down to the cellar. There were three acos of wine, he took it up to the garden and poured it on the flowers. He had often seen that when people drank wine, they were in a good mood, and as soon as he had poured the wine, he even asked the flowers:
- You're in a good mood, aren't you? I bet you are!
Other times he was told to sprinkle the yard with sand to make it level. But Bandi thought that flour was better than sand, and what flour there was at the house he sprinkled all over the yard. His father came out to see what Bandi had done.
- O fool of the world, what are you doing?!
- Is the yard not straight enough? - asked Bandi.
- But stop, I'm about to eat you!
He grabbed a piece of meat, cut Bandi, but he could have chewed him, but that didn't make him crazy. Time goes by. And you think, maybe Bandi's got some sense, and you tell him:
- Go, my son, feed the pigs and let them lie down. Bandi went out and fed the pigs, but when they were full, he took a stick and beat them until they reached the bridge. Then he went to his father with great joy and said:
- Well, father, I'm going to put the pigs to bed.
You go outside and see what Bandi has done. Well, my lord, the pigs are all dead. The man takes the meat, he chops Bandi up again, but he must have chopped him up, he's not crazy.
It was getting late, they went to bed, but neither the man nor his wife could sleep. They sighed, wondering what to do with this goddamn thing. If they didn't get rid of him somehow, sooner or later he'd have them on a begging-list.
They planned to take him out into the woods and leave him there, no matter how bitter their hearts were. As it will be, so it will be, go where your eyes can see; live as you may. Bandi pretended to be asleep, even snoring loudly; he heard well what the old men agreed.
They wake up in the morning, and the poor man says to Bandi:
- Come on, son, let's go to the woods and cut some wood!
They go out into the woods, and when they get to a thick place, the man says to Bandi:
- You just stay here, son! You cut down a few trees, and I'll go on to the other side of the forest and see if I can find some more beautiful ones.
Bandi didn't say anything; he pretended to stay there, but his father had hardly gone ten or twenty paces before he followed him, and he didn't leave him. The man was clever enough to say, "This way or that way, stay there, look at this tree, how beautiful it is; look at that, it's even more beautiful!
What could the poor man do, seeing that he could not get rid of Bandi, he went home in a great mourning, and Bandi followed him everywhere. As he was walking home, a grey old man came up to him and asked:
- Why is kend so sad, earthy?
- "How can I not be sad, old man," says the man, "when I have this one son, and he's so skinny.
- Do not grieve, kend, give me your son, and I will bring him to his senses.
- "I will give it to you with a good heart," says the man, "only let it go with your snake.
She asks her son:
- Well, Bandi my son, would you go with this old man?
- I'll do it, just to have a good job.
The grey old man said:
- Do not be afraid, my son! You'll be safe with me.
That's how they parted ways. The poor man went home, and Bandi went with the grey old man in the opposite direction, through the woods; for three days and three nights they walked on and on, never stopping.
Bandi will say once:
- Old man, give me something to eat, because since I left home I haven't eaten a bite!
- 'All right, my boy, eat,' said the grey old man.
Then he reached into his pocket and took out three crumbs of bread, and Bandi was as full as if he had eaten three large loaves of bread, as big as a wheel of tallow.
They went on, they walked on, and suddenly two lions came to meet them. Bandi was terrified; he thought his life was over. But the grey old man only blinked once, and the lions suddenly retreated into the thicket.
Then they set out again, and went on, and went, and came out of many woods into a great wilderness, and on the edge of a great wilderness to the sea. On the shore of the sea there was a great poplar tree, and the old grey man plucked a leaf from it, and threw it into the sea, and lo, behold, the poplar leaf was suddenly turned into a boat.
They got into the boat and rowed on and on for seven days and seven nights, and reached the other shore, and when they got out, the boat turned back into a poplar leaf. On this side of the sea there was a poplar tree, and the old man in his autumn threw the poplar leaf up among the other leaves.
From there they went on, they walked, and came to a cleft in a lot of big rocks, where there were two beds of moss, and they lay down in them. Said the grey old man:
- Go to bed, my son, go to sleep, for we rise early in the morning and the lessons begin.
They go to bed, and wake up before they've hardly slept a wink. Then the grey old man took out all sorts of big books. For three days and three nights he read and read, but he could read and read, Bandi was just as foolish, just as crazy, just as crazy as before.
The grey old man said:
- Well, my boy, I see I'm getting nowhere with you, I'll try another way.
He took out a golden hammer and tapped Bandi on the head with it every day. This went on for half a year, and Bandi became such a clever man that he could hardly contain all the cleverness in his head. The old man taught him all sorts of fairy tricks, and even how to make all sorts of expensive cakes from the branches of the poplar tree.
Then, when he had taught him all sorts of tricks, the grey old man said:
- Well, now, my son, go with God's news, try your luck!
He gave Bandi three crumbs of bread and sent him on his way. On he went, on he went, through woods and fields, and when he was hungry, he ate only a small crumb, and was so full that he could go on for a week. When he had eaten all three crumbs, he cut off a poplar branch and struck the ground with it, and there were so many expensive cakes in front of him that he could not resist eating them.
Well, time has passed. Perhaps it's been a year, come to think of it: two, three, since Bandi divorced the grey old man. One day, as he's driving through a lot of woods, he sees a small house, he wants to go in, but there's no handle on the door. Well, if there isn't, that's okay.
He remembered the fairy spells the grey old man had taught him, and said to the door, "Gingallo, holy door, open for yourself! The door opens, he goes into the house, and there is nothing in the house but a table and a big book on the table.
Written in fairy letters on the tablet of the book was The Book of the Princess of the Seven Beauties. Bandi opens the book and looks at what is written inside. It was written in it that the king, whose kingdom he was wandering in, had a daughter as beautiful as if she had been woven from the seven most beautiful daughters in the world. Therefore was her name called the Princess of the Seven Beauties.
Once, Goatbak, the King of the Goats, went to the Princess of the Seven and asked her to marry him. Princess Seven laughed a great laugh:
- What, you abomination, you dare to come here?! The first princes asked for my hand, and I gave it not to them. Get out of my sight!
Goatbak went away in great sorrow and grief, and in his great sorrow and grief he jumped off the top of the highest cliff and died a horrible death. The goats found out what had happened to their king: twelve were gathered together, the biggest and strongest.
At night they crept into the king's palace, and when the queen was asleep, they took the golden bridesmaid on their horns and rode away like a wild fury.
It was further written in the book: that seventy-seven miles from this house, under a golden earth, there is another such book, in which is written where and whither the Princess of the Seven Beauties has gone.
There was no stay for Bandi. He went through the mountains and valleys, and did not stop until he found that golden land. There he stopped and said.
At that moment, the ground opened up and a big book came out of it. On its tablet was written.
He opens the book, reads and turns the pages, and it is written in beautiful fairy letters that the twelve goats have taken the Princess of the Seven Beauties to the castle of Goatbak. There she was laid down in the seventy-seventh room of the castle, and Goatbak's mother put her to sleep for ever, and she never wakes up until a man comes along who speaks to her in fairy spells.
For Bandi needed nothing else, he turned and went straight to the court of the Princess of the Seven Beauties' father. The king had already proclaimed throughout the land that he would give his daughter and all his kingdom to the man who would bring her back.
Kings and princes have tried it; lords of all ranks and ranks, but not one has found the Princess of the Seven Beauties. And they have been all over the world. They searched under water, they searched under earth, they searched in the air, they searched everywhere, but they could not find her.
Then Bandi arrived at the king's court, and offered himself to be his life and death, but somewhere he would find the princess.
- 'Well, my son,' said the king, 'ninety-nine have tried and failed, you are the hundredth, and may fortune be with you.
The king gave him a golden-coated steed, the finest of his herd. Silver and gold enough so that he would have no lack of money. So Bandi took off, flying like a bird on his golden-haired steed. And on the seventh day he came to the castle of Goatbak, and, my lord, there were a hundred gates and a thousand doors, but none of them had handles.
Bandi stops in front of a door and says: "Gingallo, holy door, open it yourself! And not only the door he stood before opened, but all the doors opened, the gates opened, the whole palace was illuminated, every corner of it shone, shone like a diamond. Then he went on his way, through the rooms, into the seventy-seventh.
There lay the princess in her golden bed. She was as white as a lily, but as beautiful as if she had been woven from not seven, but seventy-seven fair maidens. Bandi stood before her bridesmaid, and, casting his eyes on her, said softly, "Gingallo, holy door, rise from your bridesmaid's bed.
And behold, suddenly the Princess of the Seven opened her eyes. She looked at him, her face and eyes smiling, and then she rose from her bed, embraced the lad, and said with a fervent word:
- You are for me, you are my faithful partner!
They jumped on the golden-haired steed and did not stop until they reached home. But there was joy at home, my God, and great joy! At once a priest was summoned, the young people conspired, after the wedding they got into an egg boat, descended the Tisza, moored at a place on the banks of the Tisza, and walked about until they found Bandi's father and mother. They took him back to their country.
But after that they had a good job, they didn't need salt or wood. They are still alive today, if they are not dead.
(Elek Benedek: Hungarian tale- and mythology Volume 3)
