Once upon a time there was a poor widower and his two beautiful daughters. But then they were both so beautiful that they could have been royal princesses. Indeed they were!
There was a widow living next door to the widower, and one day, when the older girl, whose name was Cerceruska, was playing in the yard, she slipped over the fence:
- Daughter, tell your father to marry me, and I will bathe you in milk and butter.
Delighted, Cerceruska ran to her father and told him what the neighbour had said.
- That would be nice! - said the widower, and that very day he married the neighbour's wife.
For the maidens had a good time for a week or two, being caressed and kissed by their stepmother, but then her temper turned, and the poor orphans were beaten more often than they were fed.
- 'Do you hear,' said Cerceruska to her sister, 'this wicked woman will destroy us, let us go away!
- 'I don't mind,' said the little girl, 'let's go away.
They woke up early in the morning and told their stepmother that they would go to the forest to strawberry, if she would let them go.
- 'Just go,' said the woman, 'I'm no use to you anyway.
And when the girls went out of the gate, he spoke slowly after them, but Cerceruska heard him well:
- May the Lord God grant that you may drink from the footsteps of the animal, and become like it.
So the two girls went on their way, and when they came to the forest, Cerceruska said to her sister:
- Do you hear, do not drink from the footsteps of some animal, however thirsty you may be!
The little girl promised, and with that they began to pray. They picked the strawberries, not thinking of each other, and slowly, one this way and the other that way, they drifted away.
Suddenly the little girl was very thirsty, but she could find neither a spring nor a stream. What shall she do, God, what shall she do? She will die of a great, great thirst if she does not find a drop of water.
He would drink of it, whatever beast he might become, he thought to himself. Well, Lord Jesus, do not forsake me!
Meanwhile, Cerceruska has filled her basket, and looks this way and that, and her little sister is nowhere to be found. She looks, she cries, and oh, God, she can't find her. Cerceruska cried, cried so bitterly, that the forest cried to her. Then suddenly a fawn ran towards her with a bitter whimper, licking and licking Cerceruska's hands, her face, everything.
- "Oh, my God, my God," cried Cerceruska, "it is certainly my little brother! She did not take my word for it, and turned into a guard.
He hugged the doe's neck and led her through the woods, crying and weeping. But Cerceruska only really cried when she saw a hunter in the distance. He had a double-barrelled shotgun slung over his shoulder, and a hound was running and sniffing in front of him. My God, my God, if the hunter saw him, he might shoot his little brother!
Looking this way, looking that way, looking where to hide. By blessed luck, he sees a haystack, and suddenly they're behind it. But it's no use, because the hound sniffs out the fawn and runs straight for the haystack.
He sniffed around the fawn, but did not hurt it, but suddenly turned and ran back to his master, jumping and whimpering, and did not leave it alone until he gave it a piece of bread. The hound picked up the bread, ran to the bogly, threw it in front of Cerceruska, ran back to his master, and jumped and whined even harder.
The hunter wondered, he didn't understand what the hound was doing, because he didn't even think about eating until they returned from the hunt. But he threw him another piece of bread. The hound did not eat this either, but ran straight to the bogly, and threw the bread to Cerceruska, and then back to his master, and climbed on him, and whimpered as bitterly as if he had been struck on the waist.
- 'Now, wait a minute,' said the hunter, 'I'll give you another piece of bread, but I'll see where you take it myself, for it's impossible that you can eat it all yourself!
The hunter's eyes were stunned when he saw a beautiful maiden weeping at the foot of the bog, and a fawn whimpering beside her. Cerceruska lay on the doe, and begged the hunter:
- Oh, dear uncle hunter, don't hurt this poor deer, for he is my brother!
- "What are you talking about, girl, girl," laughed the hunter, "how can a girl have a deer for a brother?
Cerceruska then told him who they were, and how unfortunate his little brother had been.
At this speech the tears came from the eyes of the hunter, and he said:
- Don't be afraid, Cerceruska, I won't hurt your sister, but I'll take you to my palace with me. For so you shall know that I am the king of this land.
Then he took Cerceruska by the hand, and Cerceruska put her arms around the fawn's neck and walked into the royal palace.
There the king ordered the fawn to be kept in a separate garden, and Cerceruska was to be obeyed by all men, and all who wished him well should seek his favour.
Now, everyone was in favour of Cerceruska, only a woman of the court, who was the king's nurse, frowned upon him. This woman had a daughter, and she was all in a hurry to make the king marry her daughter.
Because, not to confuse the issue, the king has never had a wife. The most beautiful queens were offered to him, but he liked none of them. She was glad of it, but she was frightened when she saw Cerceruska.
"Surely the king wants to marry her," he thought to himself, "but it will come to nothing!"
Waiting only for the king to leave home, he went down with Cerceruska to the garden where the fawn lived. There was a lake in the middle of this garden, and when they were on the bank of it, the old woman said:
- Stop there, Cerceruska, look at yourself in the lake, how beautiful you are.
Cerceruska looked into the lake, and that minute the evil woman pushed her into it.
Oh my God, the fawn whimpered bitterly, running around the pond, but the old woman called out to him:
- Whimper, whimper, just don't talk!
The king comes home in the evening and goes straight to Cerceruska's room. Well, Cerceruska is not there. He calls for the woman.
- Where is Cerceruska?
- He must have gone into the garden. He always plays there with the deer.
The king goes into the garden, looking for Cerceruska, calling out to him, but there was only the fawn, and he was only whimpering and running around, unable to speak.
The king was greatly grieved. He thought that Cerceruska had slipped away from the palace. He sent for her all over the country, promising gold without temen to whoever would bring Cerceruska back, but he could have promised half his kingdom: no one found Cerceruska.
For days the king walked in the garden, stroking the fawn, asking questions:
- Have you seen Cerceruska? - but the fawn just whimpered, unable to speak.
The wicked, wicked woman saw this, and was afraid that if the King was always in the garden, he might somehow remember that Cerceruska had been thrown into the lake. He would destroy the fawn, too.
He waited for her to leave home, and suddenly he called for a butcher, and they went into the garden to draw the poor fawn's blood.
Hair, poor creature, when he saw the butcher coming with the knife, jumped at him, and ran around the lake as fast as his weak legs could carry him.
They lured him in vain, but he would not stop. And behold, as he ran around the lake, he was frightened out of his wits and began to speak:
Get up, my sweet Cercerus,
from the bottom of the lake,
from the guts of a big fish!
They are a knife against my weak skin,
wash the copper for my red blood!
Just at that moment, the king came into the garden and heard the fawn calling out. He shouted to all the people of the court, scooped out the water of the lake, caught the big fish, cut open its belly, and there was Cerceruska. I saw, as I do now, that she was alive, and a hundred times more beautiful than before.
There was joy, but what joy! And the little fawn leaped for joy so much, that she suddenly waddled over her head, and, oops, listen to me!
Meanwhile, the lake is again full of water. When it was full, the king took the witch and threw her into the lake. And he led Cerceruska up to the palace, summoned a priest, who married them, and that very day the young couple were in eggshells, and descended the Cyclops.
If they get out, let them be your guests.
(Elek Benedek: Hungarian tale- and mythology Volume 1)
