Once upon a time, across seven countries, across the Peruvian Sea, where the piglet with the short tail is prowling, there was a poor fisherman. This poor man had a lot of children. Verily, when there was bread in the table, when there was not.
In vain did the poor fisherman wake up with a cockcrow, in vain did he go to bed late at night, in vain did he carry his net from morning to night, from river to river, he was fed up with the saying: hunter, fisherman, birdman, wading in an empty bag; he had little to bless his work.
But as poor as the fisherman was, so was his brother a rich man. And he had no children. And when the poor fisherman's house had not a morsel to eat, he sent to his brother, saying, "In the name of God, give me a piece of pulse flour for supper. But he could send to him, but he always sent back a message: he would gladly give him a farthing if he would give him one of his sons in return.
- "I will not do that," said the poor fisherman, "for I have so many children, all equally dear to me, that I could not part with any of them.
Once, when they had hardly had a meal for a week or so, the fisherman went away and told his wife that he would not come back until he had caught a good bunch of fish. He sat down on the water's edge early in the morning and put his net in and took it out, but he never caught a fish as big as my little finger. It was getting dark, and he avoided luck, as if he were afraid of it.
"I see," said the fisherman to himself, "that I must go home without fish after all. My God, my God, what are my innocent children eating!"
He lifted his net with great sorrow, and it was as heavy as if a big stone had been stuck in it. For there was nothing else. It was a stone, a round stone. He turned the stone back with great anger, and pushed the net in again, and when he lifted it out, there was only the round stone again. Now he took the stone out of the net, and threw it far into the water, so that it would never again get into his net. But he threw it far away in vain, for God willed that this stone should be thrown into the net a third time.
The poor fisherman was angry, but he didn't throw the stone back into the water, he threw it on the bank and then he started to walk back home. But he had hardly taken a step or two before he changed his mind: if he could not take fish, he would take the round stone home, and let the children play with it.
He picked up the stone, put it in his bag and went home. The children ran to him, caught him and asked him questions:
- What have you brought, Father?
- A round stone, my sons, nothing else. Here, play with it, and forget your supper.
The poor fisherman had already gone to bed, and so had his wife, but the children could not go to bed, they were so sleepy with the caricaturing. They rolled the round stone up and down the room, and shrieked with joy, for the stone grew brighter and brighter. But the fisherman did not see this, for he was turned against the wall and sighed.
At one point, he turned around and told the children to go to bed, that's enough of the game. But as soon as he turned to the floor of the room, he suddenly closed his eyes, for the round stone shone so brightly that he was blinded by the glow. Then he opened his eyes again, looked, looked at the stone, called his wife:
- Look, woman, it's some kind of a miracle stone, shining like a diamond.
- 'Oh, my soul, sir,' she clapped her hands together, 'it is a diamond.
They immediately agreed that the next day she would take the stone to the king to see if he would buy it for a good price. The woman got up at the crack of dawn, wrapped the round stone in a shawl, and went to meet the king. There, as soon as she was in the palace, she was brought before the king. The poor woman saluted him with a proper greeting:
- God grant you, good day, my sovereign King!
- God grant me, poor woman, what wind has blown me?
The woman misses the round stone and shows it to the king.
- Where did you find this, poor woman? - asks the king, dreamily.
The woman says that her husband found her in the water.
- Now, poor woman, give me this stone, I will give you a thousand forints for it. For you shall know it is a real diamond stone.
The poor woman said nothing, just coughed. The king thought that the thousand forints were not enough for her. The king said he did not expect her to say a word:
- If a thousand pence isn't enough, I'll give you two thousand.
The poor woman coughed again, so confused that she could not say a word. She had not been short of a thousand pence! But the king thought again that he was short, so he said to the poor woman:
- Do you hear, poor woman, I will not pay three bags of gold for this stone. Will you give it for so much?
Then the woman stopped coughing and nodded her head.
At once the king filled three bags with gold, and even gave the woman a cart and a horse to take the gold home.
The woman goes home with great joy, but there was joy at home too! Now they were rich and no longer hungry.
- "But, do you hear, wife," says the fisherman, "we ought to weigh the gold: how many pots can there be?
- You're right kend, we should measure it.
Yes, but there was no flask at the house. Well, they send a boy over to the rich man's house to get a water bottle.
- What do you need a toilet for? - asks the rich man mockingly.
- My father wants to weigh money," said the boy.
The rich man laughed so hard.
- Here you are, son, here's the bucket, I'll follow you, let me see that money measure.
The rich man goes to his brother's house, and his eyes are wide open with dreams. He'd never seen so much money in a bundle. He asks his brother:
- Where did you get all this gold, my sweet brother?
But now he called him my sweet brother.
"Stop," thought the fisherman to himself, "I'm going to play a trick on you!"
- 'Hm,' says the fisherman, 'the king gave me this for three cats.
- How can that be, my dear brother?
- 'Tis true, my dear brother, that there are many mice in the king's palace, but so many that the king and his majesty's family cannot eat lunch or dinner with them. I heard this in my waking hours, and took three cats as a present to the king. Oh, that the king had seen your snake! He sent for the butler, and commanded him to give this good man three bags of gold for the three cats.
When the rich man heard this, he had no time to stay, so he went home and told his wife what he had heard.
- 'Well,' said the woman, 'if that torn man brought three cats for the king, we'll bring three sacks.
- I'm thinking the same thing, wife.
They went through the village, and even the neighbouring villages, and whatever cats they found, they bought at a high price. When they had gathered three sacks, the rich man took four horses, put the three sacks of cats in the cart, and with a great crack of the whip set off for the king's city.
He arrives in the city, and there in front of the king's palace, stops the horses, leaves the carriage, and goes up to the king. He is brought before the king, and salutes him with decorum:
- God grant you good day, my sovereign King!
- God grant, rich man, what is it that has brought you here?
Says the rich man:
- I have brought you a little gift, my King. I have heard that my brother the fisherman's wife has brought some, and your Majesty has received it with good heart.
- All right, you rich man, but where is what you brought?
- I'll bring it up in a moment, my King. My chariot is at the gate.
The rich man goes down, takes the three sacks of cats on his back and carries them up to the palace. Meanwhile, the king has gathered all the people of his house together to see a miracle.
Well, here came the rich man, and as soon as he entered the door, he untied all three bags in the twinkling of an eye.
Oh, Lord, my God, what now! That sea of cats has overrun the paddy fields,* as many as ran, they jumped at the mirrors, windows, up to the almarii,* they knocked down the expensive gold glasses and plates, they broke everything. The king shouted, the queen screamed, but the royal ladies screamed even more, and for a moment the soldiers were all gathered around to see what had happened.
- Grab it! - cried the king.
The soldiers thought they were supposed to catch the cats, but the king meant the rich man. But the rich man didn't keep his mouth shut either, he took his chance, ran out of the palace and ran away.
Tomorrow, if he runs to you, let him be your guest!
(Elek Benedek: Hungarian tale- and mythology Volume 1)
