Once upon a time there was a prince, and he had a sister, but she was so beautiful that no eye had ever seen, no ear had ever heard.
She had the sun on her forehead, the moon on her breast, two beautiful stars on her cheeks, her beautiful golden hair touched her heels, when she was unfurled, when she walked, a golden river flowed behind her, when she cried, golden flecks fell from her eyes.
The prince often spent hours in admiration of her beauty; and it became that he was admiring her until he fell in love with her.
But he fell in love in vain, for a brother cannot marry a brother, so the prince thought he would paint it on a big board, hang it round his neck, and go until he found a maiden so beautiful that he would marry her, but until he did, he was always in hiding.
Then he went on his way, he went against seven and seven countries, and once he came to a royal city. He was very tired, he saw a stone bench in front of a palace, and sat down to rest. And the palace belonged to the king, and the king looked out of the window, saw the prince with the beautiful picture, thought he was a traitor, thought he would buy it from him, sent his servant to fetch him, and had him called.
The prince went up; the king asked him what the picture was. The prince told him that it was his brother, that he was now wandering to find a mate for him, but that all his efforts had been in vain.
The king, who was only a boy himself, as soon as he heard that there was such a living creature under the sky as that image, he made up his mind that he would take it, whether it broke or tore, even if it cost him half his country. And he told the prince what he had resolved in himself, and begged him by heaven and earth to go no farther now, and lead him back to his own country, and then he might go - he did not mind - to seek a wife. The prince was inclined to a good word, and went back with the king.
When they came to his palace, there was the beautiful young lady walking in the garden, the golden corridor flowing everywhere she went. The King, seeing her, fell in love with her all the more, went up to her, told her what he was doing, told her that he had loved her when he had only seen her painted.
The prince's wife also took a great fancy to the fair prince, for she was so beautiful that she was so rare in her match, and she accepted the offer, and they exchanged rings; then they had some more fun together, and the king took his leave, and went away; the prince was also grieved, and the lady even more, but she said she would go and get ready for the wedding, and bring a wedding-party: "For we cannot marry like two gypsies in a tent, and have a wedding."
So the king went home and made great preparations for the wedding. He had an old witch for a mother, of whom all the world believed that she went to the mountain of St. Gellert every night, but one could believe her, for she was so old that she was worth the trouble of the Mátra, and she was deceitful and ungodly even to her son.
This wicked old woman, when she heard that her son was married, was very angry with him, because she had a maid who knew something about it, and she promised her that if she did not tell, she would have an abortion with her son. So now he was very afraid that the maid would be angry, that she would tell on his wickedness, and then it would be the end of him, but he bribed the maid not to tell anyone, and he would turn the matter around.
Then when his son wanted to go and fetch his bride, he told him that he would go and bring her home in his carriage. And the king thanked him that, being old, he was making such a long journey for her sake, and if he had known what his mother was going to do, he would have thanked her differently.
So they set off in peace, and reached the prince's country, and there the young couple swore an oath, and had a feast that lasted for seven countries. The king was in such a good humour that he could have caught a bird with her; he loved his wife so much that he even blew the seat where he sat.
When the wedding was over, they set off for home. The bride was sitting in the old queen's carriage with the old queen and her maid, and the prince, the king and the other wedding bachelors were riding around the carriage. When they had gone a long way, the king shouted back to his wife:
- Wrap up well, my darling, take care of yourself, don't catch cold!
The beautiful bride heard her lord say something, but she didn't understand what. She asks her mother-in-law:
- What did my Lord say?
- It means to cut your hair from your head.
She begged and begged, poor thing, not to be deprived of her beautiful hair, she cried, the golden tendrils were falling down her face, but it was no use to the wicked old queen, she cut it off.
They walked on again for a while, and again the king wondered if his wife was getting cold.
He shouted back again:
- Wrap up well, my darling, take care of yourself, don't catch cold!
Again the bride didn't understand, again she asked her date:
- What did my Lord say now?
- He told us to cut off your two hands at the elbows.
The poor princess cried and cried, begging not to be crippled, but it was no use; they cut off both her arms.
They walked on again for some time; the king began to talk of the affairs of the country, and was very much absorbed in it, and would not have left it to go to his wife, and hey, if he had known what cruelty was being done to him, he would have gone there even if his whole country had been burned. But thus again he cried out from afar:
- Wrap up well, my darling, take care of yourself, don't catch cold!
Again the bride did not understand, again she asked her sun:
- Now what did that cruel man say?
- I say dig out both your eyes!
He could no longer defend himself, he had no hands, he only begged not to be deprived of the world of his eyes, he cried so beautifully that even the heathen would have pitied him, only the old woman, who was even more heathen than the heathen, did not pity him, she dug out both his eyes.
Until they dug up her eyes, at least the unhappy bride could cry, she cried so much that they could pick the golden pearl from the bottom of the carriage with a handful of handles, but they didn't even have enough to cry with, she just wept so bitterly that it would have broken another man's heart, but the old witch was probably glad.
Once, when they were crossing a bridge over a great river, the king called back again:
- Wrap up well, my darling, my heart's half, take care of yourself, don't catch cold, we'll be home soon!
Again he did not understand, again he asked his sun:
- What else could the king have said?
- He told us to push you into this water.
The unhappy bride was even mad at him, for what is life to a man who is blind, lame and can't even beg! She only begged to be allowed to say goodbye to her brother, but they would not let her do that either, but without mercy they threw her into the water where she was deepest.
Then the old burnt-out put the gold hair on the head of the maid as if it belonged to her, put the princess's dress on it, and put the pretty pearls and bracelets on her arm, but it was no use, she could have put all the gold and silver in the world on it, but it would still have been ugly.
When they got home, the king jumped down from his horse and ran to get his wife out of the carriage, but as soon as he saw that she was as slippery as a slap, that only her clothes were as they had been, he turned away. Then the bride dismounted, and went towards the palace, and there was no golden aisle, nor sun on her brow, nor moon on her breast, nor two stars on her cheeks, for she was like no other common woman, even among the ugly.
The prince said in vain that he was not his brother, that his speech was not like his brother's, and in vain he questioned the old queen, but he was even more upset that he dared to accuse him!
The king neither heard nor saw, for it is in vain, for it is only so that he whom God wills to smite, he takes away his wits; he was blind and deaf, for he did not listen to the prince's speech, did not see that she was not his bride, did not consider that a wilted cherry-cup may be put in place of a beautiful flower, in a beautiful cup, and that an ugly maid may be dressed in the beautiful bride's garment.
Here the prince spoke in vain, they seized him, chained him up, threw him into a dark dungeon, let him rot there among snakes and frogs, let him be eaten by the slithering worms, for daring to pick on the king.
The old queen was glad when the prince was dragged away, for she could not fear that his wickedness would be revealed. "And my son," she thought to herself, "he'll only grow fond of his wife, and never know that she was the maid." But the king had no need of a new wife, neither in body nor in soul; he lived with her, for he had made a vow to her, and he would not break it, but he had no wife, for he never kissed her, never touched her, and always laid his sword between her legs at night.
And the crippled princess was floating quietly downstream. An old fisherman was fishing around there, and once he felt something big tugging at his net, he was glad to see that a big fish had got caught in it, and he pulled it out quickly, and saw a human form in it, but blind and lame.
The old fisherman was a kind-hearted man, took pity on the poor wretch, pulled him out of the water, took him home to his hut, made him a soft bed of grass, and revived him in all sorts of ways until he slowly came to life, but even after that he talked away for a long time, crying, wailing, begging the old queen in his sleep:
"Oh, don't cut off my arm... Don't gouge out my eye... I'm innocent, I've done nothing wrong!"
The old fisherman himself could not have told when he had cried last, but he was sobbing like a child, and he encouraged the princess not to be afraid, and not to be hurt; he encouraged her till she came to her senses.
She asked where he was, the old fisherman told her, promised to be her nurse from then on; she told him the whole story of her life, how the king met her, how they set out, how they crippled her, how they threw her into the water, everything, everything that happened to her. The old fisherman took pity on her even more, promising to take her home if she recovered.
From then on, the fisherman tended to her diligently, always by her side day and night, but the princess was apparently recovering, getting better every day. Her hair grew long, but her hands and eyes did not heal, and she trusted in God to heal them too.
One day he sent the old fisherman to the town - for it was near them - where the king lived, to find out if the king had married, and what had happened to his brother, for he did not think it was the old queen's wickedness, and not the king's. The old fisherman went, and found out all that had happened. He went home very sad, and told what he had heard, and said that his brother was still in the dungeon.
The princess was very sad, she felt sorry for her brother, that he was suffering innocently, but the old fisherman encouraged her that it would turn out all right, that God would find out everything.
Once the princess felt something moving in her head, she told the old fisherman to look for it, it had been a long time since she had done so. The fisherman looked in her head and found four little golden beetles.
The princess told him to take it to the queen in town and show it to her, but if he wanted to buy it, not to give it away for anything else, just to ask for two hands, and if they couldn't give it, to bring it back. The fisherman went into the town, went to the royal palace, led himself up to the old queen, showed her the beetles, offered to buy them.
- Well, how much would you sell it for? - asks the queen.
- For no money, your majesty, but for two women's hands I will give it to you, and your majesty shall have it.
The old queen was angry, what a foolish thing to say. Where should he take two women's hands? He can't cut off his own! He had almost sent the fisherman out, but just then the young queen came in. As soon as he knew what it was about, he remembered that the princess's two severed hands were lying among the dung in the chamber; he ran for them, found them, and gave them to the fisherman.
The old fisherman was crazy about it, and ran home with it as fast as he could; at home the princess was even more crazy, and they put both hands in their place, and anointed them with some kind of hot grass, and they stuck to it as if it had never been cut.
He had grown his hair long ago, now he had hands, but the eyes were still a mistake. Since her hand had healed, she was much better, washed, bathed, sprayed her beautiful golden hair, braided it, and passed the time.
One day, when he was sneezing, he found six little gold bugs in his head again. Again he sent it to the Queen from the fishmonger, but told her not to give it to him for anything but two eyes, no matter what they promised to give her. The fisherman went into the royal court, and went up to the old queen, saying that he had again brought six little gold beetles, if they would buy them.
- How do you give it? - asks the Queen.
- For no money, your majesty, but for two eyes, your majesty shall have them.
The old queen shouted at him:
- Are you crazy, always asking for two hands and two eyes! The next time you come here, I'll have you picked out on a bridge.
The old fisherman was frightened and wanted to leave, but he met the young queen at the door, and the queen knew him.
- What have you brought, old man, another bug?
- I will, sire queen, but for what I would give, the sire queen will not give, for I will not give for anything but two eyes.
The queen remembered the princess's two dug-out eyes, and knowing that they must be somewhere in the house, she went to look for them, and found them in the chest. She brought it in with great joy, gave it to the old fisherman, and when he was gone, she said, laughing to her sun, how well they had done with that foolish man, that he always asked for such useless things for the little gold bugs, and not for anything so precious.
And the old fisherman ran home with both eyes as if he had been chased; and as soon as he got home, he put both eyes in the boiling grass, and stuck them in their places, and stuck to them as if they had never been out, and the princess saw him as if he had never been out.
From that time on she was even more beautiful than before; she often went for a walk by the river, and wherever she went, a golden river flowed after her; when she cried, a golden fleck fell from her eyes; the sun shone on her forehead, the moon on her breast, the two stars on her cheeks, more beautiful than before.
But though she had the old beauty, the princess could not rejoice when she remembered that her brother was suffering innocently, locked in a dungeon with murderers and arsonists. Once it occurred to her that she should visit him, at least if she knew he was alive, her suffering would be alleviated, her sorrow would be one less thing on her mind.
So he asked the old fisherman to lead him to the harbour where his brother was, and the fisherman gladly did so. As they were walking about the window of the dungeon, the king looked down from his palace, and beholding there stood a maiden just like the one he had married, with the sun on her forehead, the moon on her breast, two beautiful stars on her cheeks, and a golden river running down her as she went along; the king ran down to her to see who she was, for he had a betrothed just like her.
As soon as the beautiful princess saw the king coming towards her, she was very frightened and ran away, for she thought he was going to do something cruel to her again, but the king began to beg her:
- Wait for me, my heart's fair love, don't run away from me, just wait for a word, just wait for a moment, then if you don't love me, I don't mind if you leave me, just let me say a word, just once let me look between your two beautiful eyes!
The king spoke so beautifully that the princess believed him and waited for him. The king embraced her and kissed her.
- Confess, fair love of my heart, that you were my bride, for however God has separated you from me, I know you to be no other.
This speech was both good and bad for the princess, good because she loved the king even then, and bad because she thought he was pretending. She made him see the great cruelty he had inflicted on her, and the king stared at her, asking what cruelty had been inflicted on him.
At first the princess didn't want to say anything, so as not to pretend, since she was in charge, but the king swore to God that he knew nothing about anything, so he just told her what had happened.
The king, when he heard it, fell on his knees and begged him to let him go, saying that he knew nothing about it, that he was innocent, but that he would avenge the cruelty. He lifted the princess from the ground, and they embraced and kissed, and the prince was brought up from the dungeon, and they went into the palace together.
The king had the old queen and the chambermaid thrown into a barrel of ten, carried up a high mountain, and from there he had them thrown down, so that by the time they reached the top their bones were broken.
The old fisherman was taken in, kept in a gentlemanly manner until he died. Then they had a great feast, the queen was crowned, and the whole world was amazed, she was so beautiful.
After the wedding, the prince took leave of them, and, having been persecuted in vain, went away, saying that he would go until he found a maiden as beautiful as his brother, and that if he did not, he would be cast out of the world.
And the king and his beautiful wife are still living happily ever after.
(László Arany: Hungarian folk tales)
