Up and down, down and up a little, Across the Tisza, across the Danube, Where the short-tailed, spotted piglet prowls, Once upon a time there was a king and his three sons. When all three sons had grown up to the point where their whiskers grew, the king said to them:
- Now, my sweet sons, go and see the country and the world!
The three princes set out on three beautiful steeds, and they went through hill and dale, through wood and field, down and up, but always ahead.
They walked and walked until they came to a large city. They ask a boy at the end of the town:
- Hey, boy, what kind of a town is this village?
The boy replies that this is the city of the King of Capers.
The kings were mad when they came to the king's city, and they went straight to the royal palace, and there they went before the king, and told him who and what they were.
The King of Caperno was pleased with the boys, for he was on strong terms of friendship with their father. But even the princes were glad when they saw the daughter of the king of Caphe. They had seen many fair maidens in their country, but none so fair. But the three of them got together, and made themselves presentable, and when supper was over, all three went into the king's chamber, and proposed to his daughter.
"Which shall I give it to now?" the king brooded. "Oh, oh, I wish I had two more daughters!"
What to do? He didn't want to antagonise any of them, so he said:
- Listen, boys, I will not give my daughter to any of you now, but go on, and the one who returns with the most useful thing by to-morrow shall have my daughter. Here is my hand, not a pig's foot.
The boys shook hands and set off at dawn. They walked together until they came to a large swamp. Here the road branched off in three directions, so they agreed that the three of them would go in three directions and meet at this place at this time next year.
They parted in peace, and each went his way. The three boys went to many countries, looked at everything, examined everything, bought one thing and another, and then threw it away again, because they found something worth more. But time went by, and they had to turn back, and yet they all three agreed on one thing or another, and by the end of the year they were back in the many forests where they had been separated.
But they were looking to see which one brought what. The eldest said:
- Look, I bought a glass so far-sighted that you can see the end of the world with it.
The middle one said:
- I bought one of those capes that you just have to wrap yourself in it and it will fly wherever you want it to in the blink of an eye.
The third said:
- And I bought an orange that, if the dead man hasn't been dead twenty-four hours, you just hold it under his nose and he wakes up.
As they say this to each other, the eldest looks into the telescope and, Lord Jesus, he just grabs it out of his hand in fright.
- Maybe you saw something bad? - his brothers and sisters asked.
- Oh, don't ask, the princess is lying dead!
The other two look into the far-glass, and it is true: the fair queen lay dead.
- "Quick, quick," cried the middle prince, "get into my cloak, we'll be there in a moment, and perhaps we can be resurrected!
They slipped into the cloak, and there they were, in the king's palace. The youngest prince took the orange, held it under the nose of the princess, and suddenly her eyes lit up and her mouth smiled!
Well, it was a pleasure. It was, but not for long. For the princes fought over the maiden. The eldest said:
- It's my business, because I saw that he was dead.
The middle one said:
- You should have seen it: if it hadn't been for my cloak, we'd still be in the woods. The maiden is mine.
- Is it? - said the youngest. - What would we have meant by one seeing and the other spitting if I hadn't had my orange?
The king could not do justice among them; he had to call together the wise men of the land and let them do justice. And they met together, and they reasoned seven days and seven nights, one saying this, and another saying that, until on the seventh night they agreed that the youngest of the kings should have the king's wife.
The older boys were reassured by this, and they went so far with the two from Kalla at their brother's wedding that the palace floor fell in on them. All at once, during the great feast, the eldest boy missed his telescope and peeped into it.
- "Come, come," he says to his brother in the cloak, "look inside, and what do you see?
- I see, says he, two fair maidens, like two shining stars.
- Well, if you can see me, let's get into the cloak and take a closer look!
Before they knew it, they were already there. Yes, they were the daughters of the king. They asked for their hands: they gave them, they carried them in their cloaks. They did not stop till they reached home. By this time their brother and his wife were home.
We've only just had a gay wedding. The lame were kicking up the dust as best they could. Plates and platters were enough, food and drink were scarce, yet all was well.
(Elek Benedek: Hungarian tale- and mythology Volume 1)
