Once upon a time, far, far, far away, even across the Peruvian Sea, across the great glass mountains, across the bran sea, far, far, far away, just like the barn here, there was a very rich butcher in the world and he had a son. The old butcher once said to his son:
- My dear boy, I'm old beyond the age of slaughter. I am no longer fit to run the farm. I'll hand it over to you now.
Okay, the boy took over the farm.
Soon after, there was a fair in the next town. So the boy saddled up his horse and put money in his pocket to buy cattle for slaughter. So he set out on his journey. He went on, he went on, and came to a village. There he goes into the tavern to have his supper. But he, too, was in the mood among the other revelers, and stayed there, and did not go on again until about sunset. But in a small wood he fell so far in love with her that he lost his way and could not find her again.
As he wandered through the forest, he found a small house where an old woman lived, and no one else. The butcher went into the little house and asked for lodging for the night and something for his horse to keep him out of the open.
- "Oh, my dear boy," said the old woman, "I could give you a place to stay, but there is not half enough. There is one, but it has a big tub in it.
The butcher's lad, as soon as he heard this, went out, that he would roll the tub out of that half-full and tie his horse in it. Well, my lord, as soon as he began to roll the tub, he was frightened, and then he fell down, for there was a dead man under it. The butcher's lad went into the house at once, and asked the old woman where the dead man had got into the half-way house.
The old woman starts to cry and says:
- What is tolerance-denial, my dear boy, it is my lord, no other. For seven years he has lain there. I had no money to bury him; I dared not even tell the priest that I owed him a great deal of wages.
The butcher's lad was heartbroken for the poor woman. He waited until morning, and then wrote to the priest to bury the poor man with great pomp; he would pay the funeral expenses and the parsonage the poor woman owed.
The priest immediately called for the funeral and buried the poor man with great pomp.
But the butcher's lad was now very much troubled, for he had given all his money for the funeral and the poor woman's debt. What should he do? So he went home without beef, and at home he told his father how he had been.
- "Never grieve for that, my dear son," his father consoled him, "you gave it for God, and God will repay you.
The autumn fair came in the next town. So the lad saddled up his horse again, went out and bought such wild cattle at the fair that when he tried to drive them out of town, one ran one way and the other the other. With great trouble he could only reach the end of the town. As he came to the end, a little ragged man came and said to him:
- Do you hear, good man, I see you have a lot of trouble with these cattle. I'll go with thee to be a chaser.
- All right, whatever you want, I'll give it to you. And there they agreed.
As they walked, they came to a tavern. The little ragged man says to the butcher's lad:
- Do you hear, dear master, you seem to be very warm. Go in, and drink a cup of wine at the inn, and I will drive away slowly.
The lad took the advice and went inside. But when he had drunk his wine, the little ragged man drove the cattle away so fast that he could hardly see him. Immediately he mounted his horse and galloped after him, but he didn't catch up till he reached home.
As soon as they got home, the butcher asked:
- Hearest thou, my servant, now tell me what thou wilt have for the drive?
- Nothing, sweet master; only let me serve you as long as I please.
All right. The butcher's on him.
Soon the fair was back in the next town. So now the two of them, the butcher's lad and the little ragged man, went on foot to buy beef for slaughter. At noon they came to a forest and had lunch. The butcher's lad, overcome with languor, lay down on the grass and fell asleep.
The little ragged man went out into the woods to have a look around. As he wandered around, he came upon a large rock. From there he looks down into the valley, and sees twelve haramis at the bottom of the rock, dismembering themselves as soldiers do.
The little ragged man thinks one thing, kicks a huge stone with his foot, it starts to roll, and wherever it rolls, the wood is broken everywhere. At the great crash the twelve harami were terrified and all ran under the rock into a cave.
Then the little ragged man went down among them and asked who they were and what they were doing there. The haramias, because of the noise they had just heard, thought that at least one regiment of soldiers was coming, and they told the little ragged man that they were escaped soldiers and haramias.
So says the little ragged man:
- Do you hear, you outlaws! I'm a runaway soldier too, and I'll be a bandit. If you wish, I will come among you and be your leader, for I was the highest in the army.
- 'Now show me,' said the little ragged man again, 'where is what you have robbed?
Here the outlaws led him into the cave and showed him around. There was so much silver, gold and precious stones in a pile that ten men could not have thrown up with a shovel in a day.
As soon as they saw this, they went out to plow again.
But the little ragged man was very angry, because they had been very badly disemboweled, and he shot the outlaws down to the ground, one by one. Then he got the key to the cave, and went back to his master. Even then the butcher was still asleep, and a very large dry topolya tree was growing out of the ground over his head. At the top were three small green leaves.
The little ragged man here hanged his master, then climbed up the tree, plucked the three leaves and said to the butcher:
- Now, my dear master, tie this letter at one end of your shawl, this at the other end, this at the third end, and then put it away. And they were on their way.
By the time they reached the town where they were going to buy beef at the fair, it was already late at night. So they went into a little house at the very end of the town to an old woman and asked for lodging for the night.
In the morning, as soon as it dawned, they saw the whole town in mourning. They ask the old woman, "Why is there so much gloom?
- 'No other reason, good people,' says the old woman, 'because the king's daughter has gone blind.
- 'It's easy to cure,' says the little ragged man.
The hostess didn't need more. She ran up to the king at once to tell him that he had knowledgeable people who said that it was very easy to cure a blind eye.
Here the king immediately took me in and drove me to the old woman's house.
But the butcher's lad knew nothing, he would not go with the king, and the little ragged man was silent.
Then the king says that if his daughter's eyes are not healed, he will have them hanged. So he took them by force to his castle.
The butcher's lad was very frightened and said to the little ragged man:
- You see, my servant, why do you say that it is very easy to heal the blind eye, when you are not skilled?!
- Never mourn, my sweet master, we will try.
- 'Well, if you cure his eyes,' the king encouraged them, 'I'll give you my kingdom and my daughter.
When they reached the palace, the little ragged man said:
- Do you hear, dear master, take out the shawl in which you have tied the three green leaves. Then first untie the end in which you tied the first one.
So the butcher unties the shawl. And the little ragged man puts the letter over the eyes of the king-maiden and asks her:
- Well, how do you see now, Miss King and Queen?
- I can see as if looking through a dense sieve.
Then he puts the middle leaf over his eyes and asks again:
- Well, how do you see now, Miss King and Queen?
- I see it as something very rare on a fibre.
He puts the third green leaf down and asks again:
- Well, how do you see now, Miss King and Queen?
- I see like I did when I was twelve.
So the king gave them his daughter and his kingdom. And the little ragged man said to his master that he would let him have the king's bride, and that he would marry her.
So the butcher's boy married the girl. So the butcher's boy became king after his father-in-law.
One day he remembers that he is visiting his father and mother as a wife. So he gives orders to take four grey men in the carriage in which they were to be married. And the coachman was to load them with hay and rations, for they were about to set out.
So they got on, the little ragged man into the cart, and his master and his wife into the carriage, and drove home to the old butcher.
At home, the boy told all his lines, that he now had a kingdom, a kingdom, a king's wife, a daughter-king, and he would not be slaughtered again.
- 'I have come even now,' he continues, 'to take your grace, my sweet parents, to where I live. Your Grace, my mother, may either sit by the guzsaly or pray all day. And your Grace, my lord father, shall talk with my father-in-law, and shall be drunk, and spend his time so.
When the old men are ready, the little ragged man comes out and says:
- Do you hear, my sweet master, my time is past; I have been so long in my affliction. So now I am going away. But before I leave thee, I will say this. Thou shalt go to that wood, where thou hast fallen asleep, and where that great dry topoly tree has grown by thy head. Thou shalt find there a great rock, and under it a great cave, and in it so much silver and gold and precious stones that ten men could not vomit them out in a day with a shovel. It's all yours. - But do you now know who I am? I am the man you found under the tub, whom you buried, and whose debt you paid. Therefore God has commanded me to reward your goodness.
With that the little ragged man shook hands with his master and disappeared.
And the ex-butcher's lad went up to the king, father and mother, and they lived in peace. Perhaps they are still alive, if they are not dead.
(Vilmos Radó: Hungarian Children's and Folk Tales, First Collection - Singer and Wolfner Publishing; Budapest, Andrássy út 10, VI.)
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