Once upon a time, across seventeen countries, there was a seventy-seven-year-old poplar tree. On the seventy-seventh branch of that seventy-seven-year-old poplar was a seventy-seven-year-old skirt. In the seventy-seventh fold of that seventy-seven-year-old skirt was a seventy-seven-year-old little book.
On the seventy-seventh page, on the seventy-seventh article of the seventy-seventh-year-old little book was this little talewhat I want to say.
Once upon a time, across seven hundred and seven lands, there was a king. The king had three daughters. Every morning he went for a walk in the forest with them. One day a big black cloud comes up. He says:
- O king, give me your greatest daughter, for if you don't give her to me, I'll take the day.
The King says:
- If you are a good soul, come down, if you are a bad soul, leave!
The cloud has gone, taken the sun.
The next morning they went for another walk. Again a big black cloud comes up. He says:
- O king, give me your middle daughter, for if you don't give her to me, I will take the moon.
The king did not give, he took the moon.
On the third morning, when the king goes out for another walk, the black cloud comes again. He says:
- King, give me your youngest daughter, because if you don't give her to me, I'll take the stars.
The king tells him:
- If you are a good soul, come down, if you are a bad soul, leave!
The cloud has gone, it has taken the stars.
Well, there was great darkness, and they were in great darkness...
Once little King Nicholas went with his brother to the royal court to fetch water. Little King Nicholas says to his brother:
- Brother, I would bring the sun, moon, and stars, if the king would give me half his kingdom and his youngest daughter.
And the king heard this. He sent for him.
- 'Now, my boy,' he says, 'if you don't bring out what you said, I'll have your head.
- Well, sire, sire, give me a horse, and a sword for both of us, and we will be on our way.
They set out, they went through seven countries. Once they reached a thousand cities. They tied the horse at the edge of the forest, and the younger son stayed behind. He took care of the horse so that no animals would eat it.
Little King Miklós went to the silver bridge, he threw himself on it, and a plank fell off. There goes the seven-headed dragon, stumbles his horse. The seven-headed dragon says:
- Dogs, dogs drink your blood, for seven years I've been walking on this bridge, you've never stumbled, what's the reason?
The horse says to him:
- Fire for me, water for you, we both must perish!
The seven-headed dragon dismounted and said:
- Cool little Miklós, come out from under the bridge, because when you were the size of a millet's millet, I knew I had to fight you!
Little King Nicholas goes out, the seven-headed dragon asks him:
- How do we go? Oil or sword or stick?
Says King Little Nicholas:
- A dog is used to a kill, a dog to a stick, a soldier to a sword!
They went to the sword.
They wrestled and cut each other until the soldier cut off six heads. The seven-headed dragon says to him:
- Cool little Nicholas, leave me this one head, I'll give you the stars!
- "Well," says King Little Nicholas, "where are they?
- There under the saddle blanket, take it out!
Little King Nicholas took out the stars, and cut off the seventh head of the dragon. He went to his brother, tied the horse, and they went on their way.
They reached the golden forest, there they tied the horse to the tree again,
Little King Nicholas went to the Golden Bridge. He struck at it with his sword, two planks of wood fell off. He hid under the bridge.
The fourteen-headed dragon comes, he would go through it, his horse stumbles. It says again:
- Why have I been coming here for fourteen years, why have you never been able to stumble, and why have you stumbled now?
The horse also says:
- Fire for me, water for you, we both must perish!
The dragon dismounted and said:
- Cool little Miklós, come out from under the bridge, because when you were the size of a millet's millet, I knew I had to fight you!
Kiment. The dragon asks him:
- So, how are we doing? Oil or sword or stick?
- A dog is used to a kill, a dog to a stick, a soldier to a sword!
They went to the sword. They fought and fought until King Nicholas cut off the head of that dragon. When he had cut off the thirteen heads, the dragon said:
- Cool little Nicholas, leave me that one head, I'll give you the moon.
- Where is it?" asks the lad.
- It's under the saddle blanket, get it!
Little King Nicholas took the moon out from under the saddle-cloth, put it away with the stars, then he cut off the dragon's fourteenth head. He went to his brother, but he did not say that he had the moon.
They go, they go, they go, until they reach the diamond field.
The horse was tied to a tree again, and King Little Nicholas went to the diamond bridge.
When he got there, he struck the bridge with his sword, and three planks were already broken. He hid himself.
Let the twenty-four-headed dragon go across the bridge, and his horse stumbled. He says:
- What is the reason for this? Twenty-four years I've been on you, and you've never stumbled!
The horse says:
- Fire for me, water for you, we both must perish!
Then he landed.
- Cool little Miklós, come out from under the bridge, because when you were the size of a millet's millet, I knew I had to fight you!
Kiment. The dragon asks:
- So, how are we doing? Oil or sword or stick?
- A dog is used to a kill, a dog to a stick, a soldier to a sword!
The lad fought with the dragon until he had cut off its twenty-three heads. When he had cut off the twenty-three heads, the dragon said:
- Cool little Nicholas, leave me my twenty-fourth head, I'll give you the day.
When Little King Nicholas asked him where the sun was, the dragon replied:
- It's under the saddle blanket!
This dragon had a three-legged horse, but the three-legged one could walk faster than others with four legs. Little King Nicholas did not take out the sun, but put the stars and the moon under the saddle harness of the three-legged horse. The dragon cut off the twenty-fourth head, mounted the three-legged horse, and went to his brother.
- Well, brother, now we have the sun, the moon and the stars, let's go! - he said.
As they came out of the forest, a little man called down from a tree-top:
- Cool little Nicholas, you think you own the sun and the moon and the star?
- Whose is it?
- Mine!
So, King Little Miklós takes hold of himself, climbs up the tree and beats the little man. And when he was halfway there, he jumped on the three-legged horse and went off with it.
Little King Nicholas sent his brother home to tell the King how he had been, and he went on his way alone.
Goes the poor boy through seven and seven countries. Once he found a man. He cried. He asks him:
- Why are you crying, man?
- "How can I not cry," says the man, "when I open my eyes, see the world through, and see no more!
- Come with me, you'll be able to watch!
The two of them go on. They find another man again, he is crying.
- Why are you crying, man?
- 'How can I not cry,' says the man, 'when I take one step, I step through the world, and there is nowhere else to go!
- Come with me, you'll be able to make the move!
Now, as they go, the three of them are walking, they find another man, and he's crying.
- Why are you crying?
- "How can I weep," says the man, "when I have seven fir trees beside me, seven big sleeves and seven furs, and yet I'll freeze!
- Come with us, you'll be able to warm up!
They go on, they go on. At last they came to the house where the little drop of a man lived. They went inside. The old woman, his wife, already knew that they were looking for her husband. She gave them lodging, but she had a room heated like a cathane, so that they would all burn in it. But the man with the cold loved him, he had no heat, but the others, they wanted to be roasted. Says little King Nicholas:
- Listen, you frozen man, don't let us burn, do something with us.
Well, he just sighed, and suddenly the room was so lukewarm that they didn't fry.
In the morning, when the old woman had let them out, King Nicholas says to Little Nicholas the Messmaker:
- Look around you, can't you see this man with a beard as big as a beard and a drop of a man with a beard a metre long?
- 'Of course he is,' says Messinese, 'he's sitting on top of a willow tree in the middle of the sea.
- "Go on, go and get it," says Little King Nicholas to Messilépő.
Messzilépő stepped up at once, wrapped the beard of the drop-man in his hand, and brought it to little King Nicholas. He took from him the sun, the moon and the stars, and immediately let the stars shine in the sky.
He thanked the three men for their help and started walking home. Halfway there, he let the moon rise, and when he thought he was not so far away, he let the sun rise, so that he would arrive home in the daylight.
When he came home, the king gave him half his kingdom, gave him his daughter, and they had a great feast, and are still alive, if they are not dead.
(Ágnes Kovács: Folk tales for kindergarten children)
