Once upon a time, across seven and seven lands, even beyond the glass mountain, where the little pig with the short tail is a prowler, there was a king, and his son John.
The king once says to his son, who was a young boy:
- Go, my son, see the world and the country, and let your feet be shod. Then you'll be a good man.
Not twice did Prince John say this, and he threw a sling around his neck and a staff in his hand, bade farewell to his father and mother, and went against the seventeen countries. As he went, he met on the road a tall, thin man.
He is greeted by the prince, welcomed by the tall man. And then he looked, and looked at the tall man, and his eyes were wide open with great amazement, for he had never seen such a tall man. He asked:
- Who are you, what are you, what is your profession?
The tall, thin man replied:
- My name is Lightning Fast. I run as fast as lightning, and faster than lightning.
- "Well, I'd like to see that," says the prince.
Before you can even say it, a deer jumps out of the bushes. He leaps, follows Lightning Fast, leaps one, leaps two, and catches up with the deer. Says the prince:
- Now I do believe that you can run as fast as lightning. Come with me, and we'll be breadfellows, and thou shalt not regret it.
They shake hands, pledge friendship, the two of them move on.
As they walk, they see a man with a huge broad shoulder lying under a big mountain and lifting it. They come, and the prince greets him, and asks the broad-shouldered man:
- Who are you, and what are you, brother?
The broad-shouldered man replies:
- I am a Mountaineer. No mountain is too big for me not to carry on my shoulders.
He picked up the mountain and carried it on his shoulders as if it were a sack of wheat.
- "Well, my brother," says the prince, "won't you come up and be our bread-buddy?
- "With a good heart," said the Mountaineer.
The three of them shake hands and walk on. They walked, they walked, they walked, and they came to a forest full of woods. And there a great many broad-chested men blow on the trees, and a terrible wind comes up, and the trees fall to the ground with a terrible crash.
The bread-winners stop, their eyes wide open in amazement, they have never seen anything like it in their lives. The prince asks:
- Who are you, and what are you? What is your profession?
Says the broad chested man:
- I am the Blower, and at the blow of my whistle the biggest house will collapse, and I will break the biggest trees into a pozzor.
- 'Well,' says the prince, 'you're just the man for us, come and be our breadwinner.
They shake hands, make a great friendship and go on their way. Now there were four of them. They walked, they walked, and on the way they met a man with an arrow.
The prince greets him and asks:
- Who are you, what are you, what is your profession?
Says the man with the arrow:
- I'm the Prospector, I can shoot a pea out of anyone's palm without harming their palm.
- Let's try it! - says the prince.
The man with the arrow had a grain of peas, and the prince held it out in the palm of his hand, and the man with the arrow shot it so that the arrow did not even touch the prince's palm.
Now, the prince shakes hands with the Goodfinder, and the five of them go on their way. As they walk, they meet a small, stocky man. The prince greets him and asks:
- Where to, Earth? Who and what are you, what is your trade?
The small, stocky man replied:
- My name is Peter, and when I put my head down, I know everything people think and do, no matter how far away I am from them.
The prince was pleased with Peter, they became very friendly, and Peter went with them. Now there were six of them, all of them comrades in bread. And they went on their way against seven and seven countries, and they went on their way until they came to Fairyland.
The king of Fairyland had a beautiful, fair daughter, who was the fairest thing the world had ever seen, and who could run as swift as the wind. Her name was none other than the Princess Séphane.
Once the king will proclaim in his kingdom, even beyond giving his daughter to the man who leaves her in the race; but let any man try his luck, and if he cannot leave his daughter, his head will be on a stake.
For kings, princes, counts, barons and assorted gypsy legends have tried their luck, but some have also had their heads on stakes.
When the breadwinners hear this, they all go up to the king, and there they send Lightning-fast to try their luck.
- "Very well," says the king, "try as you may, ninety-nine men have their heads on a spike, and you shall have the hundredth.
A sea of people gathered in the king's court, to see which could run better, Sélike or the tall, long-legged man?
Szélike runs away, then Lightning-fast, jumps once, escapes twice, and leaves Szélike so that he began to cry bitterly in his great shame.
The king says to Lightning Fast:
- You ran faster, it's true, but there must be something wrong with my daughter. Let's try again.
They run a second time, but again Lightning Fast has left Széliké without Széliké even catching up. Oh, the princess was very ashamed, and ran crying to the palace!
- "Well, my son," says the King to Lightning-fast, "I see that you have run better than my daughter this time, but three is the truth, run a third time.
Meanwhile, Princess Szélike had a thought, and sent Lightning Fast a beautiful diamond ring as a present. Lightning-fast was glad of the gift, for he did not know what kind of ring it was. It was the kind of ring that if you put it on your finger when you wanted to walk, your feet would be rooted to the ground. Well, if Lightning-fast did not know it, Peter did, for he pressed his head to the ground, and found out what the Shetian's mind was thinking. He bade the Finder, when Lightning-fast came out to run, to shoot the head of the ring, for therein was the charm.
Here comes the third day. Sélike and Lightning Fast stand next to each other. Szélike is running, Lightning Fast wants to run, but he can't. He stands still, as if he's been pegged.
In the twinkling of an eye, Wellfinder takes aim at the ring's head, fires, and off he goes Lightning fast, running like lightning, and leaving the princess for the third time.
The princess wept, and then poison and revenge rose up. That that long, thin man should make her so ugly! Now she must marry him, whether she likes it or not. And yet I saw, as I saw today, that the princess had her eye on King John. Surely she would not have minded if he had left her in the run.
But he went mad when the bread-bearers went up to the king, and said that Lightning-fast did not want the princess, but that he should give him as much gold and silver as the Mountain-Bearer could carry.
- 'I will give with a good heart,' said the king, 'not so much, but more than a man can bear.
He filled six chariots with gold and silver.
- Here, take it if you can!
The Highlander picks up the six chariots of gold and silver, but he had as much as six bags of gold. The king sent for six more chariots of gold and silver: the Highlander could not afford them.
Well, that was all the gold and silver the king had. Then they gathered up all that was precious in the palace. Gold bowls, plates, knives, forks, spoons, and everything. "When they were all taken up," said the Mountaineer:
- Now, that's enough!
The bread-bearers went away, but as soon as they had gone, the king was very sorry that he had given these people so much treasure. He thought, reasoned, racked his brains as to how he could somehow get it back. He thought of one thing, he would send a regiment of soldiers after them, let him go with them as if they had kidnapped him, and then he would send a regiment of soldiers after them, and bring back Széliké and the treasure of the sea.
After all, Széliké didn't need anything else! He was happy to run after them. He caught up with them in the twinkling of an eye, and was soon at Prince John's side, and never left him.
They go, they go, Peter bows his head to the ground, and says to his friends:
- Well, now we're about to get ugly. The king has sent a regiment of soldiers after us, we will be destroyed, and Sélike and the treasure will be taken back.
- "I do," says Blowing, "so come along! Leave the rest to me.
The regiment came. When he was a rifle shot away, Blower turned back, blowing himself, a terrifying whirlwind arose, and blew the soldiers away, cavalry and all, perhaps even beyond the end of the world.
Now you can go in peace. They made it home safely to Prince John's court. There the five of them divided the treasures among themselves, leaving Princess Sélike for Prince John.
They were about to have a big feast, cooked in the oven, served on a turtle. There were only nine kinds of juice. I was there for lunch. I ate and drank, had a good time, and then I went to sleep.
This is the end, run away from it!
(Ágnes Kovács: Folk tales for kindergarten children)
