The kidnapped princess

Once upon a time, in a land far beyond seven and seven countries, there was a king and his beautiful and fair daughter. The kings and princes gave each other the door-handle, and it was the queen's turn to choose a husband, but when the kings and princes began to gather, suddenly there was a great tumult, and two dragons entered the court, seized the queen, and carried her off to the great Dragon Country.

Hey, my goodness! There was great sadness and grief in the palace. The king proclaimed at once to all the world that he would give his daughter and half his kingdom to him who would bring her back from the great Dragon Land.

For many men of all ranks tried their luck, but none could bring back the princess.

There was in the king's city a poor man and his two sons. One was called Janci, the other Pista.

Says Hansel:

- Father, I'll go and try my luck and see if I can bring back the princess.

Said the poor man:

- All right, my son, go with God's message.

The lad is gutted, he sets off against the seventh world. He went through mountains and valleys, and once he came to a vast forest. He sits down under a tree, takes out his lunch, starts to eat, and just as he's about to eat, he's surrounded by a great swarm of ants.

The oldest ant is ringing:

- You lad, feed us! We haven't eaten anything for three days.

But the lad, even the crumbs that fell on the ground, picked them up, and even stamped on the ants, and went on his way.

He walked, he walked, through the forest, and came to a large lake. In that pond were twelve ducks, and as soon as they saw the lad, they all swam to the edge of the pond, stretching their necks and gape-ing their mouths: they asked the lad for food, but the lad gave them none. He even picked up a large piece of wood from the ground and threw it angrily at the ducks.

He goes on, and not even a chase away, he comes to a big black castle. He thinks to himself, maybe the princess is here. He goes to the castle gate and gives it a good shake. At that moment a window opens, an old woman looks out and asks the lad:

- What do you want? Why did you come here?

- I am looking for the princess who was kidnapped by the dragons! Is she here?

- "Here," said the old woman, "just wait a little.

Suddenly he turned back, brought a sack of porridge, poured it out of the window, threw the sack after him, and shouted to the lad:

- Put this porridge in the bag first!

The lad begins to pick the porridge, but as soon as he pours it into the bag, it spills out in the form of an ant. In vain he struggled, in vain he struggled, the porridge he picked up and poured into the sack, all turned into an ant and crawled out of the sack.

All day and all night the lad did nothing but pick the porridge. Then the old woman came out, brought twelve keys, threw them into a pond, and said to the lad:

- Find these twelve keys if you want to free the princess!

The lad searched all day for the twelve keys, but found none. On the third morning, he goes to the castle gate and starts banging on it angrily.

The old woman looks out of the window and asks:

- What do you want?

- Let me in! I want to free the princess!

- "I can let you in, but you won't thank me for it," said the old woman. "You couldn't pick up a sack of porridge; you couldn't find the keys, how could you handle two dragons?

But the lad kept banging on the gate until the old woman let him in. He goes into the courtyard, and the old woman says to him:

- See, there sit the two dragons and the princess, covered with a white sheet. Go there, and if you can guess which one is the princess, you can take her.

The lad goes up and says:

- The one in the middle is the princess!

At that moment the two dragons gave a great thump with their feet, so great that the ground opened up into them, and the lad disappeared as if he had never been there.

At home they waited and waited for the lad, but they waited in vain. A round year passed, and he never came back. The poor man says to his younger son, Pista:

- Go, my son, be off, and bring back the princess or not, but bring back your brother.

They pick up Pista, he starts walking, walking, walking, walking, just the way his brother was walking. He got into the woods, sat down under a tree and started to eat.

So the ants surrounded him, asking him to give them something in the name of God.

- Of course I do, animals of God! I know you hunger much, you suffer much, have a good day for once.

He threw a good handful of breadcrumbs to the ants, and when they had eaten that, he threw another handful, and went on his way. He came to the lake, and the twelve ducks swam out to the edge of the lake. They stretched their necks, they gaped, they asked for food in the name of God. Whatever bread he had he gave to the ducks.

He goes on, arrives at the castle, knocks quietly on the gate. The old woman leans out of the window.

- What do you want?

- I am looking for my brother and the princess who was kidnapped by the dragons.

- You can look for your brother, because the earth has swallowed him up, but you'll find the princess here, just wait a little.

And he poured out a bag of porridge, and said to the lad:

- If you want to free the princess, put all this porridge in the bag.

The lad begins to pick the porridge, and suddenly a sea of ants covers the ground. They gather the porridge, carry it to the sack, and in a moment the sack is full, not a grain of porridge is left on the ground.

The old woman looks out of the window and folds her hands.

- Well, my boy! I've never seen anything so wonderful in my life.

Then he threw the twelve keys into the lake, and said:

- If you can even fish these out of the lake, feel free to come.

After all, he had quickly collected the keys and didn't even have to go into the lake.

The twelve ducks fished out the keys in the blink of an eye and took them to the lad. The lad went to the gate, knocked, and the old woman called out:

- Did you find the keys, son?

- I found it, old mother! Here are all twelve!

- Well, you can come in now.

The lad went into the courtyard, where the two dragons and the princess were sitting in the middle of the courtyard, covered with a white sheet. Says the old woman:

- Can you guess which of the three is the queen?

Says the lad:

- If I'm looking at it right, he's sitting on the right. Isn't that right, old mother?

- You're right, my dear boy, here's a sword, run both dragons through until they see you.

After all, the lad never told himself that twice. He took the sword, and stabbed both dragons through so that they both bit the grass at once.

He's taking the Princess home, but it's been a pleasure. The king did not see who was his son-in-law, but gave him his daughter and half his kingdom. But the princess went to him with a good heart, for he was a handsome man. Seven days and seven nights the marriage lasted, and then the bachelor said:

- Wife, I have nothing left until I find my brother.

He thinks to himself, he's going back to the great Dragon Land, to see if the old woman can point him in the right direction. But he didn't go on foot this time. He mounted his best and finest horse, and flew like a thought: he started in the morning, and by evening he was in the black castle. He went to the old woman, and was glad to see her.

- You're looking for your brother, aren't you?

- That's what I'm looking for, old mother. Until I find it, I have no rest. Could you please show me the way?

- I can tell you, my son, where your brother is, but I don't think you can free him. There is a giant in the forest, as tall as a tower, as wide as a house, with a mouth as big as a furnace. In the belly of this giant is your brother. If you want to free him, you must get down into the belly of the giant, and then it is your business to get out.

The lad thinks, and the old woman thinks, how this could be done. Once the old woman says:

- Do you hear, make yourself a clean steel skull; fill it from head to foot with needles; then when the giant comes to the lake to drink, and bends down, jump into his mouth, cut out his belly with your sword, and come out of it nicely.

The lad thanks the good advice, rushes into town, makes himself a steel skull; he locks it up tight with a needle, takes it back to the lake, sees the giant just as he bends down to drink: into his mouth, into his belly, and there's his brother.

- Oh God, brother! What are you doing here?

- Here I am, a day goes by every day. How did you get here?

- I'm like, just follow me.

With that, he cut out the giant's belly, they walked out, mounted their steeds, rode home, took their father, their mother, all their tribes with them, and are still alive, if not dead.

(Elek Benedek: Hungarian tale- and mythology Volume 3)