Once upon a time, across seven hundred and seventeen countries, even beyond the mountains of glass, there was a young king and his beautiful wife.
Not even a year into their marriage, the king of the neighbouring country declared war, and the young king, weeping bitterly, bade his wife farewell and went to war.
Time went by, the war lasted a long time, and in the meantime God blessed the Queen with two golden-haired children. One was a boy, the other a girl. But the queen could not even see her precious children, torn from her heart, for the old woman whom the king had left with his wife until he went to war, stole them out of the palace at night, as soon as the children were born, put them in a basket, took them into the forest, and there she put them under a tree.
In the morning the old woman returned, and the queen said to her:
- Oh, listen, old parent, what a wonderful dream I had last night! I dreamed that God had blessed me with two golden-haired children.
The old woman said:
- A most wonderful dream indeed, Your Majesty, for your dream has come true, but backwards. God did not bless her, but smote her, for I found two monstrous creatures in her bed, and that she might not be disgusted with them when she awoke, I took her into the woods and destroyed her there.
The poor queen wept that God had beaten her so, but she thanked the old woman for her kindness. If it was as it was, and God had indeed smitten her with monstrous creatures, it was better that she should not see them, and better still that the king should not see them - that he should not know of them.
Oh, if he had known that the old woman was a witch, and had wanted the king to marry her daughter! But the queen knew nothing of this.
So what happened in the forest during that time? What happened was that where the witch had put the children down, a white stag came and took the basket by the horns and carried the children through the forest. The stag walked and walked, and then he stopped at a well (a kind of well on a hillside from which water is constantly flowing - ed.), and there he roared three times in succession, so that the forest was roaring in him.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a fairy girl snatched the basket from the white stag's horn and disappeared into the thick thicket. This fairy girl was a daughter of the forest. There she lived in the forest, in a palace of diamonds, one by one. Well, she was not alone now.
He was also happy for the children that he could not find a place for his great joy. He nursed them as if they were his own children.
Time passed, the children were seven and a half, and once the daughter of the woods sent the boy with a pitcher to fetch water from the well, but she strongly ordered him not to stay long, to hurry back to the palace, and to guard the pitcher as the light of his eyes.
The boy goes to the trickling fountain, and just as he is about to draw water, he sees a golden plumage of birds flying above him. He immediately stopped dipping in the water, wanted to catch the bird, reached for it with his hands, his hat, even his pitcher, but to no avail, the golden feathered bird just waved at him. It flapped its wings at the boy's face, and just as he was about to catch it, up it flew. And then the bird struck again, and lured the boy, till the boy threw the pitcher after him. Oh, my God, how he cried! What could he do now? If he goes home without a pitcher, his mother will beat him!
Meanwhile the daughter of the woods could not think where the boy could stay so long, and sent for the little girl, but she put a pitcher in his hand, and also made him promise that they would both be home in a moment.
The little girl goes there, and her brother is crying bitterly.
- Why are you crying?
- Oh, how I would weep, my soul, my brother! Do you see that beautiful golden-feathered bird? I was going to catch it, and my pitcher broke.
At that moment, the golden feathered bird swooped down again, and struck the little girl on the cheek.
- How beautiful! "Oh, how beautiful!" cried the little girl, and she ran after the bird. But as she did so, poof! the pitcher fell from her hand and broke. But there was real crying just now, but such that whoever happened to hear it would be heart-broken.
- "Oh, dear God," cried the children, "how are we to go back to our mother?!
As they mourn like this, the bird suddenly sings:
- Don't cry, children! The one who raised you is not your mother. Your mother lives beyond these many forests, and is the queen of this land. Just follow me wherever I fly. I won't take you straight home, for I'll be destroyed in some way by the witch who brought you to the forest, but don't worry, your sweetness will find you.
The bird flew quietly through the forest, and the children followed. Then, as they approached the edge of the forest, the bird suddenly flopped to the ground and said to the children:
- Come here, come here! Pick up this apple and this stick!
The children ran up, and, my lord, what is there: a diamond apple, and beside it a golden rod!
One picks up the apple, one picks up the stick, then the bird flies on, and the children follow everywhere. They come out of the woods, they come to a lot of big wastelands, in the middle of a lot of big wastelands the golden-feathered bird lands and says to the children:
- Well, children, hit this apple with the stick and you'll have a diamond palace that will make the whole world wonder. In the seventy-seventh room of the palace you will find a picture on the wall, and it will be of your father and mother. You will cover that picture with a thick veil, and then your father and mother will come and ask you what is under the veil. You just show it to them, and they will know you, and all will be well.
The golden plumage bird said no more. The children thanked him for his kindness to them, and with that, the golden feathered bird flew back into the vast forest.
As soon as the bird flew away, the children put their diamond straws on the ground, waved their golden sticks at it, and behold, it grew into a diamond palace so big that their eyes were wide open in wonder.
They go up the diamond garages, they walk through the rooms, but what was in those rooms, my God, the human mouth could not describe. Golden horses, diamond marbles, silver tables, on silver tables golden bowls and glasses, and there was food and drink, everything that was good and edible. They could stay here for ever, and never run out of good things to eat. A week went by, perhaps two, until they had gone through every room, and while they were making a good impression, they came to the seventy-seventh room, the last one. There was nothing in it but the picture.
Oh my goodness, they went crazy over this picture! They kissed it a hundred times, a thousand times, and then covered it with a thick veil, and never rested again, waiting day and night for their mother and father.
Meanwhile, the diamond palace was getting a lot of publicity, with people coming from all over. Everyone came but the king.
But the people of the court talked in his ears, saying that he should go and see it, for he had never seen such a beautiful palace in his life - so that he was determined to see it. The witch perceived this, and the evil spirit suspected that the king's children dwelt in that palace, and now began to plot to keep the king back. She took her own hand, and threw some powder into the king's coffee, and the king was so ill that he could not go, though the six-horse carriage was already drawn up before him.
The witch says to the king:
- Oh, let him go, my sovereign King, why should he go there, I will go and see, and tell your Majesty all about it.
- 'Very well,' says the king, 'go and see.
The old witch rides in her six-horse carriage, drives through the palace gates, and the children go before her, and receive her with great respect. They walk about the garden, show the old witch everything; then they lead her up to the palace, through the rooms, except that she is not shown into the seventy-seventh.
"Devils," murmured the old witch to herself, "I know what you are hiding in there, but wait!" Then they went out of the palace, and when they came down to the garden, the old witch said:
- The palace is beautiful, the garden is beautiful, but it would only be really beautiful if you brought the the world's singing tree.
The witch said no more, and drove away like a storm, and the children were left alone, but from that moment the boy had no peace.
He said to his sister:
- I have one life, one death, I will not rest until I find the world's resounding tree.
His sister told him not to go, that there were enough trees in their garden, more beautiful than any other, but the boy had no choice: he set out against seventeen countries.
So the prince went, and went through the hills and valleys, and for seven days and seven nights he did not stop, and then he came to a black castle. Outside the gates of this castle stood a great black devil. He cried out to the prince:
- Hey, stop! Who are you?! What do you want?!
Says the prince:
- I'm looking for the world's resounding tree, could you give me some directions?
Said the devil:
- I have seen and heard many things, but I have not heard the sound of the world's resounding tree. But seven miles from here there is another such black castle, before which one of my brothers stands his ostrich, go there and see if he will show you the way.
The prince goes on, he comes to the black castle, and there is a great black devil standing at its gate, and he cries out to it:
- Hey, stop! What do you want?!
Tell the prince what you want.
- I haven't heard from you, son. Maybe my brother knows. Go, and you'll find him seven miles from here, standing in a castle like mine. He knows all, ask him in a kind word, and he may show you the way.
The prince goes to the third castle, but the devil has threatened him from afar.
- Do not come here if your life is dear!
- 'But if I have come this far,' said the prince, 'one life, one death, I will not turn back.
He went boldly to the devil, greeted him properly.
The devil is on the loose:
- Did I say don't come here?! What do you want?
The prince said gently:
- I'm sorry, kend, I'm looking for the world's tree, if you know where it is, point me in the right direction, if you don't, God bless you, I'll keep on going.
The devil liked this brave speech, and said to the prince:
- Stop, my son, stop! You're trading in the right place: here's the world's most resounding tree in this castle. Just take it, if you can be a man, I'm tired of its ringing anyway. Here, here's a golden rod, strike the seventh gate of the castle with it, and the gate will open, you run in, look neither to right nor left; Prettier and prettier women and maidens beckon and lure thee to stay there, but thou shalt neither look nor listen to them, but run to the middle of the garden, there is the world's most resounding tree, its branches, leaves, and all, golden, And sings such sweet melodies that your heart will break, But don't stop, but go round three times and run out as fast as you can, For if the gate slams in your face, you'll be there for life.
The prince took the devil's word for everything. He went into the castle, and the fair women and maidens ran before him, calling to him, enticing him with sweet words, but he did not stop, nor look away, he ran straight to the world's resounding tree, went round three times and back, and then, ooo to him, let him go! out of the castle as if he had been taken out of his eyes. He came out just in time, for the gate was about to slam with a terrific crash - and there was the heel of his boot.
The prince went on his way, and when he came home, there in the middle of the garden was the tree of the world. It rang and rang and rang, and its sound was heard far and wide, and people came from all over to see and hear the great wonder.
The king heard the news of the tree.
- 'Well,' he said, 'I'm going now indeed.
But the wicked witch had put some powder in his coffee again, and the king had to stay at home again. Then the witch came to him and said:
- I don't know why your majesty is after that tree. I will look at every branch and bough and leaf, and tell your Majesty everything I have seen, from root to tip.
Well, the king stayed at home, the witch went away. The children welcome and show with great joy the world's resounding tree. And then the witch, puffed with vexation, But she put on a good face, and said to the prince:
- Well, it's a beautiful tree, but it would be beautiful if it were the only tree on which the the beautiful solo bird of the world.
As soon as the old witch left, so did the prince. He went straight down the road he had first taken. He went to the first black castle; from there the devil directed him to the second; the second to the third.
- What are you doing here again? - asked the devil.
Said the prince:
- I'm looking for the beautiful bird of the world, have you heard the news?
- I not only heard his news, I hear his voice every day. I'm sick of it, take it if you can. You'll find him in the eighth room of the castle. In that room there's enough gold caskets to last you a year. In these cages are birds of gold and feathers more beautiful than ever; but look not on them, for the beautiful bird of the world is in a rusty cage, and if you leave it there, I tell you, you will not get out of the castle alive.
The prince vows that he won't mind one way or the other; though the other birds may be away from him, he won't look at them. But when he went into the eighth room, all the birds sang, except the one in the rusty cage.
The prince thinks, "This can't be the most beautiful bird in the world."
Suddenly he grabbed a cage at random and ran out into the yard, but he stopped there as if he had been pegged. As soon as he reached the yard, he suddenly turned into a stone whale.
The princess waits for her brother, but in vain. She closes the diamond palace and goes after her brother. She went straight along the road she had seen her brother take, and went and went till she came to the first black castle. There stood the devil now, and called to the maiden:
- Where do you go where no bird goes?
- Oh, don't ask, devil uncle! I am looking for my brother, who has gone to fetch the beautiful bird of the world, and is lost somewhere, poor thing.
Said the devil:
- I saw him when he left here, I talked to him, but I didn't see him come back. Go to my brother, his castle is seven miles from here, and he may know more than I.
So the poor girl went, and came to the second castle, but the devil could say no more. She went to the third, and it told her the truth.
- You've come to the right place, sister! Your brother is here, just enter the castle, you'll find him in the form of a stone idol. If he did not take my word, he took it so. If thou wilt hearken to me, thou shalt have the world's fair bird, and thy brother shall be free. Run into the eighth room, hang down the rusty cage, run out with it, go round the stone idol three times backwards, and then don't look back, run as fast as you can, don't stop till you get home.
The princess enters, sees her brother in the form of a stone idol, and her heart is broken, but she does not stop. She ran to the eighth room, and there she looked neither to the right nor to the left. From him the golden cages gleamed, the golden birds sang, but he looked only at the rusty cage, and as soon as he saw it he snatched it off the peg, ran out, and there he went round the stone idol three times, and then, without looking back, he ran out of the castle gate. Even so, the gate fell down just as he stepped out, and a piece of the edge of his skirt was torn off. There he bade farewell to the devil, and to the other, and to the third, and behold, behold, his brother was at home when he returned. All at once they let loose the beautiful bird of the world on the world's singing tree, but such a thing as the world had never heard, when the tree sang and the bird sang at the same time.
The sound of a tree, the song of a bird, has faded to the ends of the earth. But people came from all over the world, so many that they could not fit in the courtyard, the garden, the palace.
When the king heard the song of the beautiful bird of the world, he called out to the coachman to get into the six-horse carriage and see the wonder. But that wicked old soul corrupted the king a third time. A great, heavy sickness had knocked him off his feet, and seven times in succession he had the chills.
- 'See, see, my lord king,' said the old witch, 'why did you want to go there, it must have made you ill. I will go and see that bird too.
The witch goes to see the bird, and says to the prince:
- Well, I really didn't think you could bring the world's most beautiful solo bird. If only you could bring the world's silver pond, then you'd have a beautiful garden!
The prince thought to himself, "Let him go, I will take that too. There is also the lake where the world's tree was, I have seen it well."
For the third time the prince goes, straight to the black castle where the silver lake of the world was. But how the fairy women and maidens had encouraged him, how they had lured him, how they had not: now they held him, caressed him, murmured him, told him in sweet words:
- Stay here! You'll never have to do this in heaven!
Once in a while the prince staggered, but then he sped on even faster, and in a moment he was round the lake on his way back, and out of the castle he suddenly came, and did not stop till he reached home, and when he got home the lake was already there, beside the world's shimmering tree, with the beautiful goldfish swimming and playing in it.
And the world's silver pond was heard of, but now the king neither ate nor drank, only to see the wonders.
In vain the witch contrived to get me into her swing, took his wife with her, and they went straight to the diamond palace.
The children went to meet them, and as soon as the king saw them, he said to his wife:
- Look, wife, how like you this girl is!
- "Yes," said the Queen. - 'And this boy is just like you.
But they said nothing to the children, and went with them, and looked at the silver lake of the world, the singing tree, the beautiful singing bird, and then they went up to the palace, and walked through the rooms, and into the seventy-seventh.
- What is under that veil?" asked the king.
The children took off the veil, and behold, the king and queen saw their own image.
But they were just now really staring. They were about to tell the children everything they knew. Oh, what a joy, dear God, what a joy!
At once they took the children, put them in a carriage and went home to the king's palace.
- Out of the house, old witch!" cried the king.
There he had him tied to the horse's tail, dragged through the city, and his body cut into four pieces and nailed to the four gates of the castle.
And the world's singing tree and the world's beautiful bird sang, but so beautifully, so eloquently, that all who heard it wept. For seven standing weeks there stood the guest in the king's house. The singing tree sang on and on, The beautiful bird sang on and on, The whole world was gathered, There was great dancing, joy, and merriment.
Tomorrow, let them all be your guests!
(Elek Benedek: Hungarian tale- and mythology Volume 3)
