Once upon a time, beyond the seven and seven countries, even beyond the mountains of glass, there was a king, and his three sons and his three daughters.
The boys were free to roam the woods and meadows, everywhere, but the girls were never allowed to leave the palace, not even for a moment.
The boys wondered a lot why the girls had to live in bondage, but they dared not ask their father, because he was an angry, quick-tempered man.
One day, however, the poor girls were tired of their slavery, and they decided to go to their father one by one and ask him why he did not at least let the girls go into the garden.
The eldest prince goes in and asks his father, but at that moment the king swings his mace at him in a great rage. The prince will die of fright if he doesn't get his head out of the way.
The prince runs out and tells his brothers what has happened. But the middle prince also went in, lest his brothers should call him a coward. He was just like his brother.
- "But I don't care if he kills me," said the youngest prince, "I'm going in too.
He went in, greeted me properly, asked how his dear health was, and then asked me very bravely:
- Sire, what is the reason why you let your sons go free, we can go where we please, and you keep your daughters in sad bondage.
The king picks up his mace and throws it to his son, but he stands there like a stake, not moving. The mace struck him well in the side, but he did not wail, but picked it up, took it back to his father, and said with a brave word:
- Here I am, father, you can kill me, but I ask you a second time why you are holding my sisters captive.
Said the king:
- I see you have a brave heart, so I'll tell you. I will not let my daughters go, because many years before this an old grey man foretold me that the moment they left the palace someone would take them, even if all my soldiers were with them, and I would never see them again.
- 'But I don't believe that old grey man,' said the prince; 'I should like to see the man who will take our sisters when we three are with them as brothers.
He talked and begged his father to let the poor girls out for half an hour, just for the three of them to look after them, not to go out of the garden, just for a walk, and then to come back, as the king had said:
- Well, all right, I don't mind, but I'll tell you in advance that if the girls don't come back, you'll be playing with your head.
The prince was happy, but so were his brothers. They ran with great joy to the maidens' room and took them out into the garden. The eldest prince went first with the eldest princess, one after the other. But, my lord, hear me, what is the matter? They could not have gone even a little farther, for the eldest princess was caught up by the sun, the middle by the moon, and the youngest by the wind.
The royal boys were terrified. They did not know what to do, how to save their sisters.
After all, the grey old man was right, for if the king had put all his soldiers with the maidens, they could not have defended him against the sun, the moon and the wind.
There was a great uproar, weeping and wailing in the palace. The people of the court, the soldiers, ran this way and that. For they could run, for there was no news of the royal ladies.
The king became terribly angry. He seized his youngest son, threw him into a dungeon, and summoned his advisers to judge what the prince deserved.
The advisory lords met, debated, reasoned.
One said: hang him; another said: tie him to a horse's tail; a third said: throw him into the sea. But the oldest counselor said:
- I advise you not to destroy the king; it is enough to drive him out of the country, let him go where his eyes can see, let him wander the world, and see if he can find the princesses.
They all agreed with this verdict. The king also approved, for it would have grieved his father's heart to kill his son. He brought him up out of the dungeon, and gave him his sentence: up and away, and down and away.
The poor queen cried and cried, and begged her lord not to send her son away, but the king would not let her. But when the king's son went out of the city, the queen secretly sent a footman after him, and sent him a purse of money and a gold watch.
Well, the prince takes the watch, puts the bag around his neck and sets off into the world. He looked into the hole, but it was so long that he could not see the end of it. He thought to himself, live or die, it doesn't matter to him, he can go as far as he can in that big black hole. If he could find somewhere open, that was all right, if he couldn't, that was all right.
He walked, he walked, he must have walked for seven days, and suddenly what does he see! There was a big house in the belly of the mountain. He looked in through a window, and inside the house twelve candles were burning on the table, and there was an old woman sitting at the table with her nose to the ground. The old woman was praying from a book.
The prince enters, greets him properly, the old woman greets him and says:
- Oh, you unhappy one, how did you get here! Do you know that your life is over here?!
Said the prince:
- I don't mind, old mother, even if it ends.
- 'For you know,' said the old woman, 'that I have twelve sons, and all twelve live on human flesh. They are there now, hunting for men, woe to thee if they find me here.
The prince said again:
- I don't mind, old mother, my life is not nice anyway.
The old woman took pity on the king, and hid him under the bed, in case her sons should not see him, but it was in vain, for as soon as they entered, the eldest spoke:
- Who is here, mother?! I smell something human.
Says the old woman:
- There is a poor prince here, my soul, my children, but do not hurt him. He's so sick of all his sorrow, that you wouldn't eat a bite of him.
- "All right, we won't hurt you," said the lads, "so come and dine with us.
The prince awoke from under the bed, had dinner with the giants; they talked a little, and then all went to bed. But he hadn't even cried yet, the old woman had hung him up.
- On your feet, my prince, for my sons are terribly hungry in the morning, and then I shall beg them in vain, and they will surely devour me!
When the prince comes up, the woman leads him out of the rock house, where she gives him a steed and a wind lantern (a lantern used for night traffic, whose flame was protected from being blown away by the wind - ed.). He tells him:
- Get on this horse, it will fly you across the lichen to the other side of the mountain. There, hang the wind lantern around the neck of the steed and let it down. Thou shalt go thence to the right, and never to the left.
The prince thanked the old woman for her kindness, cut off to the other side of the hill, and there he put the horse back on, and she went off to the right, and went as far as she could see.
He went, he went, through mountains and valleys, through forests and deserts, but once he was so overcome by hunger and thirst that he collapsed and lay on the ground. He looked everywhere with great bitterness to see if he could see a drop of water anywhere, but he saw none. He took out the gold watch his mother had sent him, and he opened the lid, and, my lord, what had happened? A footman sprang out of the clock, and asked with great humility:
- What is it, sire?
- 'I command nothing,' said the prince, 'but if you have a soul and a god, give me a drop of water, for I am parched with thirst, and a morsel of bread.
At that moment a golden table was set before the prince, full of all kinds of expensive food and drink, and even water. The prince ate and drank, regained his strength, and set out on his journey with great joy. He walked and walked until he came to a town. In that city lived the black king. He thought to himself: he would go to the king, seek service there, and from there he would go on his way. She went up to the palace, was brought before the king, told him she was looking for service, and the king took her on as a gardener. He said to him:
- I like your face, my brother, just wear it well, you might even become an inner butler.
The black king had three daughters, each more beautiful than the last. These daughters came down to the garden one day, but the poor gardener was unnoticed.
- "Oh, my God," sighed the prince, "I had three such beautiful brothers! If I could find them!
He particularly liked the youngest princess.
One evening, as he was sitting in his little room, he took out his watch, flicked up his slab, and suddenly the footman jumped out.
- What is it, sire?
- I order you to make me a nice gold bush, if you can.
In a minute or two, the golden bokret was ready, and on its base the butler wrote in fine, gaudy letters, "The price of this bokret is a country."
When he wrote this, the butler said:
- Now, sire, send this bush to the eldest princess.
The prince sends the bush, but the princess didn't know where to go in her great joy. What she didn't understand was what the gardener wanted with that letter. But anyway, she didn't think about it for long, she suddenly hid the bush crown so that her brothers wouldn't see it, and then she would pin it on her bosom as soon as there was a ball.
But the butler made two more golden bushels, and wrote on them. On the second he wrote: "The price of this bushel is two countries." And on the third he wrote, "The price of this bushel is three countries." These two bokretes the prince sent separately to the middle and the youngest princesses.
The princesses wouldn't have told each other about the bokré, all three of them thought that only he had bokré. But they were amazed when they entered the ball and saw the golden bocce on each other's bosoms. But they were all amazed. For there were many there, kings, princes, earls, barons, but no one had ever seen such a beautiful and shining bok chaste in all his life.
The next day the king made it known to all who were in his palace that he wished to give all three of his daughters in marriage, and that since all the worthy kings and princes were here, he would give them to whomever they chose.
The two older princesses chose two princes at first sight, but the youngest princess said to her father:
- Father, I will not choose between these.
- "If you will not choose from among these," said the king, "I will call together the men of public policy, choose from among them.
The men of public order were summoned, but the Queen did not see among them the man her heart desired. The only one missing was the gardener's wife, who was also summoned. Said the princess, with a word of enthusiasm:
- I choose this one, Father!
- Very well, my daughter, if you choose this one, it shall be yours.
At one time, they dressed the gardener in royal dress and held the wedding, all three at once. For six weeks the great dynomdanom, the wedding, lasted. Then the two eldest daughters were taken away, and only the youngest stayed at home.
But the king had a minister with a treacherous spirit, and he was not pleased that the little princess had given her hand in marriage not to him, but to that gardener from nowhere. She was always trying to get the King angry with her youngest son-in-law. Once she went up to the king, made a sad face, and said to him:
- My lord my king, he has given his youngest daughter to a vile man; I heard him yesterday also scolding his wife in the garden. Your majesty's daughter burst into tears, and said in great sorrow, "I cannot believe that you have not won my heart by some wickedness." Then said your majesty's son-in-law, 'You are right in that, but I know of other wickedness than that. Do you see that great rock by the residence (the king's house - ed.)? I will remove it one year, plough it up, sow it with wheat, and the wheat will ripen that very year, and I will reap it, thresh it, and grind it, and in the morning I will bake bread such as your father never ate."
The king is angry at this, and summons his son-in-law at once, and tells him with great anger what he has heard. In vain did the prince say that not a word of it was true, but the king said:
- I want that bread on my table in the morning, otherwise you're playing with your head!
The prince goes out in great sorrow, but he remembers his watch; he takes it out to see if that fiendish footman can do the same. He tells the servant what his father-in-law wants him to do, but the servant laughs out loud.
- Is that something? Go to bed and sleep, and in the morning there will be bread on the king's table.
And indeed, in the morning there was no sign of all those big rocks. What the devilish footman did or did not do, God knows, but it is enough that in the morning there was on the king's table a crusty, red-baked loaf of bread, the wheat of which had grown where the rock had been. But it was such bread that when the king took a bite, he said:
- Well, I've never eaten anything this good.
The minister was furious and furious; he shivered seven times, but he could not rest, and as soon as he was on his feet he went to the king again, and told another terrible lie:
- 'My sovereign king,' said the minister, 'I commit my life and death into your hands, and I tell you a second time that your son-in-law is in league with devils. I have just now heard that he had a quarrel with his wife. Again your majesty's daughter said, "Surely you have won my heart by some devilry." And your majesty's son-in-law retorted, 'By that, no, by nothing else; I know of other wickedness than that. See, in the morning I will put back in its place the rock which I removed the other night. On the top of it I will build a palace of straw such as no other of your kindred has ever had, and from that palace I will draw a golden bridge to your father's palace."
- 'You devilish bastard,' cried the king, 'send him to the battery!
They sent the king's man to the front, and the king fell on him:
- What did you say again, you fiendish bastard?!
- "I have nothing in the world," said the prince.
- But you said this and you said that. Tomorrow morning the rock will be in place! Let that palace be on a straw on the top, and let there be a golden bridge between the two palaces.
The prince goes out, but now he does not grieve so much. He thought to himself, that devilish servant will do it. He takes out his watch, the footman jumps out, tells him what the king wants.
- "That's the wit of that treacherous minister," said the butler, "but never mind, I'll do that too, but I'll cold-cock that treacherous soul seventy-seven times.
And with that the footman went away; the prince went to bed and slept, and in the morning, when he looked out of the window, there was the palace, right on top of the cliff, on a straw, and a golden bridge between the two palaces. The king looked out, and fell down in amazement.
That same day, the prince and his wife moved into his palace. But when the minister saw this, he shivered, and shook him seventy-seven times in succession.
But he was just waiting to get back on his feet. He had no rest until he had destroyed the king's son. The cunning soul thought to make his wife angry with him.
He went to the young queen and said:
- I beg your pardon, Your Majesty, but what is true is true, I must say. It is said everywhere of your lord that he is in league with devils, and that is not enough, he is called a straw king, and your majesty a straw queen. If I were your majesty, I would by some means find out whether he is indeed in league with devils, and would not live with him another hour.
Well, what he wanted, the treacherous minister achieved. The prince had just come home. Suddenly the treacherous minister hid behind the furnace, and the woman attacked her husband.
- Do you hear, I can't stand it any longer! Everywhere it is said that you are in league with the devils, and for this palace on a straw they call you a straw queen, and me a straw queen. Tell me, by thy true soul, whether thou dost consort with devils.
- What kind of talk is that? - said the prince. - I have never consorted with devils. Wait, I will show you my devil.
He took out his watch, flipped open the lid, and the butler jumped out.
- What can I do for you, my King?
- "Well, you see," said the prince, "this footman is my devil, he has done everything so far.
The woman was amazed, but also very glad that her master was not in league with the devils. Meanwhile it was evening, and they went to bed, and the prince hung his watch on a nail, and they fell asleep.
After all, that was all the scheming minister needed. He tiptoed forward, snatched the clock off the peg, and flipped it up on its lid. Suddenly the footman jumped out and asked:
- What do you want, you sly minister?
- I command thee to take this palace, and carry me and the queen with it, and set it down in some convenient place, and leave the prince here on the bald rock.
The butler said:
- I am in your hands, you are my master now, I obey, but watch your life!
In the morning the old king looks out of the window, and, my lord, there is neither news of the palace nor of the golden bridge. He calls the people of the court together, and sends them up to the top of the cliff to see what is there, what has happened.
The men went up, and there was no one, nothing, but the prince alone, lying on the bald rock.
They bring in the poor king, and the poor king goes up to the old king's palace in great sorrow, and there they mourn and grieve together, not knowing what to do or where to turn.
- "But I will not stay here," said the prince, "I will go, even if I am knee-deep in water, until I find my wife and my palace!
- 'Very well, my son,' said the king, 'go, but do not go on foot, choose my finest steed, and let a thousand soldiers go with you. I will give you six chariots of gold, so that you shall not need money.
And so it was, as the King said. The prince set out, followed by a thousand soldiers, then six chariots full of gold, and in front of each chariot fifty oxen with coats of arms. But as soon as they were out of the country, the prince divided the six chariots of gold among the soldiers, and blessed the three hundred oxen to God, and sent the soldiers back.
He went out alone, alone into the world. He went, he went, he went, through woods and fields, and suddenly he came to the bottom of a mountain so high that the top of it beat the sky. And he thought to himself, he will not turn back, he will go to the top of that mountain and see what lies beyond. For seven days and seven nights he went on and on, and then he reached the top of the mountain.
Oh, dear God, where has he gone! On top of this mountain lived the mother of the sun, here lived the sun. Only now she wasn't home, she was off on her great world travels. Into the sun's glorious palace, such as never man's eye had seen, And who, as soon as he enters, comes before him? His eldest sister. At once they're in each other's arms, embracing, kissing. But the sun's mother came and pounced on her:
- How dare you hug a stranger?! Stop, my son will be home soon and your life will be over!
- 'Oh, my soul, my mother,' said the woman, 'for this is my brother. If it had not been for him, your grace's son would never have seen me.
Now, when the Mother of the Sun heard this, she was not angry any more; she received the prince with warm affection, put him on a golden horse, and brought in all kinds of good things to eat and drink.
Meanwhile, the sun has returned. He already knew the prince, remembered him, greeted him with love:
- Welcome, brother-in-law, how did you get here? You came for your sister, didn't you? I won't give it back, but she's not going either, I know she's in a good place.
Said the prince:
- I can see that he is in a good place here; I will not take him back, it is enough for me that I have seen him and found him in good health. But I have other troubles, brother-in-law. I had a beautiful palace, and there is but one more beautiful than yours, and this palace disappeared one night, I know not where. Surely you know, for you see everything.
Said the Sun:
- I have seen that palace, I have admired it many times, but if it was taken away in the night, how shall I know where it has gone? Perhaps the moon knows. That's your brother-in-law too, your middle sister's there.
Now, they go to bed, they sleep. In the morning the sun set out on his great voyage around the world, and so did the prince; he bade his sister farewell with bitter tears, and went on the way that was pointed out to him, his brother-in-law the moon. Seven days and seven nights he walked, till he came to the palace of the Moon. But there was great joy! They received him with great love, and there was great dinom-dancing, but the end was only sadness, for even the Moon could not see where the prince's palace had gone.
- 'Surely,' he said, 'some heavy black cloud must have been covering my eyes just then, that's why I couldn't see. But your third brother-in-law, brother-in-law Wind, perhaps he saw it, for he walks day and night. He'll go to every nook and corner, and if you go to him, he'll show you the way.
The prince said goodbye to his brother, his brother-in-law, and did not stop until he found his third brother-in-law. They welcomed him with great joy, and gave him all sorts of good things, but the prince was not in the mood. The Wind asks:
- What's the matter, brother-in-law? Why do you let your head be so sad?
The prince will tell you what he has got. Says the Wind:
- Well, that's a big thing, brother-in-law, because I can't guide you myself. I have seen your palace in many an order, and once or twice I have torn the roof of it, because I did not know that you lived in it, but where it has gone, I really do not know. But wait a minute, I've got a steed that'll fly up into the sky. On this steed I will send my youngest son up into the sky to ask St. Peter himself if he knows anything about the palace.
The youngest son of the Wind rides up on that famous steed, rides straight up into the sky, knocks on the gates of heaven. St. Peter calls out with a loud growl:
- Who are you, what do you want?!
Says the boy:
- I am the son of the King of the Winds, and I have come, my holy father, if you will tell me where my brother-in-law's palace has disappeared to.
He explains who and what his brother-in-law is. St Peter puts his finger on his forehead, thinks for a moment and says:
- I know your brother-in-law, he is a good man, he sacrificed three hundred oxen to God. Here, I'll give you a golden rod. Take him, and tell him to go to the seventy-seventh island of the Black Sea, there is a rock there, and he shall strike it with the golden rod. The rock will open, go into the belly of the rock, there you will find the palace of the Mouse King, he will guide you.
The Son of the Wind rides home with great joy, he tells the prince the message of St. Peter, but he has no peace, he mounted the horse of the Wind and rode away faster than thought to the seventy-seventh island of the Black Sea.
There was indeed a lot of big rocks. He flicks the golden rod, the rock opens in two, he goes in, and behold, there is a shining palace of light, but so beautiful that there were three rounds in the world.
He goes into the palace, straight to the king of the mice, greets him properly, tells him what he's up to, what he's looking for. The Mouse King shakes his head, hums and says:
- I have not heard of such a palace, but I will call out the mice, as many as there are under the earth. They know all things, one of them must have seen your palace.
He blows a whistle, and suddenly the room is full of mice, swarming around, asking questions all at once:
- What is your pleasure, sire King?
- Who among you has seen the palace on a straw?
The mice reply:
- Not me!
- Me neither!
- Me neither!
- Are you all here? - asked the king.
- Only the bald mouse is not here," their leader reported.
- Summon the bald mouse!
The bald mouse is summoned, and the king asks:
- Have you seen the golden palace on a straw?
- I saw it, my sovereign king, the skin was melting off my head.
- How is that possible? - asks the king.
- It is possible that I have been there on a narrow limb such as I have never been on in my life. I won't go there again.
- But you are going there! - the king growled at him. - If you've been once, you'll go twice.
What could the bald mouse do, he had to go, he couldn't fool the king.
- So what am I supposed to do there? - asked the mouse.
Then the prince stood up and said:
- There is a gold watch in that palace, bring it to me, my sweet bald mouse.
- "All right," said the bald mouse, "I'll try.
And he ran out, and in an hour or two he was gone, running with the gold watch, sweating profusely.
The prince takes the clock with great joy, flips open the lid, and out jumps the footman.
- What can you command, my soul, my sweet master?
- I order you to put my palace back in its place, and leave the minister in that hole. Then bring me a thousand sacks of grain for the mice.
And with that the servant was gone, and the boy said good-bye to the king of mice, thanking him, and especially the bald mouse, for his great kindness to him. He jumped on the Wind's steed again, and the steed leaped once, and leaped twice, and ran as fast as a dream: the prince was at home in the golden palace on the straw. But there was great joy, great rejoicing, hey-hey-hey, ding-dong-dong. The real feast had just been held. After the feast the prince and his wife went up to see their father, the old king, and there the prince told where he had been, and where he had been; he saw his three sisters, and he was not sorry for them, for they were in the right place: the eldest was married to the sun, the middle to the moon, and the youngest to the wind.
- 'Well, if that's so, then,' said the old king, 'I'll grieve no more.
Then he divided his kingdom between his two eldest sons, and the youngest son went back to his wife's country and became its king. Tomorrow they shall be your guests!
(Elek Benedek: Hungarian tale - and mythology Volume 3)
