Once upon a time there lived a king. He had three sons. Time passed and the three sons grew. The king had a tree in his yard. Every year this tree produced only one fruit – a golden apple. But every year, just before the apple became ripe, a bird was coming flying and picking the apple. There was no apple for the king.
Once the king called his eldest son and told him:
‘Son, you will guard the magic tree. We will see who steals our golden apples! The tree has been producing apples so many years and we have not tried it once.’
‘I will guard it, father!’
Everything was all right but as the prince was guarding he fell asleep. The bird came and stole the apple.
The next year the king called his second son.
‘Son, this year you will guard the apple!’
‘I promise I will, father!’
But like his brother he fell asleep as he was guarding. The bird came, picked the apple and flew away.
The third year, the king called his youngest son.
‘At least you guard the apple, son!’
‘I will, father!’
It became dark. The youngest son went to the garden and cut his finger so that the pain would keep him awaken. It became midnight. What to see the youngest son – a bird came. It landed on the apple to pick it. The prince immediately shot with his bow but missed the bird. Only a feather fell onto the ground. The bird cried out and flew away.
The prince took the feather and went to his father
‘Father, he said, here is this feather. It is from the bird that was stealing our apples.’
‘A bird? Come here now, all three of you! Go to different directions and find where the bird has hidden!’
The sons followed their father’s order. They went to three different directions. They were looking for the bird, looking for the bird but could not find it. The oldest son gave up the quest and started to sell drinks, boza, in a town. The second son also gave up and became a baker, mekitzi-maker. Only the youngest son continued to look for the bird. Once he met an old man on his way.
‘Where do go, son?’ – the old man asked
‘I am looking, old man, for a magic bird, which steels our golden apple.’ – the boy answered.
‘This bird is hidden on a very difficult place. You can not so easily catch it. But I will tell you where it is. Follow this road and you will reach the palace of the local king. There are terrible guardians watching it. If you manage to go in you will see a wonderful cage. The bird lives there. But do not take the cage for they will catch you because it is beautiful, more beautiful than the bird!’
The prince thanked the old man and went to the palace. He was walking around it, watching it but there was no way to go in. The terrible guardians were watching it. The king was often going out and scolding at the guardians.
‘Why is the king angry with you?’ – the boy asked.
‘We look after his horse and his pigs. But they do not want to eat and loose weight.’
‘What do you feed them with?’
‘We give meat to the horse and grass to the pigs.’
‘Let me in and I will take care of the animals.’
The guardians told the king and he agreed. They let the boy in the palace and he gave meat to the pigs and grass to the horse. As the king saw the animals eating, he immediately ordered:
‘Stay in the palace, Lad! From now on you will look after my horse and my pigs. You will have a shelter, food and salary!’
And the youngest son stayed at the palace. He found the cage with the bird and said to himself:
‘Finally I will fulfill my father’s order! But I will take to him not only the stealing bird but this wonderful cage as well!’
Then he grasped the cage and ran away. But as the cage was golden it glittered under the sun and the guardians saw him. They caught him and immediately threw him in jail. Fist day, second day, third day, fifth day, tenth day – he was still in jail. At the end the princess saw him and fell in love with him. She told him:
‘Listen, young man, I will now open the door! Run away because my father has decided to kill you!’
Then she opened the doors. The prince however instead of running away immediately, went again, took the cage with the bird and then ran away.
He took the road to his father’s kingdom. Wondering, wondering, he first passed through the town where his brother was selling drinks. The youngest prince told his oldest brother:
‘Where did our father send you – to sell drinks or look for a bird? Come with me!’
He went to the other town and found his brother – the baker.
‘Come with me! Where did our father send you – to sell mekitzi or look for a bird?’
The three brothers went to their father’s kingdom. They were going, going along the road and one evening they stopped to spend the night in a deserted house. The house was empty, there was nobody in. But as they were going to fall asleep they suddenly saw three young women coming. A giant was coming with them, a horrible one with a sword. The youngest brother took out his own sword and cut him. Then he took the three daughters. He gave one to his oldest brother, one for the second brother, and one for himself. They went on. As they were going on they became thirsty. They found a well and said:
‘There is water here. But who will go in to take out some water?’
‘You will tie me and let me down and I will take out some water.’ – the youngest son said.
The other two brothers agreed. The oldest one whispered to the second one:
‘Our father will say that only our youngest brother is a hero, because he brought the bird and the case, he killed the giant. He will award him richly and he will punish us. Let’d cut the rope, drop him down, and let him drown.’
The youngest sister heard this and warned the youngest prince. But he did not want to believe. Then she gave him three walnuts.
‘These walnuts are magic. There is very sheer textile in the shells of the walnuts. You can sew a dress from each of the walnuts. Keep them! Wherever you are I will recognize you by these walnuts!’
The prince took the walnuts and climbed down into the well. The brothers cut the rope – the youngest brother went straight to the bottom. The two brothers took the girl and the bird and went to his father. The king was very delighted.
‘Where is your youngest brother?’ – he asked.
‘Who knows, he got lost somewhere probably.’ –the first one answered.
‘We do not know where he is, we brought the bird.’ –the other one confirmed.
The king became angry that his son did not obey to look for the bird and ordered that if someone saw him he was to catch him and take him to the palace immediately.
Meanwhile, the youngest prince found a way and climbing the stones went out of the well. He went to his father’s town. Since he knew the king’s order he blackened his face and became a cooker in the house of a rich man.
The time passed and the news spread that the king would marry his sons to the two girls; the third girl he was to marry to the prince from the neighbouring kingdom. The girl however required a strange wedding gift…
‘I want three dresses, but such ones that you can put in the shells of walnuts!’
The people of the king were looking all around the kingdom but could not find a tailor who was able to sew such dresses. No body had such sheer textile. Then the youngest son went to a tailor and told him:
‘Tailor, I can sew such dresses! You just bring me a roasted turkey and ten liters of wine. Do not tell the king who will sew the dress. You will have it tomorrow!’
The prince broke one of the walnuts the youngest sister gave him, took the clothing from inside and sew the dress.
On the morning the tailor took the dress to the palace.
‘Is this the dress you want, my daughter?’ – the king asked the youngest girl
‘This is exactly the dress I want, my king, but I do not want one, I want three!’
The tailor went home and started to look for the boy, but as he did not know him he could not find him. Several days passed… The king became angry!
‘If you do not find another dress to sew I will kill you!’
The tailor was desperate. He went home and what to see – the boy was waiting for him there.
‘Hey, boy! Do you know for how long I have been looking for you? The king wants a second dress or he will kill me!’
‘It is ready!’ – the boy said and gave him the second dress.
The tailor took to the palace and the king called the youngest sister:
‘Is this the dress you want?’
‘This is exactly the dress I want, my king, but I want a third one!’
The king called the tailor:
‘Tailor, I am waiting a third dress from you! I will reward you generously! But if you do not sew it I will kill you!’
‘My dear king, the tailor bowed, I can not sew these dresses! A boy is bringing them to me! I do not know when he will come again! Please, have pity on me!’
‘Who is this boy?’
Then the youngest daughter came out and said:
‘My dear king, this boy is your son! I gave him three magic walnuts!’
And she told him the whole story. Then the king issued a new order – the one who brings the third dress would marry the youngest sister. Thus the youngest son came. The king organized luxurious marriage. The prince and the princess started to live happy and delighted as king and queen.