Once upon a time there was a king. He had huge property and a lot of animals. Therefore he was often going among the common people looking for servants for his lands. When he has chosen somebody he was sending him with a notice for the queen. It was written in the note what to do with the servant – what work to give him, how much to pay him and so on. The king did not pay much but nobody dared to object – everybody knew the king was a tyrant and a bad person.
Once after gathering workers the whole day he was overtaken by the night in a village. He however decided to go further and spend the night in another village. He said to himself:
‘I will go to the next village – it is ten kilometers. I will spend the night there and will go on the next morning.’
As he went to the next village he passed fields with maize, lucerne, and beetroot, and he let his horse pasture for a while. He was a king therefore nobody could tell him anything. Suddenly, tired from the long road he fell asleep. When he woke up he realized that it was already eleven o’clock in the night. He went on his way immediately and reached the village. All the lamps were off and he said to himself:
‘I will go throughout the village and I will knock and enter wherever I see light!’
The king went from one house to another, from the beginning of the village to the end but he could not see light anywhere. Finally he went out of the village and noticed a light three meters ahead. He went to it and knocked.
‘What are you doing here at this time of the night, Your Majesty?’ – the frightened man who opened the door asked.
‘I want to spend the night in your house! – the king answered. – I see that you are still not sleeping.’
‘My wife is giving birth to a child. Please, come in!’
The man had eight children. This was the ninth one. The woman understood that the king had come and she did not want to let him in but there was no way. So she gave birth to a child. The child was strong and handsome. Meanwhile the king dreamed that the same child would kill him in twenty years. He started to wonder how to kill the child. He told the peasant he would be back in a week.
The week passed and the king came again. He said to the parents:
‘I will take this child to the palace, I will look after him and marry him to my daughter!’
The mother started to murmur and bag her husband not to give the child. But as they had many children and this was the king, he let the baby go. The king left much money for the child and ordered them to prepare the child for the long way. His mother wrapped the baby in diapers and tied it with a rope through the chest. The king put the child on the saddle and rode. He was wondering where to throw the child. He passed a river and threw the baby there saying:
‘Let the water take you to the Other world!’
But the baby did not fall in the water but a branch of a tree near the river caught the rope of the diapers. He started to cry and kick. Two brothers, shepherds, passed near with 400-500 sheep. They heard the child crying and one of them said:
‘Strange thing! There is not a living soul in this barren land and it seems to me that I hear a child crying! Let’s go and see!’
They found the baby and felt very happy with the God’s gift. They took the baby and started to feed him with milk from the sheep. The child was growing in front of their eyes and when it became ten years old it was already capable in lifting 100 kilos. The two brothers were so happy. They look how skillful the boy was and their hearts were singing with joy when he was telling them ‘Dad.’
The years passed and the boy was to become twenty years old. One day the king passed near and saw the two brothers. He asked them where they had the child from when they were not married. They told him the whole story. The king reached to the conclusion that this was the same child and he would soon make twenty. He told the shepherds he would take the lad in the palace.
The shepherds had no choice and gave him the boy. He was very handsome and strong but it was illiterate. The king ordered him to take a notice to the queen. It was written on the paper: ‘When you receive this not give the lad to the guardians to kill him and throw him in the abyss. If you do not obey I will kill you!’ Then he said to the boy:
‘Here is the note. After you take it to my wife she will give you work!’
The shepherds hugged the boy and kissed him good-bye. He took the note and went to the palace. There was a hut standing on his way. The boy was very tired so he knocked on the door and entered. There was almost nothing in the hut – a bed, a table and two small chairs. There was a very old man behind the table. His long beard reached his waist. He was writing something. The boy was illiterate so he could not understand that the hut he entered was magic one and the old man was God himself.
‘Good evening, old man! – the boy greeted. – I am very tired. Can I spend the night here?’
‘Come in, boy! – the old man answered. – Why are you so tired? Where are you going?’
‘The sultan approved me this morning for his farm-hand and gave me a note to his way. Maybe it is written there what work they would give me but I can not read.’
‘I can! Give me the note and I will tell you!’
When the old man took the note he said:
‘Boy, I do not have woods for the fire. Go around and collect some.’
‘Of course I will.’ – the boy answered and went out.
Meanwhile God tore the note to pieces and wrote a new one instead: ‘Woman, welcome this boy with honours, slaughter a hundred calves, a hundred cows and a hundred sheep, give him my daughter and start the wedding ceremony. Let the wedding last one-two months.’
On the morning the boy had to continue his way to the palace. He turned around to say good-bye to the good old man but what to see! – no man, no hut. He wondered for a while what was happening but he had to hurry. It was getting dark when he reached the palace and gave the note to the sultan’s wife. She immediately obeyed – she spread the new she was marrying her daughter to this lad and started to prepare the wedding ceremony. The butchers slaughtered the animals, the servants started to serve the food and the music to play. Everybody had to remember the wedding of the princess. As the king was very rich and mighty he had huge army and many workers. They all stopped working and started to eat, drink and have fun as it was the custom for a royal wedding.
The king came back in a week with the new workers and what to see – all the people eating, drinking and having fun… He froze at his place.
‘Stop! – he shouted. – Stop immediately! What is this? Who ordered to slaughter so many animals and make a wedding?’
‘I am following your orders!’ – the queen answered.
‘I haven’t written this! Let me see!’
When he looked at the note he understood what had happened. He fell to the ground. The servants took him to his chamber. When he came in conscious he ordered to bring his son-in-law.
‘I am ill, and it is very good that you are here. It is dark outside but you are a real man so you will go to the king’s fountain and bring me water.’
‘I will, Your Majesty!’ the boy answered and went right now.
He did not know that the king has made a insidious plan. Ten guardians were watching the fountain and nobody could come near it. They were ordered not to let anybody during the night. If anybody appeared they had to kill him.
The lad went to the fountain but remembered that since he has not been long in the palace he did not know where the fountain was. Therefore he asked the queen. She immediately understood the insidious plan of her husband so she did not let the boy and poured him water from another fountain.
Meanwhile, the king decided that his son-in-law had been already killed by the guardians. But what was he to see? The boy was approaching with a full jug of water.
‘Here you are, Your Majesty!’
The king thanked but thought instead: ‘How could this devil take water from the fountain, how didn’t the guardians kill him?!’
He let the boy, went to the sink and poured out the water. He called the boy again
‘I finished the water! Go and bring me some more!’
The boy went but the queen met him again. He made him take water from the nearer fountain. This time she held him longer and then sent him to the king.
When the boy came back to the sultan he was even more surprised: ‘What are these people doing there not killing him?’
‘Describe me the fountain where you go!’ – the king said.
But the queen had already explained the boy how the fountain looked liked and that soldiers were guarding it. So he said:
‘Your Majesty, this fountain is big, there are two big marble lions on each side, the spout is golden. There are many of your soldiers there but they are all snoring.’
As the king heard this he let the boy go. He put on his royal clothes, his boots and went to the fountain in the middle of the night. He took as well his lash to beat and kill the lazy soldiers. The king took the road to the fountain. Just before approaching it however, the soldiers pierced him with arrows as he has ordered. They killed him and threw him in the abyss. When the queen understood this she said:
‘You found what you wanted!’
On the morning the queen ordered to continue the wedding and she declared the boy the new sultan of the kingdom. Everybody approved the new king because he was handsome, strong and good-hearted. The old one instead was cruel, cunning, and tyrant. They were eating, drinking and having fun.