Once upon a time, there was a mother with two daughters. One was her biological child, and the other was her stepdaughter. She loved her own daughter very much but wouldn’t even look at her stepdaughter. The only reason for this was that Maruša, the stepdaughter, was more beautiful than her own daughter, Holena. The kind-hearted Maruša didn’t realize how beautiful she was, so she never understood why her mother was so angry with her whenever she glanced in her direction. She had to handle all the housework—cleaning the cottage, cooking, washing, and sewing—and then she also had to take the hay to the cow and care for it. She did all this alone while Holena spent her time getting ready and being lazy. But Maruša enjoyed working because she was a patient girl, and when her mother scolded her, she took it like a champ. However, it didn’t do any good, as they became meaner every day, simply because Maruša was becoming prettier while Holena was getting uglier every day.

At last, the mother thought, “Why should I keep a pretty stepdaughter in my house? When the boys come to court here, they'll fall in love with Maruša and won't even notice Holena.”

From that moment on, the stepmother and her daughter were always plotting how to get rid of poor Maruša. They starved her and beat her. But she endured it all, and despite everything, she continued to become more beautiful every day. They came up with tortures that even the cruelest men wouldn't have imagined.

One day—it was in the middle of January—Holena felt a craving for the smell of violets.

“Go, Maruša, and grab me some violets from the forest; I want to wear them on my waist and enjoy their scent,” she said to her sister.

“Goodness! Sister, what a weird idea! Who has ever heard of violets growing under the snow?” said poor Maruša.

“You miserable beggar! How dare you argue when I tell you to do something? Go now, and if you don’t bring me violets from the forest, I’ll kill you!” said Holena threateningly.

The stepmother grabbed Maruša, pushed her out the door, and slammed it behind her. Maruša walked into the forest, crying hard. The snow was piled deep, and there were no human footprints in sight. Maruša wandered around for a long time, suffering from hunger and shaking with cold. She begged God to take her away from this world.

At last, she spotted a light in the distance. She moved toward the glow and eventually reached the top of a mountain. A large fire was burning there, and around the fire were twelve stones, each with a man sitting on it. Three of them had snow-white beards, three were middle-aged, and three were younger. The three youngest were the most handsome of them all. They weren't talking, just sitting in silence. These twelve men represented the twelve months. Great January sat at the highest point; his hair and beard were as white as snow, and he held a club in his hand.

Maruša was terrified. She stood frozen for a moment, but then, feeling braver, she approached them and said: “Please, kind [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]sirs, may I warm my hands at your fire? I am shaking from the cold.”

Great January nodded and asked her, “Why are you here, my dear little girl? What are you looking for?”

“I’m looking for violets,” Maruša replied.

“This isn't the time to be searching for violets, since everything is blanketed in snow,” replied Great January.

“Yes, I know; but my sister Holena and my stepmom said I need to bring them some violets from the forest. If I don’t bring them, they’ll kill me. Please tell me, fathers, where I can find them.”

Great January got up and went to one of the younger months—it was March—and, handing him the club, he said: “Brother, take the high seat.”

March took a high seat on the stone and waved the club over the fire. The fire flared up, the snow started to melt, the trees began to bud, and the ground under the young beech trees was quickly covered with grass while the crimson daisy buds began to peek through the grass. It was springtime. Under the bushes, the violets were blooming [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] among their little leaves, and before Maruša had a chance to think, so many had popped up that they looked like a blue cloth spread out on the ground.

“Pick them quickly, Maruša!” commanded March.

Maruša happily picked them until she had a big bunch. Then she thanked the months with all her heart and hurried merrily home.

Holena and the stepmother were curious when they saw Maruša bringing the violets. They opened the door for her, and the smell of violets filled the whole cottage.

“Where did you get them?” Holena asked sulkily.

“They are growing under the bushes in a forest on the high mountains.”

Holena tucked them into her waistband. She let her mother smell them, but she didn't say to her sister, "Smell them."

Another day she was lounging by the stove, and now she wanted some strawberries. So she called to her sister and said, “Go, Maruša, and get me some strawberries from the forest.”

“Unfortunately! dear sister, where can I find any [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]strawberries? Who has ever heard of strawberries growing under the snow?” said Maruša.

“You miserable little ragamuffin, how dare you argue when I tell you to do something? Go now and get me the strawberries, or I’ll kill you!”

The stepmother grabbed Maruša and shoved her out the door, slamming it behind her. Maruša walked into the forest, crying hard. The snow was deep, and there wasn't a single human footprint in sight. She wandered around for a long time, suffering from hunger and shaking from the cold. Finally, she spotted the light she had seen the other day. Filled with joy, she made her way toward it. She arrived at the big fire where the twelve months were sitting around it.

“Please, good sirs, let me warm my hands by the fire. I’m shaking from the cold.”

Great January nodded and asked her, “Why are you here again, and what are you looking for?”

"I'm looking for strawberries."

“But it’s winter now, and strawberries don’t grow in the snow,” said January.

“Yes, I know,” said Maruša sadly; “but my sister Holena and my stepmother told me to bring them some strawberries, and if I don’t, they’ll kill me. Please, fathers, tell me where I can find them.”

Great January arrived. He walked over to the month sitting across from him—it was June—and handed him the club, saying, “Brother, take the high seat.”

June took the high seat on the stone and swung the club over the fire. The flames shot up, and their heat melted the snow in no time. The ground was completely green, the trees were full of leaves, the birds started to sing, and the forest was filled with all kinds of flowers. It was summer. The ground beneath the bushes was covered with white star-shaped flowers, and the starry blossoms transformed into strawberries every minute. They ripened instantly, and before Maruša had a chance to think, there were so many of them that it looked like blood had been splattered on the ground.

“Pick them up right now, Maruša!” commanded June.

Maruša happily picked them until her apron was completely full. Then she sincerely thanked the months and rushed home cheerfully. Holena and the stepmother were surprised when they saw Maruša coming in with the strawberries. Her apron was brimming with them. They hurried to open the door for her, and the aroma of the strawberries filled the entire cottage.

“Where did you get them?” Holena asked sulkily.

“There are a lot of them growing under the young beech trees in the forest on the high mountains.”

Holena took the strawberries and kept eating them until she couldn't eat anymore. The stepmother did the same, but they didn't say to Maruša: "Here's one for you."

When Holena had finished the strawberries, she became greedy for other treats, and so on the third day, she craved some red apples.

“Maruša, go into the woods and get me some red apples,” she told her sister.

“Wow! Dear sister, how am I supposed to get you apples in winter?” protested Maruša.

“You miserable little ragamuffin, how dare you argue when I tell you to do something? Go to the forest right now, and if you don’t bring me the apples, I’ll kill you!” threatened Holena. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

The stepmother grabbed Maruša and shoved her out the door, slamming it shut behind her. Maruša ran into the forest, crying hard. The snow was deep, and there were no human footprints anywhere. But she didn’t wander this time. She sprinted straight to the top of the mountain where a big fire was blazing. The twelve months were gathered around the fire; yes, they were definitely there, and Great January was seated in the high spot.

“Please, gentlemen, let me warm my hands by the fire. I'm shaking from the cold.”

Great January nodded and asked her, "Why are you here, and what are you looking for?"

“I’m looking for red apples.”

“It’s winter now, and red apples don’t grow in winter,” replied January.

“Yes, I know,” Maruša said sadly; “but my sister and my stepmother are insisting that I bring them some red apples from the forest. If I don’t bring them, they’ll kill me. Please, tell me, father, where can I find them?”

Great January rose up. He went over to [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] one of the older months—it was September. He handed the club to him and said, “Brother, take the high seat.”

Month September took its place on the stone and swung the club over the fire. The fire started to burn with a red flame, and the snow began to melt. But the trees weren't covered with leaves; the leaves were falling one by one, and the cold wind was blowing them back and forth over the yellowing ground. This time, Maruša didn't see as many flowers. Only red pinks were blooming on the hillside, and meadow saffrons were flowering in the valley. Tall ferns and thick ivy were growing under the young beech trees. But Maruša was only looking for red apples, and finally, she spotted an apple tree with red apples hanging high among its branches.

“Shake the tree right now, Maruša!” ordered the month.

Right away, Maruša happily shook the tree, and one apple fell. She shook it a second time, and another apple fell.

“Now, Maruša, hurry home!” shouted the month.

Maruša immediately obeyed. She picked up [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]the apples, thanked the months sincerely, and ran joyfully home.

Holena and the stepmother were curious when they saw Maruša bringing the apples. They hurried to open the door for her, and she handed them two apples.

“Where did you get those?” asked Holena.

“There are a lot of them in the forest on the high mountain.”

“And why didn’t you bring more? Did you eat them on the way home?” Holena said sharply.

“Sadly, sister dear, I didn’t eat a single one. But when I shook the tree once, one apple fell, and when I shook it a second time, another apple fell, and they wouldn’t let me shake it again. They yelled at me to go straight home,” protested Maruša.

Holena started to curse at her: “I hope you get struck by lightning!” and she was about to hit her.

Maruša started to cry heavily, and she prayed to God to take her to Him, or she would be killed by her evil sister and her stepmother. She ran away into the kitchen.

Greedy Holena stopped cursing and began [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]to eat the apple. It tasted so good that she told her mom she had never tasted anything so nice in her entire life. The stepmother liked it, too. When they finished, they wanted more.

“Mom, give me my fur coat. I'm going to the forest by myself. That ragged little troublemaker would gobble them all up again on her way home. I'll find the place just fine, and I'll shake them all down, no matter how much they shout at me.”

Her mom tried to talk her out of it, but it didn’t work. She grabbed her fur coat, tied a cloth around her head, and headed off to the forest. Her mom stood at the front door, watching to see how Holena would handle the cold weather.

The snow was deep, and there wasn't a single human footprint in sight. Holena wandered around for a long time, but her craving for the sweet apple kept pushing her forward. Finally, she spotted a light in the distance. She made her way towards it and climbed to the mountaintop where a large fire was burning. Around the fire, sitting on twelve stones, were the twelve months. She was scared at first, but she quickly regained her composure. She [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] stepped closer to the fire and held out her hands to warm them, but she didn't say so much as “Excuse me” to the twelve months; no, she didn’t say a single word to them.

“Why are you here, and what do you want?” asked Great January angrily.

“Why do you want to know, you old fool? It’s none of your business,” Holena snapped, turning away from the fire and heading into the forest.

Great January frowned and swung the club over his head. The sky turned dark in an instant, the fire dwindled, the snow started to fall as thick as if feathers had been shaken out of a down quilt, and a biting wind began to rush through the forest. Holena couldn’t see a step ahead of her; she completely lost her way and fell into snowdrifts several times. Then her limbs grew weak and started to stiffen slowly. The snow continued to fall, and the icy wind blew even colder than before. Holena started to curse Maruša and God. Her limbs began to freeze, despite her fur coat. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Her mother was waiting for Holena; she kept looking out for her, first at the window, then at the door, but it was all for nothing.

“Does she love the apples so much that she can't leave them, or what's going on? I need to see for myself where she is,” the stepmother finally decided. So she put on her fur coat, wrapped a shawl around her head, and went out to look for Holena. The snow was deep; there weren't any human footprints in sight; the snow was falling heavily, and the icy wind was blowing through the forest.

Maruša had cooked dinner, taken care of the cow, and still, Holena and her mother hadn't returned. "Why are they taking so long?" Maruša wondered as she sat down to work at the distaff. The spindle was already full, and it was quite dark in the room, yet Holena and the stepmother were still absent.

“Lord, what has happened to them?” Maruša cried, looking anxiously out the window. The sky was bright and the earth sparkled, but there wasn’t a single person in sight…. With a heavy heart, she shut the [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]window, crossed herself, and prayed for her sister and mother…. In the morning, she waited with breakfast, then with dinner; but no matter how long she waited, it was pointless. Neither her mother nor her sister ever came back. Both of them had frozen to death in the forest.

So Maruša inherited the cottage, a piece of farmland, and a cow. She married a kind husband, and they both lived happily ever after. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once there was a mother, and, being a mother, she had a son. She breastfed him for fourteen years. After that, she took him into a forest and told him to pull up a fir tree, roots and all. But the boy couldn't pull up the fir tree.

“You're not strong enough yet,” said the mother. So she nursed him for another seven years. After nursing him for a total of twenty-one years, she took him to the forest again and told him to pull up a beech tree, roots and all. He grabbed the beech and pulled it up.

“Now you’re strong enough. So you’re Victor (Víťazko). Now you can take care of me.”

“Yes, I will. Just let me know how I can help you.”

“You need to find me a nice house first, and then you can bring me there,” said the mother, and she went home. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Víťazko grabbed the beech tree he had pulled up and, holding it like a club, set off to find a house for his mother. Following the wind, he walked along old roads and paths until he reached a castle. This castle was home to griffins.

When Víťazko arrived at the castle, the griffins wouldn’t let him in. But he didn’t wait long for their permission: he broke down the gate and entered the castle, killing the griffins. He threw their bodies over the wall and then took a stroll through the castle. He liked everything he saw. The rooms were nice, nine in total, but the tenth was locked. After going through the nine, he entered the tenth, and there he saw a griffin chained to the wall with three iron bands.

“What are you doing here?” asked Víťazko.

“I’m sitting here, as you can see. My brothers have chained me up. If you untie me, I’ll give you a great reward.”

“You must be a wicked old troublemaker if your own brothers tied you up like that. I’m not going to untie you either,” said Víťazko.

So he slammed the door and went off to [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] get his mother to come to the castle. When he brought her there, he showed her everything, but he didn’t open the tenth room and warned her not to go in, or it would cause problems. As soon as Víťazko left the house, his mother couldn’t relax and kept pacing near the door of that tenth room until finally, she went in, and, of course, she found the griffin there.

“What are you doing here, and who are you?”

“I am a griffin. My own brothers locked me up here. They would have set me free, but your son has killed them all. Untie me and I will reward you, and if you want, I will marry you,” said the griffin.

“And what would Víťazko say?” the mother replied.

“What could he say? We’ll get rid of him, and you’ll be in charge of your own life.”

The mother hesitated for a while, but finally she agreed, and then she asked the griffin how she could free him from his restraints.

“Go into the cellar and get me a cup of wine from the last barrel.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

The mother went into the cellar and brought him a glass of wine from the last barrel. As soon as he finished the first cup, crash! the first chain fell down. The mother brought him another cup and—well! the second chain snapped. So he asked her to bring him a third cup, and when she brought him the third cup, the third chain broke too, and the griffin was free again.

“But what am I supposed to tell my son when he gets back?” the mother asked nervously.

“Oh! You have to pretend to be sick, and when he asks you what will help you, say that nothing can help you except for a nursing piglet. When he goes to get it, the pig will tear him apart.”

Well (but not particularly well!), when Víťazko came back from the hunt, bringing a buck for his mother, she groaned and complained: “Oh no! my dear son, your effort has been in vain. It’s no use bringing me this good food; I can’t eat it, because I’m really sick.”

“Please, mom, you can’t die. Just tell me what will make you better, and I’ll get it for you, no matter where it comes from,” cried the good Víťazko, because he loved his mother dearly. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“I can only be cured if I get the milk from the earth pig.”

Víťazko didn’t wait; he grabbed his beech tree and set off to find the earth sow. He roamed the land, poor thing! because he had no idea where to go, until finally he arrived at a tower, and there he found Holy Sunday.

“Where are you headed?” asked Holy Sunday.

“I’m going to the field to get one of her piglets. My mom is sick, but this will help her.”

“My dear boy, it’s going to be tough for you to get that piglet. But I’ll help you. You just have to follow my advice exactly.”

Víťazko promised that he would follow it exactly. So first she gave him a long, sharp stick, and then she said:

“Go to the stable and take my horse. He'll take you to the spot where the earth sow is buried. Once you’re there, you need to prick one of her pigs. The pig will squeak, and the sow, hearing it, will jump up and run around the earth in an instant. But she won’t see you [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] or anyone else, so she’ll warn the pigs that if they squeak again, she’ll tear them apart. Then she’ll lie down to sleep, and you must spit the pig and run away quickly. The pig will be too scared to squeak, the sow won’t move, and my horse will carry you off.”

Víťazko promised to follow her instructions exactly. He grabbed the spit, climbed onto the magical horse, and it took him quickly to the location—very far away—where the sow was buried in the ground. Víťazko prodded one of the pigs, and it let out a loud squeal. The sow sprang up in a frenzy and dashed around the area in an instant. However, the magical horse remained still, so the sow didn’t notice him or anyone else, and she angrily said to the pigs:

“If one of you makes a sound, I will destroy all of you immediately.”

Having said that, she buried herself again.

At once, Víťazko speared the pig. It stayed silent and didn’t make a sound, and the magic horse took off into the air, and it wasn’t long before they were back home again.

“Well, Víťazko, how did it go?” asked Holy Sunday. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“Well, it happened just like you said, and here’s the pig.”

“Alright. Give it to your mom.”

Víťazko returned the spit to her, took the magic horse back to its stall, thanked Holy Sunday, and, hanging the pig from the beech tree, hurried home to his mother.

The mother and the griffin were having a feast; they didn't expect Víťazko, but here he was. They hurried off and talked about what to do with him.

“When he gives you the pig, you still need to act like you’re sick,” said the griffin; “and when he asks what will make you better, tell him that only the Water of Life and the Water of Death can cure you. If he goes searching for those, he's sure to be doomed.”

Víťazko ran to the castle, excited and bursting with joy. He handed the pig to his mother, but she continued to moan and complain that she was going to die and that the pig wouldn't help her.

“Please, Mom, don’t die! Just tell me what will make you better, and I’ll get it for you right away,” Víťazko said anxiously.

“Ah! my dear son, I can only be cured [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]by the Water of Life and the Water of Death, and where would you get that?” sighed the mother.

Víťazko didn’t spend time overthinking it. He grabbed his beech and headed off to Holy Sunday.

“Where are you going, Víťazko?” asked Holy Sunday.

“I’m reaching out to ask where I can find the Water of Life and the Water of Death, because my mom is still sick, and only those can heal her.”

“It'll be tough for you to get them, but I'll help you as much as I can. Here are two jugs; get on my magic horse, and he’ll take you to two banks. Underneath those banks flow the Water of Life and the Water of Death. The right bank opens at noon, and from it flows the Water of Life. The left bank opens at midnight, and underneath it is the Water of Death. As soon as the bank opens, run to it and fill your jug with water, and you need to do the same for the other one too. Once you have the water, come back. Follow my instructions carefully.”

Saying this, she handed him two jugs. He [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] took them and climbed onto the magic horse, and in an instant, they were gone like the wind. The two banks were in a faraway land, and there the magic horse took Víťazko. At noon, he raised the right bank, and the Water of Life surged forth; then, crash! the bank fell down again, and it was a miracle that it didn't take off Víťazko’s heels. Quickly, Víťazko mounted the magic horse and rushed to the left bank. They waited there until midnight. When the bank lifted, underneath it was the Water of Death. He hurried to it and filled the jug, and, crash! down fell the bank again; it was amazing it didn’t take off Víťazko’s hand. He quickly mounted the magic horse, it flew off, and soon they were home again.

“Well, Víťazko, how have you been?” asked Holy Sunday.

“Oh! everything went well, Holy Sunday; and here’s the water,” said Víťazko, handing her the water.

Holy Sunday filled two jugs with spring water and told him to take them to his mother. Víťazko thanked her and went home. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

The mother and the griffin were partying like before, since they didn’t think he would ever come back—and there he was just outside. They were really frightened and thought about how they could get rid of him.

“You need to keep pretending you're still sick and tell him you won’t get better unless you get the Pelican bird, and he’ll die trying to find it,” said the griffin.

Víťazko happily brought the water, but the mother was still moaning and complaining; nothing seemed to help, and she was convinced she was going to die.

“Ah! don’t die, sweet mom. Tell me what will make you better, and I’ll happily get it all for you,” said the good guy.

“There’s no help for me unless I can see the Pelican bird. Where could you get it for me?” groaned the mother.

Víťazko picked up his beech again, and it was no problem for him to go to Holy Sunday once more.

“Where are you headed?” asked Holy Sunday.

“Well, I'm coming to you to ask for advice. Mom is still sick; the water didn't cure her either, and she says she has to [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]see the Pelican bird. So, where is the Pelican bird?”

“My dear child, it would be very difficult for you to catch the Pelican bird. But I will help you as much as I can. The Pelican is a huge bird. Its neck is very long, and whenever it flaps its wings, it creates such a strong wind that the trees start to shake. Here is a gun; get on my magic horse, and he will take you to the place where the Pelican lives. But be careful. Aim the gun against the wind from whichever direction it blows, and when the hammer drops, push the bullet in with the ramrod and come back quickly. You must not look down the gun.”

Víťazko grabbed the gun and hopped onto the magic horse, which then spread its wings, and they soared through the air for quite a distance until they reached a vast desert, where the Pelican bird lived. There, the magic horse halted. Now, Víťazko noticed the wind blowing strongly against his left cheek, so he aimed the gun in that direction, and, bang! the hammer dropped. Víťazko quickly reloaded the gun with the ramrod and tossed it over his shoulder, and the horse took off again, and before long, they were back home. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

"Well, how did it go?"

“I’m not sure if it went well or poorly, but I did what you asked,” replied Víťazko, passing the gun to Holy Sunday.

“All right. You did the right thing. Here he is!” she said. Then she took out the Pelican bird. Next, she handed Víťazko another gun to shoot an eagle with. He headed out into the forest and returned shortly with an eagle. She gave him this eagle for his mother, instead of the Pelican bird.

The griffin and the mother were having a good time again, hoping that Víťazko would never return, but he was already close by. They were scared and started to think about what new task they should give him.

"You have to keep pretending to be sick and tell him that nothing can help you except the golden apples from the Griffin's garden. If he goes there, the Griffin will rip him apart because he's furious that Víťazko has killed his brothers."

Joyfully, Víťazko handed the bird to his mother, but she continued to groan; nothing worked, only the golden [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] apples from the Griffin's garden could save her.

“You will have them,” said Víťazko, and without pausing, he began again and reached Holy Sunday.

“Where are you headed, Víťazko?”

“Well,” he replied, “not even that helped her. Mom is still sick, because only the golden apples from the garden of the Griffin can cure her.”

“Well, you’ll have to fight, my boy,” said Holy Sunday. “But even if you were stronger, it wouldn’t be a good situation for you. Still, I’ll help you as much as I can. Here’s a ring for you; put it on your finger, and when you’re in need, think of me, turn the ring around on your finger, and you’ll have the strength of a hundred men. Now get on the magic horse; he’ll take you there.”

Víťazko thanked her sincerely, got on the magic horse, and was taken on a long journey until they reached a garden surrounded by a tall wall. Without the magic horse, Víťazko would never have been able to enter the garden, but the horse soared over the wall like a bird. Víťazko jumped off the horse and immediately started searching for a tree with golden apples. A beautiful girl approached him and asked what he was searching for. Víťazko replied that he was looking for golden apples to heal his sick mother and asked her to guide him on where to find them.

“The apple tree is my responsibility, and I can’t give the apples to anyone, or the Griffin will rip me apart. I’m a king’s daughter, and the Griffin kidnapped me and brought me to this garden, putting me in charge of the apples. Please go back, good young man, go back, because the Griffin is really strong, and if he spots you, he’ll kill you like a fly,” said the girl.

But Víťazko wouldn't be stopped, and he rushed into the garden. The princess took off a valuable ring and gave it to Víťazko, saying: “Take this ring, and whenever you think of me and twist it around on your finger, you’ll have the strength of a hundred men; otherwise, you won't be able to defeat the Griffin.”

Víťazko took the ring and slipped it on his finger. He thanked her and headed towards the [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]center of the garden. In the middle of the garden stood an apple tree overflowing with golden apples, and underneath it lay a terrible Griffin.

“What do you want here, killer of my brothers?” shouted the Griffin.

“I've come to get some apples from this tree,” replied Víťazko confidently.

“You can't have any of the apples unless you wrestle with me,” the Griffin shouted angrily.

“I will if you want. Let's go!” said Víťazko as he twisted the ring on his right hand and thought about Holy Sunday. He spread his legs apart, and they started to wrestle. In the first round, the Griffin pushed Víťazko a bit, but Víťazko grounded him above his ankles. Just at that moment, they heard the sound of wings overhead, and a black raven called out to them:

“Who should I help, the Griffin or Víťazko?”

“Help me,” said the Griffin.

“And what will you give me?”

“I’ll give you as much gold and silver as you want.”

“Help me,” cried Víťazko, “and I will [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]give you all those horses grazing over there in the meadow.”

“I'll help you, then,” said the raven. “But how am I supposed to help you?”

“Cool me down when I get too hot,” said Víťazko. He really did feel hot because the Griffin was breathing fire at him. So they kept wrestling. The Griffin grabbed Víťazko and forced him into the ground up to his ankles. Víťazko twisted the ring, and once again he thought of Holy Sunday. He wrapped his arms around the Griffin’s waist and pushed him down into the ground up to his knees. The black raven dipped his wings in a spring, then landed on Víťazko’s head and sprinkled cool drops over Víťazko’s hot cheeks, cooling him off. Then Víťazko twisted the other ring and thought of the beautiful maiden, and they started wrestling again. The Griffin pushed Víťazko down into the ground up to his ankles, but Víťazko grabbed hold of him and pushed him down into the ground up to his shoulders. Quickly, he grabbed his sword, a gift from Holy Sunday, and cut off the Griffin’s head.

The princess came to him immediately and picked the golden apples for him. She also thanked him for rescuing her and said [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] that she liked him a lot and would marry him.

“I really like you too,” Víťazko admitted, “and if I could, I would go with you right now. But if you truly love me, and if you can wait a year for me, I’ll be with you then.”

The princess promised him by shaking his hand and said she would wait a year for him. Then they said goodbye to each other. Víťazko got on his horse, jumped over the wall in one leap, killed the horses in the meadow for the black raven, and hurried home.

“Well, how have you been?” asked Holy Sunday.

“Alright, but if it hadn’t been for a ring a princess gave me, I would have been in serious trouble,” answered Víťazko, and he shared everything with her. She told him to go home with the golden apples and to take the magic horse with him as well. Víťazko did as he was told.

The griffin and the mother were partying again. They were both really surprised when Víťazko came riding home; they never thought he would come back alive from the garden of the Griffin. The mother asked what she should do, but the griffin had run out of tricks; he quickly raced to the tenth room and hid there. After Víťazko gave the apples to his mother, she pretended that just seeing them had made her well, and getting up from the bed, she set out the finest food for Víťazko and then started to hug him like she used to when he was a little baby. Víťazko was so happy to see his mother healthy again. The mother took a strong cotton cord and joked, “Lie down, dear son; I’ll wrap this cord around you like I used to do with your father, to see if you’re as strong as he was and if you can break it.”

Víťazko smiled and lay down, letting his mom wrap the cord around him. When she was done, he stretched his limbs and snapped the cord into pieces.

“You're strong,” she said. “But hold on! I’m going to wrap this thin silk cord around you to see if you can break it too.”

So she did. Víťazko tried to stretch his limbs, but the more he stretched, the deeper [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]the cord cut into him. So he was helpless and had to lie like a baby in its swaddling clothes. Now the griffin rushed to behead him; he chopped the body into pieces and hung the heart from the ceiling. The mother wrapped the body in a cloth and placed the bundle on the back of the magic horse, which was waiting in the courtyard, saying:

“You carried him when he was alive, so you can carry him while he’s dead too, wherever you want.”

The horse didn’t wait and took off, and before long, they were home.

Holy Sunday had been waiting for him because she knew what was likely to happen to him. Without hesitation, she rubbed his body with the Water of Death, then put it back together and poured the Water of Life over it. Víťazko yawned and stood up, alive and well. “Wow, I’ve had a long sleep,” he said to himself.

“You would have been sleeping forever if I hadn’t woken you up. So, how do you feel now?”

“Oh! I’m okay! It’s just funny: it feels like I don’t have a heart at all.”

“That’s true; you don’t have a heart,” replied Holy Sunday. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“Where is it, then?”

“Where else would it be, but in the castle, hanging from the crossbeam?” said Holy Sunday, and she explained everything that had happened to him.

But Víťazko couldn't be angry, nor could he cry, because he had no heart. So he needed to go and get one. Holy Sunday gave him a fiddle and sent him to the castle. He was supposed to play the fiddle, and as a reward, he could ask for a heart, and once he got it, he had to come back right away to Holy Sunday—those were her instructions.

Víťazko went to the castle, and when he saw that his mother was looking out of the window, he started playing beautifully. The mother was thrilled by the music below, so she called the old fiddler (for Holy Sunday had turned him into that form) into the castle and asked him to play. He played, and the mother danced with the griffin; they danced intensely and didn't stop until they were exhausted. Afterward, the mother offered the fiddler food and drinks, and she even offered him gold, but he refused to accept it.

“What could I do with all that money? I’m too old for it,” he replied. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“Well, what should I give you, then? It’s up to you to ask,” said the mother.

“What are you going to give me?” he asked, glancing around the room. “Oh! just give me that heart, hanging there from the crossbeam!”

“If you like that, we can give it to you,” said the griffin, and the mother took it down and gave it to Víťazko. He thanked them for it and quickly left the castle to head to Holy Sunday.

“It’s great that we have it back,” said Holy Sunday. She took the heart in her hands, washed it first in the Water of Death and then in the Water of Life, and then placed it in the beak of the Pelican bird. The bird stretched out his long neck and put the heart back in Víťazko’s chest. Instantly, Víťazko felt it joyfully beating. For this service, Holy Sunday gave the Pelican bird his freedom once more.

And now she said to Víťazko: “You need to go to the castle again and deliver justice. Transform into a pigeon, and when you think of me, you’ll return to your original form.”

No sooner had she said this than Víťazko turned into a pigeon and flew off to the castle. The mother and the griffin were cuddling when suddenly a pigeon landed on the window sill. As soon as the mother spotted the pigeon, she told the griffin to shoot him, but before the griffin could grab his crossbow, the pigeon swooped down into the hall, transformed back into human form, grabbed the sword, and in one swift motion, chopped off the griffin’s head.

“And what am I supposed to do with you, you useless mother?” he said, turning to his mother, who, in fear, fell at his feet begging for mercy. “Don’t be scared—I won’t hurt you. Let God judge us.” He took her hand and led her to the castle yard, unsheathed his sword, and said: “Look, mother! I will throw this sword into the air. If I’m guilty, it will strike me; if you’re guilty, it will strike you. Let God decide.”

The sword spun through the air, flew past Víťazko’s head, and struck directly into his mother’s heart.

Víťazko mourned for her and buried her. Then he returned to Holy Sunday and thanked her sincerely for all her kindness. He strapped on his sword, took his beech-tree [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] in his hand, and went to see his beautiful princess. He found her with her royal father, who had tried to arrange marriages with various kings and princes, but she refused to marry any of them. She said she would wait a year. The year wasn’t up yet when one day Víťazko arrived at the royal palace to ask for the maiden’s hand.

“This is my fiancé,” the princess exclaimed happily as soon as she saw him, and she walked right up to him.

A fantastic feast was prepared, the father handed over his kingdom to them, and that’s the end of this story. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once there was a blacksmith who had only one son named John. They sent him to school, but then their luck changed, and his parents fell into hard times, so they had to bring their son home. John had already completed the higher grade, but he couldn't help support his parents. So one day he said:

“Mom and Dad! What can I do at home? There’s no work here, so I can’t be a clerk, and I’m too old now to learn a trade. So I’m going to go out into the world and find a job, and whenever I can, I’ll send you some money. And when I get a good job, you should sell your cottage and come live with me.”

His mom and dad cried because he wanted to leave them, but they knew he was right since there was no future for him if he stayed at home. So, they let him go. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] They gave him their blessing before he stepped out into the world. John cried until his heart felt like it was breaking at saying goodbye to his elderly parents.

He walked until noon. At noon, he sat down under a lime tree next to a well, where he had a meal and a drink. Feeling strong and refreshed, he continued walking until nightfall. The area was completely unfamiliar to him, so he had to spend the night in the forest. The next day, he set off again and eventually found himself in a rugged mountain region. He paused to consider his next move. After a moment, he continued on and reached a pleasant valley, where he encountered three brothers. They were arguing and seemed ready to fight. John asked them what was going on. The oldest brother replied:

“Our father has died, and he left us these boots, this cloak, and this hat. And each of us wants to have the boots.”

"Why?" John asked.

“Because they have the ability that anyone who puts them on can cover ten miles whenever they want. The cloak has the ability that its owner can fly as far and as high as they desire. And the ability [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]of the hat is that it makes its wearer invisible.”

John said: “You’re brothers, and you shouldn’t argue. You need to love each other. To stop the fighting, I’ll handle this for you. Hand me those things.”

They gave him the boots, the cloak, and the hat. He put the hat on, and they couldn’t see him anymore; he wrapped himself in the cloak, took the boots, and flew away.

He flew for a while before landing on a log to put on his boots. As he sat there, the log flipped over, and he noticed a big hole underneath it. He went down the hole and found some stairs, easily making his way to the bottom. There, he discovered a large room that was empty. The table was set for one person. He thought, "I'm hungry. Should I eat this meal?" In the end, he decided to take the chance; he took off his hat and started to eat.

When he was done, an elderly woman walked into the room and asked, “Did you enjoy your meal?” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“Oh, it was really nice,” John replied. “And, by the way, could you put me up for the night?”

“I will, if you can handle it; because at midnight twenty-four ghosts will show up, and they'll try to get you to play cards and dance with them. But you need to stay still and not even glance at them.”

So the first night arrived. John was sitting at the table eating his meal. When he finished, he stayed at the table. After eleven o’clock, two dozen ghosts entered the room and asked him to play cards with them. He said no, so they started getting ready to play skittles and asked him again to join them, but he still refused. Then delightful music began to play, and they invited him to dance with them. Nope, he wouldn’t; he didn’t even glance at them. They kept dragging him around, tearing at him and biting him, until he thought it was all over for him. But just then, it hit twelve, and the ghosts disappeared.

In the morning, the old woman returned and woke him up, as he was still sleeping on the ground. She asked him, “How did you sleep?” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

"Alright," said John.

“Did you, really?” replied the old woman. “Well, tomorrow night will be even worse, if you can handle it. Forty ghosts will show up, and they'll try to get you to play cards and skittles with them and dance along. But you have to stay still; don’t even glance at them.”

He stayed there all day and had a great time. Then the second night came. After eleven o’clock, twenty ghosts rushed in. They urged him to play cards and bowl with them and to dance. But John wouldn't. He sat still, without even looking at them. So they started tormenting him again, dragging him around even worse than before. But when it hit midnight, they left him on the ground and disappeared.

In the morning, the old woman came. She washed him with some lotion until he felt better. She asked him, "How did you sleep?"

"Awesome," he said.

“Did you really?” she replied. “That place was terrible for you, but the third night will be even worse, if you can handle it. Sixty ghosts will come and will [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]tempt you to play cards and skittles and dance with them. But you must stay still and not even glance at them.”

All that day he had a great time again. The third night came, and after eleven o’clock, sixty ghosts rushed in. They gathered around him and urged, begged, and pleaded with him to play and dance with them. When he refused, they grabbed him and started slamming him against the ground, tearing at him and biting him, until he lost consciousness and didn’t see them leave.

In the morning, the old woman came and applied a special ointment until he recovered. She said, “You wouldn’t have had such a tough time if you hadn’t stolen the boots, cloak, and hat. The ghosts would have just chased you; they wouldn’t have had any power over you. Since you followed my advice and didn’t engage with them, you’ve freed an enchanted town and a beautiful princess. She’ll be coming to you right away. Now that you’re rich, return the stolen items.”

Then a girl in a white dress appeared. It was the beautiful princess, and she thanked him for saving her and the entire town. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]He went to the window, and outside he saw streets filled with people and soldiers and a huge commotion happening. The princess said:

“My dad is a king, and you will marry me and take his place. But my dad lives far away, and we’ll go to him. Do you accept this ring?”

So they left. When the wedding was about to happen, John wanted his parents to be there, so he asked the princess, “Can I go see my parents? I really want them to be at our wedding.”

The princess replied, “They live quite far from us, but you can reach them. The ring I gave you has a special power: when you turn it on your finger and wish to travel a hundred miles, you’ll instantaneously cover that distance. On your journey, you’ll encounter a king with a beautiful daughter. But you must not think of her or of me, because if you do, you’ll lose the ring, and then you won’t be able to continue.”

John jumped. He twisted the ring, and in an instant, he was a hundred miles away, standing before a king with several sons. They treated him like royalty. Then [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] he arrived at another king’s palace, who had an only daughter, and she was quite unpleasant. The king pressured John to marry her. John thought, “What are you thinking, man? My beloved is so beautiful that no one compares to her in the entire world, while your daughter is just an unpleasant person.” Just then, as he thought of his bride, the ring slipped off his finger and vanished.

John then left them. He felt really sad and thought about what he should do. “My bride is so far away now,” he thought. “I can’t figure out how to get to her or to my parents.”

As he walked along feeling down, he thought about his cloak and realized that if he could make it to the Sun's place the same day, he could ask where his bride's castle was. Just like that, he found himself at the Sun's house. The Sun wasn't home; only his housekeeper was there. He requested a place to stay and mentioned he wanted to ask the Sun if he knew where his bride's castle was. She provided him with a place to stay. When the Sun came back in the evening, John asked him if he knew about the castle where his wife lived. The Sun replied, “I don’t know. I’ve never shone there. But go and ask the Moon.”

The next day, as soon as he woke up, he rushed off on his cloak to the Moon’s castle. When he arrived, the Moon wasn't home, and John asked the housekeeper for a place to stay for the night. He mentioned that he wanted to ask the Moon for some advice.

The housekeeper said: “You have to wait until the Moon comes home, but you'll be really cold because my boss is a very cold person.”

“I'll crouch in a corner and wait until the mistress arrives; either way, my cloak is warm enough.”

When morning approached, the Moon came home, and John asked her if she knew where his bride's castle was.

The Moon said, “I’ve never shone there. But go to the Wind. He’s a guy who gets into everything, so he probably knows where that castle is.”

So John went to the Wind's house. The Wind wasn’t home, but Melusine, his wife, was alone there. John asked her if he could stay the night. She tried to talk him out of it.

“It’s impossible, good sir. My lord tends to blow very hard. It’s going to be really cold.”

He replied, “I’ll wrap myself up and find a spot to hide. I can handle the cold, and besides, my cloak is warm enough.” So he stayed there for the night.

After midnight, the Wind came home and asked, “Who’s here with you, wife? I smell a man.”

“Who’s supposed to be here?” she said. “Your nose is still full of the human scent.”

But the Wind wouldn't give up: “There's someone here! Tell me!”

So she admitted. “Don’t be mad, dear husband! There’s a guy staying here for the night, and he wants to know if you would be nice enough to take him to his bride’s castle.”

The Wind replied, “It’s quite a distance from here, and I need to check with the Lord about how strongly I should blow to get us there. I was there yesterday; they’re getting ready for a wedding, and they’ve been drying some shirts for it, and I’ve been lending a hand.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

The Wind went to ask the Lord; and when he came back, he said to John: “I can blow hard enough, but I’m not sure if you’ll be able to keep up with me.”

John replied, “I have good boots, and I know I can.”

So he wrapped himself in his cloak, pulled his hat down over his head, and put on his boots, moving so fast that the Wind could barely keep up. As they approached the castle, the Wind said, “Here it is,” and vanished in a swirl.

The other groom was already there and was at the wedding feast. John moved through the castle and came to the table where they were eating. No one noticed him. He stood close to the bride, and every time she brought food to her mouth, he ate it before it got to her, so the spoon reached her mouth empty.

After the banquet, she said: “My plates were full, but it feels like I haven't eaten anything at all. Who has eaten my food? My glass was full too. I haven't drunk anything, and yet it's empty. Who has drunk my wine?” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Then she went to the kitchen, and John followed right behind her. When she was alone, he showed himself. He took off his hat, and she recognized him. She was really happy about this and ran to the room and said:

“Gentlemen, I’d like to ask you a question. I had a golden key and I lost it. So I had a silver key made for me, and now that it’s made, I’ve found the golden key. Would you be so kind as to advise me which one I should keep?”

The groom stepped forward and said, “Keep the golden key.”

Off she went. She dressed John in beautiful clothes and then introduced him to the guests, saying: “This is my golden key. He saved me from suffering, and I was supposed to marry him. He tried to visit his parents, but he couldn’t reach them. Now he’s back just as I was about to marry another man, the silver key of my story, even though I had lost all hope of him coming back. But he has returned, and I will keep him, the golden key, because the silver key has decided it so.”

The wedding was held the next day, and John took over the old king’s [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]kingdom. Then they both went to visit his elderly parents and brought them back with them to the palace. On their way back, they stopped by to see the three brothers, and John returned the boots, the cloak, and the hat. And if they haven’t passed away since then, they are still alive, enjoying their kingdom. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

[__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once there were two brothers. They were lazy guys and, on top of that, thieves. They were supposed to throw a feast. They said to each other, “We don’t have anything. Where are we going to find food for the feast?”

So the first one said, “I’ll go to our neighbor’s. He has some great apples, and I’ll pick some of them.”

The second one said, “I’ll head to the shepherd’s place. He has some great rams. I’m going to steal one from him.”

These two brothers hated the third one, so they mistreated him: “Silly Jura! You won’t get anything for yourself, but you’ll happily eat whatever we get.”

So Jura said, “I’m going to the mayor’s to get some nuts.”

In the evening, they went their separate ways. After he finished gathering the nuts, [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]Jura went into the ossuary behind the church and started cracking the nuts there. The guards heard the cracking sounds coming from the ossuary and assumed the place was haunted. Since there was no priest in the village (he lived in the next village over), they went to the mayor and asked him to accompany them to the ossuary, claiming that it was haunted.

The mayor said, “I’m so sick that I can’t stand up; no doctor can help me.”

But the watchmen insisted, so the mayor told his assistant to carry him on his back to the location. The assistant carried him, and the watchmen stopped at the churchwarden’s to ask for some holy water.

When they got close to the charnel-house, Jura thought it was his brother bringing the ram, so he called out: “Are you bringing him?”

The servant was scared, dropped the burgomaster, and ran away. The burgomaster was scared as well. He got up and chased after the servant. He jumped over a wooden fence in one leap, and it [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]wasn't long before he got home. His family was surprised to see him healed so quickly without a doctor’s help.

The next day, the mayor announced that he would reward a pound to whoever had taken his nuts the day before if they just came to see him. So Jura went to see him, and the mayor said, “I should punish you for stealing, but since you cured my illness that no one else could, I’ll give you the pound I promised, but you have to promise not to steal again.” Jura agreed not to steal anymore and went home.

The brothers became really fond of him now that he had money. They borrowed money from him to buy new clothes and said, “We’re going to see the world and find wives for ourselves. As for you, Silly Jura, you have to stay home; you’d never find a good wife for yourself.”

So off they went. But Jura went too. He headed into the forest and was completely amazed. He had often heard about an enchanted castle hidden in that forest. When he arrived at the spot where the castle ruins stood, night fell around him, and he [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]could only see what looked like a light coming from a cellar. So he entered the cellar to spend the night there. The cellar was empty except for a cat. The cat greeted him, saying, “Welcome, dear Jura! How did you end up here?”

Jura was scared when he heard the cat talk and was about to run away. But the cat told him not to leave; there was no reason to be afraid. He should come back, and nothing bad would happen to him. If he wanted to eat, he could go into the storeroom and take what he wanted. She would make him her servant.

So he stayed there for a year and had a great time. He never saw a cook, but he always found meals prepared in the storeroom. He had nothing to do but gather firewood, and at the end of the year, he was told to make a huge pile of it. Then the cat said, “You need to light the pile today and throw me into the fire. Please don't help me out, no matter how much I plead, just let me be burned up.”

Jura replied, “I can’t do that. I’ve enjoyed my time with you. Why would I repay you in such a terrible way?” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

The cat said: “If you don’t do what I told you, you’re going to be really unhappy. If you do it, you’ll be happy.”

So Jura lit the fire, and when it was blazing well, he picked up the cat and threw her into the flames. She tried to escape from the fire, but he wouldn’t let her go. Eventually, he became so exhausted that he had to lie down, and soon he fell asleep. When he woke up, he opened his eyes, and to his surprise! there was no destruction; he heard beautiful music and saw a stunning palace filled with servants. He was marveling at all this when a elegantly dressed lady approached him and asked if he didn’t recognize her.

Jura said, “How am I supposed to know, Your Ladyship? I’ve never seen you before in my life.”

The lady said: “I am that cat. Witches cursed me to take the form of a cat. Now we will go after your brothers who treated you so badly and see how they are doing.”

She told her people to dress him in nice clothes, got a fancy carriage ready, and they set off. As they got close to the village, the lady said to her fiancé: [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] “Put your old clothes back on.” Then she called over an old, ragged beggar woman and sent him with her. She stayed outside the village herself.

When the brothers saw Jura coming with the shabby beggar woman, they yelled, “He’s bringing home a worn-out bride, and he’s a mess too.” The other brothers were also married and struggling financially, so they kicked him out and wouldn’t let him stay.

So Jura left the village; he changed his clothes and drove back with the lady to his brothers' cottage. When the carriage stopped in front of the cottage, the brothers said, "What a nice carriage! Who is that nobleman and the beautiful lady who have come to our cottage?" They didn't recognize their brother.

So she said: “Listen, you’ve always been tough on your brother, always making fun of him, and now you’re in a pretty bad situation while he’s doing great. If you change your attitude, you can succeed too.”

After that, she gave them some money and left with Jura. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once, there was a boy named John who could fall asleep anytime, anywhere. One day, he arrived at an inn where some farmers were feeding their horses. He snuck into the cart, lay down on the straw, and fell asleep. After the farmers had driven a while, they noticed John asleep in the cart. They wondered, "What should we do with him? We have a beer barrel here. Let’s put him in it and leave him in the forest." So, they locked him in the barrel and drove off.

John slept in the cask for a long time. Suddenly, he woke up and found himself inside it, but he had no idea how he got there or where he was. There was something darting around near the cask, so he looked through the bunghole and saw a large group of wolves gathered under the rocks. They had [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]come around, drawn in by the human scent. One of the wolves pushed its tail through the hole, and Sleepy John began to think that his time was up. But he grabbed the wolf’s tail with his hand. The wolf was scared and, dragging the cask along, it ran after the rest of the wolves, who scattered in all directions. Their panic increased as the cask bumped along behind them. Finally, the cask hit a rock and smashed. John let go of the wolf, which ran off as fast as it could.

Now John found himself in a wild mountain area. He started wandering among the mountains and came across a hermit. The hermit said to him: “You can stay here with me. I’ll die in three days. Bury me then, and I’ll reward you well for it.”

So John stayed with him, and when the third day arrived, the hermit, who was close to death, gave him a stick and said, “Wherever you point this stick, you’ll end up there.” Then he handed him a knapsack and said, “You’ll find anything you need in this knapsack.” Finally, he gave him a cap and said, “As soon as you put this cap on, no one will be able to see you.”

Then the hermit died, and John buried him.

John gathered his things, pointed the stick, and said, “Take me directly to the town where the king lives.” In an instant, he found himself there and was informed that the queen would wear out a dozen pairs of shoes every night, yet no one could follow her trail. Many lords were eager to offer their services to track the queen, and John joined them. He entered the palace and announced himself to the king. When he stood before the king, he stated that he wanted to follow the queen. The king asked him, “Who are you?”

He answered, “Sleepy John.”

The king said: “How are you going to find her if you’re always sleeping? If you can’t find her, you’ll lose your head.”

John replied that he would still try to find her.

When evening came, the queen went to bed in one room, and John went to bed in the next room, which the queen had to pass through. He didn't fall asleep, [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] but when the queen walked by, he pretended to be in a deep sleep. So the queen lit a candle and burned the soles of his feet to check if he was really asleep. But John didn’t move, so she was convinced he was asleep. Then she took her twelve pairs of new shoes and left.

John got up, put on his cap, pointed with his stick, and said, “I want to be where the queen is.”

Now, when the queen reached a certain rock, the ground opened up in front of her and two dragons approached her. They carried her on their backs as far as the lead forest. Then John said, “I want to be where the queen is,” and suddenly he found himself in the lead forest. He broke off a twig as proof and put it in his knapsack. But when he snapped the twig, it made a loud ringing sound like a bell. The queen was startled, but she continued on. John pointed with his stick and said, “I want to be where the queen is,” and just like that, he was in the tin forest. He broke off another twig and added it to his knapsack, and it rang again. The queen turned pale, but she kept riding. John pointed with his stick once more and said, “I want to be where the queen is,” and instantly he was in the silver forest. He broke off another twig and put it in his knapsack. As he broke it, it made a ringing sound, and the queen fainted. The dragons hurried on until they reached a green meadow.

A crowd of devils showed up to greet them here, and they brought the queen back to life. Then they had a feast. Sleepy John was there too. The cook wasn’t home that day, so John took his place, and since he was wearing his cap, nobody recognized him. They saved some food for the cook, but John ate it all. Everyone was surprised to see the food they set aside vanish. They couldn’t figure out what was going on, but they didn’t really care. When the banquet ended, the devils started dancing with the queen, and they kept dancing until she wore out all her shoes. Once her shoes were ruined, the two dragons picked her up again and took her back to the spot where the earth had opened up for her. John said, “Let me be where the queen is.” By that time, she was walking on the earth again, and he followed her. When they got close to the palace, he went ahead of the queen and went to bed; as she entered, she saw him sleeping, so she went to her own room, lay down, and fell asleep.

In the morning, the lords came together, and the king asked if any of them had tracked the queen. But none of them could say, “Yes.”

So he called Sleepy John to come see him. John said:

“Gracious Lord King, I did track her down, and I know that she wore out those twelve pairs of shoes on the green fields in Hell.”

The queen stepped forward immediately, and John took the leaden twig from his backpack and said: “The queen was taken by two dragons toward Hell, and she arrived at the leaden forest; that's where I broke off this twig, and the queen was scared.”

The king said, “That’s not okay. You could have made the twig yourself.”

So John took the tin twig out of his backpack and said, “After that, the queen drove through the tin forest, and that’s when I broke off this twig. At that moment, the queen looked pale.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

The king said, “You could have even made this twig.”

So John pulled out the silver twig and said: “Later, the queen went through the silver forest, and when I snapped off this twig, she fainted, and she stayed that way until the devils brought her back to life.”

The queen, realizing that everyone knew, shouted: “Let the earth swallow me!” and she was swallowed by the earth.

Sleepy John received half of the kingdom, and when the king passed away, he got the other half as well. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

[__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

A certain merchant passed away. His son was nineteen years old at the time. He said to his mother, “Dear Mom, I’m going to see what I can do in the world.”

His mother said, “Go, my dear son, but don’t take too long, because I’m getting old and would appreciate some help in my old age.” She prepared him for the trip and said goodbye.

Out into the world went the son, and he traveled on until he reached a forest. He had been walking through it for three days, and there was no end in sight. On the third day, he continued until he finally arrived at a cottage. He entered the cottage and saw a terrifying creature sitting on a stool. The creature asked him where he was headed.

“I don’t know where I’m headed. I’m looking for my luck in some job.”

“Well, if you want, you can join my team.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

The boy was really hungry, so he got a job with the other.

His master said to him, “You have to serve me for at least a year.”

So he worked for him for a year. He was treated really well, and he was a loyal servant to his master. The master was a sorcerer, but he didn’t harm the young man. He had a large pond, and three doves would come there to bathe. Each of them had three golden feathers. These three doves were three enchanted princesses.

When the year's service was over, the sorcerer said, "What payment should I give you?"

The kid said he left it up to him.

“You're a good guy,” said the sorcerer. “Come with me to my cellar and take as much money as you want, gold or silver, whatever you prefer.”

So the kid took as much as he could carry, and the sorcerer gave him one of the three doves as well, saying:

“When you get home, if you don’t have your own house, have one built, and then take those three feathers from the dove and hide them away so securely that no human [73] can see them. The dove will turn into a beautiful princess and you can marry her.”

So he took the dove and went back home. He had a house built and created a secret spot in one of the walls for the three feathers. When he removed the feathers, the dove turned into a beautiful princess, but she had no idea where the feathers were. However, his mother knew exactly where they were, since he had told her everything and shown her where he hid the feathers.

When they had been living together for three years, he went hunting one day with another lord, and his mother stayed home with her daughter-in-law. The mother said to her, “Dear daughter-in-law, I can’t express how beautiful I think you are. If someone searched the entire world, they wouldn’t find a woman as beautiful as you.”

The daughter-in-law replied, “Dear lady, the beauty I have now is nothing compared to what I would have if I just had one of my golden feathers.”

The mother went right away, grabbed one of the feathers, and handed it to her.

She pressed it into her skin, and instantly she was much more beautiful than before. The mother kept staring at her and said: [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] “If you had the other two as well, you would be even more stunning.” Then she went to get the other two feathers and handed them to her.

She pressed them into her skin, and look! she was a dove again. She flew out the window, thanking her mother-in-law: “Thank you, dear mother, for giving me these three feathers. I will wait a bit for my husband to say goodbye to him.”

So she sat on the roof to wait for her husband to come back from the forest.

Now, the husband's nose started bleeding profusely. He became frightened and began to worry about what terrible misfortune had happened to him at home. He got on his horse and rushed back. As he was getting close to the door, the dove called out: “Goodbye, dear husband. I appreciate your true love, but you will never see me again.”

Then the dove flew away, and the husband started to cry and wail. Naturally, he was really mad at his mother, and he decided to leave again and follow wherever his eyes took him. So he set off and went back to the sorcerer he had worked for before. As soon as he walked in, the sorcerer said: [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“Aha! You didn’t take my advice. I won’t help you this time; the three doves have left. But go to my brother, because he controls all the birds and animals, and maybe some of them will know where the doves are. I’ll give you a ball, and when you roll it three times, you’ll get there this evening. You need to ask him if he knows anything about the doves, and you must also tell him that I sent you.”

The boy thanked him sincerely and continued on his way. He rolled the ball three times and reached the other brother's place by evening. He told him that his brother had sent his regards and then asked if he knew where the doves that used to bathe in his brother's pond were.

The brother replied, “Listen, my good friend, I don't know anything about them. You’ll have to wait until morning. All the birds and animals are under my control, and if they know anything about it, everything will be fine.”

In the morning, they headed to the forest. The brother blew a whistle, and immediately, flocks of birds gathered around, eager to know what their master wanted. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

He said, “Hey, does anyone here know about those three golden doves that used to bathe in my brother’s pond?”

None of them knew, so he blew his whistle again and all sorts of animals gathered around him: bears, lions, squirrels, wolves, every kind of wild animal, and they asked what their master wanted.

He said, “I want to know if any of you know anything about the three golden doves that used to swim in my brother’s pond.”

None of them knew. So he said:

“My dear boy, I can’t help you any further with this issue, but I have another brother, and if he can’t tell you anything about them, then you’ll never hear about them again. He lives about 140 miles from here, and all the devils of Hell are under his control. I’ll give you another ball like the one you had yesterday, and when you’ve rolled it three times, you’ll get there before evening.”

He rolled the ball three times and arrived that same evening. The sorcerer was sitting in his garden on the grass. His hair was all messy like a mop, his belly was exposed like a bucket, his nose was long and as bare as a stick—overall, he looked pretty awful.

The boy was scared, but the sorcerer said: “Don’t be afraid, my boy; even though I look so terrifying, I have a good heart. What do you want?”

“I’ve come from your brother to ask if you can tell me about the three doves that used to bathe in your brother’s pond.”

“My dear boy, I don’t know anything about them, but as soon as you wake up in the morning, I’ll call my apprentices to see if any of them knows anything about the doves.”

In the morning, they woke up and went into the forest. The sorcerer blew a whistle, and immediately, crowds of devils appeared, so many that they darkened the entire forest.

The boy was scared, but the sorcerer said: “Don’t worry; not a hair on your head will be harmed.”

The demons asked what their master's wishes were.

He asked, “Does anyone know anything about the three doves that used to bathe in my brother’s pond?” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

None of them knew anything. The sorcerer looked around and asked, “Where’s the lame one?”

The disabled guy had been left behind, but he was rushing to catch up, worried that he might be too late. He approached and asked what his master wanted. The sorcerer replied, “I want to know if you know anything about those three doves that used to bathe in my brother’s pond.”

“Of course I know about them, because I’ve been driving them ahead of me. They’re currently bathing in the Red Sea.”

The sorcerer said, “You need to pick up this guy and carry him all the way to their palace with the gold roof,” and he pulled the boy aside and whispered in his ear:

“When the devil asks you how quickly he can take you, if he says, 'As fast as the wind blows?' say 'No.' And if he says, 'As fast as you can walk?' say 'No' again. But if he says, 'As fast as the air moves?' say 'Yes, exactly that.' If your cap falls, don’t look for it, and don’t mention it to the devil, or he will let you fall and won't help you to the palace. When you’re seven miles away from the palace, you’ll see it, and the devil will ask if you see it; but keep your eyes shut tight and say you can’t see it. When you’re three miles from it, you’ll see it clearly, and he’ll ask again if you see it. But you must keep your eyes shut tight and say you can’t see it. Then you’ll be right above the palace roof, and he’ll ask again if you see it. You must say again that you can’t see it, or he will let you drop onto the roof, and you won’t be able to get down.”

The devil took the man and flew with him as fast as the wind. When they were seven miles from the palace, the devil asked, “Can you see the palace now? It’s clear to see now.”

The boy closed his eyes tightly and said he couldn't see it. So they continued flying, and when they were three miles from the castle, the devil asked if he could see it now. He shut his eyes tight again and said he still couldn't see it. When they were directly above the roof, the devil asked, "You must see it now; we’re right over the roof."

But he closed his eyes tightly and said, “I don’t see it.”

The devil exclaimed angrily, “You must be [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]blind if you can't see it; we're right above the roof.” He then grabbed him in rage and placed him on the golden table in that royal castle.

The three princesses were sitting at the table, knitting with golden thread. His wife was the middle one, and she recognized him immediately. She jumped up happily and welcomed him with joy. She nearly fainted from excitement that he had traveled so many miles in such a short time.

“Welcome, dear husband, welcome! Welcome, our savior! You will free us from the spell we're under in this castle.”

The time passed very slowly there. So one day his wife brought him the keys and showed him all the rooms and closets, letting him see everything except one room, which she wouldn’t open for him.

The three princesses had to transform into doves for two hours in the morning and three hours before evening, and they had to go to the Red Sea to bathe. One day when they went out to bathe, he thought, “Why don’t you want to let me into that room?” So he went and searched [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]among the other keys for the key and opened the room for himself.

In the room, he saw a three-headed dragon, and each head was hanging down from a hook. Below the dragon were three glasses of water. The boy was terrified and started to run away. But the dragon kept calling out: “Don’t be afraid, don’t run away, just come back and give me that glass of water. I will spare your life this time.”

So he handed him the glass of water; the dragon gulped it down, and right away one of the heads dropped from the hook. He pleaded again: “Now give me that other glass of water, and I promise to spare your life once more.”

He gave it to him; the dragon drank it all, and right away the second head fell off the hook. Then the dragon said, “Now do what you want. But you have to give me the third glass of water, whether you want to or not!”

In fear, he handed over the third glass; the third head drank it and fell from its hook. Now the dragon was completely free, and he immediately headed for the Red Sea, starting to chase [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] the three doves until he caught one of them. It was the young man's wife.

The other two princesses came back once more and started to cry and mourn.

“Unlucky guy! We were hopeful that you would rescue us, and now we’re in a worse situation than ever—now our suffering will last until the end of time!”

He also burst into tears because he was heartbroken that the dragon had taken his wife, whom he had won at the risk of his life.

The princess’s three brothers were also under a spell. One of them was in the castle, transformed into a horse. One day, the horse said to the grieving husband, “The dragon is away from home right now. Let’s go and rescue the princess.”

So they went to the dragon’s castle, rescued the princess, and raced back home. The other brother of the three princesses was at the dragon’s castle, cursed to be in the form of a horse.

When the dragon got home, he asked the horse, “Where's my princess?”

The horse replied, “They came and took her away.”

The dragon hopped on the horse immediately [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] and said, “Now we’ll ride as fast as we can. We have to catch up to them.”

The horse said, “There’s no way we can catch up to them.”

But the dragon said, "Just let us get going; we'll catch up to them."

They began their journey and caught up with them near the castle. The dragon quickly snatched the princess away and said to the young man: “I promised to spare your life in exchange for that glass of water; now I’ve kept my word, but don’t ever think of coming to my castle again.”

And with that, the dragon flew home, taking the princess with him.

Some time later, the horse said to the grieving husband: “The dragon is out again. Let’s go and steal the princess.”

So they went and took her again.

The dragon came home and asked the horse, “Where's my princess?”

The horse replied, “Hibad! They’ve taken her again, but we can’t catch up to them this time.”

The dragon said, "We need to catch up to them."

He got on the horse, and they took off after them until they finally caught up. The dragon snatched the princess and said to the guy: “You’ve got your life saved for now. But if you come back, I’ll rip you apart.”

The young man was sad, crying and grieving his situation because he had lost his wife forever. But the horse said:

“I have one more piece of advice. I know a spot where there are some young ravens. Let’s go there, and you need to take the young ravens from their nest in the tree. The parents will come at you and peck you—they won’t want you to take their chicks; but tell them that you won’t return their chicks unless they bring you the healing water and the water of life.”

“When they bring the water, take one of the young ravens and pull its head off; then dip it in the healing water and put the head back on the body. That’s how you’ll know for sure that they’ve brought you the real water of life. If the wound closes up again, you can be certain it’s the real water of life. As soon as the wound has healed, take the water of life and pour some into the raven’s beak, and [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]when the bird comes back to life, you’ll know for sure that it’s the water of life.”

The kid did all this. The old ravens brought him water in leather bags. He grabbed one of the chicks, pulled its head off, dipped it into the healing water, and the wound closed up again. Then he poured some of the water of life into its beak, and it came back to life. After that, he put the young ravens back in the nest, grabbed the water, and headed home.

When he arrived, the horse said to him, “The dragon is out today. Let’s go see if we can rescue the princess.”

So they took off and kidnapped the princess. They ran as fast as they could.

The dragon came home and asked the horse, “Where’s my princess?”

The horse said, “She’s gone from us. They’ve taken her again, and this time we’ll never catch up with them.”

The dragon shouted angrily, “What’s stopping us from getting her back? Let’s go now.”

So they chased after them, and they got to the castle right as the escapees were entering through the gate. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

The dragon grabbed the princess and said to the boy: “You little troublemaker! I warned you that I would rip you apart if you showed up a third time for her.”

So he grabbed him, took a foot in each claw, and ripped him in half. Then he left with the princess and the horse.

The boy's horse took the healing water, dipped the two halves into it, pressed them together, and they fused. Then he took the water of life and poured it into the boy's mouth, and he came back to life. After that, they went into the castle.

The guy was crying hard and shouting that it was all over, that he would now be separated from his wife forever. But the horse offered him some comfort, saying:

“Well, I really don’t know what advice to give you right now. We've been through this three times, and he caught us every time. And the last time, you ended up in pieces. I can’t predict how things will turn out. But I have another brother across the Red Sea, and he’s stronger than I am or the dragon. If we could just get him, we’d definitely be able to kill the dragon. But it’s tough to do, since he’s working for the Devil’s grandmother. We’ll try it together, as long as we can figure out how to cross the Red Sea. And if you follow my advice, you’ll get the horse. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]”

“You have to work for the Devil's grandmother for three days, and once you finish, you should ask for that skinny horse as payment. You’ll need to take care of twelve horses for those three days. No one has ever succeeded in doing it. After the first day, when you come back, the Devil's grandmother always beheads the servant and hangs the head on a hook. Now, pay attention. While you’re tending to the horses, eat as much as you want of whatever the hag gives you at home. But if she offers you food while you're out in the field, don’t eat it; just throw it away. If you eat it, you’ll fall asleep, your horses will wander off, and the Devil’s grandmother will cut off your head and hang it on a hook.”

So they set off together until they reached the Red Sea. As they got closer to the sea, they saw a big fly stuck in a cobweb, struggling to break free. The boy approached it and said, “Poor fly! [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] You can't get out of that cobweb; just hang on, and I’ll help you.”

The cobweb was as large as a blanket, but he ripped it in half and the fly crawled out.

The fly said: “Thanks for helping me out of the cobweb. Pull one of my feet from underneath me, and whenever you need anything, just think of me, and I’ll help you.”

The boy thought, “Poor fly! How could you help me?” Still, he ripped off one of her legs and kept it.

Then he continued on his path and spotted a wolf with its tail caught under a heavy log, unable to free itself since wolves have rigid backs and can’t turn. The boy rolled the log away and freed the wolf.

The wolf said, “Thanks for helping me. Take one of my claws, and whenever you’re in great trouble, think of me, and I’ll assist you.” So the boy took one of his claws and kept it.

When he got really close to the sea, he saw a crab as big as a barrel. The crab was lying on the sand with its belly up, and it couldn’t flip itself over. So the boy went and turned [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]the crab back over. The crab asked him where he was headed. He said he was going to the Devil’s grandmother across the Red Sea.

The crab said: “My dear boy, I’ll build a bridge for you across the sea so you can cross. But, on top of that, you need to take one of my claws from under my belly, and when you’re in great need, think of me, and I will help you.”

So he took one of the claws and kept it. The crab scuttled into the sea, and right away all the crabs gathered together, forming a bridge across the water. The boy crossed the bridge and arrived at the Devil’s grandmother's house. She was waiting for him in the doorway and welcomed him. He had arrived just in time; she needed him to take care of her horses. She provided him with plenty of good food and sent him out to the fields. She entrusted him with twelve horses and said to him:

“Make sure you watch over them closely, because if you lose one, it’ll cost you your life. Just look at these twenty-four [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] posts, each with a hook. There are heads on twenty-three of them. The last hook is reserved for you. If you don’t take care of my horses, that hook is waiting for your head.”

Then she got him ready to take care of the horses. She gave him a piece of bread so he would have enough to eat and not go hungry. He planned to follow the horse's advice and threw the bread away. But an intense hunger hit him, so he had to go and find the bread to eat it.

The moment he ate it, he fell asleep, and all the horses were gone. When he woke up, not a single horse was left. Sadly, he said, “The Devil’s grandmother was right; my head will hang from that hook.” In his sorrow, he thought of the fly, and it came buzzing up and asked, “Why are you crying and mourning?”

He said he was hungry and had to eat the bread, which made him fall asleep and caused all the horses to be lost.

The fly tried to reassure him, saying: “Don’t worry, kid; I’ll help you.”

So she gathered all the flies, and [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]they flew around searching for the horses, and when they located them, they buzzed around them and bothered them until they led them to the herdsman. He happily drove them home.

The Devil’s grandmother greeted them, and when she noticed that all the horses were present, she said, “You’ve done a good job herding them, since you brought them all back.” Then she grabbed a hatchet and started hitting the horses with it, especially the thin one, until pieces of flesh were hanging off its body. The boy felt sorry for the horse, as the old woman was hitting it the hardest and it was the thinnest of them all. But the Devil’s grandmother took some ointment and applied it to the horses’ wounds, and by morning they were healed.

The next day, she got him ready again for herding the horses and gave him more bread, telling him to eat it all. But when he got to the pasture, he crumbled the bread and trampled the crumbs into the ground so they would be inedible. But it didn't work. He had to dig it up and eat it, dirt and all, because his hunger was so intense from what the Devil's grandmother had sent against him. Before long, he fell asleep, and all the horses got away.

When he woke up, he saw that there were no horses around. He cried and shouted. But then he thought of the wolf, and the wolf came running over and asked him, “Why are you crying and shouting? Don’t worry; I’ll help you.”

He went and called all the wolves. A huge pack of wolves came running up, and they spread out everywhere, searching for the horses. When they found them, they brought them to the herdsman, each horse being led by a wolf holding it by the ear. The herdsman was thrilled, and he took the horses and drove them home.

The Devil’s grandmother was waiting for him in front of the house. She said, “You’ve really done a good job herding them; this is the second day you’ve brought them all home.” But she hit the horses with the hatchet even worse than the day before; then she rubbed their wounds with the salve so they would heal by morning.

On the third day, she sent him out again to herd the horses and gave him some more [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] of the bread, telling him to eat it and not to throw it away. But when he got to the pasture, he tossed the bread on the sand and stomped on it so that it would be inedible. However, he had to dig it out again because the hunger the Devil’s grandmother had sent against him was so strong. Once he finished it, he fell asleep, and the horses wandered off. When he woke up, he burst into tears. This time, he was truly done for; the fly and the wolf had helped him before, but the crab had already built a bridge for him, so there was no one to assist him. The horses had no idea where to hide from the beatings by the Devil’s grandmother, so they jumped into the sea, where nobody could find them.

The herdsman was in agony, crying out that now his head would end up on that hook. Finally, he thought of the crab. The crab turned around in the sea, and immediately all the crabs gathered and started searching for the horses, pinching them until they forced them out of the water. However, the skinny one, not being able to think of a better hiding spot, hid under the crab’s belly. The other crabs began looking for him, and eventually they found him. The big crab had to flip over, and then they chased the skinny horse out. The herdsman happily took the horses and drove them home, as his three days of service were now finished.

The Devil’s grandmother was waiting for him, and she hit the horses with the hatchet so hard that their flesh hung in strips from their bodies. Then she rubbed them down with the salve, and the wounds healed by morning. In the morning she asked the herdsman what pay he wanted. He replied, "I want nothing but that skinny old horse."

She said: “It would be a shame to give you such a terrible horse in exchange for your great service; I will give you the best horse.”

He replied, “I won’t ride anything but the skinny one.”

She asked him why he wanted the thinnest one. He replied: “Because I feel sorry for him, since he always takes the worst beating. I’ll take that one, and none other.”

So she said: “Well, I’ll give him to you, if you really want him, but I’ll also give you this chubby one. You can ride him home and lead the skinny one with you.”

He got on the fat horse and rode away. But as they were approaching the gate, the lean horse said, “Get off that horse and get on me, or you’re going to regret it.”

So he leaped off the plump horse and got on the skinny one.

The fat horse growled, "It was the Devil who gave you that advice."

And the skinny horse said: “If you had gone under the gate on that horse’s back, he would have smashed you against the top of the gate, and your head would have been knocked off, and you would have been killed.”

So they made it home safely. When the princesses saw him return, they were thrilled.

The other horse said, “Alright, brother, let’s go. The dragon is out, and the princess will be ours.” So they went and took the princess.

When the dragon got home, he asked his horse, “Where’s my princess?”

The horse said, “She’s gone, and [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]this time we won’t be able to get her back. The horse from the Red Sea has arrived, and he will outsmart all of us.”

The dragon ignored that and flew after them, catching up right at the gate. He was about to snatch the princess away, but this time he couldn't. The horse from across the Red Sea kicked him in the nose with its hoof, causing the dragon to fall from his horse. The other two horses then trampled him, and together they killed the dragon.

They arrived at the castle with the princess, congratulating each other on their victory over the enemy. Then the horse, who had been giving great advice to his rider all along, said: “Now, dear brother-in-law, please take my sword hanging from the ceiling and chop off my head.”

He felt sad and replied, “How could I do that after everything you’ve done for me?”

The horse said: “My good friend, I can’t explain why you need to behead me, but you would be doing me a great injustice if you didn’t.”

So he didn't hesitate any longer and chopped off its head [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]. The blood shot up twelve feet in the air, and right away, the horse transformed into a handsome young man. Seeing this, the boy quickly beheaded the other horses, and they all turned into good-looking princes just like the first one.

They all thanked him for saving them, and they made him the king of that castle, where he lived happily with his wife and her two sisters until they passed away. The three brothers moved into the dragon’s castle. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once there was a count who had three daughters. They were all young and as beautiful as peacocks, but the youngest was the most gorgeous of them all. The count didn't have much money since he lost it all to gambling. So, to pass the time, he would go hunting. One day, while he was out hunting, he got lost in a forest and couldn't find his way out. Suddenly, a big bear came charging at him, roaring at the top of his lungs. The bear said he would show him the way out of the forest and would also give him as much gold and silver as he wanted, but on one condition: the count had to give him one of his daughters in marriage. The count was terrified. After thinking it over for a while, he finally agreed. The bear showed him the way out of the forest and gave him everything he promised, so the count was happy.

He spent his time eating, drinking, and gambling until all his money was gone. He never even thought about the bear, until one day, when his eldest daughter was ready to get married, a carriage pulled up. The carriage was pulled by two jet-black horses, and inside sat a prince with rosy cheeks, dressed in lavish gold robes. He came, took the eldest daughter, and drove away. The countess cried, but the count didn’t care at all; instead, since he was low on cash, he started hunting again.

One day he got lost again, and this time an eagle swooped down to him and promised to guide him out of the forest and give him a lot of money too, if he would just give him his second daughter in exchange. They made a deal, and the eagle took the second daughter away, leaving only the youngest at home. But he ended up selling her too, and it was a fish that took her.

So the count and the countess were left alone. They were very sad, but after a while, a baby boy was born to them, and they watched over him like he was the most precious thing in the world. As the boy grew up, he noticed that the countess sometimes looked sad, and he wouldn’t rest until she told him everything. After he heard the story, he put on his best clothes, grabbed his sword, mounted his horse, and said goodbye to his parents, telling them he was going to look for his lost sisters.

So he rode on until he reached his oldest sister. He found her playing with three little bear cubs, which were her babies. He met his brother-in-law, who gave him three hairs and told him to rub those hairs with his fingers if he ever faced any trouble. Then he went to the second sister and found her with two eaglets and the old eagle, his brother-in-law as well. The eagle gave him three feathers, saying they would help him in times of need. He thanked the eagle for that and continued on his way, and eventually he arrived at his youngest sister. It was more challenging to reach her, as she lived underwater, and he had to drop into her house through the chimney. He would have missed the chimney if it weren’t for the smoke coming from it: it was bluish smoke, barely visible. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]His sister welcomed him warmly and showed him her baby, a cute little fish, and her husband, a giant fish. The young man received three fish scales from the husband to use in times of trouble.

He found out that the bear and the eagle were the brothers of the fish. They were sons of a powerful king, but an envious magician had cast a spell on them and turned them into these forms. The sorcerer could shapeshift. But the brother must not let that discourage him. He had to find a golden egg that was hidden in the sorcerer and throw it on the ground. If he started to feel weak and didn't know what to do, he had to call one of his brothers-in-law, and he would tell him what to do.

And so it happened. The young count charged at the magician, who transformed into a bull. But the young count wasn’t scared: he rubbed the bear’s fur; the bear came rushing in and ripped the bull apart. Out of the bull flew a wild duck that tried to flee. The count then thought of the eagle feathers, and instantly the eagle soared up and tore the duck to shreds. However, a golden egg dropped from the duck and rolled into the pond. But that [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] didn’t help either, because the count rubbed the fish scales, and after a while, the fish tossed the egg onto the bank. The count grabbed it and smashed it on the ground, breaking it into many pieces.

Suddenly, everything changed. The pond became a meadow with a beautiful castle shining brightly on it. The castle was bustling with servants, and the three princes, along with their wives and children, were just stepping out. Everyone was thrilled to be so happily freed, and after they had their fill of celebrating, they set off to find their parents.

Their first trip was to visit the old count and countess so they could enjoy seeing their children and grandchildren. After that, they hurried to see the old king. He ordered a lot of cannons to be fired and set up a grand banquet. He gave the kingdom to his oldest son. The second son went to the count's land, which was split between him and his brother-in-law. The youngest went to the cursed castle. They all ruled successfully and wisely in their respective kingdoms, and if they haven't passed away since, they're still ruling. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once there was a king who had just one son. One day, the king went to check on his lands. He arrived at the first farm and found everything in order. Before he finished touring his estates, a total of thirteen large farms, he forgot that his wife was about to have a baby. On his way home, he passed through a forest, and he became so thirsty that he ordered his driver to stop and look for some water. The driver searched everywhere for water, but he couldn’t find any. So the king went to look for it himself, and he discovered a well.

Now, just as he was about to drink, he knelt down and saw something in the well that had crab-like claws and red eyes. It grabbed him by the beard with one of its claws—he had a pretty long beard—and it wouldn’t let him go unless he promised to give it something he had at [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]home without knowing what it was. So he thought to himself, “I know everything at home.” But he forgot about his wife’s condition. By that time, his wife had given birth to a prince, and so the king, without realizing it, had promised his son to the creature in the well. After that, it let him go.

When he got home, he saw the newborn prince, and naturally, he felt very sad. He stayed that way for twelve years. The prince asked him why he was so sad. The king replied, “Because you’re sold.” The prince reassured him not to worry; he would be able to handle it himself.

The prince called for his horse and set off. He had been riding for five days from home when he arrived at a lake. There, he tied up his horse. He noticed thirteen ducks swimming on the lake and saw thirteen shifts lying on the shore. He took one of the shifts and hid himself. When the ducks saw this, twelve of them flew away, but the thirteenth was running back and forth, searching for her shift. Seeing her in distress, he came out of his hiding place. Now, the father of those ducks was the one who had grabbed the king by the beard. He was a sorcerer, and his name was Kojata.

This girl was his youngest daughter. And she said to the prince:

“Now I’m going to give you some good advice. You’ll help me, and I’ll help you. My dad is going to set you a tough challenge. I’ll take care of it for you, but you mustn’t let him know that I’m helping you. Leave your horse here and hurry over to my dad’s place. He’ll give you a room to stay in, and he’ll give you three days to think about the task. You’ll be alone in your room, and in the evening, I’ll come to your window humming, because I’ll appear in the form of a bee since I can’t come any other way. And you have to follow my advice. My father has thirteen daughters, and we all look exactly alike and wear the same kind of clothes. You’ll need to find out which one is the youngest, but the only way you can recognize me is by seeing a tiny fly under my left eye, so pay close attention.”

So it was. The sorcerer called him in and the thirteen daughters were standing [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] in a row. The sorcerer asked him if he could tell which one was the youngest; if he could, his life would be saved. He went around them three times, but it was really hard to recognize her. Still, he pointed her out. She was the third from the end. Then the sorcerer asked him who had been giving him tips. But the prince replied that it was none of his business.

The next day, the sorcerer assigned him another task: to build a palace made entirely of gold and silver without using a hammer or trowel. The prince was really worried about this. But in the evening, the youngest daughter came flying to him again and gave him a wand. With just a wave of the wand, the palace sprang up fully built, and it was even more magnificent than the old one. In the morning, he was walking around the palace, taking in the sights. When King Kojata saw him, he approached and paused: “Who advised you on this?” he asked. The prince replied that it was the same person who had given him guidance before.

So the sorcerer gave him the third task, and this time the daughter couldn't [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] help him. She came to him in the evening and said, “I have no other advice than for both of us to run away right now; otherwise, you'll be doomed, and so will I.”

Now, in the evening, she transformed into a horse, and he got on and rode all the way to the lake. There, he found his own horse, and they both got on it and rode off at full speed. Soon, she heard a loud commotion behind her, so she changed into a church, and the prince became a monk. The sorcerer's apprentices were chasing after them. When they reached the church, they turned around and went back to Kojata. When they arrived, they told him that they hadn’t caught anyone; they had only seen a church and a monk inside it. And he said, "That was them!"

Next day, he sent them out again to chase the runaways. Even though they were riding faster than the day before, they heard a thundering noise behind them again. So, she turned herself into a huge river and him into an old, crumbling bridge. Their pursuers reached the river and the bridge, then turned back and told their king, Kojata, that they had seen nothing but a [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]river and a bridge. He immediately said, “Well, that must be them!”

On the third day, the runaways set off again and headed for the border as quickly as they could, and soon they were back in their own country. When they reached the third church, the sorcerer lost all his power over them. He started pulling his hair out, banging his head against the ground, and cursing his daughter for deceiving him.

So the young king came home, bringing a beautiful young princess with him. His father was very happy about that! [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

[__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

To make a long story short, there was a prince who had three sons. The first two followed in their father's footsteps, but the third didn't. He said he wanted to be a forester. The father got angry and kicked him out of the house. What was he supposed to do with a son who was so stubborn and wanted to be a forester?

“Well, be whoever you want,” said the prince, and he gave him a shepherd's outfit and Hynek went out into the world.

He had been walking through a forest for three days. He was hungry and cold, and everything felt like it was against him. He was tired too, and eventually, he fell asleep under a tree. While he was sleeping, a Black man approached him. He wouldn’t let him keep sleeping and woke him up. Hynek was scared. But the man reassured him that there was no need to be afraid. He was a good person, [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]even though his skin was black. So Hynek stayed with him for seven years and learned seven languages, how to play the zither, and all kinds of other things.

Now the seven years were over. In that land, there was a king who had only one daughter. A fierce dragon was wreaking havoc throughout the kingdom, and everyone was forced to give him one sheep and one person to keep him satisfied. So the choice fell on the princess as well. The black man told Hynek that something needed to be done to save the people and rescue the princess from being eaten by that dragon.

“Go to the next farm,” he said, “and ask to be hired as a shepherd, and in the morning you’ll need to take the sheep into this forest.”

So they said goodbye to each other. Hynek started his job as a shepherd, and in the morning he took the sheep into the forest, where the black man was waiting for him. When he arrived with the sheep, the black man handed him a stick and a ring, and said:

“When you twist this ring, you'll be taken to a castle where a giant lives, [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]and you’ll need to face the giant. This wand will help you with that. Afterward, you must take his robe, his horse, and his sword. Then, you’ll be taken to the town, just in time for when the princess will be brought out.”

So Hynek said goodbye and found everything just as he had mentioned. As he approached the castle, the giant was looking out and said:

“You earthworm, what are you looking for?”

“Oh! I'd really like to take a shot at that big head of yours.”

The giant exploded in anger. He was holding a massive club and threw it at Hynek, but Hynek dodged, and the club slammed into the ground with incredible force. Hynek approached him and, crack! he hit him with the wand. The giant fell over. Hynek grabbed his sword and sliced off his head. Then he pulled an iron key from the giant’s pocket. He unlocked the gate, took the robe and the horse, and dressed like a knight. After that, he turned the ring, and in no time, he found himself on the road along [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]where they were taking the princess to be eaten by the dragon. When he saw the procession, he asked:

“What’s happening here, and why are people so upset?”

“Because the princess is going to be eaten by a dragon today.”

Hynek said: “For the sake of her beauty, show me his lair where he stays.”

So he rode up to the rock and shouted: “Come on, dragon; your meal is ready and waiting for you.”

But the dragon replied, “I don’t want it today; come back tomorrow at eleven.”

So Hynek came back. He rode up to them and said that the dragon wouldn’t come out of its den today. So everyone went back to town with the knight, and the king wouldn’t let him leave under any circumstances. But Hynek started making excuses. He had to deliver a letter for the field marshal and couldn’t stay there. Then he twisted the ring on his finger, and in an instant, he was back in the castle. He left the clothes and the horse there, neatly arranging the clothes. Then he put on his shepherd’s outfit, turned the ring, and in no time, he was [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]near the forest, where the black man had been watching his sheep in the meantime. He greeted him warmly:

"You've done everything great. Always behave like that."

So he drove the sheep home and played the zither again. Everyone rushed to the door to hear the shepherd's enchanting music. But he didn’t say a word to anyone.

The next day, he drove the sheep to the forest even earlier. The black man was there waiting for him and said, “Follow my advice, and you’ll be happy.”

He said he would do it. The Black man was supposed to watch the sheep again. He handed Hynek the staff and the ring, and Hynek arrived at another castle.

The giant was watching as he approached; he was standing in the doorway. He asked the boy sternly what he was looking for.

“Oh! it's nothing. I just want to go for that big head of yours.”

The giant was holding a hammer and threw it at him. No one could see where it landed. Hynek jumped towards him, and, crack! he hit him with the wand, causing the giant to fall, and Hynek beheaded him too. He [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]pulled a silver key out of the giant’s pocket and headed straight to the castle. There, he picked out a robe, strapped on a sword, took a horse, and turned the ring again. Once more, he was on the road where the princess was being taken to be eaten. He asked them in a different language why they were crying so.

“Well, our princess is set to be eaten by the dragon today. He didn’t leave his cave yesterday.”

“Show me his lair: I will give myself up for her beauty.”

They showed him the rock, and he rode right up to it and shouted: “Alright, dragon, let’s go; your meal is ready here.”

“I don’t want it today, wait until eleven tomorrow.”

The king was even less willing to let him leave this time, but he came up with some excuse, turned his horse around, and returned to the castle with everything.

Then he went back to the forest and the black man. The black man said, “Take your sheep home now, but come back earlier tomorrow, because a big task is waiting for you.”

Hynek couldn’t sleep that night; he was terrified he would be too late. As soon as dawn broke, he let the flock out and took them to the forest. When he arrived, the black man told him, “Today is the only day left. It will be the last time. But taking on the third giant and the dragon will be a tough job for you.” Then he handed him the wand and the ring, saying that today’s key would be made of gold. He needed to choose the robe and take a black horse, and he had to bring the sword he used to kill the giant and the dragon.

He spun the ring and was transported to the third castle. There, he faced another giant, much larger than the first two. The giant charged at Hynek, but with a swift motion, Hynek struck him with the wand. Then, he drew his sword and killed him. Next, he unlocked the castle with a golden key, headed to the stable, donned a green robe, and brought out a black horse. A sword was hanging there, and he fastened it on. After that, he turned the ring, and in an instant, he found himself on the road where they were taking the princess to be eaten by the dragon.

He asked them in another language why they were so sad. He was prepared to sacrifice himself for her beauty. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]So they showed him the den where the dragon lived, and he shouted: “Alright, dragon; your meal is ready and waiting for you here.”

Now the rock started to shake; all the stones tumbled down, and the dragon burst out of the rock, its seven heads ablaze with fire, aiming straight for Hynek. Hynek started hacking at the seven heads until he was so exhausted that he could no longer continue. Then the horse began to stomp on the dragon, and after a while, once Hynek had caught his breath, he grabbed his sword and immediately cut off all seven heads.

He was so burned by the fire that he couldn't escape and fainted right there. The people saw what was happening, so they rushed in and carried him away to prevent him from dying from the dragon's poison. They brought him and laid him in the princess's lap. She gave him her ring and a gold necklace, and he regained his senses, realizing he was lying in the princess's lap. He worried he had stayed too long since he was supposed to meet the marshal by now. They all tried to convince him to stay, but he came up with an excuse [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] and promised he would return within three days. Eventually, they had no choice but to let him go.

He went back to the castle, where he put everything back in its place, except for the sword, which he took with him and gave to the Black man. The Black man said to him, “You’ve succeeded now, and things will go well for both of us.”

So Hynek drove his sheep home, feeling joyful. He was playing the zither, and everyone gathered outside to enjoy his beautiful music. He asked what had happened to the princess: had the dragon eaten her?

“Oh no! A knight brought her here, and the king is going to marry her off to him.”

“Wow! What a foolish shepherd I am, why didn’t I confront him myself with my shepherd’s staff!”

But they all laughed at him: “You take care of your sheep, that's what suits you.”

In the royal castle, the wedding feast was all set. The sixth day had arrived, and they were still waiting for him. But the groom didn’t show up, and the princess was feeling down. On the sixth day, he asked the marshal if he [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]could go to the castle to play his zither for the princess; he wanted to cheer her up since she was so sad.

"You can go, and if you succeed, you'll make some extra money."

So Hynek went and played, and the music was so sweet that the lords could focus on nothing but his beautiful playing. He played for three hours, and then he had to go home. They asked him what reward he would like.

“Just to share a cup of wine with the princess.”

He had the ring that the princess had given him while he was sitting in her lap. His request was approved, and the other musicians present were upset with him for asking for such a minor reward. After they filled the cup for him, he drank the wine and dropped the ring into the cup.

Now, the cupbearer who was pouring the drink looked into the cup and saw the shining ring. He quickly rushed to the princess with it. She recognized it as hers, so she instructed them to bring that shepherd to her.

“Okay,” he said, “there’s no way they’re going to beat me!”

They brought him before the princess, and [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]she made him explain how he got that ring and how he had been dressed.

So he said, "I was with you for all three of those days."

Hynek didn’t return to the marshal, even though he was upset about losing his shepherd. He was now dressed in royal robes, and they had a beautiful wedding in the castle. But the princess didn’t know who his parents were, even though she could tell he wasn’t from a lowly background.

So after a year, he said he wanted to visit his parents, and he told her to get ready for the trip. She was to send a letter to Prince So-and-So informing him that the young queen would be visiting him. He would leave first.

So he put on his shepherd’s outfit again and deliberately ripped it in several places, and when his princess arrived and everyone was welcoming her, he walked straight into the great hall. When the old Prince saw his son all tattered and torn, he ordered them to lock him up. But he easily escaped, and while they were feasting, he returned to the hall and sat down next to the princess. The father was furious that his son would behave so disgracefully. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]But the princess reassured him. It was fine, she said. She didn’t mind at all; he could sit wherever he liked.

After dinner, she asked for a bath. They got it ready for her. But Hynek was faster and slipped into the bathroom before she could. She closed the door, and he put on his royal robes. Then they went to see his father. The Prince was scared because he had thought so poorly of his son, and he fell to his knees. But Hynek lifted him up, kneeled before him, and asked for his forgiveness.

Then the black man came in. He handed Hynek the sword and told him to cut off his head. Hynek refused to repay his kindness like that.

“Then we'll both be sad.”

So when he realized what he had to do, he decapitated the head, and once he did that, an English prince appeared in its place. He was only eighteen years old. All his followers also woke up. Hynek went with him to England and then said goodbye.

How is everyone doing now?

I don’t know. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once there was a mother with three daughters. A market was happening in the next town, and she said she would go. She asked her daughters what she should bring back for them. Two of them listed a ton of things; they insisted she must buy all of them. You know the type of girls and the things they would want. After they asked for more than enough, the mother turned to the third daughter:

“And you, don’t you want anything?”

“Actually, I don’t want anything; but if you want, you can bring me three roses, please.”

If that was all she wanted, her mother was ready to bring them.

When the mother realized everything she needed, she went to the market. She bought as much as she could, piled it all on her back, and headed home. But night fell, and the [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]poor mother completely lost her way and couldn’t go any further. She wandered through the forest until she was exhausted, and eventually, she stumbled upon a palace, even though she had never heard of it before. There was a large garden filled with roses, so beautiful that no artist alive could capture them, and all the roses were smiling at her. This reminded her of her youngest daughter, who had wished for just such roses. She had completely forgotten it until now. It must be because she was so old! Now she thought, “There are plenty of roses here, so I’ll take three.”

So she went into the garden and picked the roses. Suddenly, a basilisk appeared and demanded her daughter in exchange for the roses. The mother was terrified and considered throwing the flowers away. But the basilisk warned that wouldn’t help, and he threatened to tear her apart. So she had no choice but to promise him her daughter. There was no way out of it, and so she headed home.

She brought the three roses to her daughter and said: “Here are the roses, but I had to pay a high price for them. You must go to that castle in exchange for them, and I’m not even sure if you’ll ever return.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

But Mary seemed like she didn’t mind at all, and she said she would go. So her mother took her to the castle. Everything she wanted was there. Soon the basilisk appeared and told Mary that she had to nurse him in her lap for three hours every day. There was no way around it; she had to do it, so the basilisk came, and she nursed him for three hours. Then he left, but he returned the next day and the day after that. On the third day, he brought a sword and told poor Mary to cut off his head.

She argued that she wasn’t used to doing things like that, and she couldn’t bring herself to do it. But the basilisk, furious, said that if that was the case, he would tear her apart. With no other option, she stepped up to him and chopped off his head. As the basilisk’s head rolled on the ground, a long serpent slithered out of his body, hissing terrifyingly. He asked her to cut his head off again. This time, Mary didn’t hesitate and quickly cut off his head.

The serpent (by the way, he held the golden keys to that palace in his mouth) was immediately transformed into a handsome young man, and he said in a friendly tone: “This [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]castle is mine, and since you've freed me, there's no escaping it: I have to marry you.”

So there was a big wedding, the castle was packed with their guests, and everyone had to play and dance. But the floor was made of paper, so I fell right through it, and here I am now. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

[__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

In the time of King Bambita, his two noble daughters mistreated the people, imposing heavy taxes on them without the king’s knowledge. The people cursed them, and the curses took effect. The princesses disappeared. The king sent some of his servants to search for the princesses, but the servants returned with nothing. None of them could find the princesses.

Now, a captain and a lieutenant heard about the king's problem. So the lieutenant went to the king and said, "I see you’re in trouble. I’ll go look for the princesses."

“How much do you want for it?” the king asked.

“Twenty bucks.”

The king agreed and handed him the money. “If you find them,” he said, “half of my kingdom is yours.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

The lieutenant and the captain had plenty of money now, so they went to an inn and spent their time drinking. On the third day, the captain said: “Today I’m going to see the king. If he gave you twenty pounds, he’s sure to give me more.”

So he went to the king and said: “I see that you’re in trouble, Your Majesty. I’d like to go and search for the princesses.”

“How much do you want for it?” said the king.

"Thirty bucks."

Well, the king handed him the money without any delay, saying that if he found the princesses, he would receive half of his kingdom.

They started drinking again and had a great time.

There was a drummer nearby, and he heard them talking about searching for the princesses. So he approached the king and said, “I hear that your majesty is overwhelmed by great trouble. I, too, would like to help find the princesses.”

“How much do you want for it?”

“At least forty pounds.”

The king handed him the money without [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]any fuss. The two officers and the drummer left that inn for another, and they kept spending their money carelessly in one bar after another. The drummer stuck with the other two, but he was more cautious than they were. He didn’t waste money like the two officers.

They asked him where he planned to go.

“Wherever you go, I’ll go too,” he replied.

“Then why not join us and live a happy life?”

“That I can’t do until I know where to find the princesses.”

They invited him to hang out with them, but he turned them down.

At last, they bought some bread and other food, and they all set off together on their journey. They entered a dark forest and searched it thoroughly for two weeks, but they found nothing. They also couldn’t figure out how to get out of the forest, so they agreed that one of them should climb to the top of the highest tree to see which way they should go. The drummer, being the youngest, climbed up a pine tree. He called out: [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“I can see a cottage. Look, I'm going to throw my hat toward it, and you follow the hat.”

Well, they kept going until they got to the cottage.

“Go into the room,” says the drummer.

“After you,” said both officers at the same time.

So the drummer walked in, and an old woman greeted him.

“Welcome, Drummer Anthony,” she said. “How did you get here?”

“I’m here to deliver the princesses, and that’s all.”

“Well, you’ll find them, but those other two guys will take them from you with a trick.”

She gave him a rope three hundred fathoms long and told him to wrap it around his body. She also handed him some wine and a sponge. Then she said, “Not far from here is a well. When you get there, you have to say that you'll lower yourself into the well if the others drink all the water from the fountain.”

When they reached the well, the captain and the lieutenant started drinking from the fountain, but it was just as full as it had been before. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“If we kept drinking from this fountain until the end of time,” they said, “we couldn't drink it dry.”

So the drummer grabbed the sponge, and immediately the water started to vanish, and soon the well was empty. They began to argue about who should go down into the well. The one on the right insisted that the other should go, but eventually they agreed that the drummer, being the lightest, should go.

So he went down, and when he got to the bottom of the well, he found a stone there. He moved it aside, and then he saw the light from the other world. He lowered himself on the rope into that world. There, he saw a beautiful palace. He walked toward it. When he arrived, he noticed that the table was set for two people. He had his meal and then went into the second room. There, he lay down to sleep, and when he woke up in the morning, he found Princess Anne in the third room.

"Welcome," she said. "What brings you here?"

He told her that he had come to save her.

She said, “I don’t know if you will [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] succeed in that. Here’s a sword; see if you can swing it.”

The drummer grabbed the sword, but he couldn’t even lift it; it was too heavy.

Then the princess gave him a ring. “Take this,” she said, “and whenever you think of me, you will become strong. I have to hold the dragon in my lap for a whole hour. As soon as he arrives, he will smell a man. But you have to cut him in two, because then I will be free. He will arrive right at nine o’clock.”

Just at nine o’clock, the palace started to shake, and the dragon entered. But the drummer confronted him and sliced him in two with his sword.

After that, the princess led him into another room. “Now you've saved me,” she said. “But my sister is in even bigger trouble. She has to hold a dragon in her lap for two hours, and that dragon is even stronger than this one.”

Then they entered the fourth room, where Princess Antonia was. She greeted him and said that he could rescue her if he could wield the sword next to her. He tried, but he couldn’t even lift it. Then she gave him a ring and told him that whenever he thought of her, he would have the strength of two hundred men. She also said that if he managed to free her, she would marry him.

Soon eleven o'clock arrived. The hall started to shake and the dragon appeared. However, as it was entering, Anthony was waiting for it by the door, and he managed to slice the dragon in half.

Now, when the two princesses were freed, they collected all the precious stones they could carry and headed for the opening that led into the world. But the drummer completely forgot the old woman's warning about the other two guys, and he sent the princesses up ahead of him. Each officer took a princess for himself, leaving the drummer stuck at the bottom of the well. When it was his turn, he cleverly tied a stone to the rope. His companions at the top pulled it up a bit and then suddenly let it drop, throwing other stones into the well to try to kill the drummer. However, he remembered the old woman's warning that his friends would try to [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] trick him. So he jumped aside and stayed in the other world.

He went back to the palace and entered the seventh room. On the table were three boxes. He opened the first one and found a whistle inside. He blew the whistle, and some generals came in, asking what His Majesty wanted. He said he had only whistled to see if they were doing their jobs. Then he looked into the second box and saw a bugle. He blew the bugle, and some officers entered, saying the same thing the generals had. In the third box, he found a drum. He beat the drum, and immediately, he was surrounded by infantry and cavalry, a huge crowd of soldiers. He asked if any of them had ever been to Europe. Two men were found among them who had been shipwrecked.

“Where's the ship?” asked the drummer.

“Here on the coast,” they replied.

At that, Anthony put on a royal robe and set off on his trip to Europe.

Meanwhile, the two princesses had returned home. One was set to marry the lieutenant, and the other was set to marry the captain. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] But when the wedding date arrived, both princesses, still thinking about Anthony, requested to postpone the weddings for a year, and their royal father agreed to their request.

Anthony arrived safely in that land. He met a traveler and said to him, “Hey, why don’t we swap clothes?”

He was happy to do that, so Anthony went to the town where the princesses lived and looked for a goldsmith. He asked the goldsmith for a job.

“I haven't worked enough for myself,” said the goldsmith.

“Well,” said the drummer, “I got an order for two rings, even though I was just walking down the street.”

“You're a lucky guy,” said the goldsmith, and when his wife heard about it, she spoke up for the drummer, so he was hired as an assistant.

“Now,” he said, “give me what I want and I’ll make the rings. But no one can come into my room: I’ll eat my meals at the door.”

On the third day, one ring was completed, and this one was intended for Princess Anne. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“You need to take this ring to Princess Anne, master,” he said.

“So I will,” said the goldsmith; “but what do you want for it?”

“£1,000,” he said.

“If that’s the case, I won’t go. They’d put me in jail.”

“Take it easy,” Anthony said, “nothing's going to happen to you.”

So the goldsmith went to the palace and sent a message saying his assistant had made a ring for Princess Anne. She replied that she hadn’t ordered a ring, but she would take a look at it. As soon as she saw it, she asked, “How much do you want for this?” He answered that he was almost hesitant to say it was worth a thousand pounds.

“Oh! it's worth way more than that,” she said, and she paid the amount right away.

The goldsmith went home and told his wife what he had gotten for the ring. She was curious about what their new assistant was like. The master brought the money to him, but the assistant refused to take it.

“You can keep the money for yourself,” he said, “and I just finished the ring for [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]Princess Antonia. You’ll need to go to the palace again with this.”

This time the master goldsmith was ready to leave. “How much should I ask for this ring?” he asked.

“Request two thousand pounds.”

So he was taken to the princess, and he told her that his apprentice had made a ring for her. She replied that she hadn’t requested a ring. “But, please, show it to me.”

As soon as she looked at it, she said, "How much do you want for this?"

“£2,000.”

“Oh! It's worth way more than that,” she said.

So she paid the money and told the master goldsmith to bring his assistant to her. As soon as the master got home, he told his wife everything. She was even more amazed.

“O Lord!” she said, “I can’t understand this at all.”

The master told Anthony that the princess asked him to come and see her.

“She can come to me,” he said.

When the princess heard that, she wasted no time and grabbed some royal clothes for him, [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]and drove to Anthony’s house in the royal carriage. She went straight to him and said, “I’ve come to take you home with me, Anthony.”

She asked him to put on the royal robe she had brought for him, and they drove to the palace together, where their marriage was celebrated shortly after.

The two officers thought the king would kick them out or punish them, but he forgave them and gave them enough money to live at the court. Anthony himself wasn’t interested in royalty. He and his wife decided they would go back to the place where he had first found the princesses. So they set off for that land, but a storm washed them ashore near where he had met the old woman. She welcomed him.

“So you’re back again,” she said.

They told her that what they wanted was to go back to that palace under the fountain.

“Well,” she said, “I’ll show you the way to the other world, and I’ll let you down the well.”

They arrived at the entrance, and Anthony [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] was about to enter the well, but the old hag pleaded with him to wait with her and let the princess go first.

So the princess was lowered to the bottom of the well, and then the old woman said: “I won’t let you follow her unless you cut off my head first.”

“This is a weird way to repay me for all the good you've done,” said Anthony.

“Well, unless you promise this, you will never see your princess again.”

So he had to promise, and with that she waved her wand, and a road appeared, leading them straight to the princess. Then Anthony chopped off the crone’s head, and they found themselves among crowds of farmers who were plowing and soldiers standing at attention, all welcoming their new lords. This land was enchanted, and the old crone was a witch. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once there was a princess who was under a curse, which meant she had to live her life as a fish. One day, a woman was working in the meadow by the river and noticed a flock of birds flying above the water, talking to the fish. Curious about what was happening, she walked to the edge of the water and looked in. All she saw was a fish swimming around. So she said, “I’d like to eat you, fish. I’m sure you would do me good.”

Now, when she said that, the fish replied: “You can save me. You will have twin sons, even though you've never had any children before.”

The woman said that if she could assist her with that, there was nothing the fish could ask for that she wouldn't do to save her.

The fish replied, “Catch me and take me [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]to your field. There, you need to bury me and plant a rose bush on top of me. When the roses bloom, you’ll have twin sons. After three years, dig up the spot where you buried me, and you’ll find two swords that you must keep. Your mare will give birth to two foals, and your dog will have two puppies, and each of your twins will have a sword, a horse, and a dog. Those swords will have the power to ensure your sons' victory over anyone. I will be free once my body has decayed.”

When the twin sons grew up, they were really clever, and they said, “We should try our luck in the world. We’re brave enough. One of us will go East and the other West. Each of us needs to check our sword every morning to see if the other needs help. Because the sword will start to rust as soon as one of us is in danger.”

So they drew lots to decide which way to go, and each of them took their sword, horse, and dog, and off they went.

The knight rode through thick forests and encountered a fierce dragon and a lion. He charged at the dragon, which had nine heads. The lion remained still while the knight fought the dragon, and eventually, he managed to slice off one of its heads. After that, he felt exhausted, so the lion took over. The knight then decapitated two more heads from the dragon. This continued until he had removed all the heads. Then, he cut out the tongues from each of the nine heads and collected them, moving forward on his adventurous journey.

Now, it happened that there were some woodcutters in these forests, and one of them gathered all the dragon’s heads after coming across them by chance. That dragon used to come to the town and eat one person every visit. This time, it was the princess's turn, and she was meant to be devoured by the dragon. So the town was draped in black cloth. The woodcutter was aware of all this, so he went to the town with the heads to plead for the princess because it had been announced that whoever killed the dragon would become her husband. When the princess saw that such a lowly man was to be her husband, she was shocked and did everything she could to postpone the wedding.

The knight happened to arrive in the town just then and spotted a nice inn, so he rode [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] up to it. The innkeeper quickly came over to see how he could help. There were other guests there, and it was lively. Everyone was discussing one topic: when the princess would marry the man who had slain the dragon. The wedding should have happened a long time ago, but the bride and her parents kept postponing it. The knight listened to all this chatter and then asked:

“Are you sure it was that woodcutter who killed the dragon?”

They replied that it definitely was, since the heads were kept in the palace.

The knight stayed quiet, but when he felt the moment was right, he rode to the palace. The princess spotted him from the window and was curious about who he was. He was brought inside, and he went directly to the princess to share everything. He asked her if he could be at the wedding.

She replied, “I’m not happy at all in my marriage. I’d much rather marry you, sir.”

He asked her why.

“If he kills the dragon, he must be a great man.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“He is such a low-class guy,” she said, “that it’s unlikely he killed the dragon.”

“I'd like to see him,” he said.

So they brought the woodcutter before him, and the knight asked to see the heads. So they brought the heads. He looked at the heads and said:

“There are no tongues in these heads. Where are the tongues?”

Then he turned to the woodcutter: “Did you actually kill the wicked dragon?” he asked.

The woodcutter kept telling his story.

“And how did you cut off the heads?”

"With my hatchet."

“Why, you couldn't do it with your hatchet. You're a liar.”

The woodcutter was surprised and didn’t know what to say. He was already scared, but he said, “It turned out that the dragon didn’t have any tongues.”

The knight pulled out the tongues and said: “Here are the tongues, and I was the one who killed the vicious dragon.”

The princess grabbed him and hugged and kissed him, and she was eager to marry him right then and there. Meanwhile, the woodcutter was thrown out in shame, and they put him [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]in jail for a while as well. So the princess married the knight and they lived happily ever after.

One day, as he looked out the window, he saw a black castle in the distance among the mountains. He asked his wife which castle it was and who it belonged to.

“That is a magical castle, and no one who enters it ever comes back.”

But he couldn't relax, and he was eager to check out the castle. So one morning, he had his horse saddled, and with his dog by his side, he rode to the castle. When they got there, they found the gate open. As he entered, he saw that men and animals had all turned to stone. In the hall, an old woman was sitting by the fire. When she saw him, she pretended to shake with fear.

“Dear lord,” she said, “hold your dog. He might bite me.”

He said, “Don’t be afraid. He won’t hurt you.”

He crouched down to pet the dog, and at that moment the witch raised her wand and hit him with it. He was turned to stone, along with his horse and dog.

The princess waited for her lord, but he did not [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]return. She mourned for him, and the citizens, who loved their lord, were grieved at his loss.

Now, the other brother looked at his sword, and it started to rust; so he knew his brother was in trouble. He felt he had to help him, so he rode off in that direction and arrived at the town. The town was draped in black flags. As he rode through the streets, the citizens saw him and thought he was their lord, because he had a horse and a dog just like their lord’s horse and dog. When the princess saw him, she hugged him and said, “Where have you been for so long, my dear husband?”

He said that he got lost in the forest and ended up with a group of robbers. Since he had no option, he had to act like a robber too, promising to stick with them and show them good hiding spots. The robbers, he claimed, accepted him into their group, and he hadn't been able to escape until now.

Everybody was thrilled, and the lord’s brother was careful not to mention that he was just the brother. But every night, he placed his sword between himself and the lady. The princess was worried about this, and she tried to come up with different reasons for her supposed husband’s behavior. One morning, while looking out the window, he saw that same castle and asked what castle it was.

She replied, “I already told you that it’s an enchanted castle, and no one who goes there ever comes back.”

So he thought, "That's definitely where my brother is."

He had his horse saddled and, without saying anything to anyone, rode off to the castle. As soon as he entered the castle, he saw his brother and his dog turned to stone. He also saw all the petrified knights and their horses, and the witch sitting and tending the fire.

He said, “You old hag, if you don't bring my brother back to life, I’ll cut you into pieces with this sword of mine.”

The witch knew that the sword had magical powers, so she said:

“Please, sir, don’t be mad at me. Take that box over there and put the ointment under his nose, and he’ll come back to life.”

“Curse you, you wicked old witch; do it yourself, right now.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

And he went and grabbed her wand and hit her with it, and immediately she turned to stone. He hadn’t meant to do that, because he didn’t realize the wand had such power. He took the box and rubbed the ointment under his brother’s nose, and his brother came back to life. Then he anointed all the others who had turned to stone, and they all came back to life too. As for the old woman, he left her there just as she was.

Then the brothers rode off to the princess. When she saw them, she couldn’t tell which one was her husband; they looked so much alike.

So she said, "What should I do now? Which one of you is my lord?"

They came before her and asked her to choose the right one. But she still hesitated. So her husband walked up to her, took her by the hand, and said, “I am the right one, and that’s my brother.”

He told her everything, and she was happy that her true husband was back. So they lived happily together, while the other brother went off to find his fortune somewhere else. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once upon a time, there were two children, a boy and a girl. They only had their mother, who was a widow. One day, their mother sent them to gather some wood for the fire. Off they went. The girl was just learning how to knit, so she tucked a ball of wool in her pocket. They went as far as they knew the way. Then, all of a sudden, they started to worry about whether they could find their way home.

The girl said: “I’ll tie the end of the thread to a tree, and then we’ll be able to find our way back.”

So they kept going until the thread was completely used up. Then they turned back, but they realized that wild creatures had broken the thread. What could they do? They wandered on until nightfall, and then they saw they would have to spend the night in the forest. They reached a pond and found they couldn’t go any further. So they [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]walked around the pond until the Waternick caught them. He took them with him, and that was that.

When he got home with them, his wife was waiting for him. Around the stove, there were some shelves for the vessels they used to catch poor souls. The Waternick and his wife were thrilled with the children; they decided to employ them as helpers, so Mrs. Waternick took care of them. The children spent several years this way and learned about everything underwater.

One day, the Waternick left to capture some human souls and told Mrs. Waternick not to leave the children unattended. However, the old woman dozed off, and the children wandered away from the hut until they thought she would get angry with them, so they headed back home. But they planned to go further the next day, hoping the old woman would fall asleep again. As soon as they were sure she was sleeping, they dashed out of the hut and went as far as they could.

The old hag woke up and shouted, “Where are you, kids?”

She jumped up and ran after them. They were just a few steps away from getting safely [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] away when, unfortunately, she caught up with them. She brought them back and made them work, and they had to stay at home too.

When the Waternick got home, she told him everything, and the Waternick said: “Don't worry, I’ll put them to work, and they won’t have time to think about finding their way home.”

So in the morning, he took them to the forest and gave them a wooden hatchet and a wooden saw, telling them to cut down the trees.

“When they’ve all been cut down, you should go back again.”

So the Waternick left them, and the kids got to work right away. They grabbed the saw and tried to cut down a tree. But the saw quickly broke, and that was it for them. So they picked up the hatchet, and it split in half after just one swing. They started to cry.

“Things don’t look good for us,” they said.

Since they realized they couldn’t help themselves, they stayed put, and soon they fell asleep. I’m not sure how long they had been asleep, but it was already time to head back.

The Waternick came and asked, “Are you done?” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

They said that the hatchet and saw were just made of wood and that both were broken. He took them home.

The next day, Waternick went about his work while Mrs. Waternick was busy outside the hut. The children looked at the cups on the shelves. The cups were tipped upward. So the girl picked one up. And she heard the words, “Godspeed to you!” She picked up another, and the same greeting came again. So she kept lifting the cups until she had lifted all of them. Human souls had been trapped under those cups. Just then, the hag entered the room and saw that all the cups had been lifted. She started to curse and said that the children would definitely get a good beating when the old man came home.

The kids often felt lonely; they thought about their mom and wondered if she was still alive, and what they could do to escape. So they decided that the next day, when the old woman was sleeping, they would see how far they could go.

“If only we could make it home, then everything would be fine.”

In the morning, the girl had to comb Mrs. Waternick’s hair and help her get dressed in her nice outfit. Once she was done, Mrs. Waternick took a nap. The kids then took off running; they were as fast as ravens, trying to escape before Mrs. Waternick woke up. Being quick on their feet, they made it to the shore. They jumped out and kept running. Of course, they heard the old witch yelling behind them, but since they were on solid ground, they thought, “We don’t need to worry about anything now.”

The hag quickly stopped chasing them. The kids were exhausted, so they laid down under a tree in the woods and fell asleep. While they were sleeping, someone woke them up. It was the forester. They told him they were scared of getting caught by the Waternick again. But the forester reassured them and asked how they ended up there. The kids explained everything just as it happened.

Now, the forester remembered that he had heard of a widow who had lost her children. So he thought that these must be the children. He said nothing, but he told his wife to get them some food and asked the children to sit down and eat. The children thought the food [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]was really nice, so he asked them what they usually ate. They said they usually ate flowers. So they ate plenty.

The forester made up his mind to do everything he could to get the kids home. Finally, they found out where their mom lived, so the children returned to her, and they stayed with her until they passed away. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once upon a time, there was a wealthy man, so rich that you could say he practically oozed gold. He had a son who, from a young age, was a true spender because he had never experienced hardship. Still, he had often heard about the existence of Misery in the world. So when he grew up, he thought, “I’m tired of being at home, so I’m going to venture out to see if I can find Misery.”

He told this to his dad, and his dad replied right away: “Yeah, you can go. If you stay home, you’ll quickly become a lazy old woman. You’ll gain experience in the world, and that won't hurt you at all.”

So our Francis—that was his name, but really it doesn’t matter much what his name was—took everything he wanted and set off on his travels. As long as he had enough money, he was fine; he couldn’t run into Misery. But when his money was [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]all gone—that's when everyone feels the pinch—he started to hang his head and his travels lost a lot of their appeal. He told people his name and his father's name, and for a while, they helped him. But eventually, he arrived in a country that was completely unfamiliar to him. There was a vast desert, through which he walked for a long time, and he began to feel hungry and thirsty, but there was no water—not even a drop to moisten his tongue.

Now, as he continued on his path, he noticed a staircase leading down into a hole, and without pausing, he went down.

He walked into a cellar and saw a guy lying on a table. He was a really big guy, the kind that used to be called ogres, and he was snoring like a circular saw.

Francis looked around and saw all kinds of human bones scattered everywhere. He thought, “What a disaster. I bet this guy is a man-eater, and he’ll gulp me down like a currant. I’m finished now.”

He wanted to escape, but he was too scared to move. However, he had a dagger, so he quietly took it out of its sheath and tried to sneak up on the ogre [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]. The ogre's head was resting on the table, so he stabbed both of its eyes with the dagger. The ogre jumped up, cursing furiously. He searched around and realized that he was completely blind.

Francis jumped down the stairs in two leaps and took off running, trying to get as far away from the ogre as possible. But the ogre knew the area well and stayed right on his tail.

“To think that a shrimp like that could make me suffer so!” he thought; and yet he found that, no matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t catch the kid. So he yelled out: “Hold on, you little worm! Since you’re such a star and managed to take me on, I’ll give you something to remember me by.”

As he said this, he threw a ring at the boy, and the jewel in it sparkled like fire. The boy heard the ring jingle as he ran by, so he picked it up and put it on his finger. But as soon as the ring was on his finger, the giant shouted, “Where are you, ring?” And the ring replied, “Here I am,” and the ogre chased after the sound. Francis jumped to the side, but the ogre called out again, “Where are you?” and the ring answered: “Here!” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

So it continued for a while, until Francis was so exhausted that his only thought was, “Well, if he kills me, he kills me.” He tried to pull the ring off, but it was stuck tight, really digging into his skin, and the ogre was still right behind him. Finally—there was no other option, as the ring kept calling out “Here I am”—Francis extended that finger, and the ogre crushed it with one grip. Francis took off running, just relieved to escape with his life.

When he got home, they asked him, "Did you meet Misery?"

“Yeah, I did. I get what it is now. It put me through a lot. It’s a terrible thing, and it’s not something to joke about.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once upon a time, there was a tailor who spent his free time mending stockings whenever he didn't have any work. One day, after dinner, the table was swarming with flies. The tailor swatted at them with a stocking and managed to kill nine with one hit.

As he didn't have a job, he set out to explore the world, and his belt had “Nine at a blow” engraved on it. Along the way, he met a boy who asked him to buy a finch. He bought it, placed it in his knapsack, and continued his journey. Soon, he arrived at a farm where the farmer’s wife was making cheese. He asked her for something to eat, and she gave him some sour milk and a piece of Yorkshire cheese. The tailor drank the milk and put the cheese in his knapsack before moving on. Eventually, he reached a town. It was a hot day, so he lay down and fell asleep. Just then, a giant happened to [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]pass by and noticed the words written in golden letters: “Nine at a blow.”

So he woke the tailor and asked him, “Did you really kill nine at once?”

The tailor replied that he had, and the giant said: “Let’s see who is stronger. I’ll throw a stone, and it’ll take an hour to land.”

The tailor said, “I’ll throw a stone that won’t come down at all.”

So the giant threw a stone, and it took a whole hour to come back down. Instead of throwing a stone, the tailor set the finch free, and, of course, it didn't return.

So the giant said, "Let's give it another go. I'll crush a rock into dust."

The tailor said, “I’ll squeeze water from a stone.”

So the giant picked up a pebble and crushed it into powder. The tailor grabbed the cheese and squeezed it until the water squeezed out.

The giant gave in and admitted that the tailor was stronger. They continued on until they reached a cherry tree by a meadow, where the cherries were ripe. They wanted to pick some for themselves. So the [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]tailor climbed the tree, while the giant just bent the top of the tree down and started picking cherries. Once he was done, he let go, and the tailor was thrown onto a pile of dry grass in the meadow. The tailor then said, “If it hadn't been for my flying skills, I would have broken my neck,” and he promised to teach the giant how to fly.

So they continued on their journey and arrived at a town. The town was in mourning. They asked why, and were told that a dragon had taken over the church and was killing people. The king offered a thousand pounds to anyone who could slay the dragon. So they informed the king that they would take on the dragon.

They ordered a huge hammer and a big pair of tongs to be made for them. Once they were ready, the giant took the tongs and handed the hammer to the tailor to carry. But the tailor said, “Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if people saw us, each carrying such a small thing? Just take both items yourself.”

When they got close to the church door, [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]the giant handed the hammer to the tailor, who held on tightly to it. Then the dragon charged out and tossed the tailor aside, but the giant cut him in half. However, the tailor objected:

“A nice mess you’ve made of it. I meant to take the dragon alive. We should have gotten more money for him like that.” Then he said, “Now I'll teach you how to fly.”

So they climbed up the church steeple, and the tailor said: “When I say ‘One, two, three,’ you have to jump.” And the giant jumped and broke his neck.

The tailor told the king that the dragon had killed the giant, so he kept the thousand pounds for himself. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once upon a time, there was a shepherd. He used to graze his sheep on a hill, and one day he saw something shimmering on the hill across from him. So, he went to check it out. It was a golden mortar. He picked it up and said to his daughter, "I'm going to give this mortar to our king."

But she said: “Don’t do that. If you give him the mortar, you won’t have the pestle, and he’s definitely going to ask for it, and then you’ll get into trouble.”

But the shepherd believed she was just a foolish girl. He picked up the mortar, and when he stood in front of the king, he said: “Excuse me, Mr. King, I want to present you with this mortar.”

The king replied harshly, “If you give me the mortar, I need the pestle too. If the pestle isn’t here within three days, you will lose your life.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

The shepherd started to complain: “My daughter was right when she said that once you have the mortar, you’ll want the pestle too. I didn’t listen to her, so I guess I deserve this.”

“Do you have a smart daughter like that?” asked the king.

“Yeah, I have,” said the shepherd.

“Then tell your daughter that I will marry her if she comes neither walking nor riding, dressed nor undressed, neither during the day nor at night, neither at noon nor in the morning. And I won’t ask for the pestle either.”

The shepherd went home and said: “You can get me out of this if you go to Mr. King without clothes or completely naked,” and the rest of it.

But the daughter wasn’t scared at all. She arrived at sunset (which was neither at noon nor in the morning); she put on fishing nets; she took a goat, and she partly rode the goat and partly walked.

And when the king saw that she was wearing just a fishing net, that she arrived as dusk was falling, and that she was partly walking and partly riding the goat, he felt compelled to marry her. But he said to her: “You will be my wife as long as you don’t give anyone advice; if you do, you’ll have to leave me.”

Well, she didn’t give advice to anyone until one day there was a market in town, and a farmer’s mare had a foal at the market. The foal ran off to another farmer, who was there with a gelding, and the farmer said, “This foal belongs to me.”

They took legal action over it, and eventually, the issue was presented to the king. The king, believing that every animal should return to its mother, ruled that a gelding had given birth to a foal.

The farmer who owned the mare went down the stairs, saying repeatedly, "The gelding has given birth! The gelding has given birth!"

The queen heard him and said, “Dude, you’re talking nonsense.”

So he told her that he had been at the market, that his mare had given birth, but the foal ran to another farmer who was there with a gelding. “And now,” he said, “it has been decided that the gelding has given birth.” So he thought there could be no mistake; anyway, he couldn’t do anything about it. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

When the queen heard this story, she said: "Tomorrow, my lord the king will go out for a walk. Take a fishing net and start fishing on the road in front of him. The king will ask you: ‘Why are you fishing on a dry road?’ And you have to answer: ‘Why not? It’s just as likely as expecting a gelding to give birth.’ But you must not say who gave you this advice."

So it was. As the king was walking along, he saw the farmer fishing on the dry road. He asked him why he was fishing there.

“Why not?” he said, “it’s as realistic as expecting a gelding to give birth.”

The king immediately started to scold the farmer. “That didn’t come from you,” he said, and he kept pressing the farmer until he revealed the secret.

So the king came home, called for the queen, and said to her: “You’ve been with me for a long time, and you’ve offered your advice despite everything, so you have to leave tomorrow. But I’ll let you take with you whatever you like the most.”

It was pointless to argue. So the king called all his courtiers together and organized a lavish banquet. When the banquet was over, the [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]queen said to the king: “Before we leave, you have to drink this glass of wine to celebrate my health,” and she had secretly added some opium to the wine.

The king drank it in one go and immediately fell asleep. A carriage was prepared, and the queen put the king in it and drove to her father's old hut. There, she laid the king on the straw, and when he woke up, he asked where he was.

“You're with me. Didn’t you say I could take whatever I liked best with me?”

The king recognized how smart she was, and he said, “Now you can give advice to anyone you want.”

And so they drove home once more, and he was king and she was queen again. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

A discharged soldier was heading home. He had just three pence in his pocket. While walking through a forest, he encountered a beggar. The beggar asked him for a penny. The soldier gave him one and continued on his way. Then he met another beggar. This beggar looked very sick and asked the soldier for a penny. The soldier gave him the other penny. Next, he came across a third beggar who looked nearly dead. The soldier felt sorry for him and gave him the last penny. Soon after leaving the forest, our Lord appeared to him, and in return for those three pennies, He granted him three wishes. For the first wish, the soldier chose a pipe that would be filled with tobacco whenever he wanted, so he could always have a smoke ready. The second wish he made was that if he wanted to put anyone in his knapsack, they would be inside it as soon as he said: “Leap into that [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]knapsack.” The third wish was that his purse would be filled with gold coins whenever he knocked on it.

Our Lord said: “Okay!”

Soon afterwards, he arrived at a mill and requested a place to stay for the night. They told him that they only had one room for themselves; the other one was haunted by a devil at midnight. But the soldier wasn't scared. He said they could leave him there alone; he didn’t mind at all.

He sat down at the table and played cards. When midnight came, there was a loud noise, and sure enough, the devil showed up. When he saw the soldier playing cards, he grinned, confident he had him. So he sat down across from him and started to play too. It was nearly one o’clock when it was finally time for him to leave, so he grabbed the soldier and tried to tear him apart. But he couldn't succeed. The soldier said, “Jump into my knapsack,” and the devil ended up in it. Then the soldier threw the sack with the devil inside under the bed and went to sleep in the bed.

In the morning, as soon as he got up, the millers went to check if the soldier was still [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]alive. They were really surprised to find him fine. They offered him anything he wanted, but he wouldn’t take anything. He left and stopped by a blacksmith’s. He told the blacksmith to give the devil in the sack a good beating, and then he let the devil go.

After that, he entered a town. He heard there was a count's daughter there who was an expert card player. She took everyone's money. He went to her palace and asked if she would play with him. She agreed. So they played and played, but she couldn’t win all his money, because his purse always seemed fuller than before. It was late now and the lady was tired of the game, so he went to bed. He placed the three precious gifts on the table, but when he woke up in the morning, they were gone; the lady had stolen them. He felt upset about his bad luck, but it didn’t do any good, and he had to leave the palace.

As he continued on his journey, he spotted a beautiful apple tree by the side of the road, full of delicious apples. He picked one and ate half of it. Then he continued on his [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]way, but he was shocked to see that everyone who looked at him ran away. So he went to a well and realized he had horns on his head; that was a result of eating the apple. He turned back and found a pear tree; he ate half of a pear, and the horns disappeared.

He thought he would give the other half of the apple to the lady, and maybe she would get horns too. So he went and handed her the half apple. She enjoyed it a lot, but soon horns started growing on her head. The count gathered all the doctors and asked them to operate on the horns. But the more they cut at the horns, the longer they grew. So the king declared that she would marry the man who could get rid of her horns, but if he failed, he would lose his life. Then the soldier returned and told the lady that he would get rid of the horns if she gave him back his three treasures. She agreed immediately. So he gave her the other half of the pear; she ate it, and the horns fell off.

The soldier was feeling pretty good now. One day he ran into Death, and he said to him: “Jump into my backpack.” And [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] Death was instantly trapped in the backpack.

The soldier had been carrying Death around for a while, until finally, the Lord appeared to him and told him he couldn’t do that anymore: he needed to let Death go because people couldn’t die, and soon there would be too many of them in the world. So he let Death go. He wanted to go to Heaven himself. But he ended up in Hell, and when he got close, the devils shut the gate because they were so scared of him. When he arrived at the gate of Heaven, he knocked. St. Peter opened the gate but wouldn’t let him in. The soldier asked him to at least let him have a quick look, just so he could know what Heaven looked like.

Now, he remembered that he still had his soldier’s cloak in his backpack, so he took it out and threw it into Heaven. Then he jumped after it and sat down on it, claiming he was sitting on his own property. He stayed there for a full hundred years, even though it only felt like a short time to him. But he couldn’t reach an agreement with St. Peter about the situation, so our Lord told him that he must first die, [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]since no living people were allowed in Heaven. So the soldier had to leave. He returned to this world, and later he went to Heaven again, and there he is still, as right as rain. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

[__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once upon a time, there was an old maidservant on a farm. She was around twenty or forty years old, but she wanted to get married, even though nobody would go near her. She never missed a dance; she always showed up at every one, even though nobody ever asked her to dance. So eventually, she said:

“I’d dance with Old Nick if only he’d show up.”

The clock struck eleven and a young man dressed in green entered the room. He went directly to our Kitty and started dancing with her. All the girls couldn't help but laugh, but they didn't dare laugh out loud. So they covered their faces with their aprons. Kitty was really annoyed, but she kept dancing like crazy. She thought, “Let the idiots laugh; they’d be more than happy to dance with him themselves.”

It was almost noon now, and Old Nick—yes, Old Nick—had to head [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]home. But Kitty wouldn’t let him leave. What was he supposed to do with her? He was completely at a loss for what to do, as she was hanging on to him from behind.

He went to the pond, thinking he could throw her in. He tried to do it, but she wrapped her arms around his neck, and he couldn't manage it. So, off he went to Hell with her. But the people in Hell complained about her and wouldn't let her stay, no matter what.

“Hang it all!” says Old Nick, “I can’t travel around the world with her.”

At last he met a shepherd: “Hey, shepherd,” he says, “would you like this girl here?”

“A nice girl that is, the ugly old maid! Keep her for yourself. You can preserve her.”

Now, when the devil realized he was going to fail again, he offered the shepherd a ton of money, simply to get rid of the ugly old hag. But the shepherd turned him down.

“I'll make it way better,” says Old Nick.

"Okay, if that's what you want, I agree."

Now, the shepherd was a handsome guy, and Kitty was easily convinced to stay [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]with him. He had a lot of money now and had the same malicious intent as the devil, wanting to toss her into the pond. What else could he do with such an ugly old hag? He wore a big fur coat, and he pulled it over his head so high that she couldn’t grab onto his neck, and, splash! off she went into the pond. But you know, a bad one is a bad one, and you can’t just get rid of them that easily. That was the case with Kitty. She didn’t drown.

A little while later, Old Nick had a meeting with a guy. I’m not sure exactly what was going on, but somehow the devil was supposed to claim him. The man asked the shepherd to help him; he was more than willing to pay him well for it.

“All right,” says the shepherd, “I can do that much for you. Old Nick and I are tight.”

Now, a crowd of people had gathered and they were all wondering how it was going to end. In comes Old Nick. The shepherd runs to meet him and says, “Old Kitty’s here asking for you.”

The devil left everything the way it was, and before you could say “Jack Robinson,” he was gone. So it all ended up fine. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

There was a poor gamekeeper who had struggled through tough times all his life, and as he got older, he wanted to get rich. He was just an under-forester. One day the forester said: “Near those old ruins, you know the ones I’m talking about, a fox or a roe or some creature like that often crosses my path, and I can never seem to hit it, even though I’ve shot at it a hundred times. If you happen to be heading that way, keep an eye out for it.”

When the gamekeeper heard this, the first thing he did was head over to the ruins. Just as he arrived, a huge fox appeared with a rustling sound. The gamekeeper felt uneasy, but the fox vanished right away, so he sat down, loaded five big shots into his gun, and waited. It wasn’t long before the fox showed up again, this time carrying a young fawn in its mouth. The gamekeeper took a shot—boom! The fox yelped and dashed off into the bushes. But the gamekeeper noticed that the fawn had fled and hidden itself in a cave. He thought, “The fox yelped, so he must have some of my shots in his fur. I’ll catch him another time.”

So he entered the ruins through the gate. Inside, there was an empty courtyard with a crumbled wall. The gamekeeper walked through the courtyard and into a large cellar. There, he saw three lamps lit, and as he looked around, he felt a sense of wonder. But that was nothing compared to what he saw in the corner—three dazzling piles of gold coins and one pile of large gold pieces. The gamekeeper thought, “If I had all that, I would quit gamekeeping and live it up.”

No sooner had he said this than a gray old man appeared and asked, “What are you looking for, gamekeeper?”

"Well, I shot at a fox and it ran in somewhere around here, so I'm just wandering around looking for it."

“You won't find the fox you're looking for, because I'm him.”

“And why are you here in the form of a fox? What’s the reason for that?” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

“I am Knight Bambus, and all these forests belong to this castle. I used to be a robber-knight, and as a punishment, I have to keep watch here now.”

“And how long will it last?”

“When three poor people come here, and each of them takes away two sacks of gold, I’ll be free. I have to give all this gold away for nothing. I’ve already outlived three generations of my relatives here.”

Then he asked him to grab two leather sacks from the other room and fill them with gold until they were overflowing. He had to keep it all for himself and couldn’t tell anyone what he had seen. The gamekeeper promised he wouldn’t even tell his wife, Hátička, how he got the money. So he filled the two sacks to the brim, and the old man helped him lift them onto his shoulders and watched him as he left. All the while, he kept warning him to keep quiet: “What a woman knows, the whole world knows; that’s the gospel truth, for sure.”

So the gamekeeper left the castle with the two sacks, and the man shook hands with him before he went. At the edge of the [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]forest, by a beech tree, his wife, Háta, was waiting for him. She ran over to him.

“Wow, Florian! Where have you been all this time? I’ve been searching for you everywhere for three days.”

Now Florian was thrilled that his wife had come to meet him, so he exclaimed, “Hátička, wife, Count Bambus gave me these two sacks of gold coins. Look here—see how much there is!” and he let one of the sacks drop to the ground. But to his surprise, instead of gold, it was filled with only rustling leaves. Then he recalled that he wasn’t supposed to mention it. He frowned, and his wife began to cry; they ended up spending the rest of their lives, until they died, in the same poverty as before. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once there was a father who had only one son, Francis. They had a farmhand named Martin. One day, Martin and Francis were plowing behind the barn. Francis’s mother brought them their meal, and Francis said, “Well, mom, the old man must have a lot more money than he shows because we’re not in debt, yet he’s always complaining that he doesn’t have any money.”

“Well, my son, you see, he’s built that big building.”

Next day, Francis and Martin were plowing together again. They decided they needed to figure out the old man’s whereabouts to see if he had any money and where he kept it hidden. Francis promised Martin that if he could find it out, he would build him a cottage behind the barn. So they agreed that Martin should skip church to try to find out if [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__] the farmer had any money stashed away at home.

When Sunday came, Francis went to church, but Martin kept insisting he wouldn’t go until the farmer forced him. So, he got dressed for church and went out through the farm gate. But he turned back, climbed over the fence, and hid in the barn. Shortly after, the farmer entered the barn carrying a basket full of coins. He dug a hole in the threshing-floor, placed the money in it, and said, “Black Barabbas! please keep this money safe for me! You black bird! It’s in your hands now!” Then he went to get a second basket and added it to the hole. While he was gone, Martin slipped out of his hiding spot, grabbed some of the money, and stuffed it in his boots. When the farmer returned with a third basket, he said again, “You black bird! keep this money for me, and don’t let anyone else have it unless they plow this threshing-floor with three black goats!”

As he was saying this, a blackbird was flying overhead and calling out, “Master, what about the money in the boots?”

But the farmer didn’t get what it [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]meant, so he went to check his own boots, which were in the room. But he found no money there, so he got mad and said: “What, you devil! You’re just talking nonsense. I’ve looked in my boots and there’s nothing there.” Then he buried the money, stomped down the threshing-floor hard again, and went outside.

Martin went to the stable, and there he found Francis waiting for him to explain what the parson’s sermon had been about that day, so he would know what to say if the farmer asked him about it.

Soon after, the old man got sick and died. The two boys were happy about this because they thought they wouldn't have to wait long for the money. Martin took three black goats, put them in the field, and sent Francis to plow. The wind started blowing fiercely, and the whole barn looked like it was on fire. He got scared and stopped plowing, and suddenly the barn looked just like it did before. So he went out of the barn and asked Martin to plow for him. Martin started plowing, and even though the wind was blowing hard, he kept going until he got the money. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

When Francis had the money, he started building exactly how he wanted until he ran out of funds. Then he fired Martin.

Martin said sadly: “This is the world’s gratitude.” [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Although the witches used to be pretty active in other places, they enjoyed climbing up and down the cross by the road to Malá Čermá (near Slaný). Joe Hilma heard about this, so he took his horse and rode out to check it out. He brought along a piece of blessed chalk and drew a circle with it. Then he stepped into the circle and waited until midnight. Sure enough, he saw a huge swarm of witches climbing up and down the cross. They didn’t notice him during all this, but when he stepped out of the circle, the witches chased after him. He quickly galloped home. When he rode into the yard, they were right on his tail. They couldn't follow him any further because they had no power to do so. I’m not sure how it happened, but one of them threw a burning broom at him. The broom hit the door, and the door caught fire. Joe had seen enough of the witches. [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

Once there was a farmer's wife—I can't say which one—who was a witch. These people used to have a feast every Eve of St. Philip and St. James. As soon as they started burning the brooms, she couldn't stay still: she had to go. So she took off her clothes and, standing under the chimney, she rubbed some ointment on herself. When she was done, she said, “Fly, but don’t touch anything.” And just like that, she flew away in the blink of an eye. Yes, that’s how it happened.

But the farmhand was watching all this from the stables, and he carefully observed where she applied the ointment. So he went in too, took off his clothes, and covered himself with the ointment. He said, “Fly, but don’t touch anything.” And off he flew until he arrived at the place where the witches were having their feast. When he got there, the farmer’s wife recognized him, and to hide from him, she transformed into a white horse. However, he didn't lose sight of her. He climbed onto the horse and went to the blacksmith, asking him to put shoes on it. The next day, the woman had four horseshoes on: two on her hands and two on her feet. And she had to stay like that forever!

[__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]

There was a haunted mill, and, oh my, what was it like! A tightrope performer came there with some monkeys. In the evening, the Waternick showed up with a basket full of fish. He made a fire and fried the fish. Meanwhile, the monkeys had been sitting behind the stove, but when the Nick put the fish in the pan and was tasting to see if they were done, the monkeys came out from behind the stove, and one of them dipped its paw into the pan. The man smacked it on the paw and said: “Get away, kitty! You didn’t catch them, so don’t eat them.” And the monkey ran off.

After a while, another monkey came along and put his paw in the pan. He got smacked too and was told the same thing. But the rope-dancer also had a bear, which had been lying under the table the whole time; when he heard the Waternick speak, he came out from under the table, ran straight to the pan, and put his [__A_TAG_PLACEHOLDER_0__]paw in it. The Waternick treated him the same way he had treated the monkeys. But the bear couldn’t take that. He jumped on the poor Waternick and gave him a good beating. The Waternick had to run off, leaving the fish behind. He didn’t hang around the mill anymore, and that’s how they got rid of him.