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Once upon a time there was a King who had a beautiful garden. It had lovely flowers in it: roses, carnations, lilies, violets, and poppies, and there were five fruit trees too: cherry, pear, apricot, and plum. But there was one tree that was more beautiful than all the others: it was a tree that grew golden apples! The King's gardener had to count the golden apples every night to make sure that when they were big and ripe not one of them was missing. But just about the time when the golden apples were ripening it was found that every morning there was one apple less on the tree.
The King was very angry when the gardener told him this every night one apple disappeared from the tree. And he said to the gardener: "See to it that there is a man standing watch oiver this tree every night so that no more of my golden apples disappear." Now, the gardener had three sons and he said to his eldest son: "Tonight you must keep watch at the golden apple tree in the King's garden." Well, the eldest son stayed by the tree, but at about midnight he could not keep his eyes open any longer and fell asleep. In the morning he woke up and counted the golden apples; and there was 1 less. (count to 32). The gardener was very cross and he told his second son to watch the next night. But the same thing happened: The second son fell asleep and next morning another golden apple was missing!
The next night it should have been the turn of the youngest, the third son of the gardener. But the gardener said, "You are too young and if thieves come they might do you some harm." The youngest son answered, "Oh, please let me watch! I shall take my bow and arrows and my arrows shall strike anyone who comes near the tree with the golden apples. And, at last, the gardener agreed and the youngest son kept watch through the night. And this young man did not fall asleep and when midnight came he saw a strange sight. It was dark, of course, but he saw something that came flying across the sky. It shone like a golden flame! And when it came nearer he saw it was a bird with red-golden feathers. This golden bird had a sharp beak and it was he who pecked an apple from the tree! The gardener's son had his bow and arrow ready, took aim and shot an arrow at him! But the arrow did the bird no harm, only one golden feather dropped from its tail. And the golden bird flew away. The next morning the gardener's youngest son brought the golden feather to the King and said, "Now I know who is stealing the golden apples at night: it is a golden bird, and here is one of its feathers." THe King and all of his wise counsellors were amazed at the beautiful golden feather and they said that feather was worth more than all the other treasures of the King! Then the King said, "One feather is of no use to me. I want the whole golden bird and I shall give a rich reward to whoever can bring me the golden bird.
And the gardener's eldest son, when he heard this, set out to find the golden bird. He had only walked a little while when he came to a wood and by the side of the wood he saw a fox. The eldest son took his bow and arrow and got ready to shoot the fox. But the fox spoke to him in human language amd said, "Don't shoot me, for I can help you. I know you want to find the goleden bird. Now—listen! Tonight you will come to a village and there will be two inns. One will be very beautiful and the other will be poor and lowly. You have to go into the poor one, not into the beautiful one." The gardener's son thought: "I am not going to listen to that stupid beast"—and he shot his arrow at the fox. But he missed and the fox ran away. The eldest son went out and he came to the vollage with the two inns, one beautiful and one shabby. He thought "I would be silly to go into that poor place if I can eat and sleep in this big, beautiful house." He went into the smart, posh house and ate and drank very well and after that he slept in a soft bed. But when he woke up in the morning he had forgotten that he wanted to find the golden bird, he had even forgotten his home and his country and he never came back home again.
The eldest son of the gardener did not come back and after a time the second son went to find the golden bird. And everything happened just the same as with the eldest brother: he net the fox who tolf him to stay at the poor-looking inn. But when he came to the village he saw his elder brother through the window in the smart, beautiful inn and the elder brother was singing and merry-making and the second son thought:" I want to join him and enjoy myself as he does!" And so he too went into the smart and inn and he too forgot the golden bird and his home and never came back. And time passed and there was no news of the elder brothers and at last the youngest son of the gardener said, "Now it is my turn to go and seek the golden bird." At first the gardener did not want his youngest son to go; he feared that he too would never return. But the youngest begged and pleaded and, in the end, the father let him go. So the youngest son also came to the wood where he net the fox and was told to go to the poor inn, not to the beautiful one. But the youngest son was thankful to the fox, he did not shoot an arrow at the animal. And so the fox said, "Sit upon my tail and you will travel faster." The youngest son did so and the fox began to run and away they went! So fast that their hair whistled in the wind.
When they came to the village the young man followed the fox's advice. He did not even look at the posh inn: he went straight into the poor-looking house. He was given simple but nourishing food and he rested well. And in the morning, as the young man came out of the inn, there was the fox ready and waiting for him! And the fox said, "Follow this road till you come to a castle. In front of the castle there is a whole army of soldiers, but they are fast asleep and snoring. Take no notice of the soldiers but walk on into the castle. You will walk through the castle until you come into a room and in this room there will be a golden bird. This bird will be in a poor, wooden cage and close by there will be an empty, beautiful golden cage. But don't put him into the handsome cage. If you do, you will regret it!" Then the fox stretched out his bushy tail again. The young man sat down on it and away they went, so fast that their hair whistled in the wind. And they came to the castle and, just as the fox had said, there were all these soldiers lying asleep. The young man got off the fox's tail and walked into the castle and straight through until he came to the room where the golden bird was in the poor looking cage. And close by there was a golden cage. The young man thought to himself: :That would be a pity to take the golden bird away in a dirty wooden cage when there is such a lovely golden cage here—a cage just right for such a wonderful bird." And so he opened the wooden cage and took the golden bird out and then he put it into the golden cage. But the moment the birs was in the golfrn cage, he opened his beak and gave a scream, so loud and so ear-piercing that all the soldiers lying asleep outside woke up and came running into the castle and took the young man prisoner. First they brought him before the King.
This king said, "You have tried to steal my golden bird and for this your head should be chopped off. But I will let you live if you bring to me the golden horse that can run as fast as the wind. If you bring him to me I will even give you the golden bird and you can keep him."
And so the young man set out again and he was in despair for he did not know where to look for the golden horse. And just then there came his good friend, the fox. And the fox said, "You see what happens, if you do things I tell you not to do! But I will still help you and tell you how to get the golden horse. You carry straight on along this road until you come to a castle and in that castle is a stable where the golden horse is standing. By his side is the man who looks after him, but he will be fast asleep. There are two saddles lying close bym one old and worn, the other glittering golf. Now you must put the old, leather saddle on the horse and lead him away quietly and all will go well. But if you try to put the golden saddle on him ... you will be very sorry!" And then the young man sat down on the fox's tail and away they went, so fast that their hair whistled in the wind.
The fox had told the gardener's son that he should use the old, worn leather saddle and not the golden saddle for the golden horse. Well, the young man came to the castle and found the stable where the golden horse was. And beside the horse there lay a man and he was really sound asleep. Hanging on the wall there were the two saddles, one worn and made of leather and one golden.
And the young man thought to himself, "It would be a pity to put such a poor old saddle on such a beautiful horse! No, a golden horse should have a golden saddle!" And so he took the golden saddle from the wall and put it on the horse. But, at that moment the horse neighed so lodly that the man, who was asleep beside it, woke up and cried loudly, "Thief! Thief!" And from all sides soldiers came running and they took the young man prisoner. And so he was brought before the King of this castle. And then the King said, "You have tried to steal my golden horse and for his your head should be chopped off. But I will spare your life if you bring me the beautiful Princess. And if you bring her to men I will let you have the golden horse."
And the young man was let loose and he went away full of sorrow and sadness because he did not know where to look for the beautiful princess. But soon, his old friend, the fox, came trotting along and said, "Once more you have not listened to me, you have not obeyed me and look what trouble it has brought you. But once more I will help you and take you to the castle where the beautiful princess is. You must wait until 12:00 midnight—that is the time when the princess goes to take a bath and when she comes from her room you give her a kiss and she will go quietly with you. But, now listen carefully,— you must not allow her to say good bye to her father and mother!" Then the fox spread out his bushy tail and the young man sat down on it and away they went, so fast that the wind whistled through their hair!
Soon they came to the castle where the beautiful princess lived. The young man waited until it was midnight and all the soldiers who were guarding the castle were sound asleep. As he walked into the castle the princess came out of her room to take a bath, so he went and kissed her and she said, "I will come with you and go wherever you want me to go. But please, let me first say good bye to my father and mother." "No," said the young man, "You must come along with me straight away." But the Princess said again, "Oh, please do not be so cruel, please let me go and say good bye to my parents!" She started to cry and begged and pleaded amd sp, in the end, the young man said, "Well, all right then, but very quickly." But when the Princess opened the door to her parents' room, the door made a loud squeaking noise—and all the soldiers woke up and took the third son prisoner and brought him before the King.
And the King said, "You have tried to run away with my daughter and for this you deserve to have your head chopped off. But I will spare your life on one condition: When I look out from my window there is a high hill—and I can't see beyond it for this hill is in the way. Now, if you can dig away this hill in eight days I will spare your life amd I will let my daughter go away with you."
Well, the hill was so high that a thousand men could not have dug it away in a year! And when the third son has worked as hard as he could for seven days, there was only a little bit of it taken out! He was quite in despair, and jsut then his old friend the fox came trotting along and said, "It serves you right that you are in trouble because you have not obeyed me. But I will still help you. Lie down and go to sleep and I will do the work for you." The third son went to sleep and when he awoke, on the eighth day—the hill was gone! So he went merrily to the King and said, "I have done what you wanted and so you must now give me the beautiful Princess." The King had to keep his promise and the young man and the Princess went away. And soon his old friend, the fox, came trotting along.
The fix said to the young man, "Now you have the Princess, but you will not have her for long for you have to give her to the King who has the golden horse and he will give you the golden horse for her." And the third son sighed and said, "Oh, I wish I could keep her; she is the most beautiful maiden in the world and how I wish I could marry her!" And the fox said, "I will help you so that you can keep the princess and get the golden horse as well! When we come to the castle of the King who owns the golden horse, tell the Princess to wait in a wood outside and I will change myself so that I look like the Princess and you give me to the King and he will give you the golden horse." And then the fox stretched out his tail and the young man and the Princess sat down on it and away they went, so fast that the wind whistled through their hair!
And soon they came to the castle of the King who owned the golden horse and the Princess waited in a wood outside and the young man and the fox, now changed into the Princess, went on to the castle. As they came into the castle the young man siad to the King, "Here is the Princess, now you must give me the golden horse for her." And he was given the golden horse and the golden saddle and he rode away. He picked up the real Princess in the wood and she sat behind him on the horse and so they rode away. In the meantime the King told the false Princess—who was really the fix—to sit down beside him so that all the lords and ladies could admire her beauty. But one of the lords said, "She is very beautiful but I think her teeth are rather like the teeth of a fox." And in that moment the false Princess turned into the fox and ran away and they never caught him! And soon the fox caught up with the young man and the Princess on the golden horse and he said, "You have now the golden horse but you have to give it to the King who has the golden bird." And the young man said, "Oh, I wish I could keep this beautiful golden horse!" And the fox said, "I will help you to keep the horse. This time I will change myself into the hourse and you give me to the King with the golden bird." And when they came to the castle of the King who owned the golden bird the Princess and the golden horse stayed in a little wood nearby and the young man and the fox went on. And the fox changed himself into a golden horse and the young man took the false horse to the King and said, "Here is the golden horse and now you must give me the golden bird." The King was so pleased with the golden horse that he gave away the golden bird and the golden cage as well. And the young man went away with the golden bird and went back to the wood where the Princess got on to the golden horse and rode away.
In the castle the King showed the golden horse proudly to his lords and ladies and they all admired the horse. But one said, "I think his tail looks rather like a fox's tail." And in that moment the false horse was changed back into the fox and the fox rana away and they never caught him!
And the fox soon caught up with them and said, "Now you have the beautiful Princess and the golden horse and the golden bird so you do not need me any more. But there is still one warning I have to give you. Ride home but do not stop anywhere on the way—or great evil will befall you.—And the fox trotted away. The young man, with the Princess, with the golden horse and the golden bird went on his journey homewards. They travelled for some time. But it was a hot day and he saw that the beautiful Princess was looking pale and tired and he thought to himseld, "I have no more enemies to fear and I don't know why the Princess and I should not have a little rest and sleep." And when they came to a little shady wood, they lay down to rest and fell asleep.
But, as the fox had said, something very evil came to happen to the young man.
While the young man and the Princess were asleep, two men came along and these two men were the elder brothers. They had, at long last, left the smart inn; they had no more money and they were ashamed at coming home without the golden bird—without anything. But now they came to the wood and there they saw their youngest brother asleep and beside him the beautiful maiden, the golden horse and the golden bird in the golden cage. Amd when they saw this, the two older brothers had very evil thoughts. The elder brother said, "Let us kill him while he is asleep and then we take the maiden, the horse. and the bitd." And the second brother said, "Yes, and then we shall say that we have gained all of these things because we were brave and strong." And they took a sword and with it cit off the head of the youngest son. To the Princess they said, "If you tell anyone what we did, we shall kill you too!" And they took the Princess, the golden horse and the golden bird to their King's home. You can imagine how pleased both their father and their master the King were when he was presented with not only the golden bird, but the horse and the Princess as well! And he gave the two elder brothers rich rewards and everyone honoured them and admired them for their brave deeds.
But, you know, there was something wrong with the three gifts. For the golden bird never sang: it sat in its cage and kept its head tucked in between its feathers and hardly touched any food they gave him. And as for the golden horse: it let its head hang down and it never wanted to run. And the Princess did not speak at all, she only cried and cried and she did not want to say why. Or perhaps she did not dare to? ... And the King wondered why the bird and the horse and the Princess were all so sad, but he could not think why.
Now back in the wood, where the older brothers had left him, there lay the youngest brother, dead with his head cut off. But after a little while, along came the fix and looked at him and said, "I have warned him, but he would not listen! So now I have to help him again." And the fox hid himself in a nearby bush and waited and soon a raven-mother and two young ones, her children, came and they started to peck at the body. The fox then leaped out of his hiding-place and got hold of the two young ravens. The mother raven flew up in terror and cried, "Oh, Mr. Fox, please spare me my two lovely children!" The fox said, "Well, I will let them go if you bring me the water of Life and the water of Death." And the mother raven flew away and she flew for three days and three nights and when she came back she had in her beak two fish-bladders and one was filled with the water of Life and one with the water of Death. Immediately the fox let the young ones free. Then he put the head of the third son to his body and sprinkled the water of death on it and they grew together— so that not even a scar could be seen! Then he sprinkled the water of life on him and the young man stretched himself and opened his eyes and said, "I have slept like the dead!" "You have indeed," said the fix, "and if I had not helped you, you would be dead still: I had warned you not to stop on the way home, but you did not obey. And you know what happened? Your elder brothers came and killed you and took the Princess, the horse and the bird and now they are greatly rewarded and honoured." And the young man said, "Oh what shall I do now? No one will believe me if I say that it was I, who got these myself!" And the fox said, "I must help you again! i will give you a suit to disguise yourself as a servant. Then go to the castle of the King and say that you can cure the bird and the horse and the Princess which all seem to be ailing with some strange sickness."
And the fox gave him a suit that was a servant's suit; the young man put it on and away they went so fast that the wind whistled in their hair. And when they came to the castle the fox said, "Goodbye— and good luck!" —and trotted away.
The young man went into the castle and no-one recognized him in his disguise as a servant. And he was given work to look after the King's horses. But he was not allowed to look after the King's golden horse, that was the job of the King's head groom. But one day the head groom said to him, "This golden horse is very ill—he looks sad and he won't eat.—I wonder if he will soon die." And the young man said, "I bet you that if I give him some straw he will eat it and be better in no time." The head-groom said, "He doesn't even eat the fresh green grass we give him, let alone dry, old straw." "Let me try," said the young man. And the head-groom said, "Well, try then, you silly boy." The young man went to the horse with a handful of straw and he stroked him and whispered in his ear, "Don't worry old friend, I am back with you." And the horse recognised him; he neighed with joy and he flung up his head and ate the straw.
And soon people all over the castle talked about the servant who had cured the King's golden horse. And the King heard this story too and he said, "Send this young man to me." And when the young man came, the King said to him, "I have heard that you cured the golden horse. I have also a golden bird who seems to be sick and hardly touches his food. Can you cure the bird too?" And the young man said, "Of course I can! Just give me some old husks of barley to feed to him." "Barley husks?" said the King. "He doesn't even eat the finest barley-corn we give him! But go ahead and try." And the young man went to the golden cage and he whispered to the golden bird, "Don't worry, old friend, I am back!" And the bird recognised him and lifted his head and ate the barley-husks. And then the golden bird began to sing and his song was so lovely that no-one had ever heard a sweeter song from any bird! The King was very happy and he said, "You have cured my horse and my golden bird. Perhaps you can also help the beautiful Princess. She seems to be ill, she hardly eats anything but she cries and cries and no-one kinows why." And the young man said, "I think I can cheer her up and make her well quite easily. Just let me speak to her." So the King went with him to the room of the beautiful Princess and the young man said, "Why are you so sad, my dear bride?" And the Princess knew his voice at once! She gave a little cry of joy and flung her arms around his neck! The King looked on in great astonishment. Why did the servant-boy call the Princess his bride? And why was she so full of joy?
And the young man said to him, "Do you not recognise me? I am the youngest son of the gardener. It was I who won the Princess and the golden horse and the golden bird, but my two older brothers tried to kill me and they pretended to be the brave heroes, who faced all these dangers!" And the two older brothers were brought before the King and they were pale with fear and they trembled when they saw their youngest brother alive. And then the Princess told the King what they had done. And the King had them locked up in a dark prisonwhere they could not see the light of day.
But to the gardener's youngest son he said, "I have no son, so you shall be like a son of mine and become King when I die." And so the gardener's youngest son married the beautiful Princess and so became Prince and they lived happily ever after!