Isle of Nines

Three Romanian Folk Tales.

Once upon a time, for if it were not so, it would not be told; in the days when the poplar bore pears and the willow violets; when bears fought with their tails; when wolves and lambs embraced and kissed; when fleas leaped to the heavens to bring us tales:

From the time when the fly was writing on the wall.

Liar is the one who does not believe.

There was once a great emperor and an empress, both young and fair, who longed for children. They tried all that was needed, many times over. They sought healers and sages to read the stars and devise potions so they would have offspring. But it was in vain. At last, hearing of a wise old man in a nearby village, the emperor sent for him. The old man replied to the messengers: Let him who has need come to me. So the emperor and empress left the palace, and went to the old man’s house. Seeing them from afar, he came out to meet them and said at once:

“Welcome in good health; but what do you seek to know, your highness? Your wish will bring you  sorrow.”

“If you have remedies to give us children, grant them to me.” said the emperor.

“I have,” replied the old man; ” and you will have but one child. He will be Prince Charming, yet you will have no joy of him.”

The emperor and empress took the remedies. They returned joyful to the palace. In a few days, the empress felt with child. The whole realm, the court, and all the servants rejoiced at this happening.

But before the hour of birth came, the child began to weep so that no healer could soothe him. The emperor then promised him all the goods of the world. Yet, he still did not make him cease.

“Be silent, my heart’s darling,” said the emperor. “I will give you this kingdom or that. Be silent, my son. I will give you this or that emperor’s daughter for a wife,” and many such things. At last, he saw his son would not hush. So, he said: “Be silent, my princeling, and I will give you Youth without Age and Life without Death.”

Then the child fell silent and was born. The servants beat drums. They blew trumpets. In all the realm, there was great merriment for a whole week. The child grew into a strong and handsome prince. But, as he grew he became ever more tender and lost in thought. One day, when the Prince turned fifteen and the emperor sat at table with all his lords and servants feasting, he rose and said:

“Father, the time has come to give me what you promised at my birth.”

Hearing this, the emperor grew very sad and said:

“But my son, where can I find such an unheard-of thing? I promised it only to hush you.”

“If you cannot give it, father, then I must travel the world. I will continue until I find the promise for which I was born.” Then all the lords and the emperor fell on their knees, begging him not to forsake the realm; for the lords said:

“Your father is old now. We will raise you to the throne. We will bring you the fairest empress under the sun for a wife.”

But nothing could turn him from his resolve. He stood as firm as stone in his words. And his father, seeing this, gave him leave and set about preparing provisions and all he needed for the journey.

Then Prince Charming went to the imperial stables. The finest stallions in all the realm were kept there. He went to choose one. He laid hand on each horse and seized its tail. The first horse fell. So, one by one, all the horses of the imperial stables fell. At last, as he was about to leave, he looked around the stable one more time. He spied a scabby and lean horse in a corner. He went to it, and when he laid hand on its tail, it turned its head and said:

“What do you command, master? Praised be the Lord that He has let me live to feel a hero’s hand upon me once more.”

And stiffening its legs, it stood straight as a candle. Then Prince Charming told it what he meant to do, and the horse said:

To fulfill your wish, you must ask your father for the sword, lance, bow, and quiver of arrows. Also, ask for the clothes he wore when he was a youth. You must care for me with your own hands for six weeks. During this time, give me barley boiled in milk.

He asked the emperor for what the horse had advised. The emperor summoned the court steward. He ordered him to open all the wardrobes of clothes so his son might choose what pleased him. Prince Charming rummaged for three days and three nights. At last, in the bottom of an old chest, he found his father’s arms and clothes from his youth. They were much rusted. He began to clean the rust with his own hands. After six weeks, he succeeded in making the arms shine like mirrors. At the same time, he tended the horse as it had said. Hard work it was, but he managed.

Prince Charming informed the horse that the clothes and arms were cleaned and ready. The horse shook itself once. All the sores and scabs fell away, leaving it as its mother had borne it, a stout, fleshy horse with four wings. Seeing it thus, Prince Charming said:

“Three days from now, we depart.”

“May you live long, master; I am ready even today, if you command,” replied the horse.

On the morning of the third day, the whole court and realm was filled with lamentation. Prince Charming, dressed as a warrior with sword in hand, mounted on the horse he had chosen, took farewell of the emperor, the empress, all the great and small lords, the soldiers, and all the court servants, who with tears in their eyes begged him to abandon this journey, lest he go to his doom. But spurring his horse, he flew out the gate like the wind, and after him wagons with provisions, money, and some two hundred soldiers whom the emperor had assigned to accompany him.

After passing beyond his father’s realm and reaching the wilderness, Prince Charming divided all his wealth among the soldiers and, taking farewell, sent them back, keeping for himself only provisions the horse could carry. Turning toward the east, he rode on and on, three days and three nights, until he came to a wide plain where lay a multitude of human bones. Halting to rest, the horse said to him:

“Know, master, that here we are on the lands of a Ghoul, who is so wicked that none treads her domain without being slain. She was once a woman like others, but the curse of her parents, whom she disobeyed and tormented, turned her into a Ghoul. At this moment she is with her children, but tomorrow, in the forest you see, we shall meet her coming to destroy you. She is terribly large, but fear not; be ready with your bow to shoot her, and keep sword and lance at hand, to use them when need be.”

They turned to rest, but watched in turns. The next day, as dawn broke, they prepared to cross the forest. Prince Charming saddled and bridled the horse, tightening the girth more than ever, and set out. Then they heard a dreadful noise. The horse said:

“Hold fast, master, for here comes the Ghoul.” And as she came, whole trees fell to the ground.  The horse rose like the wind to about her height, and Prince Charming took one leg with an arrow; as he readied the second, she cried:

“Stop, Prince Charming, I will do you no harm!” And seeing he did not believe, she gave him a writing in her blood.

“Long life to your horse, Prince Charming,” she added, “for the wonder he is; if not for him, I would have eaten you roasted. But now you have eaten me. Know that until today no mortal has dared tread my borders this far; a few fools who tried scarcely reached the plain where you saw the many bones.”

They went to her home, where the Ghoul feasted Prince Charming and treated him as a traveler. But while they were at table feasting, and the Ghoul groaned in pain, suddenly he drew forth the leg he had kept in his bag, set it in place, and at once it healed. The Ghoul, in joy, kept the feast going for three entire days and begged Prince Charming to choose one of her three daughters, fair as fairies, for a wife. But he would not, telling her plainly what he sought. Then she said:

“With the horse you have and your courage, I believe you will succeed.”

After three days, they prepared for the road and departed. Prince Charming rode on and on, a long way and longer still; but when he crossed the Ghoul’s borders, he came upon a fair plain, flowered grass on one side, scorched on the other. Then he asked the horse:

“Why is the grass scorched?” And the horse replied:

“Here we are on the lands of a Scorpio, sister to the Ghoul. So wicked are they that they cannot live together; their parents’ curse has reached them, turning them into monsters as you see. They seek to snatch each other’s land. When the Scorpio is sorely angry, she spews fire and pitch. It seems she quarreled with her sister and, coming to drive her from her realm, scorched the grass where she passed. She is wickeder than her sister and has three heads. Let us rest a little, master, and tomorrow at dawn be ready.”

The next day they prepared as when they reached the Ghoul, and set out. Then they heard a roar and rushing like none they had heard before.

“Be ready, master, for here comes the Scorpio hag.”

The Scorpio, with one jaw in heaven and one on earth, spewing flames, approached swift as wind. The horse rose quick as arrow to about her height and veered aside. Prince Charming shot and took one head. As he readied for another, the Scorpio begged with tears to spare her, she would do him no harm, and to convince him gave a writing in her blood. The Scorpio feasted Prince Charming even better than the Ghoul. He, in turn, gave her back the head he had taken with the arrow, which stuck at once when set in place, and after three more days of feasting, they went on.

Crossing the Scorpio’s borders too, they rode on and on and further still, until they reached a field all of flowers, where it was ever spring. Each delicate flower filled the air with an intoxicating scent. A breeze blew softly. Here they halted to rest, and the horse said:

“We have come thus far as we have, master! One more hurdle remains: we must face a great peril, and if God wills it, we will escape and be true heroes. Ahead lies the palace where dwells Youth without Age and Life without Death. This house is ringed by a dense, high forest, where dwell all the wildest beasts in the world; day and night they guard unsleeping, and they are many indeed. There is no way to fight them. To cross the forest is beyond power. But we must strive, if we can, to leap over it.”

After resting some two days, they prepared again. Then the horse, holding its breath, said:

“Master, tighten the girth as much as you can, and mounting, hold fast in the stirrups and to my mane; keep your feet close to my flanks, lest you hinder my flight.”

He mounted, tested, and in a moment was near the forest.

“Master,” said the horse again, “now is the time when the forest beasts are fed and gathered in the courtyard; let us cross.”

“Let us cross,” replied Prince Charming, “and may God have mercy on us.”

They rose upward and saw the palace shining so that one could gaze at the sun but not at it. They passed over the forest, and just as they were descending at the palace stairs, he barely brushed the tip of a tree with his foot, and at once the whole forest stirred; the beasts howled so that the hair stood on end. They hastened down; and if the lady of the palace had not been outside, feeding her pups (for so she called the forest beasts), they would surely have been destroyed.

More in joy that guests had come, she saved them. For until then she had seen no human soul there. She halted the beasts, tamed them, and sent them to their places. The mistress was a fairy tall, slender, and endearing, wondrously fair! Seeing her, Prince Charming stood transfixed. But she, gazing on him with pity, said:

“Welcome, Prince Charming! What do you seek here?”

“I seek,” he said, “Youth without Age and Life without Death.”

“If that is what you seek, it is here.”

Then he dismounted and entered the palace. There he found two more women, as young as one another. They were the elder sisters. He began to thank the fairy for saving him from peril. And they, in joy, prepared a pleasant supper, all in golden vessels. He let the horse graze where it would. Then they made him known to all the beasts, so he could wander the forest in peace.

The women begged him to dwell thenceforth with them, for they said they were weary of ever sitting alone. And he did not wait to be asked twice but accepted with full contentment, for that was what he sought.

Little by little, they grew accustomed one to another; he told his tale and what he had suffered to reach them, and not long after he wed the youngest daughter. At their wedding, the house’s mistresses gave him leave to go everywhere around, wherever he wished; only one valley, which they showed him, they said he must not enter, for it would not go well with him. And they told him that valley was called the Valley of Sorrow.

He dwelt there in forgotten time, without noticing, for he remained as young as when he came. He passed through the forest without so much as a headache. He delighted in the golden palaces, lived in peace and quiet with his wife and sisters-in-law, rejoiced in the beauty of the flowers and the sweetness and purity of the air, like one blessed. He often went hunting; but one day, chasing a hare, he loosed one arrow, two, and missed; angered, he ran after it and loosed a third, which struck it. But, in the chase, he had not noticed that in pursuing the hare he had entered the Valley of Sorrow.

Taking the hare, he turned home. Suddenly a longing seized him for his father and mother. He dared not tell the wise women. But they knew him by his sorrow and unrest.

“You have entered, the Valley of Sorrow!” they said.

“I have entered, my dears, without meaning such folly. And now I melt from head to foot with longing for my parents, yet I cannot bear to leave you. I have been with you many days and have no complaint of sorrow. So I will go to see my parents once more and then return, never to leave again.”

“Do not leave us, beloved; your parents have not lived these hundreds of years, and even you, going, we fear you will not return. Stay with us: for our hearts tell us you will perish.”

All the prayers of the three women, and of the horse, could not soothe the longing for his parents that withered him utterly. At last the horse said:

“If you will not heed me, master, whatever befalls you, know that you alone are to blame. I will tell you one thing, and if you accept my bargain, I will take you back.”

“I accept,” he said with full contentment, “tell me!”

“When we reach your father’s palace, I will set you down and return myself. Even if you wish to stay but an hour.”

“So be it,” he said.

They prepared to depart, embraced the women, and after saying farewell, set out, leaving them sighing and with tears in their eyes. They reached the lands where the Scorpio’s domain had been; there they found cities; the forests had turned to plains. He asked some and others about the Scorpio and her dwelling; but they answered that their grandparents had heard from their ancestors tales of such trifles.

“How can that be?” said Prince Charming, “only the day before yesterday I passed here,” and he told all he knew.

The people laughed at him as at one raving or dreaming awake, and he, angered, rode on without noticing that his beard and hair had whitened.

Reaching the Ghoul’s domain, he asked as at the Scorpio’s, and received same type of answers. He could not fathom it: how in a few days had things so changed? And again angered, he rode on with his white beard reaching his waist, feeling his legs tremble a little, and came to his father’s realm. Here other people, other cities, and the old ones so changed he knew them not. At last he reached the palaces where he was born. As he dismounted, the horse kissed his hand and said:

“Farewell, master, for I return whence I came. If you wish to go too, mount at once and let us go!”

“Go in health, for I hope to return soon.”

The horse flew off swift as arrow.

Seeing the palaces ruined and overgrown with weeds, he sighed and, with tears in his eyes, sought to recall how luminous those palaces once were and how he had passed his childhood in them. He circled two or three times, searching every chamber, every nook that brought back the past; the stable where he found the horse. Then he descended to the cellar, whose entrance was choked with fallen ruins.

Searching this way and that, with beard white to his knees, lifting his eyelids with his hands and scarcely walking, he found only a decrepit chest.  He opened it, but found nothing in it. He lifted the lid of the inner compartment, and a feeble voice said:

“Welcome, for if you had delayed longer, I too would have perished.”

Death gave him a slap, and he fell dead, and at once turned to dust.

And I mounted a saddle and told you this tale as is.

(Translation from Romanian to English has been done with Grok AI)