Serbian Folk-lore - Anonymous

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it grew dark again the king’s son mounted the mare and rode out to the field, and the foal galloped by the side of the mare. Again he sat still on the mare’s back till about midnight, when he grew very sleepy and fell into a slumber, as on the former evenings, and when he awoke he found himself riding on the rail, holding the bridle in his hand, just as before. Then, as before, he went in a hurry to look after the mare. As he went he remembered the words the old woman had said to the mare, and took the wolf’s hair from the handkerchief and rubbed it a little. Then the wolf came up to him and asked, ‘What is the matter, half-brother?’ And he answered, ‘The old woman’s mare has run away, and I cannot tell where she is.’ The wolf said, ‘Here she is with us; she has turned herself into a wolf, and the foal into a wolf’s cub. Strike once with the bridle on the earth and cry out, “Heigh! old woman’s mare!” ’ And the king’s son did so, and instantly the mare came again and stood with the foal beside him. So he bridled her, and galloped home, and the foal followed. When he arrived the old woman gave him his breakfast, but she led the mare into the stable and beat her with the poker, crying, ‘To the wolves, I said, miserable one!’ Then the mare answered, ‘I have been to the wolves; but they are his friends, and told him all about me!’ Then the old woman came out of the stable, and the king’s son said to her, ‘Eh! grandmother, I have served you honestly; now give me what you promised me.’ And the old woman answered, ‘My son, what is promised must be fulfilled. So look here: here are the twelve horses, choose which you like!’ And the prince said, ‘Why should I be too particular? Give me only that leprous horse in the corner! fine horses are not fitting for me!’ But the old woman tried to persuade him to choose another horse, saying, ‘How can you be so foolish as to choose that leprous thing whilst there are such very fine horses here?’ But he remained firm by his first choice, and said to the old woman, ‘You ought to give me which I choose, for so you promised.’ So, when the old woman found she could not make him change his mind, she gave him the scabby horse, and he took leave of her, and went away, leading the horse by the halter.

      When he came to a forest he curried and rubbed down the horse, when it shone as bright as gold. He then mounted, and the horse flew as quickly as a bird, and in a few seconds brought him to the dragon’s palace. The king’s son went in and said to the queen, ‘Get ready as soon as possible!’ She was soon ready, when they both mounted the horse, and began their journey home. Soon after the dragon came home, and when he saw the queen had disappeared, said to his horse, ‘What shall we do? Shall we eat and drink first, or shall we pursue them at once?’ The horse answered, ‘Whether we eat and drink or not it is all one, we shall never reach them.’

      When the dragon heard that, he got quickly on his horse and galloped after them. When they saw the dragon following them they pushed on quicker, but their horse said, ‘Do not be afraid! there is no need to run away.’ In a very few moments the dragon came very near to them, and his horse said to their horse, ‘For God’s sake, my brother, wait a moment! I shall kill myself running after you!’ Their horse answered, ‘Why are you so stupid as to carry that monster. Fling your heels up and throw him off, and come along with me!’ When the dragon’s horse heard that he shook his head angrily and flung his feet high in the air, so that the dragon fell off and brake in pieces, and his horse came up to them. Then the queen mounted him and returned with the king’s son happily to her kingdom, where they reigned together in great prosperity until the day of their death.

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      [30] Servian name for “Cinderella.” Back

      AS some village girls were spinning whilst they tended the cattle grazing in the neighbourhood of a ravine, an old man with a long white beard—so long a beard that it reached to his girdle—approached them, and said, ‘Girls, girls, take care of that ravine! If one of you should drop her spindle down the cliff, her mother will be turned into a cow that very moment!’

      Having warned them thus, the old man went away again. The girls, wondering very much at what he had told them, came nearer and nearer to the ravine, and leant over to look in; whilst doing so one of the girls—and she the most beautiful of them all—let her spindle fall from her hand, and it fell to the bottom of the ravine.

      When she went home in the evening she found her mother, changed into a cow, standing before the house; and from that time forth she had to drive this cow to the pasture with the other cattle.

      In a little time the father of the girl married a widow, who brought with her into the house her own daughter. The stepmother immediately began to hate the step-daughter, because the girl was incomparably more beautiful than her own daughter. She forbade her to wash herself, to comb her hair, or to change her clothes, and sought by every possible way to torment and scold her. One day she gave her a bag full of hemp, and said, ‘If you do not spin all this well and wind it, you need not return home, for if you do I shall kill you.’

      The poor girl walked behind the cattle and spun as fast as possible; but at mid-day, seeing how very little she had been able to spin, she began to weep. When the cow, her mother, saw her weeping, she asked her what was the matter, and the girl told her all about it. Then the cow consoled her, and told her not to be anxious. ‘I will take the hemp in my mouth and chew it,’ she said, ‘and it will come out of my ear as thread, so that you can draw it out and wind it at once upon the stick;’ and so it happened. The cow began to chew the hemp and the girl drew the thread from her ear and wound it, so that very soon they had quite finished the task.

      When the girl went home in the evening, and took all the hemp, worked up, to her stepmother, she was greatly astonished, and next morning gave her yet more hemp to spin and wind. When at night she brought that home ready the stepmother thought she must be helped by some other girls, her friends; therefore the third day she gave her much more hemp than before. But when the girl had gone with the cow to the pasture, the woman sent her own daughter after her to find out who was helping her. This girl went quietly towards her step-sister so as not to be heard, and saw the cow chewing the hemp and the girl drawing the thread from her ear and winding it, so she hastened home and told all to her mother. Then the stepmother urged the husband to kill the cow. At first he resisted; but, seeing his wife would give him no peace, he at last consented to do as she wished, and fixed the day on which he would kill it. As soon as the step-daughter heard this she began to weep, and when the cow asked her why she wept she told her all about it. But the cow said, ‘Be quiet! do not cry! Only when they kill me take care not to eat any of the meat, and be sure to gather all my bones and bury them behind the house, and whenever you need anything come to my grave and you will find help.’ So when they killed the cow the girl refused to eat any of the flesh, saying she was not hungry, and afterwards carefully gathered all the bones and buried them behind the house, on the spot the cow had told her.

      The real name of this girl was Mary, but as she had worked so much in the house, carrying water, cooking, washing dishes, sweeping the house, and doing all sorts of house-work, and had very much to do about the fire and cinders, her stepmother and half-sister called her ‘Papalluga’ (Cinderella).

      One day the stepmother got ready to go with her own daughter to church, but before she went she spread over the house a basketful of millet, and said to her step-daughter, ‘You Papalluga! If you do not gather up all this millet and get the dinner ready before we come back from church, I will kill you!’

      When they had gone to church the poor girl began to weep, saying to herself: ‘It is easy to see after the dinner; I shall soon have that ready; but who can gather up all this quantity of millet!’ At that moment she remembered what the cow had told her, that in case of need she should go to her grave and would there find help, so she ran quickly to the spot, and what do you think she saw there? On the grave stood a large box full of valuable clothes of different kinds, and on the top of the box sat two

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