XXIII.—THE WONDERFUL BOYS.
A father had three daughters; they went to the river to
wash the linen. The king's son rode up. One said:
`Well, if the king's son were to marry me, I would hem the
whole palace round with a single needle.' The second said:
`If the king's son were to marry me, I would feed the whole
palace with a single roll.' But the third said: `If the
king's son were to marry me, I would bring him two sons,
each with a moon on his head and a star on the nape of his
neck.' The king rode up to the one that said: `I would
bring him two sons;' they lived one year, two years, and
she was expecting to become a mother. The king came
and gave orders to her mother: `Whatever God gives my
wife, let it be reared.' He rode away twenty miles off, and
God gave his wife children; she brought him two sons,
each with a moon on his head and a star on the nape of
his neck. His wife wrote a letter, that God had given them
two sons, each with a moon on his head and a star on the
nape of his neck. A servant carried the letter to him, and
went in to stop the night at the house of the queen's sister,
without knowing that it was her sister. He lay down to sleep;
then she took and opened the letter, erased that which was
written in it—`Each with a moon on his head and a star on
the nape of his neck'—and wrote instead, that it was not a
snake nor a lizard—it was nobody knew what, that she had
become the mother of. The man went to the king and
delivered the letter. He read it through: `What God has
given her, let it not be destroyed without my orders.' He
went back and again stopped at the same place to pass the
night; she took the letter again, opened it, erased what the
king had written, and wrote instead, that before he returned,
she was to bury her sons. When he arrived, the king's wife
read it through, and began to weep; she was grieved to
bury those beautiful sons. She dug two graves in the yard
and buried them; out of them grew two maples, a golden
stem and a silver one. The king came to the house and
put her away because she had buried them without his
orders.
He rode off and married his wife's second sister. They
lived together, and after a time she said: `My most
illustrious husband! let us cut down those maples and
make ourselves a bed.'—`Ah! my most illustrious husband!
let us cut up that bed and burn it, and sprinkle the ashes on
the road.' A shepherd was driving sheep that way; a
ewe strayed and swallowed some of the ashes; she bore two
he-lambs; on the head of each was a moon, on the back of
the neck a star. Then she disliked those lambs, ordered
them to be slaughtered, and the entrails to be thrown out
into the street. The first wife came out, collected the
entrails, cooked and ate them, and became the mother of
two sons; each had a moon on his head and a star on the
nape of his neck. The two sons grew and grew, and never
took off their caps. Then the king had a desire that somebody
should come to tell him stories. People said that
there were two brothers there who could tell stories. They
came to tell stories.
They began to tell a story. `There was a king who had
a queen; the queen become the mother of two sons; on
the head of each was a moon, on the nape of the neck a
star. Afterwards the king went hunting; the queen wrote
a letter and sent it. The man went to her sister's for the
night; she took the letter, opened it, and wrote that it was
not a snake nor a lizard—it was nobody knew what, that
the queen had been the mother of. The king read it
through, and replied that it was to be reared, whether it
were a snake or a lizard. The man went homewards, and
again rested at the house where he had passed the night.
She opened the letter, and wrote that she was to bury it
`by my arrival.' Then she dug two holes—graves—and
buried them; and two maples grew out, a golden stem and
a silver one. The new queen contrived that they should be
cut down and a bed made of them, and began to sleep on it,
and began to be uncomfortable: she ordered the bed to be
cut up and burnt, and the ashes to be thrown out into the
yard. A shepherd was driving sheep; a ewe swallowed
some of the ashes and bore two he-lambs; each had a moon
on the head and a star on the back of the neck. The queen
ordered the lambs to be slaughtered, and their entrails to be
thrown out into the street. Her divorced sister went out into
the street, collected the entrails, took them to her house,
cooked and ate them, and became the mother of two sons;
each had a moon on his head and a star on the nape of
his neck.' The boys bowed and took off their caps, thus
illuminating the whole room. The second wife was placed
on an iron harrow, and torn to pieces, but the king took his
first wife, and they began to live happily.
