Prevod

A young man once swore an oath that he would marry none but the emperor’s daughter, and one day he set off on foot to see the emperor and ask for her hand. Not daring to refuse him outright, the emperor said, “Very well, my son, I shall give you my daughter, but within eight days at the latest you must bring me three horses: one unfoaled, white and without a mark; another unridden, chestnut with a black head; and a third unshod, black with a white head and white legs. These you must give to me, and to my empress as much treasure as the three horses can carry. If you fail to bring all this, my daughter shall not be yours.” When the young man heard this, all manner of thoughts ran through his head, but at last he thanked the emperor for his daughter and, commending himself to God, set off home the way he had come. As luck would have it, while he was speaking with the emperor, the emperor’s daughter had listened to every word and stolen looks at the young man, who seemed to her handsomer than any man in the world. At once she wrote him a letter and sent one of her most trusted servants after him with it, bidding him come secretly to her early the next morning, and on no account fail to do so if he wished to marry her. Having sent the letter, that very night she stole a wondrous knife from her father’s secret hiding place, and the next morning rode out with it to meet the young man, who had set off as she had instructed. As soon as they met, they took each other by the hand, made themselves known to one another, declared their love, and swore that nothing but the black earth should ever part them. Then the emperor’s daughter said to him, “Here, take the horse I am riding, mount it, and ride swiftly eastward to the fairy mountain. When you reach a hill with three peaks, look about you from right to left until you spy a pearly meadow where horses of every kind are grazing. Choose three such horses as my father has demanded of you. But if they take fright, draw this knife and turn it towards the sun so that its light falls over the meadow. Then all the horses will come to you of their own accord and fall before you like lambs, and you will be able to catch them and bring them away with you. Once you have caught the horses, look about you until you see a cypress in the middle of the meadow. Its roots are bronze, its branches silver, and its foliage gold. Go up to it and strike its roots with the sheath of the knife, and they will open to reveal countless aspers of every size. Take them and load the three horses, then make haste back here with them. In this way you will satisfy my father the emperor, and he will give me to you.” Hearing this, the young man rejoiced. He mounted the maiden’s horse, tucked the wondrous knife into his belt, and rode straight towards the mountain. When he reached the hill, he saw the meadow and horses of every kind grazing there. As he went down into the meadow, the horses began to shy, but he drew the knife and turned it towards the sun. It flashed, and the whole meadow shone as a mountain does when the sun strikes it. And now horses of every kind came to him from all sides, each dropping to its foreknees before him as it approached. He began to choose among them and picked out three just as the emperor had demanded. Once he had chosen the horses, he stood and looked this way and that until he saw the cypress in the middle of the meadow. He went up to it and tapped its roots with the sheath of the knife—and what should he see? The roots opened, and countless aspers began pouring out. He filled his sacks, loaded them onto the three horses, and set off for the emperor. When he came before the emperor, and the emperor saw the horses and the aspers, he was astonished. There was nothing for it now but to promise him his daughter’s hand. He asked the young man what dowry he wished for, and how great a dowry he would demand, and the young man replied, “Noble emperor! Your daughter for my treasure, and your wondrous knife for my reward.” The emperor gave him both, and he went home singing, with the maiden and the knife.