Prevod

Once upon a time there was a sorcerer who took the form of a poor man, went begging from door to door, and captured beautiful girls. No one knew where he took them, for they were never seen again. One day he came to the door of a man who had three beautiful daughters. He looked like a poor, feeble beggar and carried a basket on his back, as though to collect whatever alms he might be given. He asked for a little food, and when the eldest daughter came out to offer him a piece of bread, he had only to touch her, and she was forced to jump into his basket. Then he hurried away with great strides and carried her into a dark forest, to his house in its very midst. Everything in the house was splendid. He gave her whatever she wished for and said, "My darling, you will be happy here with me, for you have everything your heart desires." This went on for a few days, and then he said, "I must go away on a journey and leave you alone for a little while. Here are the keys to the house. You may go everywhere and look at everything, except for one room, which this little key unlocks. I forbid you to enter it on pain of death." He also gave her an egg and said, "Keep this egg safe for me, and you had best carry it with you at all times, for if it were lost, a great misfortune would follow." She took the keys and the egg and promised to do everything as he had asked. When he was gone, she wandered through the house from top to bottom, looking at everything. The rooms glittered with silver and gold, and she thought she had never seen such splendor. At last she came to the forbidden door. She meant to pass it by, but curiosity would give her no peace. She examined the key; it looked just like any other. She put it into the lock and gave it a little turn, and the door sprang open. But what a sight met her eyes when she stepped inside! In the middle stood a great bloody basin, filled with dead people who had been hacked to pieces. Beside it stood a chopping block, with a gleaming axe lying on it. She was so terrified that the egg she held in her hand fell into the basin. She fished it out again and wiped off the blood, but in vain: it reappeared at once. She wiped and scraped, but she could not get it off.

Before long the man returned from his journey, and the first things he asked for were the keys and the egg. She handed them to him, trembling, and he saw at once from the red stains that she had been in the chamber of blood. "Since you went into that chamber against my will," he said, "you shall now go back into it against yours. Your life is at an end." He threw her to the ground, dragged her there by the hair, cut off her head on the block, and hacked her to pieces, so that her red blood flowed across the floor. Then he threw her into the basin with the others.

"Now I shall fetch the second one," said the sorcerer. Once more he went to the house in the guise of a poor man and begged. The second daughter brought him a piece of bread, and he captured her, as he had the first, with a mere touch, and carried her away. She fared no better than her sister: she gave in to her curiosity, opened the chamber of blood, and had to pay for it with her life when he returned. Then he went and fetched the third daughter. But she was clever and cunning. When he had given her the keys and the egg and gone away, she first put the egg in a safe place, then explored the house, and finally entered the forbidden chamber. Ah, what a sight met her eyes! Her two dear sisters lay in the basin, cruelly murdered. But she set to work gathering their limbs and laying them in their proper places: head, body, arms, and legs. When nothing more was missing, the limbs began to stir and joined themselves together, and both girls opened their eyes and came back to life. How they rejoiced, kissing and embracing one another! Then she led them out and hid them. When the man returned, he demanded the keys and the egg, and when he could find no trace of blood on them, he said, "You have passed the test. You shall be my bride." But now he had no more power over her and had to do whatever she asked. "Very well," she answered, "but first you must take a basketful of gold to my father and mother and carry it there on your own back. Meanwhile, I shall prepare the wedding here." Then she went into the little room where she had hidden her sisters. "Now," she said, "the moment has come when I can save you. The villain himself shall carry you home again. But as soon as you are home, send help for me." Then she put them both into a basket and covered them completely with gold, so that nothing of them could be seen. She called the sorcerer in and said, "Now carry the basket away, but mind you do not stop to rest on the way. I shall be watching from my little window and keeping an eye on you."

The sorcerer hoisted the basket onto his back and set off with it, but it was so heavy that sweat ran down his face, and he feared he would be crushed to death. He sat down to rest a little, but at once one of the girls in the basket called out, "I am watching from my little window and can see you resting. Get on with you!" He thought it was his bride calling to him and set off again. Once more he tried to sit down, and again the voice called, "I am watching from my little window and can see you resting. Get on with you this instant!" Whenever he stopped, the voice called out, and he had to keep going, until at last, quite out of breath, he brought the basket with the gold and the two girls into their parents' house.

Meanwhile, at home, the bride was making preparations for the wedding feast. She took a skull with grinning teeth, decked it out in finery, carried it upstairs to the attic window, and left it looking out. Then she invited the sorcerer's friends to the feast. When that was done, she dipped herself into a barrel of honey, cut open the featherbed, and rolled in the feathers, so that she looked like a strange bird and no one could recognize her. Then she left the house, and on her way she met some of the wedding guests, who asked:

"Fitcher's bird, where have you come from?" "I have come from Fitze Fitcher's house." "And what is the young bride doing there?" "She has swept the house from bottom to top and is looking out of the attic window."

At last she met the bridegroom, who was slowly making his way back. Like the others, he asked, "Fitcher's bird, where have you come from?" "I have come from Fitze Fitcher's house."

"And what is my young bride doing there?" "She has swept the house from bottom to top and is looking out of the attic window." The bridegroom looked up and saw the decked-out skull. Thinking it was his bride, he nodded to her and greeted her fondly. But once he and his guests had gone into the house, the help sent by the sisters arrived. They locked every door of the house so that no one could escape, and set it on fire, burning the sorcerer and all his rabble to death.