Prevod
There was once a fisherman who, for three days running, caught nothing in his net but a single eel each day. When he caught the third eel on the third day, he grew angry and said, “The devil take such fishing, when all I ever catch is one eel!” At this, one of the three eels spoke and said to him, “Do not curse so, poor man! You do not know what you have caught. You have caught yourself a great fortune. Kill one of us three and cut it into four pieces. Give one piece to your wife to eat, another to your bitch, a third to your mare, and plant the fourth above your house. Then your wife will bear you twin sons, your bitch will have two pups, your mare will foal two steeds, and above your house two golden sabres will spring up.” The fisherman heeded the eel and did everything as she had told him, and all this came to pass within the first year: his wife bore twin sons, his bitch had two greyhounds, his mare foaled two steeds, and above his house two sabres sprang up. When his sons were old enough, one of them said to his father, “Father! I see that you are a poor man and cannot feed us all, so I shall take one horse, one dog, and one sabre, and go out into the world. I am young and green, and wherever I may find myself, I shall find my bread.” Having said this to his father, he turned to his brother and said, “Farewell, brother, and God be with you! I am setting out into the wide world. Look after the house, work for the good of the family, and honour our father. Here is a little bottle full of water. Keep it by you, and if you see the water turn cloudy, you will know that I have perished.” With these words he went on his way. Travelling about the world, he came to a great city, and as he walked through it, the emperor’s daughter caught sight of him and fell desperately in love with him. She told her father to invite him into the palace, and the emperor did as she asked. When the young man entered the imperial court and the maiden had a good look at him, and saw his sabre, his dog, and his horse, all more beautiful than anything else in the world, she fell still more deeply in love and said to her father, “Father! I wish to marry this young man.” The emperor agreed, and the young man was willing enough, so the matter was settled, and they were duly married. One evening, as he stood at the window with his wife, he saw, not far from the palace, a great mountain all ablaze. He asked his wife what it was, and she answered, “Do not ask me, my lord! That is an enchanted mountain, which flashes by day and burns by night. Whoever goes there to see what it is falls mute that very instant and is spellbound on the spot.” Paying no heed to her, he mounted his horse, buckled on his sabre, took his dog, and set off for the mountain. When he reached it, he saw an old woman sitting on a solid rock, holding a staff in one hand and some herb in the other. As soon as he saw her, he asked why the mountain was like this, and she told him to come closer and he would learn. He approached, and the old woman led him into a courtyard fenced with the bones of heroes, where a great many men stood mute and spellbound. No sooner had he entered the courtyard than he, his horse, and his dog fell mute and turned to stone where they stood. At that very instant the water in his brother’s little bottle turned cloudy, and the brother told his father and mother that his brother, their son, was dead, and that he was going in search of him. So he travelled from place to place and from city to city, until fortune brought him to that same city and before the emperor’s palace. When the emperor saw him, he called to his daughter, claiming the reward for bringing good news: “Here is your husband!” She ran out and saw her brother-in-law, who looked as much like his brother as one half of an apple looks like the other. Seeing what seemed to be the very same horse, the same dog, and the same sabre, both the emperor and his daughter hurried to embrace him and lead him into the palace, the emperor thinking him his son-in-law and the daughter thinking him her husband. The young man was astonished by their affection, but guessed that they had mistaken him for his brother, and began to act as though he were indeed her husband and the emperor’s son-in-law. When evening came, they went to bed, and the woman called him to lie beside her as her husband. But no sooner had he lain down than he drew his sabre and laid it between them. She wondered what had come over him, and he told her that he no longer felt sleepy. Then he rose, went to the window, and, seeing the wondrous mountain, asked her, “Tell me, my wife, why is that mountain burning?” She answered, “For heaven’s sake, did I not tell you that very evening what sort of mountain it is?” “What sort is it, then?” he asked again, and she replied, “Whoever goes there falls mute and is spellbound. I was so afraid you might have gone there yourself.” When he heard this, he guessed what misfortune had befallen his brother, and could scarcely wait for daylight. At dawn he mounted his horse, buckled on his sabre, took his dog, and set off for the mountain. As soon as he caught sight of the old woman, he drew his sabre and charged at her on horseback, setting his dog upon her without saying a word. The old woman took fright and cried out to him not to cut her down. “Bring my brother out!” he shouted. Then the old woman brought him his brother and restored his speech and life. When the brothers had greeted one another and each had asked after the other’s well-being, they set off home. On the way, the brother who had been spellbound said, “Ah, brother, for God’s sake, let us go back and free those men who are bewitched as I was.” And so they did: they returned, seized the old woman, took the herb from her, and began rubbing it over the men until they all began to speak and move. When all those who had been bewitched there had come back to life, they killed the old woman. Then the two brothers went to the emperor’s palace, and the others each went home. A lie I heard, a lie I told, and may God bring you joy!
