Prevod

Once upon a time there was a young huntsman who went into the forest to lie in wait for game. His heart was light and merry, and as he walked along, whistling on a leaf, an ugly little old woman came up to him and said, “Good day, dear huntsman. You may be merry and content, but I am hungry and thirsty. Do give me something.” The huntsman felt sorry for the poor old woman, so he reached into his pocket and gave her what he could afford. He was about to go on his way, but the old woman stopped him and said, “Listen, dear huntsman, to what I have to tell you. For your kind heart, I will give you a gift. Keep going along this path, and before long you will come to a tree with nine birds sitting in it. They have a cloak in their claws and are fighting over it. Raise your gun and fire into the midst of them. They will surely drop the cloak, but one of the birds will also be struck and fall down dead. Take the cloak with you. It is a wishing-cloak: when you throw it over your shoulders, you need only wish yourself in any place, and in an instant you will be there. Take the heart out of the dead bird and swallow it whole. Then every morning, when you get up, you will find a gold piece beneath your pillow.”

The huntsman thanked the wise woman and thought to himself, “What wonderful things she has promised me! If only they all come true.” Yet he had gone scarcely a hundred paces when he heard such a screeching and twittering in the branches overhead that he looked up. There he saw a flock of birds tugging at a piece of cloth with their beaks and claws, shrieking, pulling, and fighting as though each wanted it all to himself. “Well,” said the huntsman, “this is strange! It is happening just as the old woman said.” He took his gun from his shoulder, aimed, and fired into their midst, sending feathers flying. At once the birds fled with loud cries, but one fell down dead, and the cloak came fluttering down as well. The huntsman did as the old woman had told him: he cut open the bird, found its heart, swallowed it, and took the cloak home with him.

The next morning, when he woke, he remembered the promise and wanted to see whether it had come true. When he lifted his pillow, a gold piece gleamed up at him. The next morning he found another, and so it went every time he got up. He gathered a heap of gold, but at last he thought, “What good is all my gold if I stay at home? I will set out and see the world.”

So he took leave of his parents, slung his hunting bag and gun over his shoulder, and went out into the world. One day he happened to pass through a thick forest, and when he came to its edge, a splendid castle stood on the plain before him. At one of its windows an old woman stood with a beautiful maiden, looking down. Now the old woman was a witch, and she said to the girl, “There is a man coming out of the forest who carries a wondrous treasure inside him. We must trick him out of it, my darling daughter. It belongs with us rather than with him. He has a bird’s heart inside him, and because of it a gold piece lies beneath his pillow every morning.” She explained how it all worked and what part the girl must play. At last she threatened her, saying with angry eyes, “And if you do not obey me, you will be sorry.” As the huntsman drew near, he caught sight of the girl and said to himself, “I have been wandering about for so long. I will rest a while and stay at this fine castle, for I have money enough.” But the real reason was that her beauty had caught his eye.

He entered the house and was warmly welcomed and graciously entertained. Before long he was so deeply in love with the witch’s daughter that he could think of nothing else. He watched only her eyes, and whatever she asked, he gladly did. Then the old woman said, “Now we must have the bird’s heart. He will feel nothing when it is gone.” They prepared a potion, and when it had boiled, the old woman poured it into a cup and gave it to the girl, who had to offer it to the huntsman. “Come, my dearest,” she said, “drink to me.” He took the cup, and as soon as he had swallowed the potion, he vomited up the bird’s heart. The girl had to carry it away secretly and then swallow it herself, for the old woman was determined to have it. From that time on, he found no more gold beneath his pillow. Instead, it lay beneath the girl’s pillow, where the old woman fetched it every morning. But he was so much in love and so besotted that he thought of nothing but passing the time with the girl.

Then the old witch said, “We have the bird’s heart, but we must take the wishing-cloak from him as well.” The girl answered, “Let us leave him that. He has already lost his wealth.” At this the old woman grew angry and said, “Such a cloak is a wondrous thing, seldom found in this world. I mean to have it, and have it I shall.” She told the girl what to do and warned her that things would go badly for her if she did not obey. So the girl did as the old woman commanded. One day she stood at the window and gazed out across the countryside, looking very sad. “Why do you stand there so sorrowfully?” asked the huntsman. “Ah, my darling,” she answered, “over there lies Garnet Mountain, where precious jewels grow. I long for them so much that whenever I think of them I grow quite sad. But who can fetch them? Only the birds that fly can reach that place. No human being ever can.” “If that is all that troubles you,” said the huntsman, “I will soon lift the sorrow from your heart.” With that he drew her beneath his cloak and wished himself upon Garnet Mountain, and in an instant they were both sitting there. Precious stones sparkled all around them, a joy to behold, and they gathered the finest and most valuable ones. But the old woman had used her witchcraft to make the huntsman’s eyelids heavy. He said to the girl, “Let us sit down and rest a little. I am so tired I can scarcely stand.” So they sat down, and he laid his head in her lap and fell asleep. Once he was asleep, she untied the cloak from his shoulders and put it around her own, gathered up the garnets and other jewels, and wished herself home with them.

When the huntsman had slept his fill and awoke, he saw that his beloved had deceived him and left him alone on the desolate mountain. “Oh,” he said, “how much treachery there is in the world!” He sat there in sorrow and distress, not knowing what to do. Now the mountain belonged to fierce and monstrous giants, who lived there and went about their business. He had not been sitting long when he saw three of them striding towards him. He lay down as though sunk in a deep sleep. The giants came up, and the first nudged him with his foot and said, “What sort of earthworm is this, lying here looking at his own insides?” The second said, “Stamp him to death.” But the third said scornfully, “As if that were worth the trouble! Let him live. He cannot stay here, and if he climbs higher, to the mountain’s summit, the clouds will seize him and carry him away.” Talking like this, they passed on, but the huntsman had listened carefully to their words. As soon as they were gone, he rose and climbed to the mountaintop. He had been sitting there a little while when a cloud drifted up, caught him, and carried him away. It sailed through the sky for a time, then sank down over a large vegetable garden enclosed by walls on every side, setting him gently on the ground among the cabbages and other vegetables.

The huntsman looked around and said, “If only I had something to eat! I am so hungry, and it will be hard to go any farther. But I see no apples or pears here, nor any kind of fruit—nothing but vegetables everywhere.” At last he thought, “In a pinch I can eat some lettuce. It will not taste particularly good, but it will refresh me.” So he chose a fine head and began to eat. Yet scarcely had he swallowed a few mouthfuls when he felt very strange and sensed that he was changing completely. He grew four legs, a large head, and two long ears, and saw to his horror that he had turned into a donkey. But since he was still very hungry, and the juicy lettuce tasted good to him in his new form, he went on eating greedily. At last he came to another kind of lettuce, but scarcely had he swallowed a little of it when he felt another change come over him and returned to his human shape.

Then the huntsman lay down and slept off his weariness. When he woke the next morning, he picked one head of the harmful lettuce and one of the good, thinking, “These will help me recover what is mine and punish the treachery.” He packed the heads away, climbed over the wall, and set out to find his beloved’s castle. After wandering about for a few days, he was fortunate enough to find it again. He quickly darkened his face until his own mother would not have known him, then went into the castle and asked for lodging. “I am so tired,” he said, “that I cannot go any farther.” The witch asked, “My good fellow, who are you, and what is your business?” He answered, “I am a messenger of the king, sent out to find the finest lettuce that grows beneath the sun. I have been fortunate enough to find it and am carrying it with me, but the sun beats down so fiercely that the tender leaves are in danger of wilting, and I do not know whether I can bring them all the way.”

When the old woman heard of the delicious lettuce, she began to crave it and said, “My dear fellow, do let me taste this wonderful lettuce.” “Why not?” he answered. “I have brought two heads and will give you one.” He opened his bag and handed her the harmful one. The witch suspected nothing, and her mouth watered so much at the thought of the new dish that she went into the kitchen herself to prepare it. Once it was ready, she could not wait for it to be brought to the table, but took a few leaves at once and put them in her mouth. Scarcely had she swallowed them when she lost her human shape and ran down into the courtyard as a she-donkey. Then the maid came into the kitchen, saw the prepared lettuce standing there, and was about to carry it in. But on the way, as was her habit, she felt the urge to taste it and ate a few leaves. At once its magic took effect, and she too became a she-donkey and ran out to join the old woman, while the dish of lettuce fell to the ground. Meanwhile the messenger was sitting with the beautiful girl. When no one brought the lettuce, and she too was eager to taste it, she said, “I cannot think what has become of the lettuce.” The huntsman thought, “It must have taken effect by now,” and said, “I will go to the kitchen and ask.” When he went down, he saw the two she-donkeys running about the courtyard, while the lettuce lay on the ground. “Very good,” he said. “Those two have had their share.” He picked up the remaining leaves, put them on the dish, and brought them to the girl. “I am bringing you this delicious dish myself,” he said, “so you need not wait any longer.” She ate some, and at once, like the others, she lost her human shape and ran into the courtyard as a she-donkey.

After the huntsman had washed his face so that the transformed women could recognize him, he went down into the courtyard and said, “Now you shall have your reward for your treachery.” He tied all three to a rope and drove them away until he came to a mill. He knocked at the window, and the miller put out his head and asked what he wanted. “I have three wicked beasts,” he answered, “which I no longer care to keep. If you will take them in, give them food and shelter, and treat them as I tell you, I will pay whatever you ask.” “Why not?” said the miller. “But how am I to treat them?” The huntsman told him to beat the old she-donkey, who was the witch, three times a day and feed her once; to beat the younger one, who was the maid, once a day and feed her three times; and to give the youngest, who was the girl, no beatings at all and feed her three times a day, for he could not bring himself to have the girl beaten. Then he returned to the castle, where he found everything he needed.

A few days later the miller came and said he had to report that the old she-donkey, who had been beaten and fed only once a day, was dead. “The other two,” he went on, “are not dead, and they are fed three times a day, but they are so sorrowful that they cannot last much longer.” Then the huntsman took pity on them, let go of his anger, and told the miller to bring them back. When they came, he gave them some of the good lettuce to eat, and they became human again. The beautiful girl fell on her knees before him and said, “Ah, my dearest, forgive me for the wrong I have done you. My mother forced me to do it. It was against my will, for I love you with all my heart. Your wishing-cloak is hanging in a cupboard, and I will take a potion to bring up the bird’s heart.” Then his heart softened, and he said, “Keep it. It makes no difference, for I mean to take you as my faithful wife.” So the wedding was celebrated, and they lived happily together until the end of their days.