FAIRY TALES (text) - 53. SEVEN-PALMS-THE-BEARD-AND-THREE-PALMS-THE-HEIGHT MAN

SEVEN-PALMS-THE-BEARD-AND-THREE-PALMS-THE-HEIGHT MAN

Once upon a time there was a man, so powerful that when he threw his stone up to the sky, it wanted three hours to come back on the ground. He thought he was the only one in the whole world to do this and no one could compare with him. One day, when he was dining with his friends, they met with a foreign pilgrim who told them about a man who could carry the whole villages in his arms. So, the man took off to go and meet him. Ten days and ten nights passed, and he met a farmer working on the field with his oxen. After they were greeted with each-other, the strong man asked the farmer: Is it true that there is a man who carries his village in his arms or they have told me a lie?

– No, it is true, they haven’t lied to you. –the farmer said.

– Can you tell me where does he live? –the man asked.

– He’s not too far from here, do you see those two oaks at the hill? There is where he lives.

Saying these words, he raised his hand to point at the place, but together with his hand he raised the oxen in the air. The man who could throw the stone up to the sky was very surprised and invited the farmer to join him. He accepted and killed his oxen with his fist, then they roasted and ate very well, then they set off. They went to the man who carried the village in his arms and asked him why he did that, and he told them:

Every day a beast comes and is used to eat all the sheep and whatever it finds out here, and I had no choice but to carry the village in my arms.

– Man, leave the village and come with us around the world. –both of them said.

He heard them and put the village down on the ground. The three of them set off and they traveled for days when they arrived at a very high field and a mountain nearby. Every day, two of them went hunting and the third made the fire and cooked. One day, it was the turn of the man who threw the stone up to the sky to cook. After he made a big fire, cut the meat and put it into the kettle. Little time passed and the mountain was opened, and a little seven-palms-the-beard-and-three-palms-the-height man appeared. He said out loud: – what do you have there in the kettle?

– Meat, – said the man more loudly.

– Fill a plate for me, – said the little man.

The brave didn’t say no and gave him some meat. The little man finished it at once and asked him for another one, he finished that plate too and asked again. The brave got mad at him and said: – That’s all for today, go away now.

The little man got mad too, so he pushed the kettle to the ground and ran away. The brave went to catch him, but the mountain opened and closed in a second and he disappeared. When the other friends got back in the evening, they saw the meat spread on the ground and asked him what had happened.

Then the farmer said: – Tomorrow I will stay by myself and take care of the meat.

The next day, the two friends went hunting and the farmer stayed. Little time passed and the seven-palms-the-beard-and-three-palms-the-height man came out of the mountain and asked the farmer for a plate full of meat. He gave him the meat and the little man turned the plate at once and asked again for another plate. The farmed stood up and told him: – Now I won’t give you anything.

The little man pushed the kettle to the ground again and ran away. The farmer went behind him with a knife in his hand, but he couldn’t catch him because the little man disappeared inside the mountain. When the two other friends came back, the one who threw the stone too much high, asked his friend what had happened, but he didn’t speak. Then, humiliated, he began to tell them what had happened.

So, they decided that the one who carried his village in his hands would stay there the next day. After the two friends went hunting, he made the fire and cooked the meat. It didn’t last too long, but the seven-palms-the-beard-and-three-palms-the-height man appeared again and asked for the same thing as nothing had happened the previous days. He said: – Give me a plate full of meat immediately.

He went in front of the big kettle with the cudgel in his hands. They began to argue with each-other till the seven-palms-the-beard-and-three-palms-the-height man pushed the kettle down and ran away. The man followed him with the cudgel in his hands, but he couldn’t reach him. When his friends came back, he went in front of them and said: 

The same thing happened to me today, but I won’t find peace till I know where his power comes from.

After saying these, he set off and few days later he arrived at a little lake. It was a herder there and they were greeted with each-other, they began to talk and the herder was complaining because the pasture was gone. The seven-palms-the-beard-and-three-palms-the-height man had stolen the pasture to give that to his boar because his power was hidden inside it.

The brave didn’t stay for too long, but went to a rich man and offered him to herd his sheep and take no money back, but he wanted a place to sleep and eat. The rich man accepted the offer and began to complain like the herder did, that there was no place where he could herd the sheep. The next day, the brave took the brave to the pastures and the rich man ordered him a hundred times not to go to the place where the boar stayed. But the brave took the sheep exactly there and herded the sheep very good. When the boar saw him, he ran to strangle him, but when he noticed he was new in village, he let him go. The man who had the sheep was very happy that the brave had herded them well and wanted to go the next day with him to see where he took the sheep. When the boar saw them again, he attacked the brave to kill him. After a long fight between both of them, no one was winning. Then the boar said:

– If I had an apple root, I would have ripped you at once. 

– If I had a bucket full of cheese, I would have ripped you at once, – the brave told him.

The other man heard everything and the next morning he joined the brave and took a bucket full of cheese. The brave and the boar fought again for hours, the boar said:

– If I had an apple root, I would have ripped you at once. 

– If I had a bucket full of cheese, I would have ripped you at once, – the brave told him.

The man heard them and came out of the bushes and said:

– Here’s the bucket with cheese, rip him off.

The brave ate the cheese at once and cut the boar’s head at once. From that day on, the fields were full of grass and the people could take the sheep there to grass.

The people of the village were so happy that they wanted to give him as much gold as he wanted and marry him with the princess, but he didn’t accept. He took only two bags with gold for his friends, who had seen the seven-palms-the-beard-and-three-palms-the-height man dying in front of them at the same moment when the brave had killed the boar.