FAIRY TALES (text) - 63. ERDONA AND HER STEPMOTHER

ERDONA AND HER STEPMOTHER

There was once a man and a woman who had a girl and went off well with each-other. Both the wife and the daughter were called Erdona. But the neighbor’s wife hated Erdona. Each evening she went outside in the backyard and asked the Moon:

– Moon! You are kind and I’m nice!

– Erdona is even better. – turned the Moon.

After a little time Erdona’s mother died, and it was not too long before the husband of the witch died. Then the witch went to the father of Erdona, he got dizzy and married her. But as she used to do every night, she went to the balcony and asked the Moon:

– Moon! You are kind and I’m nice.

– Erdona is even better. – turned the Moon.

The witch then told her husband to take the girl out of the house because she couldn’t stay with her anymore. So the man took his daughter into the woods. But the girl had heard the words the witch told her father so she had taken with her a jar of ashes to drop them on the ground so that to find her way back home. When they reached the top of the mountain, the father of the girl put her to sleep and returned home. When the girl found herself alone in the middle of the forest, she took the road back home following the ashes. So she arrived home, and when the witch saw her she was blackened in the face of anger. Then she forced her husband to leave the girl out of the house again. The man took the girl and brought her back to the forest, but this time even farther.

Then the girl left to the mountains. Shuttling here and there she arrived at a cave. There were some braves who lived in the cave but the girl did not know because they were not there when she came, they had gone to hunt wild animals.

When they returned, the girls heard voices from out of the cave so she hid behind a tree. When they entered the cave they were very surprised because they found it clean and neat, but also became worried that they didn’t know who had entered the house. Therefore they decided to guard the cave and the small warrior stayed. The next day when they came out, the girl entered the cave and began to clean. The young brave that was hidden came out and caught her. Erdona was afraid and spoke trembling:

– Please do not kill me, I’m an orphan. My mother died and my father that satisfies the wishes of my stepmother, brought me from the house and left me in the middle of the woods. Please do not hurt me!

When he heard those words, he felt pity for her and said:

– When my brothers come, climb to the roof so that they won’t see and hurt you.

When the brothers returned in the evening, they asked the little brother if he had seen something and he said:

– If you give me the word that you won’t hurt that, I am going to tell you.

– If he is a boy he’ll be our brother, otherwise she’ll be our sister- the brothers said.

So Erdona came down from the roof and embraced them all.

Erdona was a beautiful and courageous girl and the boy that saved her from his brothers had fallen in love with her, and she loved her too. After some time they got married and a year after they gave birth to a boy. However the witch went out every night to ask the Moon, and she learned that Erdona had a boy.

She found an old woman and gave her a ring with poison and two needles, and sent her to Erdona. The old woman left and went to the cave of the braves, and when she arrived she called Erdona and told her to get out but the girl said that she couldn’t. Then the old woman said: – My daughter, bring the small finger here because I have missed you. So Erdona was deceived and showed her finger. At that moment the old woman put on her finger the poisonous ring, and she fell down. The old woman came in quickly and put the two needles in the head. Then Erdona became an owl. Then the old woman took the son of Erdona and in his place she left the daughter of the witch.

The warriors were terrified and were worried when they saw a baby girl in the boy’s place and Erdona was not in a cave. They went out and searched throughout the forest but found nothing.

Witch’s husband also did not recognize the boy, but when he saw that he didn’t drink he felt so bad because the baby resembled to the little Erdona.

Erdona, from the moment she became owl, went to the garden the witch and heard the cry of her son. She asked the gardener whenever she went:

– Did the boy cry for his mother?

– He has cried so much. -the gardener said.

Erdona went away from the tree and fled saying:

– I wish this tree cries like my son is crying for his mother.

That’s what she did every day and a few days after all the trees in the garden were dead away.

The braves who had looked everywhere to find Erdona finally heard about the one who had done that bad thing and went to the house of the witch. They met there the gardener and he told them all about an owl that asked for the child, and when the owl went away it said: “I wish this tree cries like my son cries for his mother.”

Then the braves realized that the owl was Erdona and the boy the witch was keeping at home was her son. One day they painted the garden with pitch and hid until the owl came.

She asked if the boy had cried for his mother and left saying: – I wish this tree cries like my son cries for his mother.

When she wanted to leave she could not move because her legs were glued because of pitch. Then the braves showed up from their hiding place and caught her. They looked everywhere in her body and found the ring and the needles with poison that the witch had given to the old woman. When they took them off Erdona turned into a human again. Then she immediately went to her son to suckle him. The braves took Erdona and turned back home. There they found the witch’s daughter and slaughtered her into pieces. Then they put her in a sack and put some buns over the sack. When the witch saw that they had done to her daughter she burst in pain and died at once.