FAIRY TALES (text) - 64. PEACOCK

PEACOCK

Once upon a time there was a man who was called Peacock. One day, Peacock had made some grits and was eating, and at that time twelve flies that were flying around, fell and drowned in milk. Then Peacock took the saddle of the donkey and wrote ‘‘I am the one who killed a dozen flies at once.’’ After writing it, he took his donkey and went to the mountain to cut some wood. He bound the donkey to a tree and lay down to sleep. Eleven brothers who were thieves passed by, cut the rope and stole the donkey. On the way home, thieves saw the writing on the saddle that read: ‘‘I am the one who killed a dozen flies at once.’’ They gathered with each-other and said:

– That guy has killed twelve at once but we are eleven, so we must turn the donkey back and let’s become friends with him.

They did so, turned back to Peacock who was sleeping, and called him:

– You are such a brave man, you’ve killed twelve people at once, so we want you to be our friend and we’d love to marry you with our sister.

Peacock agreed and the thieves gave their sister and a piece of land to him. One day a few tenants passed by and stood by his land. The brothers, who thought of Peacock as a brave man, told him to go and take the horses from the tenants. But his wife said:

– Go and take the horses, otherwise my brothers will kill you.

But Peacock was afraid of going there to steal the horses. Then his wife told him:

– Take off your clothes, give them to me and I will go to take the horses.

The wife went and took the horses, then she brought them to the yard of the house. But the brothers and everyone else thought it was Peacock who did that, so he became famous in the entire country. Once a dragon had conquered the high mountain. Then everyone said:

– Only Peacock can get rid of the dragon. 

So they took Peacock and went to the mountain. When they arrived at the den of the dragon, and people told Peacock:

– Are you going to attack the dragon or you’re waiting it to come here?

– I’ll wait here, – said Peacock full of fear.

Then people left, Peacock found a high tree and climbed to the top of it, with the fear that the dragon would come and swallow him at once. The dragon came and began to scratch itself at the tree. Peacock nearly passed out of fear and he couldn’t keep himself at the top of the tree. Then he fell over the back of dragon. There he was entangled with the dragon’s hair, so the dragon couldn’t eat him. Peacock called the other people and said:

– I caught the dragon!

The people went there, and when they saw the dragon they were terrified, and they told Peacock to get down it, and he said:

– I swore that till you take the dragon to the king, I won’t come down!

Then people took the dragon to the king but Peacock still didn’t get down, saying that he swore that he wouldn’t come down till they cut the dragon’s head! Then people cut its head and at last Peacock came down it. After that, he was even more famous and everyone thought of him as a great brave man. Kralj sent a message of war to the king and told him to send the bravest man he had like Kralj would do, and they would see who was stronger. The king looked everywhere but he didn’t find anyone better than Peacock and sent him to war.

– Prepare to go to the arena and face with the Kralj’s warrior. – told the king to Peacock.

But what did Peacock do! He stood up and went prematurely to the arena and said with himself:

– I will sit down and put my head between my legs so that when the warrior comes, I won’t see when he cuts my head.

At that time, Kralj told his warrior:

– Go and act like the warrior the king sent because they say he is very brave.

When the warrior of Kralj went to the arena and found him with his head between his legs and he did like Kralj ordered him, he put his head between his legs like Peacock.

Peacock was waiting the warrior to come and kill him, but he wasn’t showing up. Then Peacock stood up and cut off the head of the warrior at once. Then a great celebration was done all over the kingdom for the victory Peacock had achieved.

Then the Kralj’s soldiers went to the king and asked him to face the whole army. The king called Peacock again and said:

– Go get the best horse we have, ride it and lead the army.

But Peacock chose a bad horse, the worst amongst all the horses. The horse showd up better than they thought. They fed the horse with hay for fifteen days, then the army set off with Peacock leading them. Peacock told the soldiers: 

– Tie me hard with a rope forty meters long otherwise I’ll fall from the horse from the vigor. The solider bound him and set off to the land of war. After a long way, Peacock’s horse ran full of energy towards the enemies.

Peacock tried to stop the horse but it was useless, so he held on to a walnut branch. But the horse pulled the branch off and took Peacock with it. When the Kralj’s soldiers saw that the enemy was pulling trees and everything else, they were terrified and ran away. So the king won the war against kralj. That day onward Peacock became the most famous person in the country like the bravest man alive. The king called Peacock and gave him a horse packed with gold. And everyone honored him like no one else.