FAIRY TALES (text) - 67. THE FISHERMAN AND THE DAUGHTER OF THE KING

THE FISHERMAN AND THE DAUGHTER OF THE KING

Once upon a time there was a very handsome boy. The boy went every day to the market and sold fish. One day he went to the palace of king and called out:

– Selling fish! –the king’s daughter heard him and put her head out of the window.

When she saw that the boy was that nice, she called her maid and said:

– Go and buy fishes from that boy and tell him come here every day because I will buy the fishes. So the maid went to the boy and gave him the money and said the words the princess had told her. The boy went back home and he was thinking: ‘‘How could I be so lucky, I will sell the fish every day without even worrying!’’ The next morning, the boy got up, dapped lots of fishes and went to the king’s palace. Just as she heard him calling out about fishes, the maid ran to the gate and gave him the money.

The princess didn’t care about the fish at all, she threw them away at once, but she had fallen in love with the boy. She told one day the maid to ask the boy about his name and where he came from every day. The maid asked him and he answered. The next day the girl told the maid to chat him up and then the princess called her mother

She told her mother to look at the boy and the queen said:

– My dear daughter, you can’t find anyone better than him.

– You’ll go tomorrow and talk to him because I want to marry him. – said the daughter to the queen.

The next morning the boy went to the palace and began to shout. The queen came outside and asked him about his name and where he came from, then she said:

– I am the queen and my daughter wants to marry you.

– Tell her that I thank her very much but I am poor, – said the boy. – But if she really loves me, I want to meet her once and talk to her.

The queen let him go inside the palace secretly, the boy met with the princess and she said:

I want to marry you and I want you to be my husband.

– I thank you that you want me to be your husband, – said the boy. – But I am telling you right now: Even though you are the daughter of the king, if you dare once to call me a fisherman I will strangle you and myself too.

– I love you for what you are and you’ll see that we’ll have a happy life together, – said the girl.

Then she asked him how many people he had in his family and he answered that he live only with his mother. The girl told him to come the next day with his mother so that she would ask to the king the princess’ hand for her son. The boy didn’t like that because the king would get angry and she said she would fix everything. The boy stood up and went back home, he told his mother that she had to go and ask the princess’ hand for him. His mother was afraid of this but he calmed her and told her everything would be okay. The next morning, when the boy went to sell the fish, he took his mother with him. When the queen heard the boy coming, she took his mother and taught her about what to say when she would go and talk to the king. Having finished, she went to the king and told him: 

– There is an old lady outside who is asking our daughter’s hand for her son. 

The king ordered to let her in and told her to speak out. The old woman faked like she was crying and told the king with a trembling voice: 

– My king, my son got out of the house constrainedly to come here for your daughter. 

– Well, don’t cry, don’t cry. Tell your son to come again tomorrow and talk with me. – said the king. 

The old woman went home and told the boy that he had to go tomorrow and talk with the king because the king had asked for him. After hearing those words, the boy got scared because he was thinking that the king would behead him. The next morning he got up early to dap fish, then he went to the palace of the king. The queen told him to not be afraid because the king would do nothing unkind to him. Then she took him to the king and he asked:

Hey boy, you are the one who wants to marry my daughter?

The boy answered and the king asked him where he had met the princess, and the boy told him:

– In my dreams my king, I have met her in my dreams. 

The king accepted and told him to go and take the princess ten days later. They began the preparations for the wedding and ten days later the boy went to the palace to take the princess. 

But in those times it was the custom for the groom to unveil the bride. When the boy went to unveil the princess, she recalled the words the boy had told her ‘‘don’t you ever call me a fisherman’’, so she wanted to try him and said:

– Unveil me a little more softly, you’re hurting my nose. I am the daughter of the king, not a fisherman like you.

The boy wanted to kill her right there but he couldn’t because it was a wedding, so he did nothing but at that moment he disappeared. Three years passed and no one knew where he had gone. The king told his daughter to find another man because he hadn’t been the right for her, and she said:

My dear father, if I could meet him only once then you’d see who he is. Give me three broughams and I will go and find him.

The girl looked for him all around the kingdom but she didn’t find him. Then she went to the kingdom of the Kralj who welcomed her. The girl said she was there to find her husband and he allowed her to look everywhere around his kingdom. One day, passing through the yard, she saw some workers and amongst them she noticed her husband and he knew her too. He hadn’t listened or spoken since the day he was disappeared from the wedding. The princess called Kralj and told him that he was her husband and Kralj said:

– This man had been working here for three years now and doesn’t even listen or speak. 

The girl told him that he listened and spoke like everyone else, and they wagered with each-other that if he would speak, she would give to Kralj one of her broughams full of gold. Kralj accepted and the girl went to talk with the boy and said:

– You’ve got ears and a mouth, speak and say that you’re my husband. Speak or Kralj will take the brougham. 

But the boy didn’t speak and he just raised his arms. Then she bet for the second brougham and the third too, but the boy didn’t speak once. The girl turned to Kralj and said:

– This will be the last bet. If he isn’t my husband and he has no ear and no mouth, you will behead me, otherwise you will give me six golden broughams. 

Kralj agreed, the girl turned to the boy and said: 

– You have a mouth and ears too, speak and say that you are my husband. Till now it was about the gold, but now I bet my head. If you really loved me, speak now and don’t put my life in risk.

But the boy didn’t speak again. When Kralj was about to behead the princess, he caught his hand and spoke. Kralj was so surprised because he hadn’t spoken a word in three years, so he gave six golden broughams to the girl. The girl took her husband back home to the kingdom of her father, then the king made a big wedding and gave a palace to the fisherman.