Once upon a time there was an old man who lived with his wife in a shack on the outskirts of the city. They had no children. ‘Time is passing, who will take care of us in our old age and bury us when we die? We don’t even have a daughter to go out and beg for us.’ This was the wife’s bitter complaint every day.
‘O wife, God is merciful,’ the man said. ‘God will look after us, and don’t worry, we won’t die of hunger.’
The old man tried to make a living by selling firewood, but in the winter he and his wife had to go from door to door begging for a crust of bread, and thus they kept body and soul together. One day as he swung his load of firewood over his shoulder he saw a wild duck fly out from under the brush.
‘Let me see what’s in there,’ he said.
He found three eggs, picked them up, and started for home. When he got home he showed the eggs to his wife. ‘Here is a gift from heaven,’ he said. ‘Three duck’s eggs. I’m starving, wife. Fry one and let’s eat it tonight.’
She fried the egg, and they ate it. The next day he asked his wife to fry another egg for supper.
‘A neighbour’s hen can set on these eggs, and after they are hatched we can raise ducks and have fresh eggs every day,’ she said.
‘Fry one more and you can do what you like with the other,’ said the old man.
They ate the second egg also, and she saved the third egg for hatching. The next day when her husband came home from the woods and she wanted to hide the remaining egg, she found it already hatched, and saw that a snake had come out of it. She was so frightened she ran screaming to her husband.
‘What happened, wife? What are you screaming for?’
‘A snake has come out of the egg I saved for hatching!’
‘Nonsense! That egg was laid by a duck, how can a snake come out of a duck’s egg?’
‘Take your stick and kill it, quick!’
‘Where is my stick?’
The old woman was looking for her husband’s stick when the snake crept into the room and the old couple turned deathly pale. The snake spoke in a human voice:
‘Looking for a stick or something to kill me, eh? There isn’t a man in the world who can kill me. If you do what I tell you no harm will come to you and from now on you can live in ease and comfort. But if you don’t, I will kill you both. You prayed to God to give you a son. Well, God sent me to be your son. Pappy, I want you to go to the king tomorrow morning and tell him your son wants to marry his youngest daughter.’
‘Are you mad?’ said the old man. ‘Who am I to talk to the king? We are beggars. Do you want the king to chop off my head? You are a snake, what do you want a wife for anyway?’
‘I am not a snake. I will tell you some day who I am. But don’t breathe a word about my not being a snake. Not for the present. If you do, I’ll disappear and you’ll never see me again.’
What could the poor man do? He was glad the snake did not kill them, and thought a snake in the house might bring them luck. He got up the next morning, took up his walking stick and went to the king’s palace. The guards ordered him away. They laughed at him when he wanted to sit on the stone bench before the palace gate. One of the guards tossed him a copper coin and said: ‘Don’t you know this stone bench is for royal suitors? The man who sits on this bench wants to propose to the king’s daughter. If you have a complaint to make, go to a judge. You have come to the wrong place.’
‘For heaven’s sake, let me in! I’ve got to talk to the king,’ the old man pleaded with the guards.
The king’s chamberlain came out. ‘What’s going on here?’
‘This old beggar wants to see the king.’
‘What do you want to see the king for?’ the chamberlain asked the old man.
‘My son wants to marry the king’s daughter.’
The chamberlain went into the palace and said to the king: ‘Congratulations, my king. Your daughter has a new suitor, and his father wants to see you about it.’
‘Let him come in, and let’s see who he is,’ said the king.
‘He is not the kind of man you would want for a son-in-law. He is nothing but a beggar.’
‘So it has come to this,’ the king sighed. ‘Even a beggar thinks he can ask for my daughter’s hand in marriage. Chamberlain!’
‘Yes, my king.’
‘Hand him over to the executioner, and throw his carcass to the stray dogs outside the city. Let it be a lesson to others.’
The king’s order was carried out.
The snake knew what happened. ‘Nanny,’ he said to the old man’s wife.
‘Yes’ my child.’
‘The king’s men slew pappy this morning. They put him in a sack and will throw him to the dogs. You will see the men carrying the sack pass by our door. Tell them you are his wife and ask them to give you the sack.’
The old woman sat weeping at her door. The men carrying the sack had a long way to go yet and were glad to get rid of it. She fell on the sack and cried to the Snake: ‘They killed him because of you! You ruined my life!’
‘They just slashed pappy into four pieces, that’s all,’ said the Snake. ‘Don’t worry, he isn’t dead. Go make his bed.’ She went to make her husband’s bed.
When she came back, the old man was sound asleep and breathing loudly through his nose. She laughed, she was so happy. They took the old man to his bed, and he was up the next morning, hale and hearty.
The Snake crawled up to him and said: ‘Pappy, I sent you to the king yesterday. What did he say?’
The old man told him what happened. ‘I felt the blow of the executioner’s sword, and the next thing I knew I was lying here in my own bed. I don’t know how I got here. I told you I had no business going to the palace. The king doesn’t sit down and talk with the likes of us. A poor man like me should know his place and keep to his own kind.’
‘Go ask him again. Don’t be afraid. I want to know his answer, one way or another.’
The old man went back to the stone bench. The chamberlain saw him sitting there and said to the king: ‘The old beggar’s back.’
The king stamped his foot. ‘Then you didn’t carry out my orders!’
Ten councillors who witnessed the execution testified for the chamberlain and the king spared his life.
‘This time don’t cut him into four pieces,’ the king commanded, ‘but chop him up to shreds, put the pieces in a sack and throw the sack into the river.’
And that’s what they did to the old man.
The Snake knew all about it and said: ‘Nanny, pappy is in bad shape today. They really cut him up this time. You will see two men carrying him in a sack.’
The old woman again sat by her door crying. She saw the two men carrying the sack. ‘Sons, that’s my husband,’ she said. ‘Who can ward off the king’s wrath? For the love of God, give that sack to me so that I can bury my husband.’
They tossed the sack into her yard and ran. The old woman wept bitterly over her husband’s remains. The Snake came out and said: ‘Nanny, don’t cry. Close the gate, and go make his bed.’
She closed the gate, and while she was making her husband’s bed the Snake bit into the sack and licked the old man back to life. The man sat up, all one piece again, and as sound as on the day he was born. His wife threw her arms around her husband’s neck and kissed him on the cheeks.
The Snake said: ‘Nanny, you can kiss him later. Take him to his bed now. I want to talk to him.’
The old woman took him to his bed and tucked him in. The Snake asked him: ‘Pappy, what’s the news?’
‘Son, this time they wouldn’t even speak to me.’
‘I’ve got to know the king’s answer. Ask him again. And he had better say yes, or I’ll turn his throne upside down.’
‘Son,’ said the old woman, ‘do you want him to be chopped up again? They have killed him twice already.’
‘Nanny, don’t let that worry you, I am the Serpent Prince, and I can bring him back to life even if they kill him a hundred times.’
The old beggar went back to the palace to seek an audience with the king. The king came out with his chamberlain and councillors and saw him sitting on the stone bench. ‘Who is that old man? What does he want?’ the king asked.
The chamberlain and councillors were too frightened to speak.
‘I asked you a question. Why don’t you answer?’
‘May the king live long,’ said the chamberlain who carried out the king’s order, ‘he is the same old beggar we slew twice.’
‘This is very strange indeed. We shall find out what is at the bottom of this. There could be some magic in his revival. Let him come in.’
The king returned to his throne and the old beggar was brought before him, and bowed seven times.
‘What do you want, old man?’ the king asked.
‘My son wants to marry your daughter, and by God’s law, I came to ask for her hand.’
‘Weren’t you here before?’
‘Twice.’
‘What answer did you get?’
The old beggar told the king what happened, and added: ‘I came back so that we can talk about it face-to-face.’
The king turned to his chamberlain and councillors and said: ‘You’d better leave this matter to me.’
‘May the king live long,’ said the courtiers, and withdrew.
‘Pappy, what does your son do? What is his occupation?’
‘My son doesn’t work, he has no occupation, he stays home all day coiled in a corner of the house. He is a snake.’
‘Well, well, so your son isn’t even a human being!’
‘He is a Serpent Prince.’
The king pondered this for a while. ‘Very well, if he is a Serpent Prince as you say he may wed my daughter, but you must first build a palace for her so high that it will overshadow my palace, and have it ready tomorrow morning.
The old man was crushed. He went home, and the Snake asked him: ‘Well, pappy, you look worried. What’s the news?’
‘Son, the king wants us to build for his daughter a palace so high that it will overshadow his own palace. and have it ready tomorrow morning before he gives us his daughter. There isn’t a man living who can carry out such a crazy order.’
‘Pappy, do you remember those three eggs you found under the brush?’
‘I remember.’
‘You will see a snake’s hole in that same spot. Go speak into that hole and say: “O young mistress, the young master wants you to send him his little palace with all its furnishings and his twelve servants.”’
The old man went back to the woods and spoke these words into the snake hole. A voice answered him from below: ‘We are sending them, old man!’
When he came home his shack had disappeared and a magnificent mansion, seven stories high, rose in its place, with a pleasure-garden and marble pools, rugs, and paintings hanging on the walls. The king’s palace was nothing by comparison. All the neighbours were gazing at it with their mouths open.
The servants took off the old man’s rags and dressed him in princely garments worth a thousand silver pieces. They draped his shoulders with a sable-coat worth five hundred silver pieces. They handed him a staff the head of which was studded with precious stones and worth a thousand silver pieces.
The Snake came up to him and said: ‘Pappy, you can now go to the king and ask for his daughter’s hand, and this time there will be a wedding, I am sure.’
The proud old man went back to the palace, and the chamberlain met him at the gate and bowed low before him.
‘Don’t stand still and stare at me like that! Hurry up and tell the king I am here.’
The chamberlain ran. The king said: ‘Let him come in.’
The old man strode into the palace and stood before the king, looking like a king himself. The king was amazed. Was this the ragged old beggar?
‘Did you do what I told you?’ the king asked.
‘Just step out on your balcony add take a look at it.’
The king went out to his balcony and saw a palace that overshadowed his: seven stories high, built of gold and silver bricks and gleaming with gems. His own palace was only five stories high and built of ordinary brick. The beggar’s mansion glowed and glittered in the sun and lit up the whole city.
‘From now on I shall call you my kinsman, and not just “old man,”’ said the king. ‘I can hardly believe my eyes. How did you do it? I have, however, another request to make of you.’
‘I’ll give you anything you ask for your daughter.’
‘Let’s settle it then. I want seven camel-loads of diamonds, emeralds, hyacinths and brilliants. Have them delivered at my door by a driver one foot high, with a beard seven feet long.’
‘This crafty old fellow is going to get my daughter if I don’t watch out,’ the king said to himself.
The beggar went home. The Snake asked him: ‘Well, pappy, what did the king say this time?’
‘He wants seven camel-loads of diamonds, emeralds, hyacinths and brilliants to be delivered by a driver a foot high, with a beard seven feet long.’
‘Well, go back to that same hole in the woods and say, “Young mistress, the young master wants you to send him seven camel-loads of diamonds, emeralds, hyacinths and brilliants, to be delivered by a driver one foot high, with a beard seven feet long.”’
The old man did so, and the voice answered him from below: ‘It’s on the way!’
The old man came back and saw seven camels resting before his mansion. The driver was a foot high and had a beard seven feet long wound around his waist. The old man led the caravan to the king’s palace and said: ‘May the king live long, I’ve brought you the gems you ordered.’
The king stored them away in his treasure-house. He showed a fistful to his money-changers. ‘What would you give for one of these stones?’
‘A thousand silver pieces,’ they said.
The king said to the old beggar: ‘My dear kinsman, you brought me what I wanted. And now here is another request. I want the road from my gate to the church gate, and from the church gate to your gate, to be covered with a carpet woven in one piece, and I want the road to be lined with plane trees so thick that four men cannot girth their trunks with their arms. Have them ready by tomorrow morning.’
‘He can’t do it, and he won’t get my daughter,’ the king said to himself.
The old man went home. The Snake crept up to him and asked: ‘What did the king say this time?’
‘The king wants the road from his gate to the church gate, and from the church gate to our gate, to be covered with a carpet woven in one piece, and lined with plane trees so thick that four men cannot girth their trunks with their arms, and he wants everything to be ready by tomorrow morning.’
‘That won’t be too hard. We can do it, pappy. You go back to that same hole in the woods and say to the young mistress I want this carpet and these plane trees to be sent over right away, with bulbuls [nightingales] singing in the trees.’
The voice answered from below: ‘We are sending them!’
The old man came back and found the road covered with a carpet and with plane trees reaching high in the sky. ‘Well, pappy, go to the king and see what he says this time.’
The old man went back to the palace. The chamberlain met him at the gate.
‘Chamberlain, go tell the king his kinsman wishes to see him.’ The old man was led before the king. The king said: ‘Did you do what I said?’
‘Just step out and see for yourself.’
The king went out on his balcony and saw that the old man had done it again. ‘What is all this bird music I hear?’
‘May the king live long, I brought you not only all the plane trees you ordered, but I added a little present of my own and also brought you the bulbuls to sing in them.’
‘Well, here is my final request before I give you my daughter. Fetch me a wedding gown for my daughter, made of material the like of which does not exist in my kingdom, and without a single stitch in it. I also want seven bands of bagpipes and drums to play for the wedding without being seen by anyone. And next time you come to see me bring along that Serpent Prince of yours.’
The old man went home. ‘Didn’t the king promise his daughter? What does he want this time?’ the Snake asked.
The old man told him what the king said.
‘You go back to that hole and say: ‘Young mistress, the young master wants a wedding gown for his bride without a single stitch in it, and asks that you send up also seven invisible bands of drums and bagpipes to play for his wedding.’
The man went back to the woods, and received a walnut through the snake hole. ‘Take this walnut, you’ll find the wedding gown in it,’ said the voice below. ‘And we are sending over the seven bands, too.’
‘Come to the wedding!’ the old man shouted.
‘We can’t, it’s too far. We’ll celebrate it down here.’
The old man turned around and went home. The city boomed with bagpipes and drums. The Enchanted-Serpent stood on his tail and said: ‘Pappy, gather our neighbours; let’s go.’
They invited all their neighbours to the wedding and the Snake led them to the king’s palace. The king ordered his chamberlain to receive them with honours. The Snake entered the throne-room, flanked by two councillors.
‘My dear kinsman,’ the king said to the old beggar. ‘I can hear the bagpipes and drums playing the way I wanted them to play. Good. Now let me see if you brought the wedding gown.’
The old man handed him the walnut. The king cracked it open, and the wedding gown, the sheerest marvel, came out of it. The king sent for his wife and three daughters, two of whom were already married. They came and stood before him.
The king said: ‘Take a good look at this wedding gown, the like of which does not exist in my kingdom; it does not have a single stitch in it. Help her dress and get ready for the wedding.’
The queen and the two elder daughters prostrated themselves before the king and cried out: ‘How can you be a king and give your daughter to a Snake, when there are so many handsome princes in the kingdom for her to choose from?’
The king said: ‘I am a man of my word and can’t go back on my promise.’
He stamped his foot. ‘Dress her at once!’
The queen and the two married daughters dressed the bride with tears in their eyes. There was not a more beautiful maiden in the kingdom. Then they all came and stood before the king.
‘Here is your bride,’ the chamberlain said to the Snake.
The Snake stood up on his tail, bowed seven times before the king, turned around and bowed to all the people in the throne room, then went up to his bride and seized the skirt of her gown with his teeth to take her to church for the wedding rite.
And so the king’s daughter married the Snake and the wedding feast lasted for seven days and seven nights while the invisible bands played, the nightingales sang in the plane trees, and the guests danced and made merry. After seven days the guests went home, and the bride was taken to the groom’s mansion. The young couple retired to the nuptial chamber.
‘Lock the doors,’ the Snake said to the king’s daughter. She got up and locked them, and sat down beside the groom.
‘King’s daughter, don’t be afraid of me, just step on my tail.’
As she stepped on his tail, the Snake shrieked, shed his skin and turned into such a handsome youth that the princess was dazed by his looks. He took her hand and said: ‘King’s daughter, I am a king’s son, snake by day, man by night, and my name is Habermany. Be sure you keep this secret. I shall remain enchanted for forty days, after which I can live with you in my human form. But for forty days you must not breathe a word about this to anyone, or I’ll lose my talisman, and this palace and everything in it will disappear with me.’
‘I promise not to say a word,’ said the joyous bride.
They embraced and kissed and went to bed. The next morning Habermany put on his snake-skin and coiled in a corner.
The king called his wife and daughters to the throne-room and said to them: ‘Go to the old man’s house and see how our girl is getting along with her Serpent Prince.’
The queen and her two daughters came to the mansion, saw the pleasure-garden with its marble pools, the richly furnished rooms. The old man showed them to the bridal chamber. ‘They have been in their room since last night, quiet as can be,’ he said.
‘No wonder’ how could she even talk with such a husband?’ said the queen.
She knocked on the door. The bride opened it, all smiles.
‘How are you, my daughter?’
‘Very well, thank heaven.’
‘How is your...Snake?’
‘He lies huddled in his corner, the poor thing.’
‘We didn’t sleep a wink last night, we have been so worried about you.’
‘Oh, there is nothing to worry about. I am very happy!’
The princess served her mother and sisters a meal the like of which they had never eaten even on a feast day in the palace. As they rose to go, the queen whispered in her ear: ‘The king could not go back on his promise, you know, but why should you live with a snake? Just take a rock and crush his head.’
‘Mother, I want you to leave my house at once, and don’t you ever come to see me again if you feel like that about my husband.’
‘How is my daughter?’ the king asked the queen.
‘She seems very happy. She was upset when we told her to take a rock and crush that snake’s head.’
They did not see her again for ten days. The king’s heralds announced in all parts of the city that the king was giving a great feast, to be followed by a three-day tournament, and all men with good horses and skilful with the javelin and mace were ordered to compete for the king’s prizes. Those who did not would have their heads chopped off.
A thousand warriors gathered in the royal arena before the palace, and tables were spread for the feast. The city boomed with battledrums and bagpipes. All the great warriors and princes of the kingdom were present at the feast and everybody talked about the tournament.
‘Bring our daughter over here, and let her enjoy the tournament,’ the king said to the queen. ‘It will do her good.’
The Enchanted Serpent said to his wife: ‘King’s daughter, your mother is coming to take you to the tournament. I will take part in it myself, riding my white horse and dressed in white. You will see me swinging my white mace and knocking men off their horses by the score, but remember what I told you: not a word about our secret! Your sisters will brag about their husbands. “You married a snake,” they will say. Don’t tell them, “My husband is not a snake, he is a king’s son,” and start bragging about me. You will never see me again if you do. I will change into a black cloud and disappear from this world, and everything we own—our mansion, our pleasure-garden, all these marble pools—will vanish into thin air.’
He had scarcely spoken these words when the queen arrived. ‘Come, my daughter, and watch the tournament with us,’ she said.
‘How can I? I can’t leave my husband alone.’
‘Oh, your Snake! Let him be alone for a while. What of it? Who cares?’
The Snake said: ‘Nanny, won’t you take me along with you? I’d like to watch that tournament myself.’
‘What will you do at the tournament? Do you want their horses to trample you to death?’
The princess returned to the palace with her mother. She kissed the king’s hand, and he kissed her on the forehead and said:
‘Don’t worry, my daughter, you will be freed of him before long.’
The king, the queen and their three daughters watched the contest from the balcony. The husbands of the elder sisters were among the players, riding their horses. There were five hundred men on each side.
Habermany took off his snake-skin, dressed in royal garments, leaped on the back of his splendid white stallion, and stormed into the arena swinging his white mace, and his horse kicking up showers of fiery sparks. He joined the battle and then he went after his brothers-in-law and knocked them off their horses. Nobody knew this mysterious rider on a fiery horse, who proved to be the best player in the field.
‘I hope he falls off his horse and breaks his arm,’ one of the sisters said.
‘Why do you say that? He has as much right to play in this tournament as your husband,’ the youngest sister protested.
‘My husband is a man. What is yours? A Snake, hiding in a crack in the wall. You can’t even talk with him.’
‘If it was God’s will that I marry a Snake, I am glad I did.’
The game was over and the other players scattered while the White Rider rode up to the king and received his prize.
‘What’s your name?’ the king asked.
‘I will tell you my name on the last day of the tournament. Farewell, my king.’ And the White Rider was gone. They saw the fiery dust kicked up by his horse, but not the rider.
The king got up and went into the palace with the queen and his daughters.
‘Don’t go back to your Snake,’ he urged his youngest daughter. ‘Stay with us.’
‘No, I can’t. I have to go,’ she said.
‘How can you live with a Snake, my daughter?’
‘What can I do? You gave me to him yourself. If it was my fate to marry a snake, I am not complaining.
She got up and went home. The Snake was coiled up in his corner.
‘Wife, lock the doors and step on my tail.’
She stepped on his tail, and he sprang out of his snake-skin with a loud noise.
They embraced and kissed each other. He said: ‘King’s daughter, I am glad you held your tongue and told them nothing about me. Soon the forty days will be over, and I shall go to the palace with you and present myself to the king in my human form, and as befits a prince of my rank.’
They went to bed and slept. Ten days later the king proclaimed another holiday, and the riders gathered for the second match of the tournament.
‘Let my daughter come again and enjoy the contest with her sisters,’ the king said to the queen.
The queen went to the gold-and-silver mansion to fetch her youngest daughter.
The Enchanted-Serpent said: ‘Wife, king’s daughter, your mother is coming to take you to the tournament. This time I shall ride my Red horse and be dressed in red and carry a red mace. Be sure you do not betray our secret no matter what your mother and sisters say.’
The queen came in through the door and said: ‘Come, my daughter, let’s go watch the tournament.’
The Snake said: ‘Nanny, let her come home as soon as she can. I have no feet and no arms to prepare my meal, I am helpless without my wife.’
‘You can starve to death for all I care,’ muttered the queen. When the Red Rider stormed into the arena, waving his red mace, and fiery sparks flying from under the hooves of his horse, he put a thousand men to flight. And once again the king had to give him the prize. The two elder sisters sighed and wished the Red Rider were their husband, and they kept scolding the youngest sister for marrying a Snake.
Who was this Red Rider? Nobody knew. They saw only the dust kicked up by his fiery horse as he snatched his prize, and was gone in a flash.
The crowd scattered. His wife refused to stay with her parents and went home.
The Enchanted-Serpent was waiting for her. ‘Well, king’s daughter, I was worried. It makes me sad to think you might reveal our secret.’
‘Never! Your secret stays with me,’ she said.
A few days later the players gathered in the arena for the third match. ‘This is the last day of the tournament,’ said the king, ‘and we ought to celebrate it with a feast.’
The queen went to fetch her youngest daughter.
The Serpent Prince said in a sad voice: ‘Your mother is coming over to take you to the tournament. I shall ride my Black horse, be dressed in black, and carry my black mace. Today you will see me playing my best game, and your sisters, your parents, everybody will wonder who I am. The forty days will be over in three more days, after which I do not care who knows. In three days I shall cease to be a snake. The king will invite me to his palace and we shall eat, drink and make merry together. So let me warn you for the last time not to reveal our secret and remind you that if you do, our mansion and everything in it will disappear with me. Then, when I am gone, you would have to wear iron sandals, carry a steel staff, and go perhaps to the ends of the earth to find me. You would have to wear out your iron sandals and have nothing but the handle of your steel staff left in your hand before you could have an inkling as to where I might be.’
The queen came in again and took her youngest daughter to the tournament. ‘Today is the last day, there will be a feast after the contest, we’ll have a gay time,’ the queen said.
The drums and bagpipes blasted away and people poured into the arena. The youngest daughter was back in the royal balcony watching the contest with her sisters. They saw a Black Rider thunder into the arena and rein in before the king. The Black Rider bowed and said: ‘May the king live long, there are a thousand men here, I will play against all of them.’
‘Very well, let it be a thousand men against one,’ said the king.
All eyes were on the Black Rider. He had clubbed his brothers-in-law so hard that they had spent sleepless nights worrying about the third match and every bone in their bodies ached. Their knees shook as they watched the Black Rider getting ready for the contest. He tore through the ranks of the warriors massed against him, swinging his black mace, and knocked the men off their horses, one man against a thousand men. His brothers-in-law got another beating and fled with the other players.
Habermany’s wife laughed out loud, which made her sisters so angry they struck her. ‘Go ahead and laugh! Where is your husband? Why isn’t he here fighting like a man, instead of hiding in a crack in the wall? The Snake!’
‘Snake, Snake, that’s all you can say! The Black Rider is my husband!, she blurted out. ‘The White Rider, the Red Rider, the Black Rider, they are all the same warrior I married, the Serpent Prince.’
The Black Rider rode up to the king and said: ‘O my king, I promised to tell you my name, and to be your guest in three days. But you shall not see me any more. Your youngest daughter will tell you why.’
And he was gone in a flash. They saw the dust kicked up by his fiery horse, but not the rider, who changed into a black cloud and disappeared in the sky.
His wife burst into tears.
The players, the spectators, all left the arena and went home.
The king and queen went into the palace with their daughters. The youngest princess told her father between sobs what the Serpent Prince had told her about himself. ‘Three more days, and he would have been free of the spell that was cast upon him and made him a Snake. He told me repeatedly not to reveal his secret. But my sisters kept bragging about their husbands and scolding me for marrying a Snake. I could no longer endure their contempt.’
‘Oh, I could break your neck!’ said the king. ‘Couldn’t you keep your mouth shut for three more days?’
She did not stay for dinner. She went home, and saw that the mansion, the garden with its marble pools, and all their possessions had vanished, and the old man and his wife sat crying in their old shack.
She sobbed aloud. The next morning she went to the smith’s and said: ‘Master Markar, make a pair of iron sandals for me, and a steel staff. I have to go on a long journey. I will pay you well.’
They were ready for her the next day. The king’s youngest daughter dressed like a dervish, wore her iron sandals, took her steel staff, kissed the hands of the old couple and bade them farewell. Then she went back to the palace, bowed to the king and said:
‘I will go find my husband if I can. I will do what he told me.’ The king, the queen, and her sisters pleaded with her not to go. They thought she would forget the Serpent Prince, but nothing they said could make her change her mind. She kissed the hand of the king, she kissed the hand of the queen. She pressed the hands of her sisters, and said: ‘Farewell, I am going.’
The king said: ‘Go, my daughter, and may God be with you.’
Heaven only knows how far she travelled until she reached a castle made of bricks. She saw a maiden running to a spring with two clay pitchers in her hands.
‘Oh, dear maiden, tell me please, have you seen Habermany?’ she asked her.
‘No, no, Habermany is not here, go to the Crystal Castle,’ said the maiden as she drew water from the spring.
The poor woman took to the road again. Her iron sandals and steel staff clanged across mountain-peaks and rang in rocky gorges until, at last, she reached the Crystal Castle. She saw the same maiden running to a spring with two crystal pitchers in her hands.
‘Oh, dear maiden, tell me please, have you seen Habermany?’
‘Habermany is not here, go to the Copper Castle.’
It took her a full year to reach the Copper Castle, and she saw the same maiden running to a spring with two copper pitchers in her hands.
‘Oh, dear maiden, tell me please, is Habermany in this castle?’
‘No, the man you are looking for is not here. Go to the Iron Castle.’
She kept going until she reached the Iron Castle, and she saw the same maiden running to a spring with two iron pitchers in her hands.
‘Oh, dear maiden, tell me please, is Habermany in this castle?’
‘No, no, Habermany is not in this castle, go to the Steel Castle.’
The poor woman continued to climb the towering crags until she reached the Steel Castle, and she saw the same maiden running to a spring with two steel pitchers in her hands.
‘Oh, dear maiden, tell me please, is Habermany in this castle?’
‘No, no, Habermany is not in this castle, go to the Silver Castle.’
It took her a full year to reach the Silver Castle, and she saw the maiden running to a spring with two silver pitchers in her hands.
‘Oh, dear maiden, tell me please, is Habermany in this castle?’
‘No, no, Habermany is not in this castle, go to the Gold Castle.’
The poor woman travelled another year before reaching the Gold Castle. By now she had worn down her iron sandals, and she saw that only the handle of her steel staff was left in her hand. She sat down, exhausted, in the shade of a green pomegranate tree beside a cool, clear spring. ‘I can’t take another step,’ she said to herself. ‘My husband must be here.’
A thousand thoughts crossed her mind. She saw the same maiden coming to this spring with two gold pitchers in her hands.
‘Oh, dear maiden, tell me please, is Habermany in this castle?’
‘Yes, yes, he is in this castle. You can see I am worn out carrying water for Habermany. It has been three years now that Habermany has been crying for water to cool off, but we haven’t been able to put out the fire blazing in him. He cries day and night, “I am burning with my love for the king’s daughter!” And we have been pouring cold water on him day and night. But it doesn’t do any good. Habermany will marry me when he gets over this burning love he has for the king’s daughter, the devil take her! She betrayed his secret, and he came to the Gold Castle to stay with us.’
‘My dear maiden, I have a talisman that will cure Habermany’s ailment. Let me drink some of the water in that pitcher before you pour it on him. He will get well, you’ll see.’
The maiden took her for a dervish and gave her one of her gold pitchers to drink from. She did not see the king’s daughter take the ring off her finger and drop it in the pitcher before she handed the pitcher back to her. The maiden returned to the Gold Castle.
‘Why are you late? What have you been doing all this time?’ her mother, a witch, screamed at her.
‘I met a dervish at the spring and talked with him. He said he has a talisman to cure Habermany.’
As soon as the maiden poured this water on Habermany he said: ‘I feel refreshed, I am all right now.’ She did not see Habermany pick up the ring when it dropped out of the pitcher and hide it. It was his wife’s wedding ring.
‘Bring that dervish here, I want to see him,’ said the witch, as Habermany began to dress. She suspected the dervish was Habermany’s wife. The maiden went back to the spring and brought the dervish to the castle.
Habermany glanced at the iron sandals the dervish wore and saw they were full of holes. And the steel staff, he noticed, was worn down to the length of a man’s palm. He was so excited he didn’t know what to do.
The witch turned on the dervish: ‘You shameless woman! I know who you are. You cannot deceive me. For three years, day and night, I have been pouring cold water on my nephew to cool him off—all because of you. Oh, I could tear you to pieces! Now that he saw you he got well.’
‘Auntie, leave her alone,’ said Habermany. ‘I will send her back the way she came.’
‘And you will go away with her, is that it? I’ll skin her alive before I let her take you away from us!’
‘I said, “Leave her alone.”’
‘Shut up. You stay out of this.’
When the witch and her daughter went to the garden to pick vegetables for their supper, and Habermany was alone with his wife he said: ‘I am so glad you found me! My soul was seared with my love and longing for you. I came to this castle and fell into the clutches of this old witch. We’ve got to get out of here!’
The old witch ordered the princess to go to her sister’s house and fetch a rolling pin. ‘Tell my sister I need it for baking cakes for my daughter’s wedding. I’ll go out with my daughter to gather some firewood.’
When the witch and her daughter were out gathering firewood, Habermany said to his wife, ‘Even if you reach her sister’s house she will gobble you up. She is another witch.’
‘What shall I do then? She will kill me if I don’t go.’
‘You must do this. On your way to her sister’s you will have to cross a muddy, filthy stream. Drink from it and say, “Ah, this is the water of immortality!” The stream will part at once and let you pass. You will next run into a thicket of thorns. Pluck a thistle-blossom, smell it, and say, “Ah, this is the flower of immortality!” The thorns will let you pass. Then you will see a wolf and a ram guarding the road. The wolf will have a pile of hay before it, the ram will have a fat sheeptail. You must put the hay before the ram, the meat before the wolf, and they too will let you pass. Then you must enter a closed door, and close an open door. When you enter her house you will see the rolling pin hanging on the door. You tell her, “Auntie wants the rolling pin for her daughter’s wedding.” She will say, “Sit down, my dear, and eat something before you go back.” She will serve you fried eggs, and then step out to whet her teeth. That’s when you must grab the rolling pin and run as fast as you can. She will scream after you. Don’t stop, don’t look back. Just keep running.’
And this is what the king’s daughter did. The witch’s sister served her fried eggs, and as soon as she stepped out of the room to whet her teeth, the king’s daughter snatched the rolling pin hanging on the door and ran as fast as her feet would carry her. The witch ran after her tearing her hair and screaming, ‘Doors, stop the thief!’
‘Why should we?’ the doors said. ‘We are sick and tired of being always shut or open. Let her go.’
‘Ram, stop her!’
‘Why should I?’ said the ram. ‘I was starved. I am enjoying this hay.
‘Wolf, stop her!’
‘Why should I?’ said the wolf. ‘I can’t be bothered, I am eating my dinner.’
‘Thorns, thistles! Stop the thief!’
‘Why should we? We are not thistles and thorns, we are flowers of immortality.’ And they let her pass without a scratch.
‘Muddy, filthy stream, stop the thief!’
‘Why should I? It’s so pleasant to be the water of immortality.’ And again, the stream parted at once and let her pass.
The witch gave up the chase on the bank of the stream and turned back.
The princess got back to the Gold Castle and gave the rolling pin to Habermany. ‘I could never have made it if you hadn’t told me what to do,’ she said.
When the witch saw her back alive, she said to herself: ‘I will roast her in the oven before he teaches her other tricks.’
The old hag and her daughter took their ropes and went out to fetch more firewood.
‘They will throw you into the oven and burn you alive, if we don’t get out of here fast,’ said Habermany. He burnt a hair from the tail of his White horse, and instantly the White horse came to him. Habermany put on his white clothes, took his mace, and said: ‘We’ll take a block of salt, a bottle of water, and a comb with us.’ He swung his wife up onto the splendid saddle and was gone in a flash. They were out of sight by the time the witch and her daughter returned to the castle with two more loads of firewood.
‘Go after them and bring them back!, the witch ordered her daughter. ‘I will skin her alive!’
The maiden went after him, flying like a black cloud.
‘King’s daughter,’ Habermany said to his wife, ‘look back and see if anybody is following us.’
She looked back. ‘I see somebody coming after us like a black whirlwind.’
‘That’s the witch’s daughter,’ said Habermany. ‘Throw the comb!’
His wife threw the comb, and it turned into a huge forest thick with bramble and thorns.
The witch’s daughter was badly scratched and bleeding as she struggled out of the forest.
‘King’s daughter, look back and see what happened.’
‘She got out of the forest.’
‘Throw the salt!’
It turned into a mountain of salt, but the witch’s daughter came out of it, with the salt rubbed into her wounds. Undaunted by the pain, she continued to pursue them.
‘Throw the water!’ said Habermany.
It turned into a vast lake.
‘King’s daughter. look back and see what happened.’
‘She came out of the lake, too.’
‘We’d better stop here, it’s no use, she will overtake us,’ Habermany said, and jumped off the horse. He changed the White horse into black grapes, his wife into white grapes, and himself into an old man selling grapes by the wayside.
‘Old man, did you see a man and a woman on a white horse?’ asked the witch’s daughter.
‘How many pounds of grapes do you want?’
‘I don’t want to buy grapes. I asked you if you saw a man and a woman on a White horse. Are you deaf? Can’t you hear?’
‘It will cost you two coppers a pound.’
She spat, and turned back.
They resumed their own shapes, remounted and fled.
The witch asked her daughter: ‘You didn’t catch them, what happened?’
‘I saw only an old man selling grapes by the wayside, so I turned back.’
‘That was Habermany! You should have bought some grapes from him, black or white, and ruined his talisman. That would have made him come back and marry you. Go back and buy the grapes.’
The maiden raced furiously after them.
Habermany said to his wife: ‘King’s daughter, look back and see if anybody is following us now.’
She looked back and said: ‘I see another whirlwind coming, raising clouds of dust.’
Again she threw the comb, and the witch’s daughter came out of the thorny forest, scratched and bleeding. She threw the block of salt, and saw her coming out of the salt mountain. She threw the water, and saw her coming out of the lake. Habermany turned himself into a gardener, his wife and horse into pumpkins.
The witch’s daughter came up and asked: ‘Did you see a man and a woman on a white horse?’
‘It’s a copper a pound.’
‘I said, did you see a man and a woman on a white horse?’
‘That’s the price. I can’t sell my pumpkins cheaper.’
She spat again and turned back.
Habermany let his White horse go and burned the hair of the Red horse. The Red horse came to him, and he changed into his red clothes, swung his wife up on the saddle, and fled.
The witch’s daughter returned to the Gold Castle and her mother asked her: ‘Where are they? What happened?’
‘I couldn’t find them. I met another man, a gardener, selling pumpkins by the wayside.’
‘Oh, I could break your neck! That was Habermany again! Why didn’t you buy some pumpkins from him? It would have ruined his talisman, and he would have come back and married you.’
‘I’ll capture them this time,’ said the witch’s daughter.
‘He is now riding his Red horse.’
The witch’s daughter flew after them.
‘King’s daughter, see if anybody is following us.’
‘I see a black storm cloud coming.’
‘Throw the comb!’
The princess saw the witch’s daughter come out of the thorny forest; come out of the salt mountain; come out of the lake. Habermany got off his horse, transformed his wife and horse into sheep, and himself into a shepherd.
‘Brother shepherd, did you see a man and a woman on a Red horse?’
‘I haven’t seen anybody for years. Travellers don’t often use this road.’
She spat and turned back.
Habermany let the Red horse go, burned a hair from the tail of the Black horse. The Black horse came to him. He wore his black clothes, swung his wife up on the saddle, and fled again.
‘What did you do, where are they?’ the witch asked her daughter.
‘I couldn’t find them. I saw only a shepherd with his sheep.’
‘You fool, that was Habermany, and he is now riding his Black horse, the fastest horse he has. You stay home, I’ll go after them myself, and I’ll skin her alive. I won’t let them get away. I know all his tricks.’
Habermany said to his wife: ‘Look back once more and see if anybody is following us now.’
‘I see somebody coming like a cyclone, blowing the rocks off the road.’
He glanced back over his shoulder and saw sky and earth mixed together in a whirlpool of dust and clouds. ‘That’s the old witch herself, the devil take her. She is too fast even for my Black horse.’
Habermany turned his horse into a rose bush, his wife into a long stick planted in the middle of the bush, and himself into a snake coiled around it.
The old witch came up like a streak of fire and screamed in her rage: ‘Habermany, you ungrateful wretch, we took you in and fed you and took care of you, and this is how you repay us for our kindness. I am not like my daughter. You can’t fool me. I know all your tricks. You won’t get away this time. I’ll crush your head.’
As she bent down to pick up a rock, Habermany bit her in the neck, and the old witch dropped dead.
Habermany and his wife changed back to their human forms, and were free at last. Habermany rode back to the king’s city with his wife, and went straight to the shack where the old childless couple lived. They were beggars again and they had been crying for him and his bride every day. Now, as the old couple embraced them, they cried for joy. As soon as the king heard his youngest daughter was back with her husband he came over to greet them with tears of joy in his eyes. He saw that the Serpent Prince in his human form was the handsomest prince in the whole kingdom. The king pleaded with them to live in his palace, but they wanted to stay with the old couple.
That night Habermany himself went to the snake hole and spoke to the young mistress below. By next morning the shack was a seven-story mansion again, glittering with gold and silver and gems, with a pleasure-garden and marble pools, and everything was as before the tournament, to the astonishment of their neighbours and all the people in the city, who were very glad to see them back and rejoiced in their good fortune.
The king gave a new wedding feast for them, which lasted for seven days and seven nights. The king’s daughter bore Habermany many children. The old couple spent their remaining years in ease and comfort, and died an honourable death.
They attained their wish, and may you likewise attain your wish.