Tsar Trojan - Goat Ears

King Trojan was a handsome king, but he had goat ears. He didn’t want people to know about his deformity, so he always wore a large hat to hide his ears. The barbers who came to shave him never returned: once the barber shaved the king’s head, the king would have the barber’s head removed from his shoulders, so that no one would find out about the goat ears.

Finally, it was the turn of the only son of a poor woman—he was summoned to shave the king. The young man shaved the king, and then the king asked him:

"Do you have any brothers?"

"No, Your Majesty," the young man replied. "I am my mother’s only son."

The king took pity on his mother and said:

"Make sure you don’t tell anyone what you saw on my head, or I’ll have you executed."

The young man swore to keep his mouth shut.

"If you find out," he said, "that I’ve been blabbing about it, order my head to be cut off immediately."

The king gave the young man some money and appointed him as his permanent barber.

And so the young man began to visit the king. He shaved the king’s head but never spoke of the goat ears to anyone. However, he began to waste away and grow thin. His mother watched him, grew worried, and started questioning him to find out what was weighing on his heart—whether it was some sorrow or perhaps an illness. The young man told her that he knew a secret but couldn’t reveal it to anyone in the world, or he would be executed.

"If I could tell someone, I’d feel better," the young man said.

His mother then gave him this advice: to go to the field, dig a deep hole, stick his head into it, and shout three times at the top of his voice what was weighing on his heart.

The son listened to his mother, went to the field, dug a hole, stuck his head into it, and shouted three times at the top of his voice:

"King Trojan has goat ears!"

Then he buried the hole and went home. The young man felt relieved, began to recover, and worked even harder.

After some time, a thick-leaved tree with three branches grew in the spot where the hole had been. The branches grew and grew until they became large. Some shepherds came to that place to graze their cattle, saw the tree, and made flutes from its branches. When the shepherds blew into the flutes, a voice came out:

"King Trojan has goat ears!"

Soon, rumors about the strange flutes spread among the people and reached King Trojan. He summoned the barber and said:

"What is this? You swore to me that you wouldn’t reveal the secret, and now the whole world knows about it? How dare you blab?"

The young man began to defend himself, saying that he hadn’t told anyone about the secret. But the king drew his sword from its sheath, though he didn’t have time to strike the barber: the young man fell to his knees and confessed that he had told the secret to the earth. He then explained that a tree had grown in that spot and that if a flute were made from its wood, it would cry out: "King Trojan has goat ears!"

The king was amazed. He got into his chariot, took the barber with him, and rode to the field where the tree grew. They approached the tree, and the king ordered a flute to be made. When they blew into the flute, a voice came out:

"King Trojan has goat ears!"

At that moment, King Trojan realized that no secret in the world could be kept forever. He forgave the barber and stopped hiding his ears.

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Tsar Trojan - Goat Ears

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