King Herla
Long ago, Britain was ruled by a king named Herla, whose favorite pastime was hunting. He was ready to spend entire days chasing hounds through the forests of his kingdom. One day, in the heat of the chase, he left his entourage far behind. Suddenly, he saw a red-bearded dwarf riding a goat emerge from the thicket.The dwarf courteously greeted the king, and the king returned the greeting. "I am the king of kings," said the dwarf, "and my subjects are countless. I have come to meet you because you are the ruler closest to me in power among the mighty of this world and thus worthy of my presence at your wedding feast. Do not be troubled that I know something you do not yet know. Today, envoys from the French king will arrive at your court and offer you the hand of his daughter. Let us make an agreement: I will attend your wedding, and you will attend mine, which is to take place exactly one year from now." Without waiting for a reply, he turned and vanished into the gloom of the dense thicket.
When Herla returned to his castle, envoys from France were already waiting for him. "Our king," they said, "will be delighted if you agree to accept the hand of his daughter." King Herla agreed, as the bride was beautiful, and her father offered a substantial dowry. The wedding date was set without delay, and a feast was planned to make other kings envious.
The wedding day arrived. The young bride left her father's hearth to sit beside Herla in the lavishly decorated hall of his castle at the grand wedding feast. But before the first course could be served, the dwarf arrived, accompanied by such a large retinue that the vast hall immediately became crowded. In an instant, the dwarves set up tents outside so that those who could not fit inside the castle could gather there. And, it must be said, most of the guests dined outside. Dwarf servants scurried back and forth between the tents, serving the guests goblets made of crystal, rare gemstones, and gleaming gold, not even touching silver. They appeared at just the right moment, serving their own dishes rather than those from King Herla's kitchen. They had every kind of delicacy imaginable—even the rarest—and there was plenty for all. Herla's vast stores remained untouched, and his servants were left idle, while the dwarves, dressed in garments adorned with precious stones, rushed about among the guests, outshining everyone inside like the sun and moon outshine the stars.
When the dwarves finished their work, their king addressed Herla: "O greatest of kings, you see, I have come as we agreed. Wish for something your eyes cannot see, and if it is within my power, I will gladly grant it. But remember: you must not refuse to return the favor when I ask for it." With these words, he and his entire retinue vanished as suddenly as they had appeared, before the rooster could crow.
Exactly one year later, to the day, the dwarf reappeared and demanded that Herla fulfill his part of the bargain. The king agreed, ordering his servants to prepare everything needed for a wedding feast as splendid as his own. The dwarf led the king and his men along unknown paths, far from human habitation, past gray cliffs and through desolate lands. Finally, they reached a cave leading deep into a sheer cliff towering above a chasm. They entered and moved in complete darkness for a time. But soon, a light appeared ahead, and they found themselves in a palace shining as brightly as the sun at its zenith, illuminated by countless man-made lamps. Here, a second wedding feast took place, with all the splendor King Herla could muster, though it paled in comparison to the previous feast, just as the wealth of a human ruler pales before that of a dwarf king. Nevertheless, the dwarf was quite satisfied, and Herla no longer felt indebted.
When Herla prepared to return, he was richly gifted: horses, hounds, falcons—everything related to hunting. The dwarf king escorted his guests to the edge of the darkness of the cave, where his kingdom met the desolate lands beyond. There, he gave Herla a farewell gift—a hound puppy that the king was to carry in his arms the entire way. "None of you must set foot on the ground until the puppy jumps from the king's arms," the dwarf commanded. Then, he bid them farewell one last time and returned to his realm.
King Herla and his men emerged from the cave into the light of day and soon encountered a shepherd with his flock. The shepherd was a very old man, bent double under the weight of his years. Herla asked him how the queen was doing, calling her by name, to which the old man shook his head in confusion: "Sir, I can barely understand your speech, for you are a Briton, and I am a Saxon. However, I gather you are asking about the queen, whose name I know from ancient legends. As the tale goes, the queen by that name was the wife of a ruler of these lands who once disappeared into this very cliff and was never seen again. But that happened long ago, before the Saxons arrived, and we have held these lands for two hundred years now."
Herla was struck speechless—he had thought he had spent only three days with the dwarves. Some of his entourage, forgetting the dwarf's command, dismounted and immediately turned to dust. Herla then strictly forbade the others to dismount until the puppy jumped to the ground, lest they suffer the same fate.
...The puppy never jumped, and Herla still wanders the earth with his entourage, finding no rest.
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