The Little Pearl

Once upon a time, there lived a woman. She had three sons. Sensing that her time to die had come, she said to her eldest son, whose name was Pearl:

"Pearl, you are the eldest and must take your brothers' father's place. Here are six francs for each of you. After my death, you will leave home and find work. Just try to make sure all three of you end up in the same household."

After paying their last respects to their mother, the three boys tied their belongings into bundles and set off on their journey. They stopped at every farm they encountered along the way, asking if there was any work available. Often, they were told that one or two of them could be hired, but no one had heard of a place where all three could find work.

They traveled very far and eventually found themselves in a dense forest. The boys began to fear that night would overtake them there, but suddenly they saw a small house in the distance among the trees. They quickened their pace, approached the house as dusk fell, and knocked on the door. A woman answered.

"Do you need any workers, ma'am?" Pearl asked on behalf of his brothers.

"You seem like a good lad, my friend," the woman replied, "and I do indeed need servants, but my husband eats everyone who enters our home."

"Oh, madam, your husband won't eat us; we're far too thin. We are poor orphans, without a father or mother, and we hardly ever eat our fill."

"There has never been a case," the woman answered, "where my husband didn't eat a person who spent the night here."

"Please let us stay just for this night," said Pearl. "It makes no difference to us whether your husband eats us or the wild beasts do."

"Very well, I have three daughters. I'll put you to bed with them. I think my husband won't look for you in their beds."

She fed the boys, and when they were ready to sleep, she told them to put on caps. Soon, the husband arrived and immediately asked:

"What's new in the house? I smell fresh meat."

"You're mistaken, my friend. You smell the sheep in the barn."

"No, no, the smell I detect is coming from the house. We must see what it is."

"Very well, I'll tell you the truth. Three poor orphans came to us, asking to spend the night, and I put them to bed with our daughters."

"Then I'll eat one of them!" shouted the ogre.

"Well, as you wish," said his wife, "but if you insist on eating one of them tonight, make sure you don't touch the one called Pearl. He's a very clever and good boy."

"I've heard of Pearl, but he won't escape the fate of the others."

Pearl, who was still awake, overheard this conversation. Quietly, without waking the daughters, he removed their crowns and put caps on them instead.

"Listen," said the ogre's wife, "just make sure you don't make a mistake. The girls have crowns, and the boys have caps."

The ogre groped around with his hands. He didn't touch those wearing crowns and instead killed his three daughters, on whom Pearl had placed the caps.

"I've finished all three," said the ogre. "Stoke the fire; we'll roast one of them on a spit."

"Just don't bring poor Pearl here; he said he's very thin."

"I'll feel with my hand and choose the fattest one." The ogre bent down, and when he brought the candle closer, he saw that he was holding his eldest daughter.

"Ah," he cried, "you told me about Pearl. He played a cruel trick on me—he took the crowns off the girls! You won't escape death, Pearl!"

"As you wish," Pearl replied humbly. "But it would be wiser to fatten us up first. We're very thin, and you have fresh meat."

"Very well, you rascal, I'll give you a week. Since I've killed my daughters, I'll have to eat them."

"Just feed us well, or we won't get fat."

"Prepare a good meal for them," the ogre ordered his wife.

The next day, the wife brought a trough of potatoes and bran.

"Madam," said Pearl, "what you're giving us is, with all due respect, fit only for pigs. We won't get fat on this."

"My husband ordered me to feed you this."

"If that's the case, rest assured we won't get any fatter."

That evening, lying in bed, the giant began to curse loudly, thinking the boys were already asleep.

"What a rascal that Pearl is! If he knew I had boots that can cover seven miles in an hour, he'd probably steal them."

"Don't speak so loudly," his wife warned him, "someone might hear you."

Pearl, who hadn't yet fallen asleep, pricked up his ears and thought, "That's good to know!"

"What a rascal that Pearl is!" the ogre said again. "If he knew I had a moon in the chimney that shines for seven miles around, he'd want to steal that too."

Pearl listened intently.

"What a rascal that Pearl is! If he knew I had a stick on the cabinet that, with a single command, can make mountains rise on flat land, create new roads on land and sea, and grant any wish, he'd try to steal that too."

"If I can get all these things," Pearl thought, "we'll escape from here."

Finally, the giant fell asleep. Pearl waited until he began to snore, then quietly woke his brothers and said:

"Enough sleeping; be on your guard."

The boys were sleeping in a shack next to the main house. Pearl climbed up the chimney, crawled onto the roof, and then descended through the chimney into the room where the ogre slept. In the chimney, he saw the moon but didn't take it, reasoning that he would soon have to climb back up.

Pearl silently crept to the bed, put on the boots, took the stick from the cabinet, and as he climbed back up the chimney, he grabbed the moon, which now lit his way.

Entering the room where his brothers waited, he said:

"By the command of my stick—open the door and let us out."

And all three of them left. But the brothers couldn't keep up with Pearl, as they didn't have the magic boots.

"If the giant has another pair of boots," Pearl thought, "he'll easily catch us."

"Climb onto my back," he told his brothers. But with the extra weight, Pearl couldn't move as quickly as before.

When the ogre woke up in the morning, he looked for the boots and couldn't find them. He looked at the cabinet—the stick was gone. He glanced into the chimney—the moon was missing.

"What a rascal that Pearl is!" he exclaimed. "He stole everything from me!"

"I told you," his wife replied, "not to speak so loudly."

The ogre put on another pair of magic boots and rushed in pursuit of the boys.

Meanwhile, Pearl walked without stopping, instructing his brothers to keep an eye on everything around them.

"Keep your eyes peeled," he told them.
— Listen, we can see a cloud of dust rising in the distance. Now it’s very close, now it’s catching up to us.

— By the command of my wand, — said Pearl (or "Little Pearl"), — let steep mountains rise behind us.

The ogre had to go around the mountains. But still, he was moving faster than Pearl, who was carrying his brothers on his back.

— I won’t abandon you, — said Pearl, — I promised our mother that. Just keep your eyes open, or we’ll be lost.

The giant almost caught up to them, but Pearl once again turned to his wand for help, and at his command, a deep river began to churn, so deep that the ogre couldn’t cross it.

Standing on the other bank, the giant kept shouting:

— Just give me back the wand, Pearl, and I’ll give you boots and the moon!

— No way! Keep waiting, old man, — replied Pearl, — you won’t get the wand. Everything stays with me.

The brothers arrived in a big city, and Pearl said they were now safe. He rented a room, and when his brothers asked how they would pay for it, Pearl replied that the wand would provide them with food and money.

And so they began to live richly, dressing well and strolling around as if they were noble gentlemen.

But the brothers grew envious of Pearl, and one night, they took the wand and the boots and ran away. When Pearl woke up in the morning, he searched in vain for the boots and the wand—all he had left was the moon.

“I robbed the giant, and now my brothers have robbed me in turn! But they did it in vain,” he thought, and set off to find them.

He decided that his brothers had taken the wand and boots to free the enchanted princess, about whom there had been much talk. Along the way, he asked every passerby if they had seen two boys, but no one had.

Among the people he questioned, he came across three thieves. The thieves, in turn, wanted to know his name.

— My name is Pearl, — he replied.

— So that’s it! You’re a clever lad, and we’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.

— I’m not worth much now, — said Pearl. — I had a wand that gave me great power, but it’s gone! I had boots that could cover seven miles in an hour, but I don’t have them anymore. All I have left is the moon, which shines for seven miles around on the darkest night.

— Come with us, Pearl. Our trade requires us to see at night as if it were day. You’ll earn a lot with us.

— And what do you do?

— We collect purses that we manage to snatch.

— That’s a profitable trade, — replied Pearl, — until you get caught. But that’s the catch!

He agreed to go with the thieves, helped them for a while, and received his share of the loot, because his moon came in very handy. It lit up any place they wanted, while everything around remained in complete darkness.

But Pearl never stopped thinking about the enchanted princess, and one day he said to his companions:

— It would be good for us to go to the castle and free the princess; there’s surely a lot of gold to be found there.

— That’s true, but don’t you know that the ogre eats anyone who goes there?

— Still, I’ll go, because I hope to find my brothers there. Before they abandoned me, they often talked about that castle.

— If you’re determined to go, — said the thieves, — we’ll go with you.

They arrived at the castle. All the doors were open, but they didn’t meet a single soul. The rooms were adorned with gold and silver, and the thieves filled their pockets to the brim. Pearl took nothing and only carefully examined each room.

After exploring the entire castle, he said to his companions:

— Let’s go to the garden; maybe we’ll find someone there.

There, under a rose bush, they saw Pearl’s two brothers, and next to them, the princess, who was already halfway freed from the spell.

— So this is where you are, you rascals! — said Pearl to his brothers. — I’ve been looking for you for a long time.

— Don’t scold us, Pearl. The princess will soon be freed from the spell, and we’ll give her to you.

The thieves had no reason to stay in the castle, so they left. Pearl gave them the moon as a farewell gift, in gratitude for bringing him there.

He took the boots and the wand from his brothers, and they said to him:

— The hardest part will fall to you, Pearl. This night will decide everything, but, as you can understand, it won’t be easy for you.

— No matter, — replied Pearl.

When night fell, three terrible monsters appeared and said:

— Ah, it’s you, Pearl! We haven’t seen you before.

— Of course not, — replied Pearl, — there’s nothing surprising about that!

— What should we do with you?

— Do what you can, not what you want.

— We’ll roast you on a spit.

— Even on a frying pan, if you like, — replied Pearl.

Out of envy, his brothers hadn’t warned him about the horrors that awaited him, but he wasn’t the least bit afraid.

The monsters dragged Pearl away and began to beat him with clubs as hard as they could. But Pearl felt nothing, because he held the wand in his hands and kept repeating:

— By the command of my wand, no one can harm me.

Finally, the monsters noticed that he was holding the wand.

— Don’t tell Daddy, or we’ll kill you! — they shouted.

But at that very moment, Pearl said:

— By the command of my wand, the princess shall be freed, and you shall be cursed forever.

In that same instant, his wish was fulfilled, and he saw the princess, freed from the spell and as beautiful as day.

— You, Pearl, are my savior, — she said, — and I choose you as my husband.

Pearl married the princess, and they celebrated such a grand wedding that along the entire road leading to the castle, drunken guests lay on the stones, blissfully snoring.

↑ To the top

The Little Pearl

More fairy tales