The Shepherd and the King's Daughter

Once upon a time, there lived a king who claimed that he had never lied in his life. However, he often heard his courtiers saying to each other, "That's not true! You're a liar!"—and this always made him very angry.

Finally, he said to his courtiers:

"You astonish and sadden me. If a foreigner were to hear you, they might think I rule over nothing but liars. I want this to stop. You will never hear such words from me, and I will gladly give my daughter in marriage to anyone who catches me saying to someone, 'That's not true!' or 'You're lying!'"

A young shepherd, who had also heard this speech, said to himself:

"Alright! If the king is a man of his word, his daughter will be mine!"

The old king loved ancient songs, magical and amusing tales. Often, after the evening meal, he would sit by the large hearth in the kitchen and enjoy listening to his servants chat, sing, and tell all sorts of stories. Each of them would take turns singing or telling something.

"Well, boy, it seems you don't know anything," the king said one evening to the young shepherd, who had already been mentioned.

"Oh, but I do, Your Majesty," replied the shepherd.

"Let's hear what you know."

The shepherd began:

"Once, while walking through the forest, I saw a fat hare. It ran straight toward me, as if it didn't see anything. In my hand, I had a lump of resin. I threw it at the hare, and it hit him right on the forehead, sticking there. The hare kept running and collided head-on with another hare coming the other way; they stuck together forehead to forehead and couldn't separate. So, I easily caught both of them. How do you like that, Your Majesty?"

"That's hard to believe," replied the king, "but in the end, it's possible. What else can you tell us?"

"Before I became a shepherd at your court, I worked as a helper at my father's mill. One day, I loaded my donkey so heavily that its spine broke."

"Poor donkey!" exclaimed the king.

The shepherd continued:

"I went to the nearest hedge—it was made of hazel—cut a stick with my pocketknife, and inserted it into the donkey as a replacement for its spine. The donkey immediately jumped up and went on its way to the mill as if nothing had happened."

"Amazing," said the king. "What happened next?"

"The next morning, I was greatly surprised (it was December) to see that overnight, branches, leaves, and even nuts had grown from the end of the stick that was sticking out. I led the donkey out of the stable, and the branches kept growing higher and higher, all the way up to the sky."

"Fascinating," said the king. "And then?"

"Well, when I saw that, I started climbing the branches, higher and higher, until I reached the moon."

"Quite remarkable," said the king. "What happened next?"

"When I got to the moon, I saw old women there harvesting oats, and I watched them work for a long time. When I decided to return to earth, I couldn't find my stick—the donkey had disappeared. What could I do? I started twisting the oat stalks into a rope and used it to climb down."

"That's hard to believe," said the king. "And then?"

"Alas, the rope wasn't long enough, and when I reached the end, I had to jump to the ground. I landed headfirst on a rock and got stuck up to my shoulders."

"I don't know whether to believe this or not," said the king. "What happened next?"

"I struggled so hard to free myself that my body tore away from my head, which remained stuck in the rock. I ran to get an iron crowbar to pull my head out."

"How can anyone believe this?" said the king. "And then?"

"When I returned with the crowbar, I saw a huge wolf gnawing on my head. I hit it so hard on the back with my iron bar that it flattened, and some paper fell out of its rear end."

"Marvelous!" said the king. "What did it say?"

"It said that your father, Your Majesty, once worked as a helper for my grandfather, the miller."

"Upon my honor, you lie, you vile wretch!" shouted the king, jumping to his feet.

"Hooray, Your Majesty! I've won: your daughter is mine!" said the shepherd.

"How so? What do you mean?" asked the king.

"Didn't you, Your Majesty, promise to give your daughter in marriage to anyone who caught you saying to someone, 'You're lying'?"

"True. A king must always keep his word and never break it. My daughter will be your wife. Tomorrow we will have the betrothal, and in a week, the wedding."

And that's how the shepherd won the king's daughter with just one word!

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The Shepherd and the King's Daughter

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