The Master and the Apprentice

There once lived a poor peasant, and he had one son.
The peasant’s wife kept pestering him:
“Teach our son some trade. I don’t want him to remain ignorant like you.”

The wife wouldn’t give him any peace, so the peasant had no choice but to obey. He took his son and set out to find a master who could teach him a craft.

On the way, they came to a spring. The peasant bent down to drink, and as he drank, he exclaimed:
“Ah, how wonderful!”

Suddenly, a devil in human form sprang out of the water and said:
“Why did you call me? Akhkar is my name.”

“I didn’t call you. I said, ‘Ah, what wonderful water.’”

“It doesn’t matter. Tell me what you need.”

The peasant explained his problem. The devil said:
“Leave your son with me as an apprentice. I’ll teach him for a year. When the year is up, come back. If you recognize him, good. If not, he’ll stay with me, and you mustn’t take him.”

The devil had many such apprentices. In a year, he would change them so much that their parents couldn’t recognize them, and they remained forever in his service.

The peasant didn’t know this and agreed. He left his son with the devil and returned home.

A year passed. The father came back for his son. But the devil wasn’t home. The peasant saw many young men in the yard, about his son’s age, but his son wasn’t among them. The father grew sad and thought, “I guess I won’t recognize him.”

Then one young man approached him and said:
“It’s me, Father. When our master returns, he’ll turn us all into pigeons. When we fly away, I’ll be the first to go. When we return, I’ll lag behind. When the master asks which one is your son, point to me.”

The father was overjoyed and waited for the master with hope.

The master appeared, turned all the apprentices into pigeons, and they flew up before the peasant’s eyes.

When the pigeons flew back, the peasant’s son lagged behind, flying last.

“Well, which one is your son?” asked the devil.

The peasant immediately pointed to the last pigeon.

The devil grew angry, realizing the apprentice had taught his father the trick. But there was nothing he could do—he had to return the son to the peasant.

Father and son walked away together.

“What did the master teach you?” asked the father.

As soon as he said this, the son jumped into a thorny bush, and a golden egg rolled out from it.

The old man chased after the egg, but it rolled into the thorns, and he couldn’t reach it. The son jumped out of the bush, and the father said:
“It seems you have no luck. The golden egg was so close, but it rolled into the thorns.”

As soon as he said this, the son jumped into the bush again, and a golden hen came waddling out. The old man chased after it but couldn’t catch it, and the son returned to him once more.

“Ah, you have no luck,” sighed the old man again.

Suddenly, he saw a golden hare running by. He chased after it, but the hare also disappeared into the bushes, and the son emerged again.

The old man grew angry:
“What did the master teach you? When there’s luck, you’re nowhere to be found, but when luck’s gone, here you are!”

“Don’t be angry, Father,” said the son. “The golden hare, the golden hen, and the egg—that was all me.”

The old man was overjoyed, and they continued on their way. They came to a field where princes were hunting. They had set a pack of hounds on a hare, but they couldn’t catch it.

The son said to his father:
“Go through the woods and flush out the hare. I’ll turn into a hound and catch it in front of the princes. They’ll beg you to sell me—don’t agree right away. Ask for a high price, and they’ll pay anything. Then I’ll find a way to escape and catch up with you.”

And so they did. The father went into the woods, flushed out the hare, and the son turned into a hound, chased the hare, and caught it so skillfully in front of the princes that they nearly went mad. They rushed to the father, shouting, “Whether you want to or not, sell us the dog!”

The peasant refused for a long time, but when the price went high enough, he agreed, took the money, and handed over the dog. The princes put it on a leash and led it away.

They flushed out another hare and set the new hound on it. The hound chased the hare, ran far off, and once out of sight of its new owners, turned back into the young man.

The son soon caught up with his father. They walked on together.

“We need to get more money,” said the son.

As they walked, they saw another group of princes engaged in falconry. They had set their falcons on a pheasant, but the birds couldn’t catch it.

The young man turned into a falcon, soared into the air in front of the princes, and caught the pheasant. The princes were beside themselves with joy and cried to the peasant, “Whether you want to or not, give us the falcon!”

The peasant drove a hard bargain, and when the princes raised the price, he handed over the falcon and headed home.

On their way, the princes set the falcon on another pheasant. The falcon flew around, then flew far off, out of sight of its new owners, landed, turned back into a man, and ran to catch up with his father.

Father and son walked on, carrying the money, but the son still thought it wasn’t enough. He said to his father:
“I’ll turn into a horse. Ride me to town and sell me, but remember—don’t sell me to a man with mismatched eyes. If you do, sell me without the bridle, or else you’ll ruin me.”

No sooner said than done. The son turned into a magnificent horse, the father mounted him, and they rode to town.

Buyers swarmed around the horse, but one man with mismatched eyes outbid them all, offering so much gold that it nearly buried the horse.

The old man couldn’t resist and sold the horse to the mismatched-eyed man. The man grabbed the bridle, but the father wouldn’t let go.

The mismatched-eyed man—who was actually the devil—shouted, “How can you sell a horse for such a price without the bridle?”

What could the peasant do? He had to hand over the bridle as well. The devil mounted the horse and rode off, not just riding but flying with joy at having so easily reclaimed his apprentice.

When they arrived home, the devil locked the horse in the stable and secured it tightly.

The apprentice grew despondent, seeing no way to escape. Time passed, and he couldn’t think of a solution.

One day, he noticed a ray of sunlight in the darkness. Looking closer, he saw a small crack in the wall.

He turned into a mouse and slipped out. The devil saw this, turned into a cat, and chased the mouse. The mouse ran, the cat close behind, almost catching it, when the mouse turned into a fish and slipped into the water.

The devil threw a net after it. The fish swam, the net closing in, but then the fish turned into a pheasant and soared into the sky. The devil became a hawk and pursued it.

The pheasant flew, the hawk gaining, about to sink its talons into it, when the apprentice turned into a red apple and fell right into the king’s basket. The devil turned into a knife in the king’s hand.

Just as the king was about to cut the apple, the apprentice scattered into grains. The devil turned into a hen with chicks, and they began pecking at the grains.

They pecked all the grains, but just as the hen was about to peck the last one, it rolled away as a needle.

A thread immediately passed through the needle’s eye, winding around it, about to secure it, when the needle jumped into the fire—and passed through it.

The thread burned, but the needle emerged unscathed.

And so, the apprentice destroyed his master.

Freed from the devil, the young man returned to his father, and they lived happily ever after.

↑ To the top

The Master and the Apprentice

More fairy tales