Ion Moldovanu

Once upon a time, there lived a man, and he had an only son named Ion. Not long before his death, the father said to Ion:

"Ion, I am dying, but you go wherever your eyes take you, seek your happiness. You're a hardworking lad, work hard. Show that you're no worse than others."

Ion buried his father, packed his bag, and set off to seek his fortune. He walked for a long time, or maybe not so long, and in a green valley, he met a shepherd.

"Where are you headed, lad?" asked the shepherd.

"I'm looking for work," replied Ion.

"Would you like to work for me in the sheepfold?"

"Why not? I'll go!"

"And what payment do you want?"

"In the fall, give me a sheep, whichever one I choose."

"Well then, let it be as you say," answered the shepherd.

All summer Ion tended the sheep, and in the fall, he received a sheep and set off on his way. But as soon as he stepped onto the road, the sheep fell and died on the spot.

"I have no luck with sheep," thought Ion, and he went to look for new work. He walked for a long time, or maybe not so long, and met an old miller.

"How far are you going, lad?" asked the miller.

"I'm looking for my happiness, uncle."

"Would you like to work with me at the mill?"

"Why not? I'll give it a try."

"And what will you take for it?"

"Not much: you'll feed me, and in the fall, you'll give me a millstone, whichever one I choose."

"What do you need a millstone for? Take a sack of flour instead."

"I don't need flour, give me the millstone," replied Ion.

"Alright, let it be as you say."

In the fall, Ion took the millstone, but as soon as he stepped onto the road, the millstone fell and split in two.

"What a misfortune! I have no luck here either," thought Ion, and he went on. He walked for a long time, or maybe not so long, and met a priest.

"Where are you headed, lad?" asked the priest.

"I'm wandering the world, looking for work."

"Would you like to work for me?"

"Well, I can work for you too. And what will you pay me?" asked Ion this time.

"In the fall, I'll give you some bread. And the work will be this: plowing, sowing, threshing, helping me around the house."

"Alright, I agree."

In the evening, the priest brought Ion home and showed him to the priest's wife. The next day, he took him to plow the field. And the priest had oxen that even four men couldn't handle. In short, the oxen had a temper. They worked a little, and then the priest said to Ion:

"I'll go home, and you drive them slowly. The oxen seem calm today."

"Go, go, I'll manage alone." But as soon as the priest left, one of the oxen suddenly said to Ion:

"Listen, Ion, we're not ordinary oxen, but magical ones. We help good people as much as we can. Go and rest, and we'll plow the field ourselves."

Beyond the field, a forest began. Ion went into the shade and lay down, resting, while the oxen plowed, working hard.

But the priest didn't go home. He hid to see how Ion would plow when left alone. He saw that the oxen were plowing by themselves and thought: there's something fishy here. In the evening, he said to Ion:

"Take whatever you want for your work, but leave me."

Ion took the money and went on his way. Suddenly, the oxen caught up with him. The lad returned and said to the priest, "Lock up your oxen, or they'll follow me as if they've known me all their lives."

The priest locked up the oxen, but as soon as Ion left, they broke the gate and caught up with him again. Well, this time Ion didn't take them back but went on with them. The oxen led him to a big forest, and there he began to graze them. He saw a goat grazing on the grass. Ion approached and milked it. But this was the old snake's goat—the snake lived in the forest. In the evening, the snake noticed that the goat came home without milk and shouted throughout the forest:

"Hey, who's the rascal who milked my goat?"

"It's me, Ion Moldovanu," replied the lad.

"Come here. I've heard that Moldovans are strong wrestlers. Show me your strength."
What is Ion doing here? He took out the cottage cheese he had just made from goat's milk and squeezed it in his hand. The serpent asks:

- What are you doing?

- Well, I'm squeezing a stone to get water, because it's a long way to the well. The serpent saw that water really started flowing and got scared. "What if," he thought, "he squeezes me like that too!"

- You know, - he said to Ion, - let's be friends instead. I have a castle and a large estate here in the forest, but I live alone. You can be like a brother and a son to me.

- Alright, let it be as you say, - agreed Ion. For two weeks, he didn’t have to lift a finger.

But one day, the serpent sent him to fetch water. And he gave him such large buckets that Ion could barely carry them empty, let alone full. What to do? Ion decided to trick him. He started digging around the well. The serpent, not waiting for the water, went to meet Ion. He arrived and asked:

- What are you doing, Ion?

- Well, I want to bring this well home.

- Have you lost your mind? - shouted the serpent. - This is the only well I have, and you want to bury it. Let me fetch the water myself, or with your schemes, I'll be left without a well!

The serpent took the buckets, and they went home. And the serpent breathed so strongly that when he exhaled, Ion was blown far ahead, and when he inhaled, Ion was pulled back toward the serpent's mouth.

- Why are you running back and forth? - asked the serpent.

- I'm so angry I can't sit still. When I go forward, I remember everything, turn back, and feel like hitting you so hard that sparks fly from your eyes.

- What have I done wrong?

- What do you mean? Because of you, I'll have to carry buckets every day. Wouldn’t it have been better to bring the whole well home?

- Alright, - said the serpent, - I'll carry the water myself, just don’t touch the well.

The next day, the serpent sent Ion to the forest for firewood. Ion took a rope and started tying it around all the trees in the forest. The serpent saw that Ion was gone for a long time and went to see what he was doing.

- Listen, what are you up to? - he asked Ion.

- I want to take the forest home.

- Ugh, may you be cursed! This forest was inherited from my father, and you want to destroy it!

The serpent tore out a large tree to take home, and Ion said:

- Listen, serpent, you carry the trunk, and I'll carry the branches. Look how many there are: you can't handle them.

The serpent lifted the tree, and Ion sat among the branches and calmly rode home. Soon after, the serpent decided to visit his brother. He left Ion the keys and said:

- Here are the keys. You can go wherever you want, just don’t look in the cellar and don’t open this door. Understood?

When the serpent left, Ion started wandering around, looking at his treasures. He stopped at the cellar and thought: What’s in there? He opened the door. He looked inside, and it was full of people.

- Who are you, good people, and why are you sitting here? - asked Ion.

- We are forest haiduks. The serpent imprisoned us here because we stood up against the evil rich, the boyars, took their wealth, and gave it to the poor.

- Come out and go home. Here is the serpent’s treasure: take some gold and give it to the poor.

- Thank you, Ion!

When they left, Ion opened the door the serpent had forbidden. Behind the door stood a beautiful horse, so magnificent it was impossible to look away. It was the horse of the brave haiduk leader Codrean. The serpent had caught this horse in the forest when the haiduk had tethered it and let it graze. The horse said to Ion:

- Take me out of here and grab the brush, the handkerchief, and the hat from the shelf.

Ion Moldovanu took the brush, the handkerchief, and the hat from the shelf and led the horse into the forest.

- Now, - said the horse, - go and release the oxen that brought you here. From now on, I will help you. The oxen will go to a new owner - an old poor man living on the edge of the forest.

Ion ran and found the oxen - they had been grazing on a green meadow all this time while Ion lived with the serpent. Ion said goodbye to the oxen, and they went to the poor old man who had been struggling without cattle.

Ion returned to where the horse of the haiduk Codrean was waiting.

- Get on me! - shouted the horse. Ion mounted. The magical horse neighed so loudly that the earth shook, and it galloped faster than the wind.

The serpent heard the horse’s neigh and rushed to catch up. When he was so close that his breath made Ion sway in the saddle, the horse shouted:

- Throw the brush!

Ion threw the brush, and it turned into a large, dense forest. The serpent started gnawing through the trees to make a path. When he finally got through the thicket, he began catching up to Ion again. Then the horse said:

- Throw the handkerchief!

Ion threw the handkerchief, and where it fell, a sea spread out. While the serpent was crossing the sea, Ion got far ahead. But soon the serpent started catching up again, and when he was very close, the horse shouted to Ion:

- Throw the hat!
The hat fell and turned into an iron wall, and the snake, rushing at full speed, hit it and immediately died. The horse stopped, and Ion jumped to the ground. After they had rested a bit, the horse said:
"Here's the thing, Ion. I will return to my master, the haiduk Codreanu, and you take this bell. When you need me, ring it—I will come to you faster than the wind. And here's my advice: don't walk with your face uncovered. You are too handsome, and because of that, misfortune may befall you. Cover your face with a calfskin—it will protect you from the evil eye."
The horse galloped away, and Ion went to the shepherds, obtained a calfskin, draped it over himself, and continued on his way.

Ion heard that the king had three daughters, and the youngest was so beautiful that one could not take their eyes off her. People said that she was the niece of the haiduk Codreanu, and she had been taken to the palace so as not to upset the king. The youngest princess had been born blind, but her father still knew nothing of this. The king considered Codreanu's niece to be his youngest daughter, and the queen did not dare to reveal the truth to him.

Ion arrived at the royal gates and asked if there was any work for him. They sent him to tend the geese.

Ion led the geese to a green meadow, took off the calfskin, and the geese spent the whole day staring at him, forgetting even to graze. And all because of Ion's beauty. A day passed, then two, then three—the geese kept staring at Ion, not eating, and began to die of hunger.

The king grew angry and sent his eldest daughter to check how the geese were being tended by the new shepherd. But Ion immediately heard the royal carriage with its bells approaching, covered his face with the calfskin, and the geese began to graze. The princess arrived, looked around—everything was in order. She returned to the palace and told her father as much. The next morning, several more geese were found dead, and the king sent his middle daughter to the shepherd.

The princess saddled her horse and rode off. As soon as she appeared on the road, Ion noticed her. He draped the calfskin over himself, and the geese began to graze peacefully. The daughter returned to the king and reported that Ion was taking good care of the geese. On the third day, the king sent his youngest daughter to the shepherd because many geese had died again. She was smarter than her sisters, threw a ragged scarf over her royal dress, and did not take the road but went through the thorny bushes. She emerged onto the meadow, but Ion did not even glance her way—he sat there with his face uncovered, and the geese stared at him. The girl then threw off the scarf, and Ion saw that it was the princess standing before him.

"Don't be afraid of me, Ion," she said. "I have heard of your beauty and came to see you for myself. And I like you so much that I want to be your bride."

"But I am a poor man, a simple shepherd, and you are the king's daughter. Kings and paupers cannot stand each other. Have you heard of the haiduk Codreanu?"

"I have even seen him once," the girl replied. "He is so handsome and brave."

"Do you know who you really are?"

"I am the king's youngest daughter."

"No, you are Codreanu's niece."

And Ion told her everything he had heard from the people.

The girl ordered him to continue hiding his face from everyone and not to tell anyone that they loved each other.

That night, the king had a dream—he must quickly marry off all his daughters, or else misfortune would befall him. The next morning, the king called his daughters, gave each a golden apple, and ordered them to go out onto the balcony. All the suitors would pass beneath the balcony, and the princesses were to throw their apples to the man they wanted as their groom. The two eldest princesses immediately chose their husbands—noble boyars—but the youngest did not throw her golden apple to anyone on the first or second day. Everyone was puzzled, and the king ordered to find out who else had not been invited to the palace. They pointed out the shepherd in the calfskin. Ion was called, he walked beneath the balcony, and the girl threw him her golden apple. The king was furious with his youngest daughter, but there was nothing he could do, and he had to give the princess to the shepherd.

The king did not accept them into his home, and Ion himself was not one to live in royal palaces. They built a dugout on the very edge of the city and began to live there. They worked together in the fields, for Ion's wife was the daughter of a poor peasant and had only ended up in the palace by chance. One day, enemies attacked the country, and the king prepared to march with his two sons-in-law and his army. Ion said to his wife:

"Go to the king and ask for a horse for me. I will go to war too."

But the husbands of the older princesses laughed at her and gave Ion an old mare that had long only carried water. Ion set off on the royal mare ahead of everyone else, but halfway there, he got stuck in a swamp. There, the king and his army caught up with him.

"Look, even this unwashed one is going to war," said the king's sons-in-law.

They rode up to Ion and asked:

"Hey, you, where are you going?"

"To war," Ion calmly replied. "I want to defend our country too."

"Do you think you're going to protect us?"

"No, our country is the people, the poor folk, and for us, the enemy invasion is more terrible than for the likes of you."

"He must be out of his mind, the poor wretch! He seems to think he's equal to us, the king's sons-in-law!" They slapped him and rode on. As soon as they left, Ion rang the magic bell. Immediately, the horse of the haiduk Codreanu appeared. Ion entered its left ear and came out of the right ear dressed in armor, with a saber and a spear. The horse carried him faster than the wind. Ion overtook the king's army, charged into the enemy ranks, and began cutting them down left and right. By the time the king arrived with his troops, all the enemies had already been defeated. Ion turned back, and as he passed the king's sons-in-law, he slapped them so hard that they staggered. He reached the swamp, released the magic horse, and covered his face with the calfskin. The sons-in-law rode up to him and began to mock him again, but he did not respond. Ion returned home and sent his wife to the palace to say that it was he who had defeated the enemies. But the sons-in-law only laughed at her:

"It was God's angel who helped us win, not your shepherd."

The next day, Ion again single-handedly defeated the enemy army and gave the king's sons-in-law more slaps. They met him again in the swamp, riding the old mare, and did not suspect a thing. Ion's wife went to the king again:

"My husband says it was he who defeated the enemy army."

"Be quiet, don't disgrace yourself! It was an angel."

On the third day, the enemy army was much stronger. When the king arrived with his troops at the battlefield, Ion was still fighting the enemies. He was wounded in the right arm. The king threw him his silk scarf, and Ion bandaged his wound with it. Then he defeated all the enemies, gave the king's sons-in-law six slaps each, and rode off on his horse. On the way back, the sons-in-law found him again in the swamp, struggling to pull his old mare out. Soon the war ended, and Ion Moldovanu continued to live in his dugout on the very edge of the city.

But one day, the king summoned all his neighbors to watch the execution of two haiduks. They had attacked a rich and noble boyar in the forest. Guests arrived in droves.

The haiduks were brought out of the dungeon and placed on the square. Ion also came there. The guests began to mock the haiduks. One of the king's sons-in-law pointed at a haiduk and said:

"Isn't this the hero who defeated the enemies?"

Everyone burst out laughing, but Ion could not bear it. He stepped forward and shouted:

"It was I, a simple shepherd, who helped you defeat the enemy, but you did not believe me. And today you want to execute the men who fought alongside me! Here, king, is your silk scarf that you gave me during the battle."

They rushed at Ion to seize him, but he rang his magic bell. The horse came running, Ion entered its left ear, came out of the right ear in armor and armed, grabbed his saber, and dealt with the king and his sons-in-law.

Ion freed the haiduks, became their sworn brother, took his wife, and they rode off into the forest. And the forest was always a faithful friend to the haiduk.

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Ion Moldovanu

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