Long time ago. A very poor woman gave birth to a beautiful son. The child had a big blue spot on his hand, which according to the pundits was making him lucky. Soon after his birth, the learned pundit of that village predicted that this child would marry a princess at the age of fourteen and rule himself. One day it happened that a king lost his way while hunting and came to the same village where the child was born. The villagers did not recognize that king, because they had never seen him. An old man of the village told the king that a few days ago a child was born in his village, who would marry the daughter of the king of this kingdom at the age of fourteen. The king got very angry after hearing this, because a few days ago a daughter was born in his house. The king was anyway a very proud and hard hearted person.
The king thought why don't I give some money to that poor woman and take her child from her and complete her work, then neither this lucky child will remain nor will he be able to marry my princess. He said to the old man of the village, 'Baba, you take me to that woman. She will not be able to raise that child properly. I will raise that child in a good manner.'
The old man took the king to the mother of the lucky child. The king requested her to give her child and said, 'You are very poor. How will you be able to take care of this child? Give this child to me, I will take care of it very well.'
The poor woman kept refusing to give him her child. Then the king gave him a lot of money and said, 'With this money you feed your stomach and when this lucky son of yours grows up, he will come to you himself.'
The poor mother thought, since this is a very lucky child, that is why this rich man has come to my house to pick it up. Perhaps this is the will of God. After much deliberation, the poor woman gave her child to the king. The king bought a wooden box for that child and put it in that box and left it in the flowing water. He thought that due to suffocation the child would die inside this box. He was feeling very happy thinking that he had saved his dear daughter from that unwanted husband.
The one who saves is greater than the one who kills. The same happened with that child. That wooden box got stuck in a watermill while flowing. When the servant working on that water mill saw that wooden box, he was very happy, he thought that there would definitely be a lot of money in that box. He entered the water and took out this chest. When he opened the chest, he saw that a child dressed in dirty clothes was sleeping in it. The servant thought of what use is this child to me. Why don't I take this child to the owner of the watermill. He will definitely keep it to himself, because he has no children of his own. Thinking like this, the servant took the child to his master. The owner of the water mill was very happy to see that child. He thought that perhaps God had heard his wife's prayer and sent this child to her. Both those husband and wife started raising that child with great love and devotion. As the child grew up, his face became brighter. If anyone saw him, he would keep on seeing him.
One day such an incident happened, which proved the prediction of the time of birth of that child to be true. The king was going out of the same way for some work, on which the water mill was. Suddenly a huge storm came on the way, so the king had to stop near the same water mill. When the king saw that handsome young man sitting at the shop, he asked the owner of the watermill, 'Is this your son? It is very beautiful.' The owner of the mill said, ' This is my son only, because we have raised him by raising him. About fourteen years ago, we found this child in a wooden box. The old things became very fresh to the king. He was very surprised to hear from the owner of the mill that the child, whom he had thought to be dead till now, was still alive. He then thought of a way to eliminate that boy. He spoke to the owner of the watermill. 'Can you order this boy to do me a favor? I want to send a letter to the queen. This letter is very important. I will give him two gold coins for this work. The boy immediately said 'yes' and the owner of the mill also agreed to send him. The king hastily wrote a letter to his queen. He wrote, ' As soon as this boy reaches you with this letter of mine, you get him killed and buried away from the palace. All this should happen before I come back. After writing so much, he gave the sealed letter to the boy.
The boy went towards the palace with that letter. Till today he had not gone far away from his home. So could not find the way to the palace and started wandering in the forest. It was evening, then in the darkness he saw light coming from a distance. He ran towards that light and saw that there was a small kutcha house there. There was no door in that house. When he entered the house, he saw an old woman sitting all alone, lighting a fire. The woman was scared to see that boy in front of her. He asked the boy, 'Son, where are you coming from and where do you want to go?' The boy replied, ' I am coming from the watermill of the nearby village and am going to give this letter to the queen mother. But I have lost my way in this forest. It was evening while searching for the way. I saw this house in the dark. That's why I came here to spend the night.' The old woman felt very sorry for the boy, because it was the bandits' lodging place and the old woman was the maidservant of those bandits. He was afraid that if the dacoits saw him, they would kill him. The boy was a little afraid at first to know that he had entered the house of dacoits, but going anywhere else in the dark was not an easy task. And he was very tired because of walking all day, so he was very sleepy. He slept quietly on the ground in a corner of the house at the behest of that old lady. When the dacoits came to that house after midnight, they became very angry with their maidservant seeing someone else sleeping in their house. The old maid told them the whole thing and also put the letter that the boy had shown her in the hands of the leader of the bandits. Seeing the seal of the king, those dacoits had some doubt on that letter. When Sardar opened the letter and read it very carefully, he felt pity for the sleeping boy. He tore that letter and put another letter in it. It was written in that letter, 'As soon as this boy reaches the palace, you marry your princess to this boy. This work should be completed before I come back.
They put this letter in front of the boy and before morning the dacoits left. When the boy woke up in the morning, the old woman made him some refreshments. Then that boy started towards the palace. After reaching the palace, he sent that letter to the queen mother. When the queen read the letter, she was very surprised that what kind of order the king had given. He marries his princess to an unknown boy. The king's stamp was on the letter. So it cannot be a hoax either. He had to marry his daughter to this boy before the king came back. The queen called the boy to her, she liked his innocent and beautiful face very much and she married her daughter to him the very next day.
The boy started living happily in that palace with the princess. After a few months, the king returned to his palace and was very eager to know about the boy, but when he came to know that the queen had got the princess married to the same boy, he became very angry. The thing which he did not want to happen, his wife did the same. He asked his wife for that letter. The king was astonished to see that the boy had written about the marriage of the princess with him. He suspected the boy that he is educated, must have changed the letter on the way. He called the boy to him and ordered him to tell the truth. The boy said, ' Hey Rajan! I don't know what you wrote in this letter, because I came with it like that. Yes, I did spend the night in an old house in the forest, because I could not find my way to the palace and got lost in the forest.'
The king did not believe the words of that boy. Anyway, the king had a lot of hatred for that boy. He did not want that he should become the king of this kingdom after marrying his daughter. He said to the boy, 'In my absence the queen has married my daughter to you pauper, but I will not give my consent to this marriage until you bring me three golden hairs of the devil. When you give me these three golden hairs, then only you will be able to become her husband in true sense.'
The king had put such an impossible condition because this boy would die somewhere while searching for the three golden hairs. Thus he would automatically get rid of this boy. Now the boy had no choice but to obey the king's orders, because even if he disobeyed the king's orders, the king would get him killed. It is better that if he goes out and searches, he may be able to bring three golden hairs. The next day he set out in the dark to find the devil's golden hair. While walking he reached a big city. There was a big gate on the border of the city, which was guarded by an armed soldier. The soldier asked the boy, 'What is your work here? Do you understand and know anything?'
The boy said, 'I understand and know everything.'
The soldier said, ' If you know everything, then do us a favor too. Tell us also that this well on the border of the city, earlier sweet water used to come out of it, but now there is no water in it. It has dried up, why?'
The boy said, 'Now you have some patience. I will tell you when I come back after finishing my work.' Having said this, he left the gate and went ahead. After that, when he reached the big gate of another city, an armed soldier was guarding there too. That soldier also asked the boy the same question as the previous soldier, so the boy gave him the same answer.
The soldier said, 'If you understand and know everything, then please tell me that the apple tree that is planted on the border of this city used to bear golden apples earlier, but now it has completely dried up, now it has Leaves don't even grow. Why so?'
The boy said, 'Wait a little. I will tell you the answer when I finish my work.' Saying this, he went ahead and while walking reached the border of the third city, there was a big river, in which there was a small boat and a boatman was sitting on it, the boatman asked him, 'Why have you come here? And what do you understand and know about here?'
The boy said, 'I know everything.' The boatman said, 'If you understand and know everything, please tell me how can I get rid of this work of coming and going?'
The boy said, 'You will definitely get the answer to this question when I come back, but first you get me to cross the river.'
The boatman took him on his boat and left him on the other side. As soon as he went to the other side of the river, he saw a rough and dark path leading down there. He walked on the same path. On reaching very low, he saw an old woman sitting in the courtyard. As soon as he entered that house, the old woman asked him, 'Oh child, who are you? And why has he come here? Don't you know that the devil lives here?'
The boy said, 'I have come to the right place. Now you help me I want three golden hairs from the devil's head, otherwise I will not get my wife back.'
The old woman said, 'Son, this is a big demand of yours. To accomplish this is not so easy. When the demon comes back home and sees you here, he will chew you raw. That's why I have to protect you.' That old woman felt sorry for the boy. She made an ant and hid it in the folds of her skirt.
The boy said, 'Old mother, I want to ask you the answers to three questions as well. The first question is, why has a well, from which earlier sweet water like sherbet used to come out, has dried up nowadays? The second question is that an apple tree, which used to bear golden apples, now does not even bear leaves. Why has that tree dried up? The third question is why does a sailor always have to go from here to there? Why doesn't he get rid of it?'
The old nurse said, 'These are three very difficult questions. We can get the answers to these questions from the demon only. I will definitely try this for you, but now you hide quietly, otherwise you will not be able to survive.'
The demon reached home in the evening. As soon as he entered inside, he started making noise, 'I smell a human in my house. Something is definitely wrong today. Which man came here?' Saying this, he peeped in the whole house, but he did not find any human being. His foster mother started getting angry at him and said, 'Just a while ago I had cleaned the whole house. I didn't see any human being here. It seems that the smell of psyche has entered your nose. Sit comfortably and eat quietly.
When the demon could not find any human being, he had to believe his nurse's words. After eating his food quietly, he lay down on a big mat spread on the ground. He fell asleep as soon as he lay down. His nurse mother also lay down on the other mat spread near him today, because today she had to pluck three of his golden hairs from the hair of that demon. When the demon started snoring loudly in his sleep, the nurse pulled out a hair of gold from his head. The demon moaned in pain, 'O mother! what are you doing Why is she pulling my hair.'
The midwife said, 'Son, I just had a terrible dream, so out of fear I grabbed your hair.' The demon said, 'What was the dream that scared you so much?' The old nurse said, 'I saw in the dream that the well in the market, from which syrup used to come out, is now dry. Whose fault is it?
The demon said, 'No one knows this except me. There is a big stone under that well and a big frog lives under that stone. If that big frog is killed, syrup will start coming out of that well again.' Having said this, the demon again started whining loudly.
When the midwife was convinced that the demon was completely asleep, she plucked out another golden hair from his head. The demon again shouted loudly, 'O Mother! What are you doing?'
The midwife said, 'Son, don't feel bad. I had a strange dream again. That's why your hair came in my hand out of fear.'
The demon asked, 'What was the dream that scared you so much?' The old mother said, 'I saw in the dream that an apple tree on the border of that kingdom, which used to bear golden apples, has now dried up. What is the reason for its drying up?'
The demon said, 'A rat lives in the root of this tree, which keeps on biting its roots. If that mouse is killed, the tree will start giving golden apples again. But now don't bother me with your dreams. Let me sleep peacefully.' After saying this, after some time, the demon again started snoring loudly.
As soon as the old mother felt that the demon had really fallen asleep, she pulled out the golden hair for the third time. Now the demon became enraged with anger and started narrating lies to the midwife. The midwife started trying to calm him down, then said lovingly, ' Son, what should I do with these strange dreams. Just now I had a strange dream again.' The demon said, 'Which dream did you see, tell me quickly? I am having a hard time sleeping.'
The old mother said, 'I dreamed that a sailor was complaining to me that he had to go here and there all the time. Why doesn't he get rid of it? What is his fault in this?'
The demon said, 'That sailor is a fool. The day he hands over his paddle to another man, he will be free from the daily to and fro.'
Having said this, the demon again lay down on his mat and started snoring. Now the midwife took the boy out of her skirt and gave him three golden hairs and said, 'You have already heard the answers to all your three questions. Now take these three hairs and run away from here immediately.'
After making the boy real, the nurse immediately threw him out of the house. The boy thanked him heartily and went towards his father-in-law's kingdom. On the way he again met the same boatman and the two soldiers guarding him. When the boatman landed him on the other side, the boy said, ' You give this paddle of yours to someone else. Only then will you get rid of this daily coming and going.
When he told the soldier the answer to his question, he loaded a lot of money on a donkey and gave it to the boy as a reward. When he reached the first soldier with the donkey laden with that money, he also told him the answer to his question. That soldier also rewarded him by loading a lot of money on a donkey. Now he reached his father-in-law with a lot of money on three hairs of gold and two donkeys, then the king was surprised to see him.
Seeing the three hairs and the two donkeys full of money, the king asked him, 'Where did you get this much money from?' The boy said, 'I went to the other side of the river. There I got a lot of money. I brought some of that money with me. The king got greedy. He said to the boy, 'Can I also bring some money from across the river like you?' The boy said, 'Why not? There is a boatman sitting on a boat in that river, who will take you to the other side in his boat, but if you take his oar from him and steer the boat yourself, you will reach the other side of the river and bring a lot of money.
Hearing this, the greedy king went towards the river. There really was a sailor sitting on a small boat. The king went to that boatman and took his paddle from his hand and started rowing the boat himself. Now that boatman got rid of the daily commuting and the king was punished to go here and there on the boat all the time in place of that boatman.
(from Grimm's Fairy Tales)
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