ROUMANIAN FOLK TALES.
THE following collection of folk-tales from Roumania has been translated from the original versions by Miss Aga Berindei, grand-daughter of the late Roumanian Minister for War, General Berindei, and of M. Costinescu, Minister of Finance. They have been arranged for publication by Miss Frances Browne.
The Tale of the Lad and his Fate.
Once upon no time, when the sky was so near Earth that tall people could reach it with their hand stretched out, there lived an Emperor who had three Lads. When the time had come for them to marry, the Emperor said to them:
My dear children, now that you are grown up, go, each one of you, into the World in search of a bride, so that you also shall become men amongst men.
Your words, Father, are for us an Ikon, before which we bow, answered the Three Lads, and, after kissing their fathers hand, they made ready to go, each one hurrying to be the quickest.
The Eldest Lad put on his best clothes, and taking some attendants and money with him, went off.
Riding towards the East, he came upon the castle of a certain Emperor who had an only daughter. The Lad asked for her hand in marriage, and the Emperor her father promised her to him for wife.
The same with the next Lad; after attiring himself as beautifully as he knew how, he went towards the West, and he also came upon the castle of an Emperor who had a daughter. The Lad asked the Emperor for her hand, an agreement was quickly come to, and he also became betrothed.
However, with the Youngest Lad, it somehow seemed that his heart was not drawing him towards marriage. But he could not refuse to set out upon a search for a bride, for his father kept on bothering him to go. So the Youngest Lad also took some clothes, but only for the sake of peace, for people would talk about him did he not attire himself fittingly. He hardly took any money with him, and so he went away, too, you knowjust like that.
But where was he to go? You see, he did not know. He went on, moving his feet lazily one after the other, just to be able to say that he was walking; then, turning into a path that he came across, he went on and on along it, without realising where he was going or anything. When, suddenly, what do you think? The path he was following led him right to a big, big Pool. On his way he had come across a wand of hazel-nut, and he had picked it up, just like that, for the love of an apple-blossom, without knowing what he was going to do with it.
And now he set himself down by the Pool, looking dreamily at it, and just to say that he was doing something, he splashed the water with his wand, and made fun of the water-drops which sprang up as he beat them. Then he began to think. He had noticed that round each drop which fell back into the water there appeared a circle, which became wider and wider, until it lost itself in the Pool from whence it sprang, and so faded away, till no trace of it could be seen,not even the spot where the drop had fallen, not even the circle that had been around it,everything was as quiet as before, and the surface of the water was as smooth as glass.
He was far away with his thoughts, staring in front of him, but seeing nothing, still splashing the water, but realising nothing. He no longer knew whether he was, or whether he was not. When, suddenly, out upon the surface of the water, there popped a Tortoise, who gazed at him sweetly.
Wherever he splashed with his wand, there where the circles began to close upon its tipzusht!out she popped, and looked at him, and couldnt take her eyes off him!
She looked at him as if she would sip him in with that look. But he neither saw nor heard, so far away was he in his thoughts.
After a long time,who knows how?he began to notice that a Tortoise followed the tip of his wand, so he looked at her; and he felt, dear me, as if his heart were telling him something, but what it was he could not understand.
When he quite woke up from his thoughts, it struck him that the sun was setting, so he got up slowly and went home, just like that, dreaming about nothing.
The next day, he wandered off again, and did just the same thing, without even remembering that he had set out to search for a bride.
On the third day, as soon as he woke up, he went again towards the Pool. It seemed that the String of his Fate drew him.
And now, once more, he sat down by the Pool, idly splashing the water with his wand, while the Tortoise, popping out each time after its tip, looked longingly at him. And suddenly he remembered, with a start, that he had really gone out to search for a bride, and that his brothers were bringing their betrothed to their father on the following day.
And just as he wanted to get up and go off somewhere to try his luck,zusht!pops the Tortoise out of the Pool; so he cast a more attentive glance at her, looking straight at her eyes, and he felt an I dont know what just there at his heart, as if he had been shot by an arrow. So he sat himself down again. He would have liked to go away, but it was as if somebody had nailed him to the spot. Again he tried to get away, but in vain, his legs refused to move.
Wondering at this lack of will, he once more looked at the Tortoise, and then he saw her eyes, which seemed to glow with a fire that began to burn in him also. So then, with his heart on his lips, he cried out:
This shall be my bride!
My Dear Love! then said the Tortoise, Thou art my Fate! I will follow thee so long as I have life in me!
The Lad was rather frightened when he heard the Tortoise speak, and for a moment he rather wished to run away; but the charm of her sweet talk took his strength from him, and so it was his Fear alone that fled.
Then, what do you think? The Tortoise tumbled three times head over heels, and there she stood,a Maiden, delicate, graceful, and so very pretty that there was no one like her under the sun. Our Lad wished that he could sip her in a spoonful of water from sheer love. But he stopped himself and did not move, so that he should not disturb or vex the Maiden, for he felt that he could not possibly live without her.
They began to talk, but do you think they knew what they were talking about? Now they began about this, then they began about that, just like that, until they suddenly found that it was evening. As the two other lads were going to bring their betrothed to their father on the following day, Our Lad told the Maiden that he must go home to tell his father that he, too, had found his fate.
So the Maiden went back into the Pool, while the Lad set off for his fathers castle. He walked along, but it seemed to him as if something were drawing him backwards. He kept on looking back, but there was nothing to be seen; yet back and back he still kept looking. Luckily, he soon got home, for had the walk been longer, you wouldnt have been at all surprised had he got a crooked neck from so much looking backwards!
When he got home, and found his father and his brothers, he began to tell them of the queer things that happened to him. When he got to the part of his story where he had said to the Tortoise, Thou shalt be my Bride! up went a great shout of laughter from his brothers, and they began to make fun of him, and to crack many unsalted jokes about him and his Tortoise. The Youngest Lad tried to explain that the Tortoise was a beautiful Maiden, but he couldnt get a word in, they didnt give him time, but talked and talked the silliest nonsense.
