The Shepherd and the King's Daughter

A long time ago there lived a poor woman who possessed nothing in the

world except one son and four lambs. The boy took the lambs out to

graze every morning, and brought them home every night. One day it

happened that the lambs were grazing in a field not far from the

summer palace of the king, and the king's daughter came out to the

young shepherd and asked him to give her one of them. The boy refused,

saying, 'I cannot give you one, for my mother will scold me if I do,

as we have nothing in the world except these four lambs.' The

princess, however, had taken so great a fancy for a lamb that she

would not be refused, and at last said, 'Only let me have this one and

I will give you any price you like to ask.'

The boy, seeing that the princess would not go away without a lamb,

considered a little how he could get rid of her, and then he told her

that he would give her one if she would show him one of her shoulders.

To his great surprise the princess, without any hesitation, pushed her

mantle aside and showed him her bare white arm, and he noticed that on

the shoulder there was a mark like a star. He was obliged now to give

her one of his lambs, and when he went home in the evening he told his

mother that he had fallen asleep at noon, and that when he awoke, one

of the lambs had vanished, and he could not find it anywhere.

Then his mother scolded him very much, saying, 'I see you will bring

me to the beggar's staff with your carelessness! To-morrow you must

take these three lambs out to graze very early, and look well about

for the lost one. And if you don't find it you had better never let me

set eyes on you again.'

At dawn the next day the boy took the three lambs to graze in the same

field, and sat down to consider how he could get back the lamb he had

lost. At noon, when no one was about, the king's daughter came out of

the palace and said to him, 'Young shepherd, give me another lamb, and

ask what you please in return.' But the boy answered, 'No! I dare not

give you another; I have suffered enough for the one I gave you

yesterday! So please go and bring me my lamb back.'

This the princess refused to do, and said, 'It is quite useless to

speak of such a thing. But tell me, did you notice anything particular

on my shoulder?'

The youth answered, 'Yes, I saw a star!'

'Ah!' exclaimed the princess; 'for that you can never pay me enough,

and yet you want your lamb back!' So they almost quarrelled, for the

king's daughter persisted in begging him to give her another lamb, and

the young shepherd insisted that she should bring him the first one

back again.

At last, seeing there was no end to her begging, the boy said, 'Well!

I will give you one if you uncover before me your other shoulder.'

This the princess did instantly, and he remarked that she had the mark

of a star on that arm also. In this way he lost a second lamb; and

when the evening came he went home very sadly, feeling sure his mother

would scold him. And so she did, far more than at the first time,

calling him ill names and threatening to beat him. The boy was really

sorry that he had given way to the princess's prayers, but he could

not help it now. Next day, again, the princess came to him and begged

so hard and so long for a third lamb that he became impatient, and,

thinking to shame her, said he would give her one if she showed him

her neck. To his great surprise, however, the king's daughter at once

let her mantle fall, and he saw that she had the mark of a crescent on

her throat. So the poor boy lost a third lamb, and hardly dared go

home to his mother at night with the one lamb left them. Indeed the

poor old woman was so angry at her son's carelessness in losing one

lamb after another whilst he slept--for he did not dare to tell her

the truth about the princess--that she cursed him as 'a

good-for-nothing who would bring her to beggary.'

Notwithstanding all his mother's reproaches and threats the boy could

not refuse the princess the next day when she came out to ask for the

fourth lamb. However, he tried to get her to go away a long time, and

not until quite tired out with her begging, did he exclaim, 'Well, I

will give you the lamb if you will show me your breast!' Then the

princess pushed her robe aside, and the boy noticed that she had the

mark of a sun on her bosom.

In this way the young shepherd lost all the four lambs, and he lived a

long time with his mother in great poverty.

A long, long time afterwards the king sent out a proclamation that he

intended to let his daughter marry, and would give her to that man who

could tell him what particular birth-marks she had about her. The

young shepherd heard this proclamation, and when he went home in the

evening he said to his mother, 'Mother, I intend to go to the king's

palace to-morrow, so get me my best linen ready.'

'And what do _you_ want in the king's palace?' asked the poor old

woman wondering.

'I intend, God helping me, to marry the king's daughter,' replied the

young man boldly.

'Oh! you had better give up that fancy,' cried the mother. 'It will be

better for you to go and work and gain a piaster than to go, like a

fly without a head, dreaming about things that are as high as the sky

above you.'

But the young man would not be persuaded, and went the next day to the

king's palace. Before going out of the hut, however, he said to his

anxious old mother, 'Good-bye, mother.'

He had not walked very far before a gipsy met him, and asked, 'Where

are you going, my young man?'

'I am going to the king's palace,' answered the youth, 'and I mean,

God helping me, to marry the king's daughter.'

'But, my dear comrade,' said the gipsy, keeping near him, 'how can you

really expect that she will marry you, when you are so poor? Only a

shepherd!'

'Eh!' returned the young man; 'but I know what birth-marks she has,

and the king has sent out a proclamation that whoever guesses these

shall have her for his wife.'

'If it is so,' rejoined the cunning gipsy, 'I myself will also go to

the palace with you.'

The young man was glad to have company on the road, and so he and the

gipsy travelled on together until they came to the residence of the

king.

When they came to the palace they found a large number of people who

had come to 'try their luck,' and guess what birth-marks the princess

had. But it was lost time, for every one of them, after going past the

king and guessing 'by good luck' at the marks of the princess, was

obliged to go away, having lost his time and gained nothing. At length

the turn came for the young shepherd to pass before the king, and the

gipsy kept close to him to hear what he would say.

So the youth stepped before the king and said, 'The princess has a

star on each shoulder, and a crescent on the throat----'

At this moment the gipsy shouted loudly, 'Look there! that is just

what I was going to say!'

'Be quiet!' said the young shepherd; 'or, if you really know what

other marks she has, speak out.'

'No, no!' cried the gipsy, 'go on, go on! When _you_ have done, _I_

will speak what I know!'

Then the youth turned again to the king and continued, 'The princess

has the mark of a sun on her bosom----'

'That is exactly what I was going to say!' cried the gipsy, coming up

quickly; 'she has the mark of a sun on her breast.'

Now the king was exceeding surprised, and confessed to his counsellors

that the young shepherd had really guessed the truth. But as neither

the king nor the counsellors at all liked the idea of the princess

marrying a poor shepherd, they consulted how they could get rid of him

without giving the lie to the king's proclamation. At length it was

decided that his Majesty should say, 'As both the shepherd and the

gipsy have guessed the princess's birth-marks, I cannot justly decide

which of them should marry her. But I will give to each of them

seventy piasters, and they must both go and trade with this money for

a year. At the end of the year, that one which brings back the most

money shall have the princess for his wife.'

The young shepherd and the gipsy, having received the money, went off

in opposite directions to seek their fortunes.

After having travelled about some time, like a fly without a head, not

knowing where--the shepherd stopped one night to rest in the hut of an

old woman, who was even poorer than his own mother.

As he sat with the old woman in the hut that evening, the lad thought

he might just as well ask her advice as to the best way to invest his

capital of seventy piasters, so he said: 'I have seventy piasters to

trade with, can you tell me some good way in which I may employ them

profitably?'

The old woman considered the matter for some time before she answered,

and then said, 'To-morrow is market-day in the next city; go there

yourself, and when a man brings a very poor cow for sale, go up and

try to buy it. The cow will be of many different colours, but very

thin and ill fed, but you must buy her at whatever price the man asks

for her. When you have bought her, bring her here at once.'

The young man agreed to follow the old woman's counsel, and so next

day he went to the city and really found there a man who had brought a

poor, but variously coloured, cow to sell. Many people wished to buy

the cow, but the young man outbid them all, and at length offered all

his seventy piasters for her. So he got the cow, and drove it to the

hut where he had passed the night. When the old woman came out to see

who was coming, he called out to her, 'Now, my old mother, I have

bought the cow, and what shall we do with her? She has cost me all my

capital!'

The old woman answered at once, 'Kill the cow, my son, and cut it in

pieces.'

'But how will that bring me back my money with profit?' asked the

young shepherd, hesitating whether he should follow her advice or no.

'Don't be afraid, my son, but do as I say,' returned the old woman.

Accordingly he did as she advised him, killed the cow and cut her into

pieces. This done, he asked again, 'And now, what shall I do?' The old

woman said quietly, 'Well, now we will eat the meat, and the suet we

will melt down and put into a pot to keep for some other occasion.'

The shepherd did not at all like this proposal, for he could not see

what return he could hope to get for such an investment of his

capital. However, he thought within himself, 'Well, since I have been

foolish enough to follow her counsel on the two former occasions, I

may as well follow it also this third time.' So he remained with the

old woman many days, until the last piece of meat had been eaten up.

When, however, he thought over all that had happened, he grew very

sad, and, seeing no sign of anything better, said one morning to the

old woman reproachfully, 'Now you see by following your counsel I have

spent all the king's money, and am now a ruined man!'

'Don't be afraid, my son,' said the old woman; 'you can now take that

pot of suet with you and go to the black world, where all the people

are black as chimney-pots, and there you can sell for a good deal of

money your suet, for it has the power to make the black skin white.'

The poor shepherd was very glad at hearing this, and next morning took

the pot of suet on his shoulder and started on his journey. After he

had travelled many, many days, he came to a strange-looking country,

and, going a little farther, he saw a man who was quite black, just

as the old woman had said--as black as a chimney-pot. He was

immediately going to offer to sell some of his fat to the black man,

when the latter, frightened at the sight of a white man, ran away.

Many other black men who saw him did the same, but after a while, when

they saw that he went on quietly carrying his pot on his shoulder,

they took courage, and came to him one by one, until at last quite a

large crowd had gathered about him. At length, one of them ventured to

say to him, 'You strange-looking man, tell us who you are, and where

you come from, and why did you come here?' The shepherd answered, 'I

am a white man from a white world, and I come to bring you some fat

which will make you also white--that is, of course, if you choose to

buy it from me and pay me for it well.'

Now the black men, though they had been quite shocked at first to see

the white man, began to think they also would like to be white; so

they said they were willing to pay him as much as he liked to ask for

his wonderful fat, because they were very rich.

However, they doubted a little if the fat would really make them white

as he said, and wished to see it tried before they bought it.

Thereupon he set the pot on the ground, and walked round and round it,

saying some queer words as if he were charming it. Then he took out of

the pot a little of the fat, and with it smeared one of the black men.

In a moment the black skin became quite white, and the other blacks,

seeing that he had told them the truth, crowded eagerly round him,

begging that he would make them white also, and outbidding each other

in offers of money, provided only that he made them white in a short

time. The young shepherd worked hard, smearing one black skin after

the other, until he got quite weary and had become very rich, for they

gave him a good deal of money, and there were a great many of them who

wished to be made white.

Just as he had thus whitened the last of the black men about him, one

of them said to him, 'Wonder-working man! We have a king who, being

our chief, is the blackest of us all; therefore, if you think you can

make him white also, we are sure he will be very glad to get rid of

his blackness, and will pay you more money than you ever dreamt of.'

'I will do it very gladly,' answered the shepherd; 'for you must know

I am doing this not so much for the sake of money as for charity;

only, show me at once the way to your king.'

So they all ran off before him to show him the way, and he followed

them carrying his pot on his shoulder.

When they arrived at the door of the king's palace, one of the men

said to him, 'Wait a moment here, whilst I go and tell his Majesty all

about your wonderful fat, and ask him to receive you.' The shepherd

waited quietly, though crowds gathered round him to stare at him and

his great pot, until the man came back and said the king was waiting

impatiently to see him. So he lifted his pot again on his

shoulder--for he had set it down that he might rest the better--and

followed the messenger to the king's presence.

Now the king of the black men was far blacker than anything the

shepherd had ever seen in his life; he had no doubt, however, after

all he had seen, but that his fat would whiten him also. So he said

cheerfully, 'Good morning, your Majesty!' 'Good morning, my dear

fellow,' returned the black king; 'I have heard that you can do

wonders, and I have seen that you have already whitened many of my

subjects, so, for Heaven's sake, deliver me also from this my

blackness, and ask in return whatever you like, even the half of my

kingdom!'

'What your Majesty has heard is quite true,' said the shepherd; 'and I

will very gladly try to make you also white!' and he took a great lump

of fat and rubbed it well all over the king's face and neck. In a

moment the king became as white as snow, to the great rejoicings of

all his people. But no one was so pleased as the king himself, so he

said again, 'Only ask! I will give you whatever you wish, even if it

be my throne!'

'I thank your Majesty very humbly for offering me your throne, but I

don't want it,' replied the shepherd; 'but if you will give me three

ships full of gold and silver, and some good sailors to manage the

ships, and some good soldiers and cannons to defend them against the

pirates, I shall think myself more than repaid, and I will send you

back the ships and cannons when the gold and silver are landed safely

in my country.'

Then the king at once gave the necessary orders, and in a very few

days his servants came to report to him, that the ships were then

filled with gold and silver, and that the cannons were ready loaded

and posted for action, and all the sailors and soldiers prepared to

fight if any sea-robber came in their way.

Then the young shepherd took a courteous leave of the king, and of all

those other people who were so thankful to him for having changed them

from black men into white ones. He now went on board one of the ships,

very glad to go back to his own country, and the two other ships full

of gold and silver followed the first one across the seas.

After having sailed a long time the three ships reached at last the

coast of the kingdom where the king was waiting, daily expecting the

return of the gipsy and shepherd to claim his daughter. The shepherd

let his ships lay quietly in the harbour one day, and then, noticing

much tumult and disturbance in the city, went ashore to see what had

happened. There he found a great crowd, and on asking some of the

people what they were going to do, they told him that they were going

to hang a gipsy who had come to the city with seventy piasters

capital, and who had not only spent all his money in drinking and

revellings, but had even got into debt for seventy other piasters,

which he was quite unable to pay, and that this was the reason they

were about to hang him. In a few moments the hangman appeared, leading

the gipsy, who was no other than the very man who had tried to cheat

the shepherd out of the princess.

The young shepherd recognised his rival at once, and, going near him,

said, 'What is this, my old friend? Have you really come to this?'

The instant the gipsy saw the shepherd he stopped and began to whine

and wail, begging him to save him from the gibbet, and he would be his

faithful servant all his life. 'As for the princess,' he added

cunningly, 'I have given her up a long time ago, and don't care for

anything if only my life is spared.'

Then the young shepherd was sorry for the poor trembling, whining

wretch, and offered to pay the debt for the gipsy if the people would

let him off. So they agreed to this, and the young man not only paid

the seventy piasters the gipsy owed, but bought him besides a suit of

good clothes as well as a carriage and a pair of fine horses. Then he

left him and went back to his ships, and they sailed on slowly along

the coast towards the king's residence.

Now when the gipsy had dressed himself out smartly in his fine new

clothes, he got into his carriage and drove off quickly to the king's

palace. Arrived there, he left his carriage and horses in the

courtyard, and went at once to the presence of the king, whom he

addressed thus: 'Your Majesty knows it is not yet quite a year since

you gave me seventy piasters to trade with, and see! I come back

already handsomely dressed, and have a fine carriage with a pair of

beautiful horses below in the yard. As for the young shepherd, I have

heard that he has not only spent all your Majesty's money in rioting,

but that he had also got in debt, for which he has been hung. So it is

no use waiting for him! Let us keep my wedding at once!'

The king did not fancy the gipsy for his son-in-law, and was thinking

what he could say to put him off a little time, when, looking by

chance through his window, he saw three strange-looking ships sailing

slowly towards the shore. At this he exclaimed, 'I see some foreign

visitors are coming to visit me, and I shall have enough to do to

receive them with due honours, so we must put off the marriage for

some days, at least!'

But the gipsy pressed the king more and more to let him marry the

princess at once; he was even bold enough to tell his Majesty that he

could not wait any longer, and that the wedding would be all over in

an hour. The king, however, refused to hear anything of this; so the

gipsy, seeing that his plan had failed, went out from the presence of

the king in great anger.

A few hours later the three strange-looking ships dropped their

anchors just opposite the palace, and the young shepherd, landing,

came into the presence of the king, who was greatly astonished to see

him alive, and still more astonished to hear that in return for his

seventy piasters he had brought three vessels full of gold and silver.

The king was now very well content to accept him as his son-in-law,

and told him, in the course of conversation, what the gipsy had said

about his having gone in debt and been hung. Then the young shepherd

told his Majesty how he had found the gipsy, and had saved his life by

paying his debt for him. The king was exceedingly angry, and ordered

his servants to go after the gipsy and bring him at once into his

presence.

The servants looked about and around the palace on all sides, but

nowhere could they find any trace of the gipsy. Then the king

commanded that some of them should go in search of him without delay,

and armed men were speedily scattered over the whole country, so that

at last he was caught, and brought before the king, who condemned him

to be hung for having so shamefully tried to injure the man who had

saved his life and treated him so generously, and for having, at the

same time, attempted to cheat the king.

The young shepherd spent a few days in the palace, telling the king

all the things he had seen in the black world, and then, all

preparations having been made, he was married to the princess, with

great pomp and rejoicings.

Then the king with his daughter and son-in-law lived for a great many

years very happily.