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007 - Bird Girl · Serbian Fairy Tales

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Speaker 1: Section seven of Serbium Fairy Tales. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, pleases at LibriVox dot org. Read
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Speaker 1: by Madorakay Serbium Fairy Tales, translated by Elodium Miyatovic The
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Speaker 1: Bird Girl. Once upon a time lived a king who
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Speaker 1: only had one son, and when this son grew up,
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Speaker 1: his father sent him to travel about the world in
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Speaker 1: order that he might find a maiden who would make
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Speaker 1: him a suitable wife. The king's son started on his
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Speaker 1: journey and traveled through the whole world without finding anywhere
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Speaker 1: a maiden whom he loved well enough to marry. Seeing
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Speaker 1: then that he had taken so much trouble, and had
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Speaker 1: spent so much time and money, and all to no purpose,
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Speaker 1: he resolved to kill himself. With this intention, he climbed
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Speaker 1: to the top of a high mountain that he might
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Speaker 1: throw himself from its summit, for he wished that even
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Speaker 1: his bones might never be found. Having read at the
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Speaker 1: top of the mountain, he saw a sharp rock jutting
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Speaker 1: out from the side of it, and was climbing up
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Speaker 1: to throw himself from it. When he heard a voice
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Speaker 1: behind him calling stop, stop, o man, stop, for the
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Speaker 1: sake of three hundred and sixty five which are in
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Speaker 1: the year. He looked back, and, seeing no one, he asked,
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Speaker 1: who are you they speak to me? Let me see you.
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Speaker 1: When you know how miserable I am, you will not
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Speaker 1: prevent my killing myself. He had scarcely said these words
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Speaker 1: when there appeared to be an old man, his hair
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Speaker 1: as white as woolf, who said, I know all about you.
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Speaker 1: But listen. Do you see that high hill? Yes? I do,
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Speaker 1: said the prince. And do you see the multitude of
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Speaker 1: marble blocks which are on it? Said the old man, Yes,
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Speaker 1: I do, rejoined the prince. Well, then continued the old man.
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Speaker 1: On the summit of that hill, there is an old
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Speaker 1: woman with golden hair, who sits night and day on
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Speaker 1: that very spot, and holds a bird in her bosom.
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Speaker 1: Whoever can't get this bird into his hands will be
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Speaker 1: the happiest man in all the world. But be careful.
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Speaker 1: If you are willing to try to get the bird,
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Speaker 1: you must take the old woman by her hair before
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Speaker 1: she sees you. If she sees you before you catch
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Speaker 1: her by her hair, you will be changed into a
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Speaker 1: stone on the spot. Thus it happened to all those
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Speaker 1: young men you see standing there, as if they were
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Speaker 1: marble blocks. When the King's son heard this, he thought,
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Speaker 1: it is all one to me whether I die here
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Speaker 1: or there. If I succeed, so much the better for me.
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Speaker 1: If I fail, I can but die as I had resolved.
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Speaker 1: So he went up the hill, and when he had
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Speaker 1: arrived near the old woman, he walked very cautiously towards her,
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Speaker 1: hoping to reach her unseen. For luckily, the old woman
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Speaker 1: was lying with her back towards him, sunning herself and
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Speaker 1: playing with the bird. When near enough, he sprang suddenly
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Speaker 1: and caught her by the hair. The old woman cried out,
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Speaker 1: so that the whole hill shook as with a great earthquake.
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Speaker 1: But the King's son held fast by her hair, and
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Speaker 1: when she found that she could not escape, she said,
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Speaker 1: what do you desire of me? He replied that you
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Speaker 1: should give me the bird in your bosom, and that
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Speaker 1: you called back to life these Christian souls. The old
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Speaker 1: woman consented and gave him the bird. Then from her
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Speaker 1: mouth she breathed a blue wind towards the men of stone,
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Speaker 1: and immediately they again became alive. The king's son, having
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Speaker 1: the bird in his hands, was so rejoiced that he
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Speaker 1: began to kiss it, and as he kissed it, the
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Speaker 1: bird was transformed into the most beautiful maiden. This girl,
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Speaker 1: the enchantress, had turned into a bird in order that
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Speaker 1: she might allure the young men to The girl pleased
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Speaker 1: the king's son exceedingly, and he took her with him
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Speaker 1: and prepared to return home. As he was going down
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Speaker 1: the hill, the girl gave him a stick and told
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Speaker 1: him the stick would do everything that he desire of it.
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Speaker 1: So the king's son struck with it once upon the rock,
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Speaker 1: and in a moment there came out a mass of
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Speaker 1: golden coin, of which they took plenty for use on
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Speaker 1: their journey. As they were traveling, they came to a
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Speaker 1: great river and could find no place by which they
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Speaker 1: could pass over. So the king's son touched the surface
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Speaker 1: of the river with his stick, and the water divided
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Speaker 1: so that a dry path lay before them, and they
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Speaker 1: were able to cross over the river dry shod. A
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Speaker 1: little farther they came to a herd of wolves, and
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Speaker 1: the wolves attacked them and seemed about to tear them
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Speaker 1: to pieces, but the prince struck at them with his stick,
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Speaker 1: and one by one the wolves were turned into ants. Thus,
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Speaker 1: at length the king's son reached home safely with his beloved,
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Speaker 1: and they were shortly after married, and lived long and
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Speaker 1: happily together. End of Section seven of Serbian fairy Tales