The Story of the Three Dogs - Part Six

Inside the castle the boy found that everyone was grieving and lamenting as had been since the day the three princesses had disappeared. 

But the boy still went up to the hall and asked to be permitted to play music for the king along with his dogs.

When the courtiers heard the boy’s words they thought that this was a good way to dispel the king's sadness and so they allowed the boy to come to the hall and show his tricks.

Then the king came to the hall. 

He felt very happy looking at the dog's dance and listening to the tune that the boy played on his pipe.

This was the first time that the king looked glad for the past seven years since he had lost his daughters.

When the boy had finished playing, the king nodded at the boy. “What reward do you wish for having given me such a treat?”

The boys smiled. “I have no interest in gold but I want permission to go on a quest to find the three princesses who are now in the power of the mountain ogres.”

The king lowered his brow. “I do not know how you think you can save my daughter's. Men who are far better than you have failed in that. But if anyone can save my children I will keep up my end of the bargain once it is done. Because I am not a man who breaks my word.”

The boy then took leave of the king and started his quest to save the three princesses.

Adapted from Swedish Fairy Tales

The Story of the Three Dogs - Part Five

 

In the evening when the boy went back home his mother was very sad because she realised that her son had bartered away all her possessions.  But the son comforted his mother and told her that she would suffer no more.

The next day the boy went to the forest with his dogs and he returned with such a big hunt that since that time the old woman’s house was always full of food.

After making sure that there was sufficient food for his mother the boy decided to leave home to see what fortune had in store for him.

There in the forest the boy saw Old Greybeard again. “Where are you going?”

When the boy told the old man what he was about to do the old man smiled again. “Go straight and you will come to a king's castle and that is where your fortune will mend.”

The boy decided to follow the old man's advice and keep traveling straight.

On the way whenever the boy saw any hut he played his pipe and his dogs danced to the tune. Whenever they did this the boy and his dogs got food and shelter at that hut.

As the boy walked on he came to a large city. There were many people there who were on the way to the king’s castle.

The boy followed the group of people and soon came to know about the three princesses who were kidnapped by the mountain ogres.

The boy realised what old Greybeard had meant and the boy decided to try his luck. He called his dogs and went inside the king's castle.

Adapted from Swedish Fairy Tales

The Story of the Three Dogs - Part Four

When the lads' mother learnt that the lad had exchanged her grey hog for a dog, she became very angry. She gave blows to the boy and she did not stop. At first the boy asked his mother to stop, but the mother did not stop. Then the boy suddenly called his dog. “Hold on!”

The dog came running and caught the old woman and the dog kept its hold on her so firmly that she could not move and neither could the old woman hurt the lad anymore.

The old woman was forced to promise that she would not hurt her son.

The old man who had bartered the gray hog for the dog was called Old Greybeard. 

Old Grey beard came to the forest the next day too when the boy went there and this time, too Old Greybeard had another dog with him.

This time too the old man exchanged the dog for another grey hog. 

The second dog was called ‘Tear’ and according to the old man, the second dog was capable of ripping even the greediest ogre in any mountain.

The boy bartered the second hog for the dog and this time too, his mother was furious with this. However, this time, the mother did not hit the boy because she was afraid of the two big dogs that the boy had. 

However, this happened the next day too when Old Greybeard came with the third dog. 

The third dog's name was ‘List’ and the third dog had such a fine sense of hearing that the dog could know what was happening even a few miles away. So much so that the dog could even hear the sounds that the trees and the grass made when they grew.

Naturally, the boy got the third dog in exchange for his mother's third hog.

Adapted from Swedish Fairy Tales

The Story of the Three Dogs - Part Three

After the King had issued this proclamation, many young knights and champions started to search for the three princesses. In the king's own court, there were two foreign princes who also started to search for the princesses.

Meanwhile, far far away, a widow lived in the deep wild forests. The widow had a son. She also had three hogs. 

The son was strong, well built and he feared nothing. So during the day, the widow's son attended to the three hogs. The son took the hogs to the forest and there, while the hogs roamed all over the forest, the son made himself. a rustic pipe because he was interested in music. The son played beautiful tunes on the pipe all through the day.

One day when the young lad was in the forest, an old man with a big bushy bag beard that reached down to his waist, came towards the young lad. The old man had a great dog with him.

As soon as the young lad saw the dog, the boy wanted the dog for company.

It almost seemed like the old man could read the thoughts of the young boy. The old man nodded at the young man eagerly. “This is the very reason that I have come here. I wanted to exchange this dog for one of your hogs.”

The boy immediately agreed to the bargain.

Then the old man explained about the dog. “The name of this dog is ‘Hold In’. And whenever you ask him to hold on to something, the dog will stick to it, and never let it go, even if it were a huge giant.”

The boy felt that this was an excellent bargain and happily gave one of his hogs to the old man and took the dog back home with him.

Adapted from Swedish Fairy Tales

The Story of the Three Dogs - Part Two

A sudden war broke out and the king had to leave his palace to fight the war.

At this time, the three princesses looked out from the window into the garden, and they admired the flowers and the trees outside.

The three princesses wanted to go and play outside, with the little flowers. However, the guards would not allow them to go outside. The little princess asked the guards to just let them walk outside for a short while.

However, the guards were terrified of the king's temper and they did not consent to this initially.

But the princesses pleaded so much that at last the guards could not stop them and allowed them to have their own way.

The princesses happily ran out into the garden.

However, the enjoyment was short-lived because no sooner had the princesses stepped into open air a cloud came down and lifted all the three princesses and carried them away.

After that, everyone tried to find the princesses, but they could not be found.

The king came back after the war and he was angry and sad at what had happened.

But nothing could be done now. 

Therefore, the king proclaimed in his kingdom that whoever could save his daughters from the mountain ogres could have one of the princesses as his wife and the person could also have half the kingdom as dowry.

Adapted from Swedish Fairy Tales

The Story of the Three Dogs - Part One

 

There was once a king who went to another land and there the king married the queen of that land. They both ruled the kingdom and in due course of time, they had a daughter. 

There was joy all over the kingdom as they celebrated the birth of the princess.

However, at that time, a fortune teller came to the kingdom. The fortune teller looked odd, but no one knew where she had come from.

However the fortune teller had something very dangerous to say. “Until fifteen winters were not over, the royal princess is not to be taken into the open air. If this was not followed, the mountain ogres would take away the princess.”

The king heard the words of the fortune teller and the king immediately felt fearful for his daughter. 

The king immediately appointed a guard to look over his daughter and the guard's work was to make sure that the princess never set foot in open air.

After some time the queen had another daughter.

Though this time too, the entire kingdom rejoiced at the birth of the second princess, the fortune teller came back and the fortune teller predicted the same trouble for the second royal child as well.

The same thing happened when the queen gave birth to the third princess.

On hearing the words of the fortune teller, the king became afraid because he loved his three daughters more than anything else.

The king issued stern orders that the three princesses would always be kept within doors.

The king's orders were followed and a few years had passed in this way. The three princesses grew up to be beautiful maidens but they never ventured out in the open air.

Adapted from Swedish Fairy Tales

The Story of a Man who became a Serpent - Part Two

 

The man looked at himself and he was horror struck because he had turned into a serpent. The man did not realise how he had turned into a serpent. 

Dejected, he crawled back through the cave and lay down at the foot of a huge pine tree.

There, the man fell asleep and he had a dream. 

In his dream a woman appeared and the woman looked kindly at him. “ I am the spirit of the pine tree. You have turned into a serpent because you have eaten the fruit of Fengtu.” 

The man was anguished because Fengtu was Hades.

The woman continued in the man's dream. “However, I shall give you a way out. If you climb to the topmost branches of this pine tree and throw yourself down on earth, you will return to who you originally were.”

The man woke up from his dream and realised that he had to follow the advice of the woman and the hunter was determined to follow the advice because he decided that it was better to be smashed into pieces because of the fall from the pine tree, than remain as a serpent.

The man did as he was told.

Luckily for the man, as soon as he followed the advice, he turned into his own self.

After that the hunter set up an inao which is an offering beneath the pine tree 

Adapted from Japanese Folklore