The Bear, the Eagle and the Fish

In the far away land, there lived a count. The count had three beautiful daughters, each more beautiful than the other.

Unfortunately, the count was a gambler. He had lost all his money, gambling.

The count took up to hunting. During one such hunting trip, the count lost his way in the forests. He was stumbling and getting steadily scared as the skies were darkening and that was when the Count saw a huge bear come towards him.

The Count was terrified and tried to run away from there and that was when the bear spoke.

“You seem to be lost, Count!” The bear said in a growling voice. “I will lead you out of the forest.” The Count was sure that he saw a smirk on the face of the bear as the animal continued. “You do not seem to have any money either. I will show you a cave where there are riches far beyond anything that you have even dreamed of.”

The Count had been staring blankly at the bear. But on hearing the words of the bear, the first hint of greed made way into the Count’s eyes.

Needless to say, the bear was not yet done. “In return of this, you have to let me marry your first daughter.”

The Count stared at the bear; but the greedy man agreed to this.

So, the Count got plenty of riches and when his eldest daughter reached marriageable age, a very handsome man came in a carriage driven by black horses and he took the daughter away.

The Countess wept and tried to stop this. But the Count was rich and he did not mind it because he had become rich. He never even thought about it and continued enjoying his riches.

But the Count was a gambler and he committed the same mistakes. Very soon, he lost the money that he had got from selling his first daughter in marriage to the bear.

The Count took up to hunting again.

This time too he was lost in the forest.

An eagle came and helped the Count. The eagle also agreed to help the Count on the condition that the eagle could marry the Count’s second daughter.

The Count agreed to this too and the second daughter was also married to a strange man who came in a carriage and took the daughter away.

The Count lost this money too and he turned to hunting.

The events repeated and this time, a fish came and helped the count. The Count agreed to marry his third daughter to the fish and he got some riches in return.

The Count and the Countess were soon alone. A boy was born to them much later. The couple loved the boy a lot.

The boy could not help but notice that his mother was sad all the time. Slowly, he got his mother to tell him everything. His mother told him about his three sisters.

After that, the boy was determined to save his sisters and he went to the forests.

He found his eldest sister who was living with the bear. Much to his surprise, the boy found that his sister was very happy with the bear. The sister told her brother her husband’s story – the bear was the brother of the eagle and the fish and they were sons of a great king. An evil sorcerer had been jealous of the three brothers and he had turned them into this form. The evil sorcerer was very powerful and he could change form at will.

The boy saw his other two sisters too.

The boy had great difficulty in finding his third sister, because she lived underwater. The reason, the boy was able to find his third sister was because there was bluish smoke coming from the chimney of the third sister’s house – that was difficult to spot because the house was underwater. The boy had to get inside the third sister’s house through the chimney. But even there he found that his sister was very happy with her husband.

That was when the boy vowed to save his three brothers-in-law.

The husbands of his three sisters each gave him three bear-hairs; eagle wings and fish scales respectively to be used in case of need and told him what to do – the boy was to find a golden egg hidden with the sorcerer and smash it hard on the ground.

The boy went on from there and with great difficulty he found the sorcerer and challenged the sorcerer to a fight.

The sorcerer changed into a bull and charged at the boy. But the boy was unfazed as he rubbed the bear hairs. The first brother-in-law came in the form of a bear and fought the sorcerer.

The sorcerer was all but defeated and he changed into the form of a duck and flew away from there.

Without getting worried, the boy rubbed the eagle’s wings and the second brother-in-law came in the form of an eagle and fought the duck and defeated it.

The egg fell off from the duck. But the egg fell into a river.

The boy rubbed the fish scales and his third brother-in-law came in the form of a fish and found the egg under the water and pushed it to the bank of the river. Before the sorcerer could come there, the boy caught the egg and smashed it hard on the ground.

No sooner had the boy done this, the entire forest and the houses of the sisters with their husbands disappeared. There was a magnificent castle which appeared there and all the brothers-in-law appeared in their normal form and they were all very handsome men.

The first brother-in-law now went to his father’s kingdom and ruled that kingdom. The second brother-in-law went to his father-in-law’s place and there he and his brother-in-law divided the kingdom and ruled their half of the kingdom wisely and well. The last brother-in-law ruled the castle on which the enchantment had been lifted and they all lived happily ever after.

- Czech Folk Stories