When they were at the bottom of the draw-well the third princess told her Prince. "I do not think those two princes mean well to you. So if you are left alone I do not want you to go up in the basket getting out of the draw-well all by yourself. Put a huge stone in the basket and see what happens."
The third princess took out the crown that the dwarf had given her and gave it to the third Prince. "I want you to keep my crown in your cloak with you, before I go up."
The third Prince took the Crown and kept it inside his cloak.
The third princess then went inside the basket and she was drawn up.
When the basket came down for the sixth time the third Prince remembering the third princess's words put a huge boulder in the basket.
It so happened that their basket was drawn up and the third Prince was shocked when the basket came crashing down and the big stone in it was broken into little bits.
The third Prince was very sad and he walked back and went back to the castle of Seven Inches.
He was alone and lonely there because Seven Inches was not available.
Besides, the young Prince missed his princess so much that there was nothing that he could do.
The young Prince then took to going and searching the entire castle and there he found a treasure room. He found a snuff box on the table. The prince opened the snuff box and at that time Seven Inches walked inside the room. “You seem to be lonely here my Prince.”
The prince sighed. “If I had my princess then I would never be this sad.”
Seven Inches nodded at the Prince. “Keep the crowns safe with you and if you ever want me, open this snuff box. Now I think you should take a walk down the garden and come back to the castle only when you are tired.”
The Prince decided to follow the advice of Seven Inches and as he walked by the garden. There he saw a smith's house.
The smith's palace house looked exactly like the smith's house that was about a mile away from the palace where the third princess lived with her sisters.
The smith came out of his house at the same time and eyed the Prince who was now wearing ragged clothes.
"Are you any good with hammer and tongs?" The smith asked the Prince. "If you help me," the smith shrugged, " I can give you a few pence for the work that you do."
The Prince happily agreed to help the smith. There the Prince helped the smith in turning on the anvil to make a set of horse shoes.
The tailor of the place came to talk with the smith as the Prince worked there. "Do you know what happened today? The king was supposed to get his two eldest daughters married today. They were all ready with their crowns waiting to get married. The third princess was standing in mourning clothes and she looked very sad. But it so happens that the basket which was carrying her lover out of the draw-well, accidentally broke and there was no sign of her bride groom. So now back to the marriage when two princes were supposed to get married to the eldest two sisters I was shocked when the boards in front of them suddenly opened and the two men fell down in the vaults of the coffin below. The two princes were finally brought out and their fine clothes were covered with cobwebs and mould."
The smith was shocked. "What happened after that?"
“The king made an announcement that whoever brings the third Crown shall marry the youngest princess and if the man who brings the Crown is married, then the princess would be married to someone else and the king would make the fortune of the person who marries the third Princess.” The tailor told the smith in a very serious voice. "I have looked at the crowns and I do not think there is any smith in the world that can imitate those crowns."
The Prince came out of the smith's house. "Get me a quarter of a pound of gold, silver, copper and get me the pattern of the crown and I shall do what you want."
Over the next few hours the Prince sent the Smith and the tailor out of the smith's house and everyone outside could hear a lot of hammering and heavy sounds from inside.
The Prince finally came out and he handed over the Crown that he had received from Seven Inches which he had kept in his cloak and he handed it over to the smith. "Take this and give it to the king."
The smith did as he was asked and the king was shocked on seeing the crown.
The princess saw the crown and she realized that this crown was given by her own Prince.
"Did you make this crown yourself?" She asked the smith immediately.
The smith shook his head. "No, Your Majesty, I did not. A man who came to work for me yesterday made this."
"I want to see him myself." The princess told the smith immediately.
The king sent the eldest Prince to bring the young man who had made the Crown.
The eldest Prince went and saw the dirty looking Smith's apprentice and pointed him inside the carriage. “You can get inside now because the king wants to see you."
The third Prince said nothing but he went inside the carriage.
When the carriage had started the third prince opened his snuff Box.
Seven Inches appeared immediately.
The Prince made a wish from the little magician. The prince wanted such that the carriage be filled with stones and he be transported back to the smith's forge.
Seven Inches with the help of his magic was able to easily do that.
When the king opened the carriage which he thought carried the man who had made the crown he was shocked when stones poured out of it.
The king was very angry with the eldest Prince and sent the second Prince to bring the man from the smith's house.
This time the carriage was filled with mud instead of stones.
The king was very angry and he decided to go himself to see the man who had made the crowns.
This time the third Prince opened the snuff box and wanted to be dressed according to his own rank.
Seven Inches happily obliged with the prince's wish.
After that, the king was very happy to see the handsome young man.
The third princess also realized that this was her Prince and she happily agreed to marry him.
All the three marriages were conducted on the same day with the three princesses wearing the crowns that were given by Seven Inches.
The elder two couples went to their own courts but the youngest stayed with the old king and they lived happily ever after.
Adapted from Irish folk tales
No comments:
Post a Comment