There once was a hunter. He set traps for catching the animals. Sometimes he used to spend the whole night setting such traps.
Once he was waiting behind some bushes kverlooking a river and he heard some fluttering noise. He thought they were birds but it turned out to be seven beautiful women all clad in robes made of feathers.
The woman landed near the river and removed their robes of feather and then went into the river where they played and had fun for the entire night.
The hunter came forward and studied all the women and found that the youngest of the maidens was the most beautiful of them. So he picked up the robe of the youngest maiden and hid it.
Finally after having fun when the maidens came out of the river all the others had found their feathery robes.
But the seventh maiden could not find hers.
Her sisters tried to help her in finding the robe but to no avail.
When dawn was about to break, the other sisters with their robes flew away.
When the hunter saw the other maidens fly away he came forward with the feather robe in his hands.
The younger sister begged the hunter to give her robes back.
However the hunter made the maiden promise him that she would marry him because he was sure that if he gave her robe back she would fly away.
The maiden promised to marry him.
After that the hunter took her home and hid her feather robe where she could not find it.
The hunter and the youngest sister married and lived very happily. They had two children - a boy and a girl.
Once when the little girl was playing hide-and-seek with her brother she found the robe made of feathers.
She took it to her mother.
The mother took the robe from her daughter and asked her daughter to tell her father to find her in the land East of the sun and West of the moon.
After those words, the mother flew away from there.
The hunter came back home and heard everything that his daughter had to tell him.
He walked on and finally came up to an old man. “Do you know the land which is east of the sun and west of the moon?”
The old man firmly shook his head. “I do not know but I can ask.”
The old man let out a shrill whistle.
The hunter was shocked because soon the place around the old man was filled with animals from all over the world.
The old man was the king of Beasts. The old man asked the animals whether any of them knew where the land of the East of the sun and West of the moon lay.
However none of the beasts knew the answer.
The old man turned to the hunter. “You should go to my brother. He is the king of Birds. He may know the answer to your question.”
Following the directions of the old man the hunter moved on and found the king of the birds too.
The king of the birds also summoned all the birds and asked them the same question.
However none of the birds knew the answer.
Finally the king of the birds asked the hunter to meet his brother who was the king of fishes.
The hunter followed the direction of the king of the birds and found the king of the fishes.
This time too the king of the fishes summoned all the creatures of the sea.
This time one of the dolphins came forward and nodded. “I have heard that at the top of the Crystal Mountain, there is land which is East of the sun and the west of the moon.” However the dolphin shook its head. “I do not know where it is other than it is near the Wild Forest.
The hunter thanked the king of the fishes and went to the wild forest.
Adapted some European folk tales
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