Floatling and Grandfather Allknow - Part One

There was once a king who enjoyed hunting wild animals. One day as the king was hunting he rode deep into the forests. There the king lost his way. By this time it was almost evening.

In front of him the king saw a tiny little cottage in the middle of the dense forest. 

The cottage belonged to a charcoal burner. 

The king knocked on the door. "I have lost my way. Can you lead me back to my home outside the forest? I will pay you well for it."

The charcoal burner was a poor man but right now he was worried. He shook his head on hearing the king. "My wife is going to have a child tonight. I need to be with her. Tomorrow morning after my child is born, I will take you outside the forest. Until then please lie down in my home."

The king realized that the charcoal burner would not leave his wife for the night and rested there in the charcoal burner's house.

However the king could not sleep well at night. The hard floor and the general poor conditions around kept the king awake. 

At night the king saw a bright light coming from the inner room of the charcoal burner's house. He peered inside and saw that the charcoal burner and his wife were both fast asleep. There was a little baby who was lying beside the charcoal burner's wife. 

The king had seen the bright light because there were three old women standing beside the little baby. 

The first old woman looked at the baby. “My gift to the boy is that he will face many dangers.” 

The second old woman looked at the child. “My gift to him is that he will overcome all these dangers and live a long life.

The third old woman studied the baby. “And I gave this boy, the baby daughter of the king outside, as his wife.” 

The three old women were the Fates and they had given their gifts to the boy. 

The king overheard all of this and he was stunned. He could not believe that this poor man's son could become his son-in-law. 

In the morning the king went to the charcoal burner. “Give me your baby. I will take care of it and I will give you so much money that you do not have to burn charcoal any more.” 

The charcoal burner was  delighted.

However the king could not carry the baby immediately and he promised to send for it after he had reached his kingdom. 

There in the kingdom the king was thrilled because a baby girl had been born to him the previous night. 

The king realized that things were coming to pass exactly as the three old women had asked and he turned to his servant. “Go to a cottage in the middle of the forest and you will find a charcoal burner. There give him this money and get his child. Take the child and drown it. If you do not drown the child,” the king finished in a thundering voice. “You will be killed!” 

However the servant could not bring himself to do this. 

He paid the money to the charcoal burner and took the baby. 

But he put the baby in a basket and when he came across a bridge in the forest the servant let the basket flow in the waters. 

The servant went back to the king and told the king that the deed had been done. 

The king thought that he had averted the words of the Fates.

The baby floated on the basket and it came down to a fisherman's cottage. 

The fisherman was in the bank of the waters mending his nets. There he saw a floating basket and brought it towards him. 

He found the baby in the basket and carried the baby to his wife. 

They decided to bring up the little baby as their own. 

As the baby was found floating in the river they named the child as “Floatling” or “Plaváczek”.

Time passed on and the young boy grew up as the fisherman's son. He grew up to be a very handsome man. 

It so happened that the same king rode the way onto the fisherman's cottage one day. 

The king went towards the fisherman's cottage and asked for some water.

The fisherman asked his son to bring some water for the king.

The king was stunned to see such a handsome looking boy in a fisherman's cottage. “Is he your son? 

The fisherman ambiguously shook his head. “He is and he isn't. Twenty years ago he floated as a little baby down the river in a basket. Since then we have brought him up.” The king realized at once that he had been fooled and this was the charcoal burner's son.

The king collected himself and looked sharply at the fisherman and his son. “I have to send a message back home but I do not have any messengers with me. Is it possible for your son to take the message for me? 

The fishermen happily agreed. 

The king wrote a letter. “The boy who is bringing this letter is a dangerous enemy. Kill him as soon as he brings the letter to you. Do it before I return.”

The king gave the letter to Floatling and asked Floatling to deliver the letter to his castle.

Adapted from Bohemian folk tales

A handful of grain

Once in the kingdom of Vijayanagar there was a very scholarly woman. She was very well read. She had defeated many men in scholarly debates. 

All this got into the woman's head. She believed that she was far too clever than the others in her kingdom. 

She even announced that she could offer 1000 gold coins to anybody who could outsmart her in wit and wisdom. 

A few days later a man was selling firewood on the streets, just outside the woman’s house. 

The man selling the firewood had a grating voice which irritated the woman. Just to get the man to stop talking aloud, the woman asked the man to sell the firewood to her. 

The man selling the firewood studied her. “What price would you offer for the wood?”

The woman was slightly surprised. “What price do you want?” 

“I want a handful of grain,” the man selling the firewood replied. 

The woman agreed to it and asked the man to keep the firewood inside her home.

“Now give me a handful of grain,” the man selling the firewood told the woman, after he had kept the grain in her house. 

The woman picked up a fistful of rice and handed it over to the man. 

The man shook his head. “This is not what we agreed on. I cannot accept this.”

The woman was surprised and she pulled out a bigger handful. 

However the man was still not satisfied. 

The man finally looked accusingly at her. “You offered a handful of grain for my firewood. Now you have taken my firewood but you have not kept your part of the bargain.” 

The woman was angry too. “You wouldn't accept anything that I'm giving you. And you are blaming me for that?” 

The argument went on and finally they went to court. 

The judge heard the woman and the man. 

The judge finally turned to the man selling the firewood. “If she is willing to offer you grains which fit in her hand why do you not accept it?” 

The man selling the wood shook his head. “That was not our agreed deal. I wanted a handful of grain. That means that I wanted a single grain that would fill the entire hand.” 

The court was silent and the woman was shocked as the man continued. “The woman failed to understand this. She has not given me what I asked for so I cannot accept the payment.” 

Everybody at the court looked at the woman and the man and they all realized that the man had outsmarted the woman. 

A few days later the woman removed the announcement outside her house proclaiming that she would pay anyone a 1000 gold coins if they defeated her. 

Naturally the man selling the firewood was not a seller at all but it was Tenali Raman, a minister of the court of the kingdom of Vijayanagar, who had come in disguise to teach the woman a lesson.

Indian Folk Stories

Dionysus and the Pirates

In Greek mythology Dionysus was the God of wine. 

Dionysus taught his followers the art of tending to grapes and making wine from it. Dionysus was sometimes a bringer of great joy but on the other hand he was also responsible for uncontrolled anger.

It was believed that Dionysus was the son of Zeus and Semele.

Zeus was one of the main Greek God and his wife was Hera. However Zeus had many lovers and Hera was very jealous of this. 

When Hera learnt that Zeus had fallen in love with a mortal called Semele, Hera wanted revenge. 

Hera went to Semele in disguise and convinced Semele to ask her lover to show his true form.

Semele did not know who Hera was or what Hera wanted. So Semele made Zeus promise her to show her, his true form. 

Unfortunately when Zeus showed his true form, Semele was burnt to a crisp. 

Zeus managed to save Dionysus who was in Semele’s womb. 

Because Dionysus was born from Zeus, Dionysus became immortal.

However Hera was still jealous of Dionysus. 

The Titans were the previous Gods before the Greek Gods led by Zeus came to power. 

After Hera realized that Zeus had saved Dionysus, Hera arranged with some of the Titans to kill Dionysus. 

This time Dionysus was saved by Rhea, who was Zeus’s mother. 

After that Dionysus disguised himself as a human and roamed around the Earth. 

Once when Dionysus was going across the Lands of Greece as a human, Dionysus was seen by some Tyrrhenian pirates.

The pirates kidnapped the human and took him to their boat. The pirates wanted to sell the human into slavery. But no matter how much they tried to bind the human, the pirates could not do it. Further the human also did not say anything nor was he worried at his own predicament.

The pirate ship's pilot was Acoetes.

Acoetes instantly felt that there was something wrong with the human whom they had caught. 

Acoetes tried to plead with the other pirates to free the young man whom they had caught. 

It was at this time that Dionysus revealed his true form. 

The entire pirate ship was filled with vines and terrible beasts. 

The pirates saw this and they were terrified and they dived into the sea. It is said that Dionysus converted these pirates (other than Acoetes) into dolphins and that was the origin of the first dolphins.

Adapted from Greek Mythology

The Wise Hare

There once was a little hare whose parents had died a long time ago. 

The little hare was brought up by his grandmother. The grandmother here was very old and couldn't work. So the two hares were very often hungry. 

The little hare roamed around the river near the home where his grandmother lived. Once a wizard came near the river to drink some water from the river. The little hare heard the words of the wizard and memorized it though he did not know what the words did.

Sometime later the hungry little hare decided that he would go to the river to catch some fish for breakfast. 

His grandmother wanted to stop him because she was sure that no hare could catch a fish. But the little hare was adamant so the grandmother let him go. 

Before sending him the grandmother taught the little hare how to set the net in a pond to  catch fish.

The little hare followed the instructions of his grandmother and laid a net near the pond and waited the whole night. He was very excited when the next morning he pulled out the net and saw countless fish stuck in the net. He was very happy when he saw that every inch of the net was filled with fish. Realizing that he could not carry all of them, the little hare threw many of the fish back into the water and carried what he could.

The old hare was shocked to see so many fish. 

The little hare however was not done. “Clean the fish. I will go and get some fire to cook the fish.”

The old hare was now shocked because no one who had gone to get fire from the other end of the forest had ever come back successfully. But the old hare did not say anything because she had not expected the little hare even to get so much fish. 

The little hare went to the river and was wondering how to cross it when he remembered the words of the wizard which he had heard.

The hare muttered the words and he was shocked when he saw that whales popped up in the water and the whales laid themselves as stones to help the little hare cross the water. 

Once the hare reached the other side, the little hare felt that he no longer needed the whales. 

The little hare was shocked when the whales disappeared from there. 

However on reaching the other side the little hare was spotted by some children. The little hair was too busy staring at the whales for him to act properly and he was caught by the children. 

The children caught the little hare and took it to their tent to cook the hare and eat it for a meal. 

The grandfather of the children wanted to kill the hare first. 

At that time the frightened little hare closed his eyes and wished that a fire would fall on the tent when the children had brought him which would help the little hare escape.

A little log fell in the midst of the tent and everyone fell back. 

The sparks from the fire which the children’s grandmother was building fell on a net in the tent. 

The hare ran out of the hole of the tent and carried the net with him. 

This time he reached the river but he did not have time to call the whales because the other humans were following him. 

The little hare wished himself across the river. 

The hare then jumped into the air and he was surprised when he landed safe on the other side of the river. 

The old hare was shocked when she saw the blazing net which the little hare had brought with him to cook the fish. 

“How did you jump across the water?” The grandmother asked the little hare. 

“I jumped.” 

The grandmother realized that the little hair was wiser than her and asked no more questions.

Adapted from Lang's fairy tales

The Two brothers - Qian Li Yan and Shun Feng Er

The Shang dynasty and the Zhou dynasty in China were at war with each other. 

Two brothers joined the army of the Shang at that time. 

The elder brother Qian Li Yan had very sharp eyesight. He could see the movement of the enemy forces from very far away. 

His younger brother Shun Feng Er could hear the enemy's generals giving commands to their troops.

Because of the talents of the two brothers the Shang army always won the war against the Zhou army. 

The Zhou army had lost to the Shang army many times. The soldiers of the Zhou army were very afraid of them. 

At that time one of the generals of the Zhou army thought of an idea to prevent the two brothers from using their talents.

The Zhou army general asked his soldiers to wave their flags, completely covering the army from the eyes of Qian Li Yan. 

When Shun Feng Er tried to hear them, the Zhou army beat their drums loudly drowning any other sounds.

At the end of that war the Shang army was defeated and the two brothers died in the war.

However the spirits of the two brothers could not find any peace. It was tied to the place of battle and the two spirits terrorized all the local people there. 

The local people prayed for someone to come and help them from the two spirits.

At that time Mazu the Sea Goddess used her powers and she was easily able to defeat the two spirits.

Mazu then offered the two spirits a chance to give up their old ways and work for her.

From that day Qian Li Yan became the overseer of the sea. He looked for sailors in need of the Goddess' help. 

Shun Feng Er listened to the sounds of the people crying for help and reported the same to the Goddess.

Adapted from folk stories of China

The Prince and the Ebony Horse - Part Three

The Prince went on the Ebony Horse and he flew to the distant land where he had met his beloved princess. 

After landing his horse far away from the palace the Prince slowly walked towards the king. 

Everyone in the kingdom was wary of the Prince because they realized that the Prince could travel to any place, without any walls barring him. 

However the Prince presented himself before the king and said that he loved the princess and wanted to marry her. 

The king decided to accept the offer of the Prince and the marriage preparations of the prince and the princesses were going on in full swing. Unfortunately for the Prince the third magician who had made the Ebony Horse was in this very kingdom. The magician had come here knowing that the Prince had fallen in love with the princess of this kingdom and that eventually the Prince would come here. 

The third magician waited until everyone was working on the preparations of the marriage and then he found the Ebony Horse from the place where the Prince had hidden it. 

Just before the wedding the third magician abducted the princess and flew away with her in the ebony horse.

The Prince was in despair because his princess had been taken away from him and his Ebony Horse was also gone which had left him stranded in the kingdom and with no means of chasing the princess.

Meanwhile the third magician and the princess arrived at a foreign land. 

The people there are shocked looking at the magician and the princess. 

That was when the princess told the people of the foreign land that she had been kidnapped by the magician. 

The third magician was put in prison and the princess was taken to meet the king of the foreign land. 

The princess fell ill with shock and at the heartbreak of being separated from her lover.

Meanwhile the Prince was searching everywhere trying to find out the whereabouts of the third magician and his lover. That was when he overheard some travelers describing the magician and the princess in a far away land. 

The Prince hastily traveled towards the kingdom. 

He arrived there after some time. 

But there the Prince attracted a lot of undue attention and the guards suspect him and throw him in the dark dungeons. 

It is the same dark dungeons that the third magician was placed in. 

The Prince recognized the third magician but the magician is not able to recognise this was the Prince to whose father the magician had presented the ebony horse. 

In the dungeons, the Prince was able to get the third magician to talk and he soon realized that the princess was terribly ill and the King of the land was willing to offer anything to the person who cured her. 

The Prince then came up with a plan to free the princess and himself. 

From the prison he sent word to the king that he could cure the princess. 

As soon as the Prince is brought before the king and the princess, the Prince pretended to study the princess and whispers in her ear without anyone knowing that he was her prince. 

The princess was thrilled on hearing it and struggled not to show anything on her face. 

The Prince meanwhile looked at the king and asked the king to bring him his ebony horse. 

The Prince told the king that the princess had been affected by the devil and he needed the horse to banish the devil from the princess. 

The king of the far-away land had the ebony horse brought to the room where the princess was kept. 

As soon as this happened the Prince took the princess onto the horse and they flew away leaving the king of the foreign land furious but unable to follow them. 

The Prince and the princess happily arrived at their own kingdom. 

The king destroyed the ebony horse so that no one can ever fly it again. 

The Prince then wrote to the princess’ father about his marriage to the princess. 

The princess’ father sent the princess lots of gifts. 

Eventually the Prince succeeded his father and he and his wife ruled happily ever after.

Adapted from the Arabian Nights

The Prince and the Ebony Horse - Part Two

When the Prince saw the Ebony horse he realized that it is a beautifully made machine. He wanted to look at it more closely and he even wanted to try it out. 

The magician realized the Prince’s desire and he saw this as a chance at having his revenge. The magician convinced the Prince to get on the horse. 

But the magician does not tell the Prince how to get out of the horse. 

Soon the magician starts the horse and the Prince flies away with it.

When the Prince was flying far away in the skies, he realized that he did not know how to get the horse back to the ground.

The Prince’s father, the king, was not too happy that his son had been tricked this way and the king threw the third magician in prison. 

The Prince on the sky finally realized that the magician must have made a way to get the horse back to ground and looked around the Ebony Horse more thoroughly. 

He finds a knob near the forehead of the horse and pressed on it.

That was when the horse landed on the ground in a distant land far away from his own kingdom. 

The Prince had landed on the roof of a Royal palace. There were servants who were fast asleep outside. The Prince went inside the room to find the most beautiful princess lying on the bed in the room. 

The princess looks at the Prince and she is unable to take her eyes off him. 

Slowly the princess tells the Prince her unfortunate story. 

Just like the prince’s third sister this princess had been forced to marry an ugly man whom she did not love. 

However in the palace in the distant lands, the four maids who had been asleep outside the princess’s room suspect that the Prince is a magician or a genie because he had managed to come inside the palace without anyone else knowing about it. 

They immediately informed the king that there was a stranger in the princess quarters. 

The king came to the palace and found the Prince talking with the princess. 

The king then ordered that the Prince had to fight the best man of his kingdom if he were to marry the princess. 

The Prince now actually loved the princess on talking to her and wanted to marry her. He agreed to the fight. 

The next day before the fight was to take place the Prince sent for his Ebony Horse which was placed at the roof of the palace. 

The prince let everyone believe that he would ride the horse and fight the best men of the king.

But once the prince mounted the Ebony Horse, he flew away from the place. 

By now everyone in the distant land believed that the prince was not a human but he was either a magician or a genie. 

Back home the Prince is greeted by his family members with great joy. 

They had all believed that the Prince was lost to them forever and on seeing him back they were very happy. 

The king and his happiness also set the third magician free. 

But the Prince never forgot the beautiful princess in the distant land. 

He decided to go back to get her back to his own kingdom and that was when tragedy befell them.

Adapted from the Arabian Nights