The Three Men and the Dragon - Part Two

Two of the soldiers were terribly anxious. However, the third was confident that he could find the answer to the riddle of the dragon and escape the fate that awaited them.

The three soldiers went into the very cornfield that started all this and sat down heavily there. 

An old woman passed by and she curiously studied the three men. “Why are you so sad?” 

The first soldier shook his head. “I do not think you will be able to help us.” 

“Who knows? I will know only if you tell me.” 

That was when the three men told the old woman that they had become the servants of the dragon for seven long years. 

The old woman smiled. “You must go to the woods and there you will come upon a tumbled down rock which looks like a little house. Go there and you will find help.” 

Two of the soldiers did not think that this advice would be useful and did not follow it at all. 

However, the third man went into the Woods and he found the rock hut there. 

In the hut was a very old woman. What was shocking was that this old woman was the dragon's grandmother. 

The dragon's grandmother was curious about the third man. The third man politely told the grandmother the reason he was here. 

The old woman was very pleased with the third man and she decided to help him. She lifted a large stone which lay over the cellar and asked the man to hide there. “Hide yourself there and you will be able to hear everything that is spoken between me and my grandson. But do not talk and sit very still. When the dragon comes,” the old woman added. “I will ask him about his riddle."

The third man went and hid in the cellar.

At midnight when the dragon came in, the dragon and the grandmother were pleasantly talking with each other. 

“How was your day today?” The grandmother asked the dragon. 

“I didn't have much luck today. However, I will get three men to work for me in some time.” 

“Three soldiers?” The grandmother remarked. "How is it that these three soldiers cannot escape you?”

The dragon snorted. “I will give them a riddle which they will never be able to guess.” 

The grandmother looked even more curious. “What sort of a riddle is that?” 

The dragon growled. “All you need to know is that in the North sea, there lies a dead sea cat and that shall be their roast meal. The rib of a whale shall be their silver spoon, and the hollow foot of a dead horse shall be their wine glass.” 

After the dragon had gone to bed, the grandmother pulled up the stone and let the man out.  “Have you heard everything?” The grandmother asked the man. 

“Yes, thank you very much.” The man replied and he walked away from there. 

The seventh year was finally over. 

The dragon came before the three men. “Before I take you to the underground with me you will have to answer this riddle.” 

To the first man the dragon asked. “If you tell me what you will get for your roast meat, you shall be free.” 

The first soldier naturally knew the answer to this. 

The dragon was shocked and turned to the second man. “What shall be your spoon?” 

Even the second man was able to answer it. 

The dragon growled. “Do you know what your wine glass shall be?”

After hearing the right answer from the three man the dragon flew away with a loud shriek as he had no power over them. 

The three men took the little whip and whipped as much money as they wanted and left happily for the rest of their lives.

Adapted from Andrew Lang's Fairy Tales

The Three Men and the Dragon - Part One

There once was a king who had many soldiers in his army. However, the king did not pay his soldiers much, and none of them could live on the money that the king gave them. 

Three of the soldiers of the king's army decided to desert the army and run away. 

However all the three of them realized that it was not a prudent suggestion. “If you're caught, we shall be put to death.” The first one said, “then how do we go about it?” 

The second one pointed to a large cornfield nearby. “Do you see that we can hide ourselves there? And no one can find us.” 

The three men agreed on that and they marched into the cornfield and hid there. 

However much to the dismay of the three men the army did not march on, but remained camped close to the cornfield so that they could catch the three deserters when they tried to get out of the cornfield. 

This went on for two days and two nights. 

Finally, the three men were so hungry that they knew that they could not stay inside the cornfield much longer. 

The third one lamented to himself. “What was the use of deserting the army? We are going to perish here in the cornfield anyway.”

Even as the third man was speaking, a huge dragon flew up through the air hovering just about the three men.

The dragon saw the three men and flew towards them. “Why are you hidden here?” 

The first men answered. “We were soldiers who deserted the army because the pay was small. However, it has reached a stage that if we remain here in the cornfield, we should die of hunger and if we move out we shall be put to death by the king.” 

The dragon studied the three soldiers and had a sly look in its eyes. “If you promise to serve me for seven years I will help you. I can take you away from this and make sure that no one will catch you.” 

The three men looked at each other and realized that they did not have any choice other than to accept the offer of the dragon. 

The dragon then seized the three men with its claws and took them through the air over the army and settled them in a far away region. 

The dragon gave the three men a whip. “Every time you whip air, money will throw up. So you can live great, rich, luxurious lives for seven years, but after that you are mine.” The dragon then made a contract and had the three men and made them sign it. One of the extra conditions in the contract was that the dragon would offer a riddle to the men at the end of seven years. If the men are able to answer the riddle, then the soldiers would not be bound to the dragon anymore.

After that the dragon flew away from there and the three men moved on with their whip.

For six years, the men lived a very happy and rich life. 

However, time passed quickly and the seventh year was almost about to end when the three men became anxious and frightened that the dragon would come to claim what belonged to it.

Adapted from Fairy book of Andrew Lang

Tenali Raman and the Wrestler

King Krishnadevaraya, the king of Vijayanagar was very angry with his court jester Tenali Raman. So the king had ordered Tenali Raman not to show his face to him ever. 

Tenali Raman was patiently waiting for an opportunity for the king's anger to abate.

It was at this time that a huge procession came into the kingdom. 

The procession had a very strong and powerful men. They were all wrestlers from the nearby kingdom. 

The chief wrestler went straight to the king and he announced his challenge. “I am going around all the kingdoms to see if anyone is stronger than me. Now that I have reached here, I am challenging all the wrestlers of your kingdom to a fight with me.”

The wrestlers in King Krishnadevaraya’s kingdom looked at the powerful wrestler from the neighbouring kingdom, and they were all disheartened. They were sure that they could not fight and win against such a powerful looking man. 

The king was very sad because he realized that he had no one who could fight for the honour of his kingdom. 

Raman, however, had the answer to this question and told his wife about it too.

But his wife was anxious. “How can you help the king if you cannot show your face to the king?” 

Raman as usual had a plan the next day. 

King Krishnadevaraya was surprised to see a visitor whose face was covered with a pot.  

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” The king was very angry.

“My Lord, it is me, Raman.”

“Have I not told you not to show your face to me?” The king thundered angrily. 

“I have covered my face, your majesty,” Raman replied cheekily.

The king could not help himself as he burst out laughing. 

“Your majesty. I came here because I am confident that I can defeat the wrestler who has come from the neighbouring kingdom.” Tenali Raman told the king.

Immediately the wrestler was called to the court. The wrestler was first shocked to see a man with a pot on his head and then resisted the urge to burst out laughing.

Tenali Raman turned to the wrestler. “I challenge that my opponent cannot do with his eyes open the things that I can do with my eyes closed.” 

The wrestler thought that it was very easy to do anything that a silly, puny man with a pot covering his head could do and he accepted the challenge.

Then Tenali Raman sat on a chair and he signaled his assistant to bring a bucket full of sand and splash it on Raman's face. 

After that was done, Raman removed the pot and opened his eyes.

Then nodded at the wrestler. “It is your turn.” 

The wrestler realized that he could not do this challenge with his eyes open and he conceded defeat.

Adapted from folk stories of Bharat

The Siblings and the White Parrot - Part Five

Mariquita anxiously awaited her brother's return.

As the days passed into weeks and her brother was still not back, she became very gloomy. 

She was sure that something bad had happened to her brother, and she realized that it was her fault because of which something had happened to him. 

At last Mariquita could bear her anxiety no more and she decided to go in search of her brother. 

Just like her older brother she also encountered the old man on the path. “Have you seen a boy? He must have come here a few weeks back. He is a very handsome man. He had dark eyes and he has dark hair on his brow.”

The old man eagerly nodded and he even told her on the quest that he had sent the brother on. 

That was when Mariquita was beyond grief because she was sure that her brother had been turned into Stone. 

The old man, however, nodded impatiently at her. “I think all this can be reversed if you find the white parrot and seize it. If that happens the curse on your brother and the others like him shall be gone.” The old man nodded worriedly at the young girl. “However, be careful because if you do not follow my instructions correctly, you also will be turned into Stone.” 

Mariquita journeyed on and she came to the beautiful garden. 

However, she patiently waited for the white parrot to sit on the stone and fall asleep. 

Then Mariquita seized the sleeping white parrot. 

The minute Mariquita did that, all the stones in the garden came into life. 

Her brother was also standing close to her. 

Mariquita’s joy was unspeakable.

Mariquita and her brother invited all the humans who had been stone to come to her home and celebrate the events there. 

There was a great feast which lasted for three days. 

Mariquita finally decided that she was the happiest girl in the whole world and she would have nothing more to wish for.

Adapted from Spanish Folk Tales

The Siblings and the White Parrot- Part Four

After a few days, the old woman came and knocked on Mariquita's door. 

Mariquita happily showed the old woman the things that her brother had got.

She said finally, “All you are lacking now is the white parrot.” 

Mariquita's father and brother came home that night. Naturally, Mariquita looked very glum this time too. 

The brother finally promised to get her the white parrot. 

As the boy had gone some distance, he met the old man again and told him of his quest to get the white parrot.  

This time the old man was even more worried. “This is a very dangerous quest. You will have to go on and on until you come to a lovely garden. It will be the most beautiful garden that you have ever seen. You will see many wonderful birds flying about among the trees in the garden. Do not pay any attention to them. You will see a white parrot, an exceedingly beautiful white parrot, and it will come and sit on the round stone in the middle of the garden. The parrot will turn slowly around and after a while it will put its head under its wing and go to sleep. You will have to wait patiently for the white parrot to do that because only if the parrot does that it means that the bird is sound asleep. Only after the bird is sound asleep will you be able to seize it.” The old man looked worriedly at the young boy. “If you do not follow these instructions, you will be turned into stone.”

The boy followed the old man's directions and came to the beautiful garden. He saw the most beautiful white parrot and even saw it land on the stone. 

However, in his eagerness to obtain the beautiful bird, the boy forgot to be cautious. He seized the bird as soon as it landed on the stone. 

It was because of this that Mariquita's brother was turned into Stone.

Adapted from Spanish Folk Tales

The Siblings and the White Parrot - Part Three

This time too, as the brother had walked some distance and he saw the same old man in the middle of the road. This time the brother told the old man about his new quest.

The old man frowned for a few seconds. “Take a horse and follow the narrow path which leads up the mountain and then goes into the forest. If you walk some distance into the forest, you will see the tree that you want."

However, this time too there was a caveat, and the old man told the brother about the dangers of finding and bringing the tree back home.

The brother mounted a horse and followed the directions of the old man and reached the forest and soon found the tree.

However, there was a huge serpent.

The serpent was guarding the tree. 

The boy waited patiently just as the old man had advised him.

Only when he saw that the serpent's head was hidden did the boy slowly venture towards the tree.

The old man had told the boy that when the serpent’s head was hidden, that meant that the serpent was asleep.

So, after completely being satisfied that the serpent was asleep, the boy broke the branch of the tree and took it home. 

The boy was able to get what he wanted because he followed the instructions of the old man perfectly.

As soon as the branch was planted in the courtyard, it grew into a lovely tree with leaves of silver and nuts of gold. 

Mariquita was very happy as she found the tree beside the fountain of silver water. 

After this things were well for many days.

Adapted from Spanish folk tales

The Siblings and the White Parrot - Part Two

The brother had walked a little distance when he saw an old man standing in the middle of the road. 

“Where are you going?” The old man studied the boy. 

“I am in search of the fountain of Silver Water. My sister wants it and bringing it home will make her very happy.” 

The old man suddenly frowned. “There is great danger in getting this water. However, I can guide you and if you follow the instructions you will be able to be successful.”

The brother was very happy and nodded eagerly at the old man.

“The fountain that you are searching for will be guarded by a lion. However, if the lion's eyes are closed, he can see you. But if the lion's eyes are wide open, that means the lion is fast asleep.” The old man warned the boy. “Wait until you are sure that the lion's eyes are open and then fill your jar with water. And after that, run away from there as fast as you can.” 

The boy went in the direction that the old man had pointed and he found a huge lion near the fountain. 

However, the lion's eyes were closed. 

The boy however, remembered the old man's words and waited. 

Finally, the lion's eyes were wide open and the boy then went to the fountain, which was behind the lion and he filled his water jar. 

After that, he ran as fast as he could towards his home.

He came back and Mariquita, and the father both rejoiced, when the boy emptied the jar of water in their courtyard.

At once, it changed into a lovely little fountain of silver water. 

Mariquita clapped her hands with great joy and she was very happy again.

The next day, the brother and the father were out of the house and the old woman came again.

This time, Mariquita happily showed the fountain to the old woman. 

The old woman nodded approvingly. “This is a great improvement to your courtyard. However, now you should have a little tree with leaves of silver and nuts of gold near the fountain.” 

“Where can I get one?” Mariquita asked eagerly. “I have never even heard of a tree which has silver leaves and nuts of gold. 

The old woman told Mariquita nothing more. 

However, when the father and brother came back at night, Mariquita was unhappy again and she told them of the Visit of the woman.

This time too the brother decided to oblige Mariquita, and he decided to start his journey to find the tree with leaves of silver and nuts of gold.

Adapted from Spanish folk tales