Hungarian Folk Tales: The Fairy from the Oak Tree
Once upon a time, many years ago, there lived the son of the Green King.
Now since he was all alone in the palace, he was bored,
and so he picked up his gun and set off hunting.
When he came into the forest, he spied a little rabbit, took aim and was about to shoot.
Excuse me, young prince, one good deed deserves another. Spare me my life.
And so he spared the rabbit's life and went further into the forest, while the rabbit scampered away.
Then he came upon a fox. And the fox said to him:
Don't shoot young prince, spare me and your good deed will deserve another.
So the prince spared his life too and went further into the forest.
There he found a deer. And the deer also spoke to him:
Spare me my life and good fortune will bless you.
Off you go to the center of the forest. There you will find an oak tree with three branches.
Lop off one of the branches and out will come a fairy.
But take some water with you, for she will probably have need of that.
So off he went and he came upon the oak tree, and he lopped off a branch, and a beautiful fairy appeared.
Water, water, please! I need water!
The young prince dashed to help, but dropped his flask and all the water spilled out.
The poor fairy died there and then.
All he could do was to take her in his arms and carry her home and bury her.
Time passed and the prince set off hunting again.
And he came upon the fox.
Now then, kind young prince, for your good deed I'll tell you something good.
Go into the forest. Cut off another branch of that oak,
but bring water with you because you may have need of it.
The prince had a flask of wine with him and he thought that the wine would do.
He lopped off the branch, out came the beautiful fairy,
he gave her some wine but still she went and died.
So he picked her up and carried her home in great sorrow, and buried her.
After mourning her for a while, he once again set off into the forest to go hunting.
And he came upon the little rabbit.
Now then, kind young prince, for your good deed I'll tell you something good.
But come with me and I'll show you a spring of running water.
Then they came upon the oak.
Now lop off that branch.
And once again a beautiful fairy came out of the branch and cried:
Water, water, I need water!
The little rabbit took the beaker, gave it to the fairy, who drank deep from it and this time did not die.
She then knelt before the young prince and thanked him for freeing her from the oak tree.
They embraced and kissed.
So now all three of them set off home.
On their way to the palace they came to a well and sat down beside it.
There the fairy spoke:
I dare not go into your palace wearing fairy clothes. Please go home and fetch me some new robes.
Now there was a willow there and she climbed up into it.
And a witch arrived to draw water.
She glanced into the well and saw a beautiful fairy.
She gazed and gazed but couldn't see anyone in the water.
Finally she saw the fairy up in the tree.
She called out to her and asked her what she was doing up in the tree.
The fairy explained everything to the witch.
And what did the witch do but seized hold of the fairy and throw her into the well,
and the fairy changed into a beautiful golden fish.
Then the witch set off home and fetched her own daughter to the well,
and made her climb up into the tree.
Soon the prince came back carrying clothes.
He saw the little rabbit and asked him where the girl was.
I went home to have a bite and a sup and when I came back she was up in the tree.
So the prince looked around and, right enough, there was a girl in the tree.
Down you come and put these clothes on!
And when she came down from the tree, he saw her face
and it was ugly now when before he had been so beautiful!
Oh dear prince, I was struck by the rays of the sun and they changed my face.
So the young prince went ahead and gave her the clothes to change into,
because he thought she was the fairy.
And he took her back home to the palace.
One day the witch came to see her daughter and when she was there she said:
I went by the well and there I saw in the water a fine golden fish.
Now what you have to do is pretend to be ill,
and tell the prince that the only thing that will cure you is if you have the golden fish caught.
The prince would do anything for his princess.
So the golden fish was caught and cooked, and she ate some and was cured.
A single scale fell from the fish to the ground, and out of it there grew a beautiful golden apple tree,
which burst into flower every evening and grew apples by noon the next day,
which the fairies came for in the evening.
Once again the witch went to see her daughter.
What's going on here?
You'll have to have that tree cut down or else they'll know that you're not the fairy!
So the young queen said to the king:
We have no use of that apple tree. Cut it down so that we won't ever see it again!
Now nearby lived a poor man. And he was the one who cut the tree down.
And when he was chopping it up into logs,
a small chip flew off and he put it in his pocket and took it home with him.
The following day, the man, his wife and daughter went off to work for the king.
They set off so early that they had no time to sweep the floors or make their beds.
But in the evening, when they got home,
they found that the house had been swept clean and all the beds were made.
And they wondered who could have come to their house.
On the next morning, they set off to work again.
But they left behind their daughter, who hid herself.
What did she see but the fairy pop out of the chip of wood and start sweeping the house.
Then the daughter took tied hold of the chip of wood to stop the fairy returning to it.
So that was how they caught the fairy.
And the two girls went off to work at the king's court.
There they took turns in telling stories.
The king asked:
Now tell us another one, about what you saw and did in your life!
Once upon a time there was a young prince.
And one day he went hunting and he met a little rabbit, a fox and a deer.
For I am the fairy who the young prince set free from the oak tree!
And the prince embraced his fairy tenderly.
He had the witch and her daughter tied to a horse's tail,
and the prince and the fairy from the oak tree lived happily ever after.