Hungarian Folk Tales: The Prince Who Wanted to Live Forever
Once upon a time there was a prince.
He told his father that he did not want to die.
You should know, son, that he who is born will also die.
But the prince insisted that he did not want to die.
I'll go to Foreverland!
There's no such place, my son.
Yes, there is, I've heard of it.
Very well then, go!
The prince prepared himself and wondered for many years.
Until he came to a high mountain.
He regarded the mountain and saw something at its very peak.
It looked as small as a sparrow.
Well, if he had come all this way, he simply had to find out what it was.
It took him years to scale the mighty mountain, there he found a huge giant.
He greeted the giant and the giant returned his greeting.
What are you doing here, prince?
I'm looking for Foreverland. Could you tell me which way to go?
Of course, you've arrived.
Stay here with me because the queen of Foreverland will send you here anyway.
I'd like to talk to the queen myself.
Please tell me which way to go from here?
There's a large forest over there, if you cross it, you will find her.
The prince went off to find the forest.
There he came upon a magnificent palace.
There he found a kindly woman sewing in one of the rooms.
What are you looking for, prince? The queen of course!
Well, don't go any further because she will send you here anyway.
Stay with me and we can talk.
But I wish to talk to the queen herself.
You cannot get in to see her because you have to go through three iron gates
and each is guarded by three wild beasts.
But if you don't want to stay here I'll give you three bread buns.
Should the animals attack you at the gates, give them a bun,
and the iron gates will open.
And so it all happened.
When the third iron gate opened up, the prince saw the queen was standing in the middle of a courtyard.
She asked the prince what had brought him to her palace.
I've come looking for you.
Then stay here with me.
And the prince stayed.
Time went by, and one day the prince said to the queen:
Listen, I'd like to go home!
I left my old parents behind and I'd like to see how they are.
The queen laughed:
Being a prince has not made you any wiser.
How many years do you think you've been here?
Three years?
You've been here for three thousand years.
But I won't keep you from going if you really want to.
I'll give you a pair of shoes, take them with you.
A man will attack you!
Tell him you'll go with him and then put on these shoes.
So the prince set off, and he wondered and wondered until he reached a town.
But the town was no longer the same as it had been.
He asked a few people if they knew the king by such and such a name.
No, nobody knew him.
He asked the oldest looking man who was the oldest man in town.
The man showed him the house where a 300-year-old man lived.
The prince went to see him.
Do you remember my father, old man?
Oh, my son, I've never even heard of him.
As night fell, the prince found himself a room,
made himself a bed out of hay and went to sleep.
In the morning he woke up with a man standing right in front of him.
Hail, prince!
I've been looking for you for three thousand years and now I found you.
Come with me because you ought to have died a long time ago.
Wait a minute, let me put on these shoes.
Let's go out and then I'll go with you.
When the prince put on the shoes, they whizzed him away at once.
Death rushed after him everywhere but failed to catch the prince.
When the prince reached the walls of the queen's palace,
the queen of Foreverland was standing there in the courtyard.
She shouted to death: Don't you touch that man!
I'll go out and take care of him!
I'll throw him up high and if he falls outside the walls, he'll be yours.
But if he falls within the walls he'll be mine.
When the queen threw the prince up high, death danced and clapped
thinking that he was going to fall outside.
But as it happened, he landed within the walls.
The queen then chased death away, telling him never to return to her land again,
otherwise he would surely die himself.
So the prince stayed with the queen and they both lived happily ever after.