 |
|
The Girl who Became a Boy
Once upon a time there was a man who
had three daughters. When the king called up soldiers for the
war, the man had no sons to send. As he sat and pondered what
to do, his eldest daughter approached him and inquired, "What
are you thinking about, father?" He  answered, "Leave me alone, daughter.
The king has called up soldiers to go to war and I have no sons.
I only have you whom I can't send to war." To this she replied,
"Marry me to someone!" Later the second daughter gave
the very same answer. The youngest daughter, however, replied,
"Don't worry, father, I'll go to war. Have a uniform made
for me and cut off my hair so that no one will know that I am
a girl. Then give me your horse and weapons." Her father
did as she had requested and she set off with the other young
men of the village. Everyone who saw the new young man was surprised.
And so they departed.
That day, the king had ordered his own
son to be taken out of the town to be eaten by a Kulshedra. Every
year the Kulshedra would come and devour a number of people.
One day the Kulshedra said, "If you don't want me to come
back ever again, give me the king's son." And so they brought
the king's son to the Kulshedra. When the boy was outside the
town, the townspeople all watched the Kulshedra setting upon
him to devour him and they were all so frightened that no one
even thought of going to his assistance. The disguised girl,
however, drew her sabre, slew the Kulshedra and saved the king's
son. The news that the Kulshedra had been slain spread immediately
to the king who was so overjoyed that he gave orders for a banquet
and a gun salute. When the young man entered the palace with
the king's son, the son whispered, "My father will offer
you a kingdom, but ask only for his horse, because it can think
and talk like we do."
When they got to the king, he asked,
"Which kingdom would you like to have as your reward?"
The young man replied, "My only wish is not to go to war."
"Fine," said the king, "I will gladly free you
from military service, but which kingdom do you want?" "Well,
if you really want to give me something, give me the horse you're
sitting on." The king refused, however, and so the young
man departed. The king's son followed young man and when the
people asked where he was going, he replied, "I am going
away with my new father. He saved my life and now he is like
a father to me. If my real father cares more for his horse than
he does for me, his son, then it is better for me to depart."
When the king heard what his son had
said, he changed his mind. They brought the young man the horse
and placed a golden saddle on it. The young man (we will call
him so though he was actually a girl) mounted the horse and rode
off to another kingdom.
When he arrived, he saw a crowd of people
standing before a moat. The young man's horse saw the crowd in
the distance and asked its master, "My lord, can you see
what they are doing?" "I can see them all right, but
I cannot make out what is going on." "The king had
the moat dug because he wants to marry his daughter to someone,"
replied the horse. "The person who can jump over the moat
with his horse and catch an apple can have the king's daughter
for his wife. It looks, though, as if no one has yet succeeded.
I'll jump over the moat. You just hold on tightly. Don't be afraid,
and keep an eye out for the apple. When I jump, I'll stumble
at the edge of the moat, so grab my mane and hang on." As
they talked, the horse approached. Then it took a run at the
moat and leapt over it. When it reached the other side, it stumbled
on one leg. The young man seized the mane and the horse leapt
into the air again so that the young man was able to catch the
apple.
Everyone was surprised because many people
had tried to jump the moat, but no one had ever succeeded in
catching the apple. The king immediately arranged for the wedding
and gave his daughter away in marriage. When the marriage ceremony
was over, the bride and the groom went to bed, though of course
both of them were girls. The next morning, as is custom, the
wife was asked how she had spent the night. "Nothing happened,"
she replied. The second and third nights were the same. The people
at the court decided that they would have to kill the young man,
but somehow they felt sorry for him. "I know what to do,"
said one courtier, "we'll send him into the forest to take
food to the woodcutters. There is a Kulshedra in the forest who
will come and devour him." The groom, however, was standing
behind the door and overheard everything. He went back to his
horse and sat down despondently. "Why are you so sad?"
asked the horse. "Why shouldn't I be?" he replied,
"The king wants to send me into the forest so that the Kulshedra
will devour me." "Don't be afraid," declared the
horse, "Ask him for a cart to carry the food and for a team
of oxen, and I'll tell you what to do when we get there."
A little later, the father in law summoned the young man and
said to him, "Go into the forest and take the woodcutters
something to eat." "All right," replied the young
man, "but I will need a cart to carry the food." So
they gave him what he needed and he set off.
On their way, the horse explained to
him, "When we get to the middle of the forest, release one
of the oxen and call the woodcutters. The Kulshedra will hear
you and rush forth to devour you. But don't worry! Seize it by
the ear and put it to the yoke." Hardly had the horse finished
explaining when they found themselves in the middle of the forest.
The young man released an ox and called the woodcutters. The
Kulshedra heard him calling and set upon him, but the young man
simply seized it by the ear and put it to the yoke in place of
the ox. Then they returned quickly to the king. When the townspeople
saw the Kulshedra under the yoke, they were horrified and hid
in their houses. The horse then told the young man to release
the Kulshedra, which he did.
The bride and groom slept with one another
again, but the bride admitted that she had spent the night the
same way as she had spent the others. This time the courtiers
said, "We'll send him to water the wild mare who devours
all living creatures. She will devour him too." The young
man overheard everything again and returned despondently to his
horse that asked him why he was so sad. The young man recounted,
"I escaped from the Kulshedra, but now I am supposed to
water a mare which devours all living creatures." "Don't
be afraid," said the horse, "she is my mother. Just
ask the king for two pails of honey." A little later, the
king summoned him and told him to water the mare. The young man
then requested two pails of honey, which he received, and set
off with his horse.
On their way, the horse said to him,
"When we get to the well, draw two pails of water out, pour
the two pails of honey into the well and mix everything well.
Then hang your saddle nearby so that the mare can see it, and
climb up a tall tree. When the mare arrives, she will drink the
water, see the golden saddle and say, 'Such sweet water and such
a golden saddle! I need a human to sit on me and play with me!'
You shout down, 'Here I am, but I'm afraid you will eat me.'
She will say, 'No, I won't', and you reply, 'Swear by the head
of Demirçil the horse.' She will swear by my head and
you can then climb down and mount her."
The young man did as the horse had told
him. The mare arrived, drank some water, looked at the golden
saddle and said, "Such sweet water and such a golden saddle!
I need a human to sit on me and play with me!" The young
man shouted, "Here I am, but I'm afraid you will eat me."
"No, I won't." "Swear by the head of Demirçil
the horse." She swore and he climbed down the tree, mounted
the mare and rode around with her. The mare then said, "I
would be even happier if Demirçil were here." "I
have your son here too," said the young man, called his
horse and they all frolicked together.
After a while, the young man and his
horse returned to the town and the mare accompanied them. When
the townspeople saw the wild mare coming, they scream at it to
frighten it off. But the mare would not leave. Finally her son
begged her to return home and promised her that he would come
to play with her again. And so she departed.
The groom returned to the king and slept
with the bride once more. Again nothing happened. This time the
king resolved to send the young man to a church full of snakes
to collect the taxes which the snakes had not been paying for
years. The young man overheard everything from behind the door
and returned despondently to his horse. The horse asked, "Why
are you so sad, my lord?" "This time I am really going
to die," he replied, "the king is going to send me
to a church full of snakes." "Don't worry," responded
the horse, "ask for a waggon covered with bells and for
some donkeys to transport the money." The young man did
as the horse had said and his father in law told him that he
would have to go to the church. When they left, they took the
wild mare with them, and the horse and mare explained to the
young man what he had to do. "My mother and I," said
the stallion, "will guard the doors and neigh loudly. You
climb in through the window with all the bells and ring them.
The snakes will then cry out and ask whether we are gods come
to torture them. You demand the king's taxes and say that God
will destroy them if they don't pay up."
When they got to the church, they did
everything as planned. The snakes were so frightened by the bells
and the noise the horses were making that they brought out heaps
of money. When the three were on their way home, the snakes slithered
after them and set upon the young man, but were unable to do
him any harm.
Then they cursed him, saying, "If
you who have taken our money away are a boy, may you be transformed
into a girl, and if you are a girl, may you be transformed into
a boy," and the girl suddenly realized that she had been
turned into a boy.
They returned to the king and when the
bride and groom got up the next morning, the young woman, on
being asked how she had spent the night, replied, "You don't
need to ask any more questions. I spent a wonderful night."
The fairy tale is over and wishes you
all the best.
[Source: Manuel de la
langue chkipe ou albanaise par Auguste Dozon, consul de France.
Grammaire, vocabulaire, chrestomathie (Paris: Ernest Leroux,
1879), reprinted in Folklor shqiptar 1, Proza popullore (Tirana
1963). Translated from the Albanian by Robert Elsie.]
|
Albanian Literature in Translation
Oral
Literature | Mündlich überlieferte Literatur |
Littérature orale | Letërsia gojore