Beyond many mountains, beyond many rivers, in the vast and beautiful Land of Dreams and Fairy Tales, there was a kingdom. The ruler of this kingdom had a son. The young prince was very good and noble, respecting all people, allowing no living creature to be harmed, and loving the entire world. He was, of course, very handsome and kind, like all princes in the Land of Dreams and Fairy Tales.
In a neighboring kingdom, there lived a king who announced a Great Knight's Tournament. Knights and princes from all over the Land of Dreams and Fairy Tales came to the tournament. As in every Land of Dreams and Fairy Tales, ours also had an evil, cunning, and cruel Sorcerer.
Our Prince was an obedient and diligent student, so he mastered the art of knighthood. He, too, went to the tournament.
The king ordered a great tribune built, where he sat with the Queen, his beautiful daughter, the Princess, and his entire court.
From early morning, demonstrations of knightly art were held, and the King fairly assessed the knights' prowess and named the winners. The knights had to demonstrate their horsemanship, archery, and spear-throwing skills. They fought with sabers, swords, and axes.
From the first moment, our Prince noticed the beautiful Princess sitting on the stand next to her father. He was very taken with her, and for her sake, he decided to win the Grand Tournament. The Princess also noticed the handsome Prince, and he, too, fell in love with him.
The Prince was a brilliant knight, so he won the tournament easily.
But this fairy tale wouldn't be a fairy tale if an evil sorcerer hadn't noticed the budding love. As I've already said, the sorcerer was evil, cruel, and malicious. As soon as he noticed that the Princess and Prince were looking at each other with obvious affection, he decided to disrupt their happiness.
At the end of the tournament, the King threw a grand banquet for all the knights and subjects, and invited the Prince, as the victor, to his table. The Prince and Princess danced the night away and were very happy, which only further infuriated the evil sorcerer.
Our Prince had to return to his kingdom in the morning, but he promised the Princess that as soon as he had taken care of all the matters awaiting him, he would return for her and take her to his kingdom.
While the enamored Prince was returning home, the evil sorcerer kidnapped the Princess and took her to his castle in the dreadful Black Mountains. He took her royal robes, gave her an old, dirty, and torn dress, and forced her to perform the most dreadful chores. She was forced to clean his sorcerer's chambers and cook his disgusting sorcerer's food. The poor Princess cried, but she had to do as she was told.
News of the Princess's kidnapping spread quickly throughout Fairy Tale Land, and when the Prince arrived home, he learned of the Princess's misfortune. He went to his father and told him that he loved the Princess very much and set out to rescue her from the sorcerer's clutches.
The King's father was deeply worried, for he knew how dangerous the evil sorcerer was, but he also knew that only a righteous man with a pure heart could defeat him, and that was our Prince. He allowed him to embark on this quest also because he realized that no prohibition could stop the Prince in love. Wanting to aid the Prince in this endeavor, he gave him the best horse from his stable and five of his best knights as his retinue and escort.
He told him that nearby, in Spring Valley, lived the Good Fairy, an old friend of his, who would surely be happy to help the Prince.
The journey to Spring Valley was easy and pleasant. Spring Valley was all green, filled with beautiful flowers, and above them, among the spreading trees, flocks of colorful butterflies and birds flew.
When the Prince stood before the Good Fairy, he greeted her beautifully on his own behalf and on his father's behalf. The Good Fairy was deeply concerned when she heard what had happened to the Princess and what the Prince intended to do.
"My Prince, you have embarked on a very difficult and dangerous journey. Beyond this valley begins the perilous Gray World. There you will meet good and bad people. The strangest adventures await you, often unpleasant ones. You must be very cautious and noble, yet also brave and convinced of the righteousness of your purpose. Despite all adversity, you must maintain a pure heart, for only this will allow you to defeat the Evil Sorcerer. The slightest flaw in your heart will give the sorcerer the power to defeat you. Remember this. The worst thing, however, is that to traverse the Gray World, you must enter it not as a Prince with a retinue of knights and on horseback, but as an ordinary traveler without a horse or weapon. The path through the Gray World is long and difficult, and only you will be able to overcome it and return happy to the Land of Dreams and Fairy Tales.
I can help you with advice." Don't tell anyone where or why you're going. Let fate guide you, but always believe in what you're striving for and be convinced that you'll achieve your goal, even if it seems unattainable. Never give in to doubt. I'll give you three green stones of hope for your journey, each of which you can use only once. If you throw the stone to the ground and think of something, your wish will come true. But remember not to throw them away too soon.''
The prince unbuckled his sword, strapped it to the saddle of his horse, and handed its reins to the nearest knight. He said goodbye to his entourage.
"Tell my father that I've set out for the Gray World, for this is the only way to the Black Terrible Mountains, and there lies hidden my happiness, which I must regain. As soon as I free the Princess, I'll return!"
The Good Fairy transformed his princely attire into the robes of a traveler and showed him the way to the Gray World. The priest climbed the nearest hill and saw before him a gray, foggy, unpleasant plain.
***
He had been walking for almost a day and hadn't met anyone. He was starting to feel hungry and tired. He thought he should look for food and sleep, but he couldn't see any houses; the surrounding fields were empty and uncultivated. Far away on the horizon loomed a dark strip of forest. "I'll build a shelter in the forest and maybe I'll find some berries," he thought, and headed in its direction.
At the edge of the forest, he spotted a bird struggling in a snare. It was a magnificent eagle, but so tired from trying to free itself that it was practically easy prey. The priest looked at the eagle and felt sorry for it.
"I can't kill this magnificent bird," he thought. "I'll surely find some berries or mushrooms, and I'll free the eagle. Let it fly—its life is more important than my hunger."
He cut through the snare that held the bird captive, stroked its ruffled feathers, and gently tossed it into the air. The bird, surprised by its unexpected freedom, first soared heavily upward, then circled overhead twice, squawked joyfully, and flew away into the gray evening sky.
The Prince looked around and, behind a beautiful, spreading hawthorn bush, spotted several plump saffron milk caps. He roasted some mushrooms on a small fire he had built in a field near the forest, ate them, and went to bed.
A hard kick from a hard boot woke him.
"Hey, it must be you, you tramp, who cut our traps and freed the bird, where we'll now get feathers for our hats."
He looked up; two bearded men were standing over him.
"It's a shame for the bird to have feathers for our hats," the Prince said.
"Well, if you felt sorry for the bird, now you have to work for our feathers." They both laughed. "See that cart full of wood? We were supposed to haul it to the village, but now you'll do it for us." Get to work, tramp!
He preferred not to start a fight; he was alone, and although strong and exceptionally agile, he wasn't sure he could handle them, and besides, he'd never been one for solving problems by force. Of course, he also had to think about what was most important to him, the purpose of his journey and the conditions he would have to meet to achieve it. He had to reach the Black Terrible Mountains.
The cart was heavy, loaded with wet wood, and the path he pulled it along was narrow and bumpy. The work was hard, and his two pursuers mocked his shabby traveling clothes the entire way. After a few hours, they reached a small forest village.
"Hey, tramp, you can leave the cart at that farmstead; I must admit you've worked hard. Here's a piece of bread, because you're certainly hungry, and don't think we're completely heartless." One of them tossed him half a dry black loaf.
"Thank you," said the Prince, and without the cart, he continued on his way. The path grew wider and wider, until it turned out he was walking along a fairly decent forest road. This led him to a small town.
There were quite a few people in the market square.
"What kind of gathering is this?" he asked one of them.
"They're recruiting people for the Guard, but you have to have your own sword or pay for the one they give you. You can also buy a sword around the corner, but either way, you need money."
The Prince was well-versed in knightly arts, and he also had stones from the Good Fairy. Just throw them and you'll get money or a sword. With the Guard, he'll get through the Gray World faster. He was about to throw the stone when a thought flashed through his mind: "Will I really be able to maintain my purity of heart in the guard, and is the army really a good way to earn a living? They're definitely getting ready for some battle, and I'll have to kill, and that certainly won't allow me to reach the Black Terrible Mountains with a pure heart. I'll find another occupation."
"Lord, give me something to eat." A poor, ragged little boy tugged at his trouser leg.
"I haven't eaten for three days. Lord, give me something to eat." He made the decision almost immediately. The stone that a moment ago was supposed to give him a sword landed in the dust of the street. "I want a loaf of bread," he thought, and felt his travel bag grow heavier.
"Here, boy." He handed the loaf to the child, not tearing off a piece for himself.
The day passed, and he found no work, no shelter. Towards evening, he learned that a blacksmith in a neighboring village was looking for an assistant, so he went there to ask for a position.
"The work is hard for me, and the pay is small, because the area is poor and the people pay me, and not always. There are few merchants or travelers who would pay in money, but you will receive food and shelter as payment for your work, and in time, you may even collect a penny if you are strong and persistent."
And so he became a blacksmith's assistant and learned a new, difficult trade. Time passed, and he got no closer to his goal, and although he did useful things, he remained in the same place in the Gray World. He did not move forward. His goal was just as distant. as at the beginning of the journey.
While the Prince worked at the blacksmith's, the Princess also learned hard work in the Wizard's castle.
As you know, she was very kind; she always managed to find crumbs for the birds that sometimes strayed into the Black Terrible Mountains. She let them rest in her tiny chamber when the sorcerer's servants chased them away from everywhere. Since she was lonely in this hostile world, she sought friends among these rare visitors. She listened to their chirping, talked to them, and tried to understand their speech. Their presence reminded her of her time at her father's manor. After a while, she learned to understand what they said to her and what they told her, and they spoke of another, better world, where the sun shone joyfully, beautiful flowers bloomed, and people were kind and good. It was the birds that brought her the joyful news that the Prince had set out to free her, but the birds also brought the sad news that since the Prince entered the Gray World, he had disappeared, and no one knew if the Prince was still alive or what he was doing, because many people who entered the Gray World from the Fairy Tale World never returned.
The sorcerer also learned of the Prince's quest, but he knew that one could pass through the Gray World if one truly desired it, that even the Terrible Black Mountains would allow a righteous person to return to the World of Dreams and Fairy Tales if they truly desired it. The sorcerer feared the Prince, or rather, his nobility. He decided to release one of his servants, Rumor, into the Gray World to spread the news that the princess had escaped the castle, but was too weak to cross the Terrible Black Mountains and had perished somewhere within.
When this news reached the Prince, he felt doubt and sadness that he wouldn't achieve his goal, that he was working unnecessarily hard, because the goal of his dreams no longer existed. However, he quickly recalled the words of the Good Fairy that he must never despair of his goal if he truly wanted to achieve it.
He thanked the blacksmith profusely for his education, work, and shelter, and received steel-shod boots as payment. As the blacksmith said, "I have a feeling the road ahead of you is long and difficult, and the important thing is to keep your feet firmly and firmly on the ground and not slip on any obstacle." So the Prince continued on his journey, enriched with new knowledge and in new, comfortable boots that, despite all the walking and descending, didn't wear out and were as good as new. He was just reaching another village when he noticed a gathering in a clearing. A group of youngsters were chasing some strange animal in a corral, throwing stones and sticks at it.
"Why are you torturing this animal?" he asked.
"Look at this strange little horse. It was supposed to be a horse, but it has so much skin on its sides that it resembles a dragon rather than a horse. It's of no use, it won't pull a cart, it's too skinny to eat, and it only needs feeding. So we thought we'd kill it, even if it would be fun."
"Every creature must be respected. It probably has its own purpose in this world, since nature created it this way, it looks like one." The Prince said, and despite the protests and menacing glances of the amused youths, he smashed the fence and released it like a horse into the open, which galloped away, neighing joyfully in farewell.
Ragged and hungry, but happy to have helped the poor animal, he continued on his way.
Behind the next hill, he saw a town shimmering with colorful lights in the gathering dusk. He headed in that direction. At the town's outskirts, he was stopped by a city guard.
"Traveller, if you want to enjoy entertainment and frivolity, head for our town. Here, you don't need money; you only pay for everything with a moment of forgetfulness. As long as you have something to forget, you can enjoy the pleasures of our town. Some people stay here their entire lives, forgetting about their loved ones, their families, their responsibilities, where they came from and where they were going." We offer you all kinds of entertainment, including games and fun, drinking to your heart's content, various madnesses, and every pleasure you can dream of. However, if you have nothing to forget, or don't want to pay with this coin, avoid our city, for there's nothing for you here.
"I mustn't forget for a moment where they came from, where they're going, or why," the Prince thought. "
Thank you, good man, but my journey bypasses your city of pleasures and oblivion.
" "Go on, then, gray wanderer, if you don't want to take advantage of the colorful pleasures of this city, and don't look back, for you might change your mind."
So the Prince walked along the roads and wilderness of the Gray World, sometimes hungry and tired, sometimes doubting that the Gray World had an end anywhere.
One day, on a forest path, he met an old man carrying a huge sack of flour. But, being old and weak, he stopped every now and then to rest, setting the sack on the ground. He lifted it back up with difficulty.
"Hey, traveler, help me carry my sack. I'm a baker in a forest settlement. I've been walking for a long time with this burden and I have no strength, and people are waiting for bread."
The prince lifted the heavy sack from the ground and followed the baker. When they reached the settlement, the baker began kneading bread dough, and the prince offered that if someone would show him the way to the mill, he would bring even more flour, so that the baker would have enough for a long time. All day long, the prince carried flour for the baker until the warehouse was filled to the ceiling. In the evening, the baker showed him a place to sleep, and in the morning, before continuing his journey, he presented him with a beautiful, golden-brown, fragrant loaf of bread. "
Take this bread as payment for your work; the inhabitants of this settlement give it to you with gratitude and the hope that you will never go hungry."
Satisfied, he tucked the bread into his travel bag and continued his journey. Before dusk, he reached a settlement where people wandered the streets, oblivious to one another, as if asleep. A drowsy grayness reigned everywhere, and the few awake ones looked weary and lost in hopeless contemplation.
"I haven't eaten real bread in a long time, man. Do you have a piece?" a half-asleep passerby asked him. The Prince offered him a piece of bread from the forest baker and was surprised to see that the piece he had broken off was whole again.
"Good man, tell me why everyone here seems asleep? What kind of land is this?" the Prince asked.
"Oh, it's simple, this is a city of sleep and hopelessness. Everyone you see here overslept when it was time to wake up, get up, and move on." Everyone who enters this city must fall asleep, and only a few manage to wake up in time for the Rooster of Time, and it crows only once in the morning. Anyone who doesn't wake from their slumber at the first crow finds it increasingly difficult to wake up each day. There are those here who have slept through their entire lives, those who have missed their chance and plunged into gray hopelessness, and those, like me, who did wake up, but so late that there was no point in continuing on their path to their goal and have now remained in this hopeless, sad land of grayness. So, if you have a meaningful purpose in life, remember that the Rooster of Time crows only once, and even if you had the most beautiful dream, you must wake up, or reality will slip away from you forever.
The prince listened to the man who woke up too late, but his eyes were glued shut after a tiring day and he didn't notice when he fell asleep. The dream was beautiful and colorful. He was with the princess in his palace, the wonderfully colorful world smiling down on them from all sides, and the nearing completion of their wedding preparations filled everyone with joyful excitement. The wedding was just about to take place, the beautifully dressed Prince approaching the Princess when, somewhere far, far away, a rooster crowed. The Prince couldn't believe it was just a dream, but he realized that he hadn't yet achieved his goal, so this situation couldn't be real either. He remembered the warning that the Rooster of Time crows only once. He woke up.
The news that the Prince had traveled this far through the Gray World and not succumbed to its temptations or been overcome by its difficulties cruelly angered the Warlock. "Your Prince is tough and fierce," he thought, "but I will defeat him anyway; let us test whether he has not forgotten the art of combat in his nobility." So the Warlock assumed the form of a Knight-Wanderer and set out to meet the Prince, leaving the care of his castle and the Princess to his old friend, the Ugly Witch. The Warlock-Wanderer encountered the Prince on a forest path, and although he yielded his way, he challenged him to a duel under the pretext of insulting him and hindering his journey. The Prince, surprised by these accusations and utterly defenseless, nearly lost his life. He remembered the Fairy Godmother's stone just in time. The second stone gave him armor and weapons, so he was able to engage in a duel. Despite using various tricks, the Wizard was unable to defeat the Prince, who was truly a great knight and a noble man. The Wizard fled, and the Prince did not pursue him, believing that the mere fact that the Wandering Knight had been defeated by some nameless wanderer was punishment enough for his hubris. He also had no idea who he was really dealing with.
While the Wizard was fighting the Prince, the Ugly Witch decided to seize the opportunity. She informed the Princess that she had just received word that the Wizard had killed the Prince, and that the Beautiful Princess could not count on help, and that true misfortune awaited her when the Wizard returned. So, in her kindness, she offered the Princess an exceptionally good deal. She would enable her to escape the Wizard's castle, and in payment for such a noble deed, she would accept only the Princess's beauty. The poor Princess, seeing her hopeless situation and fearing lifelong service to the Wizard, agreed to the deal. While she would lose her beauty, she wouldn't have to serve the hated Wizard for the rest of her life. Perhaps if she managed to escape the castle, she would meet good people somewhere who would help her, even if she were no longer beautiful. It was a chance, after all. The Ugly Witch led the no-longer-beautiful Princess through the dungeons of the castle and into the Terrible Black Mountains. She laughed.
"Well, our deal is done, you're free," she said.
"No man has ever crossed these mountains," she thought, and vanished. The Princess moved forward, thinking it would be better to die in these terrible mountains than to serve the Wizard.
When the Wizard lost the duel and had to flee, he grew even angrier, and since he couldn't defeat the Prince in direct combat, he decided to use trickery once again. He gathered all the stones from the foothills of the Terrible Black Mountains and scattered them into a huge, impassable labyrinth that the Prince had to traverse if he wanted to reach the castle.
The Prince reached the labyrinth. He knew his boots wouldn't wear out, that he wouldn't run out of bread, but would I have enough life to get through this labyrinth, he thought. He sat down at the entrance to the labyrinth and began to ponder the meaning of his task. To go forward meant fighting, perhaps even for a lifetime, for a goal that would eventually become insignificant anyway, but to return meant giving up, becoming for the rest of his life the Gray Man of the Gray World, the Gray Man without a purpose. He was roused from his thoughts by the screeching of an eagle. "I fly high, I see the entire labyrinth from above. Look at me, go where I fly, and you'll get through this labyrinth before evening. I'll help you, because I remember how you helped me at the edge of the Gray World." Following the eagle's flight, the Prince made his way through the Giant Labyrinth. Before evening, he saw the gloomy castle of the Wizard. A bottomless rocky abyss separated him from it. The prince sat on the edge of the abyss and pondered. "I'll sleep through the night, and in the morning I'll think of a way to cross to the castle. The bottom of the abyss is invisible, and the other side is drowning in fog and mist. Oh, it won't be easy, but morning is wiser than evening, as the proverb says." He decided, and he did. In the morning, he was awakened by the neighing of a horse. He looked around in surprise and spotted that strange horse he'd once saved from the boys. He looked completely different now, his fur gleaming in the morning sun on his slender, shapely body. He spread the strange folds of skin at his sides, every now and then, into quite substantial and strong wings. With his head erect and his mane flowing, he was beautiful. "
I am a Pegasus. I remember how you stood up for me when I needed help. Flying over that abyss was truly a small thing to me." Get in, I'll take you to your destination in no time.
They landed in the courtyard of the Wizard's castle that very morning.
The Wizard laughed as he greeted the Prince.
"Well, your efforts were in vain. The Ugly Witch has betrayed us all—me because she let the Princess go, you because all your efforts were wasted, and the Princess because, in exchange for her beauty, she let her go into the Terrible Black Mountains, which no one has ever and never will be able to cross."
Laughing mockingly and ignoring the Prince's presence, he returned to the castle.
The Prince sat on the castle steps and pondered. I have one stone, so one more wish. I can return home with a single word, but I can also demand that the Princess cross the Terrible Mountains. I already know the Gray World, so I'll manage somehow, and my beloved is alone in the Terrible Black Mountains. "So I want her to come home safe and sound," he said, and threw the last green pebble of hope.
The Terrible Black Mountains trembled, the earth spun, and the Prince suddenly found himself in the green Spring Valley, next to the returning beautiful Princess, in front of the palace of the Good Fairy.
"You used my gifts at the right moments and in the best way, that's why your last wishes all came true together, because only he who first knows how to give can receive.
The Prince and the beautiful Princess live happily and rule their united kingdom justly in the Land of Dreams and Fairy Tales, where you too can live if you really want to. I know this because I was with them. I drank mead and wine. It flowed down my beard. The memory remains.
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