00:12Hungarian Folk Tales
00:17The Water Fairy
00:28Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a miller, and the miller had a wife.
00:37They had a fine big mill, and they earned their keep and passed their days.
00:41There was just one thing that caused them grief, and that was they had no child.
00:47And they grew poorer and poorer every day, until they had nothing at all.
00:54The poor man lamented night and day that a curse had been laid upon them.
00:58Off he went one evening, and sat by the mill pond.
01:02There he wept.
01:04All at once, he heard a voice.
01:07Listen, poor man, I'll help you in your troubles.
01:11I'll make you richer by far than ever before.
01:15All you have to do is give me the living creature that you have not got at home.
01:20So the poor man thought to himself,
01:23What is it that I haven't got at home?
01:25Perhaps a dog?
01:26Perhaps a cat?
01:27What could it be?
01:29Right you are.
01:30I agree.
01:31The poor man cheered up and set off for home.
01:34He was still on his way when his servant came running towards him.
01:39Quickly, Master Miller, the mistress has just given birth to a fine, healthy boy.
01:43Well now, the miller ran all the way back to the mill pond.
01:48Come here, come here, you evil spirit.
01:50You have taken my child.
01:52But no one appeared.
01:54Home he went and told what had happened.
01:58They threw their arms around each other and wept and wept.
02:03What was going to become of their child.
02:06When would that voice take him away?
02:08Raise the boy as the light of their lives.
02:12They never ever let him near the mill pond.
02:15And when he grew older, they told him that he was not to go there because the water fairy would
02:21carry him away.
02:22And the boy never went there.
02:24He avoided the place altogether.
02:27Now they became wealthier than anyone in the village before or since.
02:31Where they laid down a florin, the next day there were two.
02:37Time and tide went by and they sent their son to a master woodman so that he would be a
02:42forester.
02:43So taken was the master with the lad, so quick and clever he was, that the master gave him his
02:49own daughter in marriage.
02:53The young man went all through the forest hunting.
02:56One day he saw a fine stag.
03:00He aimed at the stag, but the stag vanished clean out of sight.
03:06Off he went again on the following day, and once again the stag was enticing the young man.
03:11And so it went on for three or four days.
03:15His wife spoke to him.
03:17Where is it you go every day, neither eating or drinking, only concerned for your forest?
03:23But don't go near the mill pond, just so that no trouble will be for you.
03:28I never go that way, my dear.
03:30I only go hunting in the forest.
03:32Once again he set off, tracked the stag and brought him down.
03:37He thought of skinning it, but in skinning it he got covered in blood.
03:41So he decided to go to the river and wash himself.
03:45There he set down his cap and his satchel.
03:48But once he put his two hands into the water, two mighty arms rose out of the water,
03:54fastened themselves around his neck and dragged him in and under.
03:59His good wife was waiting for him at home.
04:02She ran to the forest to the mill pond, and there she saw his cap and his satchel.
04:08Dear God in heaven, what my father-in-law warned about has happened.
04:13Up and down the edge of the waters she raced.
04:16Give me back my good husband, water fairy.
04:19But the water was silent.
04:21She ran and ran until tiredness overcame her, and she lay down and fell asleep.
04:28In her dream she saw, not far away, a shack in which there lived an old woman, who knew many,
04:35many secrets.
04:37She awoke, and just as in her dream, off she went to the shack.
04:41She knocked at the door, and spoke of her problem in floods of tears.
04:47There, there, my dear, said the old woman, when the moon is full, off you go to the place, and
04:52sit at the edge of the waters.
04:53I'll give you a brush, and with it you must brush your hair.
05:00So the young wife waited until the moon became full.
05:03She went to the edge of the waters, let loose her hair, and began to brush it.
05:09And then, all of a sudden, her husband stuck his head out of the water, but he said not a
05:15word.
05:16And then he vanished again, to the watery depths.
05:20She went home, and told the old woman what had happened.
05:23The old woman said,
05:25Tomorrow evening you must bring a spinning wheel with you, and there you must spin.
05:29And so she did. She brought a spinning wheel, sat there at the spot, and began to spin.
05:37And when she spanned, once again the water frothed, and her husband appeared up to his waist.
05:45But again they were not able to exchange a word between themselves.
05:50Off you go, dear girl. This is the third night.
05:53On this flute you should play a sweet, sad tune.
05:56Then you'll see what happens.
06:00And so it was.
06:02The young wife sat there on the same spot, and played.
06:06At first the water started to froth, and in she jumped, and embraced her husband.
06:12But then such a storm blew up, that her husband was carried off to one shore, and the wife to
06:17the other.
06:18They were thrown so far apart, that she stayed on one, and he stayed on the other.
06:25Then the man took work as a swineherd, and the woman as a cook.
06:29The swineherd brought the pigs out to feed every day, and the woman brought food at midday, to her master,
06:35in the meadows.
06:39When she brought the food to the master, she saw that there was a swineherd off in the distance.
06:44So she walked towards him, and they began to speak, and as they spoke, the young woman asked the man
06:51where he had come from.
06:52And the man began to tell her of how he had been born, and how the water fairy had carried
07:00him away, and how he had been parted from his darling wife.
07:04And as he told all these things to his own wife, her eyes opened once again, and she saw that
07:12he was her husband.
07:13Then they embraced, and kissed each other sweetly, and went home.
07:20They had many, many children, and they all lived happily ever after.
07:28This is the end of my tale.
07:42This is the end of my tale.
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