No. 23.—The Seer
They say that there was an emperor, and he had three sons. And he gave a ball; all Bukowina came to it. And a mist descended, and there came a dragon, and caught up the empress, and carried her into the forests to a mountain, and set her down on the earth. There in the earth was a palace. Now after the ball the men departed home.
And the youngest son was a seer; and his elder brothers said he was mad. Said the youngest, ‘Let us go after our mother, and seek for her in Bukowina.’ The three set out, and they came to a place where three roads met. And the youngest said, ‘Brothers, which road will you go?’
And the eldest said, ‘I will keep straight on.’
And the middle one went to the right, and the youngest to the left. The eldest one went into the towns, and the middle one into the villages, and the youngest into the forests. They had gone a bit when the youngest turned back and cried, ‘Come here. How are we to know who has found our mother? Let us buy three trumpets, and whoever finds her must straightway blow a blast, and we shall hear him, and return home.’
The youngest went into the forests. And he was hungry, and he found an apple-tree with apples, and he ate an apple, [[86]]and two horns grew. And he said, ‘What God has given me I will bear.’ And he went onward, and crossed a stream, and the flesh fell away from him. And he kept saying, ‘What God has given me I will bear. Thanks be to God.’ And he went further, and found another apple-tree. And he said, ‘I will eat one more apple, even though two more horns should grow.’ When he ate it the horns dropped off. And he went further, and again found a stream. And he said, ‘God, the flesh has fallen from me, now will my bones waste away; but even though they do, yet will I go.’ And he crossed the stream; his flesh grew fairer than ever. And he went up into a mountain. There was a rock of stone in a spot bare of trees. And he reached out his hand, and moved it aside, and saw a hole in the earth. He put the rock back in its place, and went back and began to wind his horn.
His brothers heard him and came. ‘Have you found my mother?’
‘I have; come with me.’
And they went to the mountain to the rock of stone.