She wrote a letter and sent it to her lover: ‘He ate a hen’s heart, and every night he finds a thousand gold pieces under his head.’
And he sent her another letter: ‘Make him coffee, that he vomit—vomit that heart up. And do you take it and eat it; then I’ll marry you.’ [[98]]
She made him coffee, and he drank it, and vomited up the heart; and she took it and ate it. And she went to her father. ‘Come, father, see how he vomits. He’s not the man for me.’
The emperor saw how he vomited. ‘Here, off you go. I don’t want your sort.’ And he took all his clothes off him, and gave him common clothes. And he departed.
He went into the forest, and he hungered, and he came to an apple-tree. He took an apple and ate it, and became an ass. He goes weeping, goes onward, and found a crab-apple, and ate one of its apples, and became a man again. He turned back and took two apples, and took two also of the crab-apples, and went to the city where his wife was. And he stood by the roadside, and his wife went out to walk.
‘Are your apples for sale, my man?’
‘They are.’
He sold her an apple. She took a bite of it, and became a she-ass. He took her by the mane, and put a bridle on her head, and got on her, and galloped with her into the town, and went with her to an inn, and ordered bitter coffee, and poured it into her mouth; and she vomited, and vomited, and vomited up the heart. And he took it and ate it, and said, ‘Now, I’m master.’ And he went to his father-in-law: ‘I demand justice; this is your daughter.’
The emperor summoned his ministers, but he said, ‘I don’t want you to pass judgment; come with me to the new emperor.’
So they went to the new emperor. And the emperor drives in his carriage, and he goes riding on his wife.