Chapter XIV: Folk Lore
I. The Ram with the Golden Fleece
Once upon a time when a certain hunter went to the mountains to hunt, there came toward him a ram with golden fleece. The hunter took his rifle to shoot it, but the ram rushed at him and, before he could fire, pierced him with its horns and he fell dead. A few days later some of his friends found his body; they knew not who had killed him and they took the body home and interred it. The hunter’s wife hung up the rifle on the wall in her cottage, and when her son grew up he begged his mother to let him take it and go hunting. She, however, would not consent, saying: “You must never ask me again to give you that rifle! It did not save your father’s life, and do you wish that it should be the cause of your death?”
One day, however, the youth took the rifle secretly and went out into the forest to hunt. Very soon the same ram rushed out of a thicket and said: “I killed your father; now it is your turn!” This frightened the youth, and ejaculating: “God help me!” he pressed the trigger of his rifle and, lo! the ram fell dead.
The youth was exceedingly glad to have killed the golden-fleeced ram, for there was not another like it throughout the land. He took off its skin and carried the fleece home, feeling very proud of his prowess. By and by the news spread over the country till it reached the Court, and the king ordered the young hunter to bring him the ram’s skin, so that he might see what kind of beasts were to be found in his forests. When the youth brought the skin to the king, the latter said to him: “Ask whatever you like for this skin, and I will give you what you ask!” But the youth answered: “I would not sell it for anything.”
It happened that the prime minister was an uncle of the young hunter, but he was not his friend; on the contrary, he was his greatest enemy. So he said to the king: “As he does not wish to sell you the skin, set him something to do which is surely impossible!” The king called the youth back and ordered him to plant a vineyard and to bring him, in seven days’ time, some new wine from it. The youth began to weep and implored that he might be excused from such an impossible task; but the king insisted, saying: “If you do not obey me within seven days, your head shall be cut off!”
The Youth finds a Friend
Still weeping, the youth went home and told his mother all about his audience with the king, and she answered: “Did I not tell you, my son, that that rifle would cost you your life?” In deep sorrow and bewilderment the youth went out of the village and walked a long way into the wood. Suddenly a girl appeared before him and asked: “Why do you weep, my brother?” And he answered, somewhat angrily: “Go your way! You cannot help me!” He then went on, but the maiden followed him, and again begged him to tell her the reason of his tears, “for perhaps,” she added, “I may, after all, be able to help you.” Then he stopped and said: “I will tell you, but I know that God alone can help me.” And then he told her all that had happened to him, and about the task he had been set to do. When she heard the story, she said: “Do not fear, my brother, but go and ask the king to say exactly where he would like the vineyard planted, and then have it dug in perfectly straight lines. Next you must go and take a bag with a sprig of basil in it, and lie down to sleep in the place where the vineyard is to be, and in seven days you will see that there are ripe grapes.”