“Why do you weep, my brother?”
He returned home and told his mother how he had met a maiden who had told him to do a ridiculous thing. His mother, however, said earnestly: “Go, go, my son, do as the maiden bade; you cannot be in a worse case anyhow.” So he went to the king as the girl had directed him, and the king gratified his wish. However, he was still very sad when he went to lie down in the indicated place with his sprig of basil.
When he awoke next morning he saw that the vines were already planted; on the second morning they were clothed with leaves; and, by the seventh day, they bore ripe grapes. Notwithstanding the girl’s promise the youth was surprised to find ripe grapes at a time of year when they were nowhere to be found; but he gathered them, made wine, and taking a basketful of the ripe fruit with him, went to the king.
The Second Task
When he reached the palace, the king and the whole court were amazed. The prime minister said: “We must order him to do something absolutely impossible!” and advised the king to command the youth to build a castle of elephants’ tusks.
Upon hearing this cruel order the youth went home weeping and told his mother what had transpired, adding: “This, my mother, is utterly impossible!” But the mother again advised him, and said: “Go, my son, beyond the village; may be you will again meet that maiden!”
The youth obeyed, and, indeed, as soon as he came to the place where he had found the girl before, she appeared before him and said: “You are again sad and tearful, my brother!” And he began to complain of the second impossible task which the king had set him to perform. Hearing this, the girl said: “This will also be easy; but first go to the king and ask him to give you a ship with three hundred barrels of wine and as many kegs of brandy, and also twenty carpenters. Then, when you arrive at such and such a place, which you will find between two mountains, dam the water there, and pour into it all the wine and brandy. Elephants will come down to that spot to drink water, and will get drunk and fall on the ground. Then your carpenters must at once cut off their tusks, and carry them to the place where the king wishes his castle to be built. There you may all lie down to sleep, and within seven days the castle will be ready.”
When the youth heard this, he hurried home, and told his mother all about the plan of the maiden. The mother was quite confident, and counselled her son to do everything as directed by the maiden. So he went to the king and asked him for the ship, the three hundred barrels of wine and brandy, as well as the twenty carpenters; and the king gave him all he wanted. Next he went where the girl had told him, and did everything she had advised. Indeed, the elephants came as was expected, drank, and then duly fell down intoxicated. The carpenters cut off the innumerable tusks, took them to the chosen place, and began building, and in seven days the castle was ready. When the king saw this, he was again amazed, and said to his prime minister: “Now what shall I do with him? He is not an ordinary youth! God alone knows who he is!” Thereupon the officer answered: “Give him one more order, and if he executes it successfully, he will prove that he is a supernatural being.”
