Traditional Slovak Folktales by Terry L Cooper

Author:Terry L Cooper [Cooper, Terry L]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781315291673
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2016-09-15T22:00:00+00:00

Note

1. The cuts are made on a young wild apple or pear tree, usually bent at the base and of suitable size for a cudgel. With a knife or valaška, cuts are made all around and as deep as the wood, about one foot high. The young tree remains on its stump thus for a year or even two. Large knots develop from these cuts. Then they cut the tree, dry it, bleach it, and fire it, and the cudgel is fit to hand.

27

Kinglet, Cooklet, and Ashlet

It was during that blissful time when pigs wore boots and frogs walked about in bonnets and magpies wore hats; when donkeys jangled their spurs in the streets and hares trumpeted for the dogs. Back then the girls had it good: the dogs washed the dishes, the pigs oiled the stoves, the geese swept out the rooms, and the fish: the carp washed the rags for them in the Hron River and the crayfish rinsed them out. Don't worry, girls! The pigs have already begun to wear boots, the frogs to walk about in bonnets, and the magpies to wear fastened-on hats; the donkeys again jangle their spurs in the streets and the hares trumpet for the dogs. The good times will come again!

So, during those blissful times there was a king and he had a very pretty wife. But his pretty wife had no children. So the king had it proclaimed throughout the land that whomever could be found that could advise his wife as to what would give her a child, that person would receive a large reward. The queen was given all sorts of advice, but to no avail.

Finally an old dame came and brought her a fish and told her to eat it, but not to allow anyone even to taste of it.1 The queen ran straight to the kitchen, ordered the fish fried, and warned the cook not even to take a sniff of it.

"Eh, the devil if I'm going to cook food and not even taste if it's salty or not!" the cook said faced with the food, and she tasted it.

When the food was ready, she earned it to the queen, who ate it up straightaway. The cook carried the plate out to the kitchen, where the ashgirl, who fed the stove, was fidgeting about. And the girl licked the plate from that fish. So, then, the queen, the cook, and the ashgirl all became pregnant at once, and they all gave birth at once on the same day, and each had a fine boy.

They later named those boys according to their mothers, Kinglet, Cooklet, and Ashlet, and the king had all three of them raised and educated the same. But Ashlet was the smartest and the finest of them all.2

The three boys grew up steadily, and finally grew into strapping young lads. With that they all stood as one before the king and asked him to let them go try the world. The king let them go, but warned them not to lose one another and to stick together.

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