FAIRY TALES FROM ATENA

A cock with boots, a swan with earrings

Once upon a time there was a princess, who had a beautiful voice. She was singing for the birds, and they sat listening to her mesmerized. One day along with the other birds came a glorious swan to listen to her sing. That kept happening but one day the princess was sad and asked the birds to leave her alone. But the swan was mad and took her ring. The other day the same thing happened and the swan took her necklace.
At the other end of the kingdom, lived a poor girl who made her living by washing other people’s clothes. One day as she was off to the river she saw a cock, wearing boots and singing: “Hey-ho off we go, to walk a field, to the forest we go, to crawl in a tree, inside to be, to eat and sleep peacefully”. The girl found this very strange, and followed the cock, through the forest until they arrived in front of a huge tree, where the cock stepped inside followed by the young girl. As they descended the girl saw a glorious palace full of birds. A kingdom of birds one might say. The girl hidden suddenly saw a swan coming down the palace. The swan suddenly was transformed to a beautiful young prince. All the other birds then gathered around him and he told them: “I liked everything I saw, but that princess sang more beautiful than anything else. The princess I stole the jewelry from was the prettiest creature there is.” As the girl hears that she comes out of the tree following again the cock, who kept singing “Hey ho, we ate and drank, we leave our tree, to the river heading to the river happily”.
As the time passed news flew in the kingdom that the princess was very sad, and she doesn’t sing anymore. Many went and tried to cheer her up, but no one could. So the little girl went and described to the princess her whole experience down at the bird palace. When the princess heard about the swan, who became a man, she was ecstatic. So that night, the two girls went by the river where they saw the cock in boots. And as they followed him they went down to the bird palace and waited for the swan to show up. They girls hid, but the birds realized that they were there. And when the swan came down, turning into a prince, the birds pointed in the princesses’ way and she sang to him:
I will hold you in my arms
The spell that has been cast to you I shall reverse
You from now on are simply a man
Then he hugged her and the spell was gone. And so they lived happily ever after.


Σημείωση: αυτό είναι ακόμα καλύτερο!!!!!!!
The bird king

Once upon a time there was an old man who used to plant wheat, but birds kept eating it. One day, one bird was caught and the old man took it to the princess. As she was an only child she treated the little bird as her brother. One day the princess woke up and saw that half of her food was missing. The same thing happened for several days, so one night she decided to stay awake and find out what was going on. She then saw the bird taking human form and becoming a beautiful prince!! He was the one who ate her food. The youngsters fell in love, and the princess gave him a ring as a token of her love. But one day the princess became pregnant. Their love was secret because the prince had warned her that if she revealed his secret she would lose him forever. But as her pregnancy became more obvious, her parents tried to find her a husband. To avoid getting married the princess told her parents the truth and as she opened the birdcage to show them her prince, he flew away!
The princess, ill from sadness left the kingdom and moved in the woods. On her door a note was hanging: “if you are a passer-by, come inside and I will give you food, but you will have to tell us all you know about that night”. One day, as the time passed the princess gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.
Near the princesses’ house lived a poor woman with her son. The boy went into the woods to find something for him and his mother to eat. As he sat to rest he saw an old woman picking up twigs, so he went and helped her carry them. He followed the old lady through a huge door, and down 40 huge steps. Then 40 birds flew in the old lady’s house, and as they sat on the table took human form and started eating. But only one bird was sad and did not eat anything. The little boy asked the old lady who those birds were and she replied that they were her sons and that they were enchanted. The only way that they would become normal men again was if they ever got married. The little boy told everything he saw to his mother and then she ran to the princess house to inform her. The little boy then took the princess to the old lady’s house. After a while all the birds flew in and sat around the table. Then the princess without letting anyone see her gave the ring that she had given to her prince once more. The prince understood who she was and whispered to her: “stay locked inside your house for 40 days. After that open wide all the doors and windows in your house, keep the fire place burning and have a clean table cloth lying on the table. And when I arrive, until I kiss our son, you should wrap my wings with that tablecloth and then I will be free from the spell”. And so it happened, and the family lived happily ever after.

Σημείωση: Κε Νίκο αυτό είναι το πιο ωραίο από όλα τα παραμύθια!!!!!

The golden apple

Once upon a time there was a king and a queen who had a daughter. The princess was a good girl, but she was very arrogant. As her time came to get married, her father arranged for many princes to come and meet her, but she drove them all away by asking them to bring her a golden apple! Only then she would marry. No one could deliver this golden fruit and so the king and queen were afraid that their daughter would remain unmarried forever!
At the palace there lived a good gardener who had a son. The young gardener saw the princess and fell in love with her, so he decided to go and find for her the golden apple so she would become his wife. As time passed the young gardener left the kingdom in search for the golden fruit. As he was walking he came across a river where he saw an old man, standing in one side of the river waiting to cross it. “How long have you been waiting here old man?” asked the young gardener “forever my son” the old man replied. And so the young lad took him and crossed him to the other side of the river. “No one has ever helped me. As a token of my gratitude I give you this magic knife. When you are in trouble the knife will always save you” said the old man and disappeared. So the young man continued his journey until he found himself in a crossroads. He then used his knife to help him find his way. As he walked further he saw a garden not been cared for in year. In this garden he saw a tree with golden apples! But the tree was being guarded by two dragons! Using his knife again the young boy beat them and took his apple! He then started walking back home. When he arrived at the kingdom he gound the princess and gave her the apple. But as he was poor she did not liked him! He used once more his magic knife and turned his dirty old clothes to royal attire and said “if you don’t like me the way I really am you will never see me again” and disappeared! The princess then immediately regretted the way she spoke to him and ordered her servants to find him. But he was nowhere to be found. The princess then went for walk, and as she was really upset she sat under a reed tree. The tree was very sick and about to die, so the princess, as she was kind at heart, saved it. Then the tree in human voice said: “let the one who found the golden apple show”. And the young gardener appeared! Then the tree told the princess and the young man “cut one of my twigs and uses it as a flute in your wedding, and then you’ll live happily ever after. And so they did…

THE GOLDEN DEER.

Once upon a time there was a great big kingdom where everyone was happy. The queen of this kingdom had a beautiful and good son. The day that the prince was getting married the whole kingdom was having extravagant festivities; when a passer-by showed up he asked an old man sitting beside him what was going on. The man replied: “We are celebrating the prince’s wedding with my daughter who used to be a deer.” The passer-by did not believe what he was hearing, so the old man explained.
The prince was very lonely after the king died. He only liked going hunting for deers in the woods. One day as he was hunting he saw a beautiful young woman sitting in the woods with a deer’s roan in her lap. When he saw her he loved her immediately and asked her to marry him. The girl replied that he would have to ask her father for permission. When he went to the girl’s father, the man replied: “You should be ashamed of making fun of an old man! I do not have a daughter.” And as he said those words a deer showed up. “That’s my daughter” said the old man “do you take her for your wife?” The prince then left disappointed and ordered his servants to find out the truth. When the servants came back they told him that into that small cabin in the woods, lived an old man with his wife who could not have children. One day they prayed to god “God, give as a child, even a small deer.” And so he did. The little deer became a member of their family, like a daughter to them. When the prince learned all this he decided to marry the deer! And so the wedding took place.
As the time passed by news came from a nearby kingdom, that there would be a wedding. Our prince along with the queen and his deer wife went to the festivities. When the deer was left alone she took of her roan, and became the beautiful woman that the prince had first seen in the woods. When the prince saw her, he immediately understood who she was.
So he announced that a king was coming to their kingdom for a visit and that they should prepare a great feast. He told the baker that he should built a great fire, for the women to prepare their foods for the feast. The prince clever as he was found the deer’s roan and threw it in the flames!! When the deer, as a woman, tried to find her roan to be transformed into a deer once more, she couldn’t find it! The prince saw her, and told her not to be afraid, that he would love her, and she was now a princess! “ And so today we are having a wedding. The prince is marrying the deer again, but as a beautiful young woman!” said her old father. And they all lived happily ever after.


The wooden girl


Once upon a time, there was a king who had three beautiful daughters. But the prettiest of them all, the older one, named Agni was who he loved the most. The king gave all his daughters to good princes, to be their wives. But only Agni was left unmarried. The king loved her so and thought she was so beautiful, that he wanted to marry her himself! But the princess had fallen in love with a young prince! Her father was very mad and he sent the young prince away. The princess was very sad, and one day she told her father: “Father I will think what you ask of me, only if you’ll give me three dresses, each as beautiful as the sea, the sun and the moon”. But as the dresses were getting made the girl went to a carpenter and asked him, if he could make for her a wooden armor, that when she would wear it no one would recognize her. So one day as her father went away, she claimed that she was ill. So she wore all her three dresses, and over them her wooden armor. And of she went, to her loving prince. He didn’t recognize her as she was wearing her wooden armor, and she told him that her name was Wooden Girl. As the prince liked her he asked her to stay with him. One day the kingdom had a ball, and Agni showed up, wearing her sea dress. The prince loved the way she looked, and stayed with her all night. At another kingdom ball the girl wore another one of her fancy dresses, and the prince loved her once more. At the third ball, the girl wore her sun dress, so the prince decided to tell her how she felt. As he was holding her hands, she took them violently away from him and her ring fell down to the floor, and she ran away. The prince fell ill from sadness, and he wouldn’t see anyone else but his friend, Wooden Girl. One day Agni, posing as Wooden Girl, felt sorry for her prince and decided to come forward. When the prince recognized her, he was so happy and proposed to her. The wedding took place, and the entire kingdom was ecstatic from joy! Everyone came to their wedding, but Agni’s father, who ashamed went away forever. And they lived happily ever after.