Water of Life Fairy Tales

Long, long ago, in a very far away place, there was a king who was seriously ill. People thought he was terminally ill and there was no cure. The king had three sons who were very worried about their father’s health. Whenever they were sad, they would run to the palace garden to cry.

　　Once, they met an old man in the garden. The old man asked them what made them so sad. They told him about their father’s illness and their fear that he could not be cured.

After listening, the old man said, “So this is the case. I know there is a kind of water of life. As long as your father drinks a sip, his illness will be cured and he will be healthy soon, but this water is very hard to find.”

　　The eldest son hurriedly said, “I must find this water.” He came to his sick father and asked him to go find the water of life, which was the only hope to save his father’s life.

　　But the king said, “No! I would rather die than take this risk.” The eldest son begged his father to let him go. He thought to himself, “If I find the water of life for my father, I will be his dearest person, and he will definitely let me inherit his throne.” After hard work, the king finally agreed to his request.

　　The eldest prince set out, looking arrogant and indifferent along the way. One day, he came to a deep mountain valley with lush trees and strange rocks. He looked around and found a dwarf sitting on the strange rock above him. The dwarf asked him, “Prince, where are you going so fast?”

　　”What does it have to do with you, you ugly little devil?” the prince said contemptuously and arrogantly, and rode away on his horse.

　　The dwarf was very angry at his behavior and cast an evil spell against him.

　　As a result, the mountain gorge that the eldest prince rode through became narrower and narrower, and finally the mountain path was so narrow that he could not move forward at all. He wanted to turn his horse back to the way he came, but the gorge behind him also closed together and he was completely stuck inside. He wanted to get off the horse and walk, but he couldn’t even get off the horse, and was trapped there by the spell.

　　His father, the old king, was ill and waited for his eldest son day after day, but he never came back. Time waits for no one, so the second son said to his father: “Dad, I want to go find the water of life.”

He thought to himself: “My brother must be dead. If I am lucky this time, this kingdom will definitely be inherited by me in the future.” The king was reluctant to let him go at first, but finally he agreed to his request after his persistent pleading.

　　He followed the same path as his brother, and in the same manner, and met the same dwarf in the same place, who said to him as before, “Prince, where are you going so fast?”

　　”Mind your own business!” The prince replied disdainfully and rode away. The dwarf cast the same spell on him in anger, and the second prince was trapped in the narrow gorge like his brother, unable to move forward or backward.

　　This is the fate of those who think they are smart, don’t listen to advice, don’t know manners, are proud and stupid.

　　The second prince had been out for quite some time. Like his brother, when there was no response, the little prince also asked his father to go find the water of life. He was confident that he could quickly restore his father’s health. Finally, he got his father’s consent and set out.

　　He met the dwarf in the same place. The dwarf asked, “Prince, where are you going so fast?”

　　The prince replied, “My father is sick and dying, and I am going to find the water of life to save him. Can you help me?”

　　”Do you know where to find it?” asked the dwarf.

　　The prince replied, “I don’t know.”

　　”You have spoken to me kindly, and have asked for my help with all sincerity,” said the dwarf. “I will tell you where and how to find the water of life. The water you seek comes from a well in an enchanted castle. I will give you an iron rod and two small pieces of bread, and you will have no difficulty in getting there.

When you reach the castle, knock three times with the rod at the gate, and it will open of its own accord. There lie two hungry lions, with their mouths wide open, waiting for their prey. But if you throw them the bread, they will let you in.

Get to the well as soon as possible, and get the water of life, and be out of the castle before the clock strikes twelve. If you are late, the gate will close again, and you will never be able to get out again.”

　　The little prince thanked the dwarf for his warm and friendly help, took the iron rod and bread, and set off according to the dwarf’s instructions. He crossed mountains and rivers, sailed across the ocean, and finally arrived at the destination of this journey – the enchanted castle. Everything was exactly as the dwarf said.

He knocked on the gate three times with his iron rod, and the door opened upwards. After throwing away the bread to calm the lion, he walked into the castle and finally came to a beautiful hall.

　　Several knights were sitting around the hall, sleeping. He took off their rings and put them on his own fingers. He went down the hall to another room and saw a sword and a piece of bread on a table. He took them up.

He came to another room and saw a young and beautiful girl sitting on an armchair in the room. Seeing him come in, the girl welcomed him with joy and said that he should get the kingdom because he had freed her from the spell. If he came back here in a year, she would marry him. Then she told him that the well was in the palace garden and told him to go there before twelve o’clock to get the water of life he wanted.

　　After bidding farewell to the girl, he went on his way. When he entered the beautiful garden, a refreshing pergola caught his attention. There was a couch under the pergola. Seeing this, he thought he was too tired and should rest for a while. So he walked over and lay down on the couch. He soon fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the clock struck eleven forty-five.

　　When he realized that there was not much time left, he immediately jumped up in panic and ran to the well, picked up a cup by the well and scooped a full cup of water, and rushed out of the city gate in a hurry.

As soon as he stepped out of the iron gate, the clock struck twelve, and the iron gate fell from above, so fast that even a piece of his heel was cut off.

　　He recovered from his panic and found that he was not hurt at all. Thinking that he had obtained the water of life, he was very excited and walked home happily. When he passed the place where he met the dwarf, the dwarf was still there.

After seeing the sword and the bread, he said: “You have obtained something of great value. With this sword, you only need to swing it, and the entire enemy army will be killed. This piece of bread is a piece of bread that you can never eat up.”

　　The prince thought to himself, “I can’t go back to see my father alone. I should go back with my two brothers.”

　　So he said, “Dear Dwarf, can you tell me where my two brothers are? They went out before me to seek the water of life, and never returned.”

　　”I have locked them up between two mountains by magic,” answered the dwarf, “for they are too arrogant and will not listen to advice.”

　　After hearing this, the little prince pleaded for his two brothers and begged the dwarf to let them go. Although the dwarf was reluctant, he still let them go and warned him: “You must be careful of them, these two guys have evil intentions.”

　　The brothers were very happy to see each other. The little prince told them how he had discovered the water of life and filled a cup with it, how he had freed a beautiful princess from a curse, and how the princess had promised to wait for him to marry her in a year and pass the throne to him. Then the three of them rode back together.

　　On the way, they passed a country that was ravaged by war and hunger, the land was barren, the people were living in poverty, and people thought the country was going to perish. But the little prince lent the bread to the king, which saved his subjects from hunger. He also used the sword to defeat the enemy army, restoring peace to the kingdom and leading a prosperous life.

　　Along the way, he helped two other countries they passed through in the same way, rescuing them from danger and enabling the people there to live and work in peace.

　　Finally, they came to the sea and boarded a ship together. As the ship sailed on the sea, the two brothers said to each other: “The younger brother has found the water of life that we have not been able to find. Therefore, our father will certainly look down on us and pass on the throne that belongs to us to him.”

　　They were filled with jealousy and revenge, and together they decided how to destroy him. They waited until he fell asleep, secretly poured out the cup of water of life and kept it for themselves, and replaced it with sea water.

　　When they returned to the palace, the youngest son brought his cup to his sick father, thinking that he would be well again after drinking it. But the king tasted only a little bit of the sea water, and his condition became even worse. Then the two older sons came in and rebuked the younger brother, saying that he was trying to poison his father. Then they really found the water of life and brought it back. Then they brought the water to the king to drink. As soon as the king drank a little, he felt healed and became as strong as he was in his youth.

　　The two elder brothers came up to their younger brother and laughed at him, “Oh! Brother, didn’t you find the water of life? You traveled so hard and made us happy. If you were smart, why didn’t you keep your eyes open? Next year, one of us will marry your beautiful princess. If you don’t pay attention and tell others about this, not only will our father no longer believe you, but we will also kill you. If you keep quiet, we can spare your life.”

　　After the old king recovered from his illness, he was still very angry with his youngest son, thinking that he wanted to kill him. So he summoned his ministers to ask them how to deal with the matter. In the end, they agreed to execute his youngest son, who knew nothing about it.

　　One day, the king’s hunter was out hunting, and when they were alone in the woods, the prince saw that the hunter looked very sad, so he asked, “My friend, what is worrying you?”

　　The hunter replied: “I can’t and I don’t dare to tell you.”

　　The prince heard this and pleaded with him: “Just tell me, do you think I will be angry? Never mind, I will forgive you.”

　　The hunter sighed and said, “Ah! The king wants me to shoot you.”

　　The prince was greatly surprised and said, “Please forgive me. I will take off my clothes and give them to you. You can show this royal suit to my father. And please give me one of your old clothes.”

　　The huntsman said, “I am glad I saved you, for I had no intention of shooting you.” Then he took off his old clothes and gave them to the prince, and taking the prince’s clothes, he went away through the woods.

　　After a while, ambassadors from three kingdoms came to the old king’s palace with rich gifts such as gold and gems, saying that these were gifts from the kings of the three countries to his youngest son. Because his youngest son lent them the sword and bread, their country defeated the enemy and the people no longer suffered from hunger. When the old king learned about this, he thought that his son might not be guilty, so he said to the courtiers: “Oh! I sent someone to kill him, how sad! I wish my son was still alive.”

　　At this time, the hunter said: “Your Majesty, he is really still alive, because I felt sorry for him at the time, and I did not shoot him in the woods, but let him go peacefully, and only took back his coat. Now I am very happy that I saved him at that time.”

　　When the king heard this, he was overjoyed and announced to the whole country that if his son came back, he would forgive him.

　　At this time, the princess was eagerly waiting for her savior to return. She paved a road leading to the palace, all of which was made of glittering gold. She told her subjects that anyone who rode directly along the road and entered the palace was her true love and must be allowed in. If someone rode in from the side of the road, he was not the real one and must be driven away immediately.

　　The agreed one-year deadline was coming to an end. The eldest prince thought that he should rush to see the princess and tell her that he had saved her. Then he could marry her and get the kingdom. When he arrived in front of the palace and saw the golden road, he stopped and thought to himself, “It’s a pity to ride on such a beautiful road!” So he turned his horse around and rode on the right side of the road. But when he reached the palace gate, the guards told him that he was not real and asked him to go away.

　　Soon, the second prince also set out with the same idea. When he arrived at the golden road, he immediately stopped the horse before one of his horse’s feet had just stepped on the road. Looking at the glittering road, he thought to himself, this road is so beautiful, and couldn’t help saying to himself: “It would be a pity if something stepped on it!”

So he also turned his horse’s head and rode in from the left side of the road. But when he arrived at the palace gate, the guards said he was not a real prince and drove him away.

　　Now, the official period of one year was up, and the little prince left the forest to find his bride-to-be.

　　Before this, he had been hiding in the woods because he was afraid that his father would not forgive him. On the way, he kept thinking about her and galloped at full speed. He didn’t even notice the golden road and just rode straight away. When he arrived at the palace gate, it opened immediately. The princess came to welcome him happily, saying that he was her savior and now he was her husband and the monarch of the kingdom.

　　The wedding was held with great feasting, and when it was all over, the princess told him that she had heard that his father had forgiven him and hoped that he would return home. The new king went back to see his father and told him how his two brothers had deceived him and taken the water of life, and explained that it was out of love for his father that he endured all the injustice.

　　The old king was extremely angry and wanted to punish his two bad sons. But the two sons ran away after hearing the news. They boarded a ship and sailed out to sea. Since then, no news of them has been heard.