THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 2, 1996 TAG: 9512300048
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Tell me a story
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
Tell be a Story is a collection of folk tales from around the world compiled by Amy Friedman and illustrated by Jillian Gilliland
ONCE UPON a time, a man and his sons plowed and sowed their fields. Every autumn they reaped hay and filled their barn.
But one year, the man discovered all his hay was gone and his barn was completely empty. The next year, the man told his sons that one of them must sleep in the barn to keep it from happening again.
The oldest lad was happy to go. He went to the barn and lay down to sleep. But he heard such a rumbling he thought an earthquake must surely be coming. The walls and rafters shook as if they might tumble down around him. So he ran home as fast as he could. That year the barn was emptied again.
The next year, the second son went to see what he could do. When night fell, a rumbling came. The walls and rafters shook. The second son ran home as fast as he could. And again all the hay was gone in the morning.
The year after that, it was the third son's turn. As he prepared to spend his night in the barn, the others laughed at him. ``You will not save our hay,'' they said. ``You have never done a thing but sit in the ashes and bake yourself.''
This boy was known as Cinderlad, for his brothers forced him to work among the ashes and cinders of the fireplace. He was always dirty and his clothes soiled. But Cinderlad was determined. That night he set off for the barn.
About an hour after he arrived, the rumbling began. It was terrifying, but Cinderlad rolled over and said, ``Well, if it becomes no worse, I can stand it.'' Hay began to fly around his head. ``I can stand this,'' Cinderlad said to himself, ``though I hope it grows no worse.'' Still the rumbling continued, so violent that Cinderlad thought that surely the barn would fall down.
But suddenly everything grew still and silent. Cinderlad opened his eyes and looked around, but all he saw was the night owl sitting in the rafters, and the only sound he heard was the rustling of hay beneath him.
After a while, Cinderlad heard a different kind of sound. He crept to the door and looked through the crack, and there stood a big, fine horse. Beside the horse lay a saddle and bridle and a knight's suit of shining armor. ``So it is you who eats our hay,'' Cinderlad said. ``We can't have that.''
Cinderlad spoke gently to the horse, and soon it was so tame that Cinderlad mounted it and rode away to a place no one knew of but he. Cinderlad knew a secret places, for he had spent many an hour wandering the countryside when he wasn't tending the fire. He tied up the horse and returned home.
``You didn't last long,'' his brothers said.
``I saw nothing and heard nothing,'' said Cinderlad.
``We shall see if you watched the barn,'' the brothers laughed. When they went to the barn the next morning, all the hay was still there.
The father was proud of Cinderlad, but the brothers grumbled and said the boy was not fit to do anything at all, and still they forced him to work in the ashes.
Now the king of this country had a daughter who had climbed to the top of the glass hill that stood beside the palace. She sat at the top holding three golden apples in her lap, refusing to come down until a fine man came to her and took her apples.
``Whoever rides to the top will marry my daughter and have half my kingdom, the king announced, for he missed his daughter terribly.
All the young men of the kingdom were eager to win the princess as their bride, for she was lovely. Besides, they all wished to own half the king's lands.
When the contest day arrived, hundreds of knights and princes and lads gathered at the foot of the glass hill.
Cinderlad's brothers went too, but they would not allow Cinderlad to join them. ``You are too dirty,'' they said.
The contest began, but no matter how hard all of the suitors tried, not a single one could climb to the top of the hill, for it was too smooth and steep. The moment their horses set foot upon the hill, down they slipped.
The king was just thinking he would have to end the contest for the day when a knight rode up on the finest horse anyone had never seen. The knight wore a suit of armor made of shining copper, and his bridle and saddle were gleaming copper too.
``You'll never make it up that hill,'' the others said to him, but he paid them no attention. He simply rode straight at the hill as if it were as flat as a field. He was one-third up the hill when he turned around and rode down.
The princess called to him, for she had never seen such a glorious knight. When she saw him turn around, she threw one of her golden apples after him. It rolled down the hill and bounced into the knight's shoe. But when the knight reached the bottom of the hill, he rode off as fast as the wind, and no one knew where he went.
That night the brothers returned home and told Cinderlad the story of the dashing knight. ``I would like to see such a knight,'' he said.
``Ha!'' his brothers laughed. ``You are not fit to be among such people.''
The next day the king held the contest once more. All the princes and knights and lads tried again, and again each one slipped down the hill. Just when the king was about to end the contest, a knight in silver armor with a silver saddle on a fine steed rode halfway up the hill and turned around. The princess liked this knight even better than the first. She threw her second apple after him, and it rolled down the hill and into his shoe. But when he reached the bottom of the hill, he disappeared, as if he had been but a dream.
That night the brothers again told Cinderlad their tale. ``Oh,'' said Cinderlad, ``I should really like to see such a knight.'' His brothers only laughed at him.
On the third day the same thing happened, though the knight who appeared wore golden armor. This time he rode to the top of the hill and took the third golden apple from the princess. Then he turned around and rode swiftly away.
When the brothers came home that night, they told the tale of the golden knight. Cinderlad sighed and said, ``How I would like to see him.''
``Ha!'' said his brothers. ``You are not fit to be in his presence.''
The next day the princes and knights and lads were called to appear before the king and princess. ``Produce the golden apples,'' the king commanded. ``Whoever has the golden apples must show me now!'' Alas, no one present had them.
``Someone has those apples!'' roared the king. He commanded every last person in the land to appear before him. No one could produce the apples. At last Cinderlad's brothers appeared before him.
``Is there no one else in the kingdom after you two?'' the king asked.
``We have a brother,'' they said, ``but he never leaves the cinder heap.''
``Bring him to the palace,'' the king said. And so Cinderlad was called to appear before the king.
``Do you have the golden apples?'' the king asked him.
Cinderlad reached into his pockets and pulled out the first apple, and then the second, and at the last the third. Then he threw off his dirty rags and stood before them dressed in his bright golden armor.
The princess fell in love with him at once. And so Cinderlad married the king's daughter.
Everyone celebrated late into the night, for though they could not ride up the glass hill, they could enjoy a happy ending, and a happy ending it was, for Cinderlad and the princess lived happily ever after. by CNB