Greek tale

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The Brave Boy and the Liar old man

Red String tied, wrapped in the spinning wheel, give it a push to turn and let the tale begin.

Once upon a time, there was an old couple, and they had a son, who was in school from a very young age. Even though he was very young, his power was great and virile because he fought many times with the other children, and he beat them up. Thus, his parents, since the other children’s parents were complaining often told him: "Aren’t you afraid? You will get ruined, what is it that you do?" And because they occasionally told him "aren’t you afraid?" one day he tells his parents: "Can you please tell me where is that fear that you intimidate me with so often so that I can get rid of him to free people from fear. In order to scare him, his father told him: "Do you see that fire at the mountain across? Fear is there." Hence, the boy started his journey right away and in the middle of the night, he reached the fire, and there he saw a caldron boiling filled with food and forty dragons sitting around sleeping. He caught the caldron and moved it from the fire to let it cool down, and after eating as much as he wanted, he went to sleep together with the forty dragons. After a while, the dragon woke up and saw the caldron away from the fire, and a child sitting near them. Then, they simply wondered and said:"We, the forty dragons cannot move the caldron if one of us is missing. How come he lifted such a heavy caldron on his own? He must be very brave." "Do you know what we shall do?" the oldest dragon said. "When he wakes up, he will become one of us, our brother." And so they did when the boy woke up. When the boy woke up, he asked them. "Which one of you is called fear?" "None of us is called after that name, they all told him, but nearby there is a cave and it is very scary for a person to go there." "So my father was right when he told me that even if I go inside that place, I will be totally terrified. "Next, he reached the cave, and saw an elderly lady. He immediately jumped in and went down. There he saw light and a beautiful palace. However, all the doors were closed. So the boy started kicking and with each kick he managed to open every door. After he had opened all the doors, he opened all the rooms. When he opened the last door, he saw a gorgeous looking girl! The sun was shining on her face! Then, the boy pondered, "She must be the fear," and ran towards her, grabbing her arm, but she was wearing a bracelet on her arm, and she let the bracelet on the boy’s arm and vanished. Thus, the boy took the bracelet returned back to the dragons and narrated the story to them at once about what he saw and did. The following day, the boy took the bracelet and went to the city to sell it to the king of the city. On his way, he met an old man who tried to convince him to sell the bracelet to him. The boy then said, «I am not selling it because I want to sell it to the king and therefore I am going to his palace." When he heard these words, the Old man left the boy and ran to the palace before the boy got a chance to get to the palace first, and on his knees he pleaded to the king:" Mercy my Lord, I had a precious bracelet ornamented with many diamonds and it was stolen from me a few days ago." The person taking it is coming here to sell it to you." While finishing his story, the boy arrived and after the boy kneeled in front of the king, he presented the bracelet which was so beautiful that the king was left speechless. Then, the Old man started yelling that the bracelet belonged to him, and begged the king not to accept such an injustice. The boy in a similar and shameless manner got really angry and scowled at the Old man, but out of respect for the King, he did not utter a word. The king felt confused because he did not know whom to believe. Finally, he made up his mind and announced that if the boy could bring the owner of the bracelet in forty days, he could keep it. Otherwise, the Old man would get the bracelet. So, what else could the boy do but leave the bracelet with the king? And so he did leave the bracelet with the King and tried to find the owner. While he was walking by the beach, he saw a cargo ship loading oil. Next, the boy told the captain:" do you want me to help you load the barrels?" "Of course, the captain replied." Then, the boy started loading the barrels like they were not heavy at all and not before long the ship was loaded. When the captain witnessed all this, he asked the boy to come in to give him whatever he wanted as an exchange for his tremendous help. Then the boy responded:" I would love it if you took me with you." And so they did. After traveling for four to five days, one morning, the boy sees the whole crew without the Captain going down to the hold. The Captain himself after a few minutes told the boy:" I will go down to the hold to get some rest, and I want you to just take charge of the ship with this nice weather." Not an hour went by and despite the mild wind; all of a sudden the ship got stuck and could not move. Then, the boy not knowing what was happening went to the head of the ship and came across something totally eerie. A young girl who was half human and below her waist she was a fish. The boy then asked what her name was and what she wanted: "My name is Mermaid and I want my payment." "And what do you want for a payment, the boy asked?" "My payment is to throw a human into the sea for me to eat or else I will capsize the ship." "Ok then said the boy, come next to me and lift yourself up a bit so as to throw you the human… " While she was trying to reach him, the boy grabbed her hair, pulled her, rolled her on the deck and they started fighting! Even the ship virtually sank and the people in the hold were dreadful. After a while he made her kneel and he started beating her up with a bar in such a way that he didn’t leave a bone without a breakage and caused blood vomit to her! It was then, when he realized that he was sorry for her and, after making her take an oath that she would neither eat a human being nor block the ships again, he threw her into the sea The captain of the ship and his co-workers remained on the hold absolutely terrified and didn’t dare going out onto the deck, although the boy had been calling them for a long time "won’t you come upstairs?". When they heard the boy’s voice, they became adamant and went onto the deck Surprised by the blood on the floor, they asked him what had happened to him "haven’t you been listening to the screams and all that noise? A tremendous beast came here and told me that she is called Mermaid. I beat her up and threw her into the sea". They were speechless about how brave the boy had been and elated because he had protected the people from this terrible monster. After sailing for two days, they reached a big island and the child asked: -Is this island inhabited? -No, the captain said.
 Please let me go out to have a stroll and I promise I will come back! The captain in order to content the boy allowed him to get off the ship. While he was wandering closed to a valley (it was sunset), he saw a palace far in the horizon. When he went there, it started getting dark He reached a palace, he went upstairs, he found an old woman and he said: -Good evening my sweet mommy! -Welcome, she said!
 Why is it so dark? And why are you sitting alone?
 I didn’t manage to get fire from the opposite side where you can see that light. Who is going to fetch it?
 I will go, the child said and he started going to achieve his goal. While he was walking and walking he arrived there and he saw a human head having long hair. He fell between her legs and he didn’t let her move because he had already tied her with his hair. Then the child got angry and he grabbed her from the ear and he threw her away that if there weren’t grass to protect her she would have smashed into millions of pieces. Immediately he got an alight brand from the fire and happy as he was he returned to the palace and he light a fire. When the old woman saw him she said:
 My child, you had better get into the wardrobe because my three daughters will soon show up and I don’t want them to harm you.
 Your order, madam, the child said and he squeezed himself in the wardrobe. As soon as he got into the wardrobe, he heard the three daughters saying: -Good evening! Is the lunch prepared?
 It’s ready, the old woman said, and they immediately started eating. After having eaten they started drinking wine. The first one said "I’m drinking in honor of that boy who came into that chaos, broke the doors of my palace, grabbed me from the arm and, while he was pulling my hand my bracelet remained to his hand. When she filled the other daughter’s glass with wine, she said "Cheers! I’m drinking in honor of that boy who beat me so much, that I sweared not to eat people again and not to prevent anyone from going to his country". In the end, the third one filled her glass with wine and said "I’m drinking in honor of that boy who dared come to my place in order to get fire, although no one had come before. Not only did he get fire, but he also grabbed my ear and smacked me so hard that if there hadn’t been grass to fall on, I would have broken into millions of pieces." When the boy heard all these things, he opened the door of the wardrobe and he suddenly appeared in front of them "Good evening my ladies, he said". When they saw him, they recognized him and stood up in order to give him a hug and kiss him. "How did you manage to come here? the asked him. It was then, when he started narrating what had happened to him and told them about the Old man, the bracelet and that he came because he was searching for them What is more, he informed them that the king had set a deadline of forty days to him and that if he didn’t return the pair of the bracelet, the Old man would take it and it would be proved that he was the thief and this is why you are worried, the first daughter from whom the boy took the bracelet said. Here its pair is. Take also the other two bracelets. But, please marry one of us, who ever you want". The boy first wanted to meet the king because the deadline was very close. After having a whale of a time with the girls, he boarded the ship. Fortunately, he arrived at the city during the day break before the deadline ended. Then, they called the Old man who was surprised when he saw the second bracelet. The king honored the boy and sent the Old man into jail. After that, the boy gave the other two bracelets as a present to the king returned to the island and got married to the girl who had given him the bracelets.

The tale comes from a selection of Greek Minor Asian tales written by G.A. Megas