Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar/The Lucky Child
THE LUCKY CHILD.
Once upon a time there lived a rich merchant, with his wife. They were good, as well as kind, people, but though they were a happy couple, there was one thing that grieved them sorely—but which some people might have thought was a great blessing,—they had no children. They prayed and prayed night and day for a child to brighten them as they grew older; but no; they fed, clothed, and took care of beggar children, and helped all the poor people around them, and were always ready to do good; but all this did not bring them any children. However, all these little good deeds and kindness made them very popular in the country in which they dwelt, and people loved them and respected them.
But one day the merchant set to work to build a very large, large bridge across a dark broad river, near which he lived. Now this river was so very broad that no person had yet been able to cross over to the other side, for the waves were so large and angry that the people were afraid of being drowned; one or two had ventured in big ships, but these even had been overturned, so great and powerful was that river. Great then was the wonder and astonishment when the good merchant began building a bridge over this dreadful river, and greater still was the love and respect he won from everybody.
When at last this tremendous bridge was finished, the merchant sent one of his clerks, Theodore by name, and told him to go on to the bridge and listen to what people said and thought about it.
Theodore obeyed, and hid himself on the bridge, presently he saw three holy men coming along; he listened, and heard one say,—
"This is indeed a wonderful thing, this bridge; the good merchant is always thinking how he can please everybody; but we, alas! never think how we can best please him; we really ought to reward him in some way."
"How can we, brother?" said another; "he is the richest man in the kingdom, he does not want anything."
"Yes, brother," said the third, "he does want something; he wants a child."
"True!" said the first, "that is his greatest wish, how stupid of me not to think of that before! We shall reward him with a child, and a lucky child."
Theodore went home and told his master what he had heard. And that very year a beautiful boy was sent.
But Theodore, the clerk, jealous of his master's luck, began thinking what he had best do to revenge himself on the good merchant. He waited until night, then he took a dove, killed it, and sprinkling the blood on the child's bed and on the hands of its mother, took the child, and paid an old woman to take care of it.
When morning dawned the merchant missed the child; he asked all his servants whether any of them had seen the boy; but no, they none of them had set eyes on him. At last the merchant asked Theodore whether he had seen him.
"No," said the wicked clerk; "but why do you ask everybody whether they have seen the child? Look properly at the child's little bed; see, it is all covered with blood, and so are your wife's hands, though she is sleeping peacefully; it is she who killed your boy, there is no doubt of that."
The merchant looked and saw that what his clerk had said was true, and therefore thought that his wife had certainly killed the boy. He at once ordered the poor woman to be locked up in prison, while he mourned over the loss of his child.
Years passed on, and the boy became a strong, healthy, beautiful child, and was able to run about and talk about everything. He also possessed the great power of wishing, and of doing things that none but fairies and such like could do. All this time the child had no idea that he was the son of the rich merchant, whom everybody praised so highly, but lived happily with the old woman to whom Theodore had given him to be taken care of.
Theodore had left the merchant, and was now living by himself, and thanks to the Lucky Child, had all he required, and all his wishes attended to.
One day Theodore took the boy and went with him to the river-side, near to the bridge which the merchant had built, and said to him,—
"Let the other side of the water be a new kingdom, and let by the side of this bridge a crystal one appear, so that when the king sees it, he might give me his daughter to be my wife."
The boy wished it all to be so, and immediately a beautiful crystal bridge stood before them, and on the other side a splendid kingdom sprang up, with a palace of gold, and marble churches and walls.
When the king woke up on the following morning, and saw these wonderful things, he asked who it was that made them, and was told that Theodore was the maker.
"Well," said the king, "if he is such a clever man as all that, he can have my daughter for his wife, as a reward."
Theodore married the princess, and became king over the new kingdom, and took the Lucky Child to live with him in the palace. But Theodore was not kind to the boy, he beat him and gave him very little to eat, making him do all kinds of hard work for him, and ordering him to obey his wishes, so that the boy's life at the palace was by no means pleasant. Still he bore everything very patiently, as he liked Theodore, and was very fond of the princess.
One evening Theodore and his wife were talking to each other, while the boy sat unnoticed in a corner weeping. Suddenly the princess turned to her husband, and asked,—
"How was it that you became so rich? I hear that you were once only a poor clerk, in the good merchant's office."
"Well, my riches and my supposed cleverness are not my own, they all belong to that little boy, who lives with us."
"How so? I do not understand you."
"Well, I shall tell you the whole story, on condition that you tell no one."
And after the princess had promised not to say a word to any one, Theodore told her the story of his sins and his unkindness to the little boy.
"I became jealous of the merchant," he began, "and when the child was sent to him, I determined to be revenged on him somehow; so I took this child, whom both the parents loved dearly, and paid a woman to take care of it, while I put all the blame on the mother, whom the merchant straightway sent to prison, thinking that she had killed him. I then kept the child for myself, for he was useful to me; if ever I wished for anything I told him, and I got what I wanted."
The princess was so horrified that she did not know what to do or say, but the child, when he heard what Theodore had said, sprang forward, boiling with rage, and cried out wrathfully,—
"Let this wretched man be changed into a dog!"
And in another moment Theodore was no more, but a horrid, half-starved dog stood in his place.
The boy tied an iron chain round the dog's neck, and started off to the merchant's house.
"My good man," he said, when he came to his father, "give me a red-hot coal."
"What for, young man?" asked the father.
"My dog is rather hungry, and I want to feed him."
"Good heavens! but where on earth did any one hear of a Christian feeding his dog on coals?"
"And where, please tell me—where was it ever known that a Christian mother killed her child?"
"What do you mean, young man?"
"This—that I am your lost child, and that this dog is your old clerk Theodore, who told all those lies about my mother."
And the boy told his father all that he had heard Theodore tell his wife. The merchant was delighted to have his son back, and at once ordered his wife to be set free again. They then all three moved to the golden palace, on the other side of the river, where they lived in happiness ever after, while the princess went back to her father.
As for the dog Theodore, he remained a dog until his death, which fortunately took place very soon; whether it was from the hot coal, or something else, I cannot say, all I know is, that he departed this life.
The little boy became a great man, and was a lucky one all his life.