entire court. Is your princess capable of receiving my men?”
The princess’ messenger responded, “That will be no problem for the princess, Your Highness.”
Intrigued by the power of this unknown princess, the king accepted the invitation and made the journey with his court. When he arrived at the palace, he immediately realized how powerful she was. She welcomed him with the greatest honors and gave him one of her reception rooms to stay in. She then had the best possible dishes made, and to show her father that loving someone like salt is no idle talk, she decided to have them all prepared without salt, all except the soup.
At supper time, everyone sat down to eat. The king picked up his spoon and began to eat, but he was only able to swallow one small bite of each dish. Finally, he came to the soup, and ate the entire bowl. The princess said to him, “Your Highness, why did you choose to eat the soup, even though you had all the best dishes in the world before you?”
The king answered her, “These dishes cannot be called good, none of them have any salt. That is why I wasn’t able to eat them. But this bowl of soup was salted, and I found it ten times better than any of the other dishes.” At that very moment, he recalled the words of his daughter whom he had driven from his court, but he avoided mentioning it.
After the meal, the king and the princess began to talk about various things. The king stopped and said to the princess, “One day, I asked my three daughters how much they loved me. The youngest one said she loved me as much as salt, and I did not understand what that meant. I thought it was an offense to my rank, so I drove her from my court. After what has just happened, I understand now that she loved me very much.”
The moment he admitted his mistake, his daughter revealed her true identity and the father and daughter united their two kingdoms. They became the most powerful rulers and spent the rest of their lives living happily on their lands.
The Shepherd
There was once a shepherd who lived in a village with his wife and child. As time went on, the shepherd’s son grew to be a young man.
One day, he said to his father, “Father, I would like you to go ask the king for his daughter’s hand for me.”
His father was astonished and felt the need to explain a few things to him. “The king’s daughter, for you? That’s impossible! I am nothing but a village shepherd and I simply cannot go see the king to ask him for his daughter’s hand for my son. The king will never agree to that.”
His son would hear none of it. He insisted, and so as not to disappoint his son, the father agreed to go speak to the king.
The next morning, he set off for the palace. When he arrived, his presence was announced to the king, who had his servants show him in. The shepherd thus found himself before the king.
“Well, shepherd, what is your problem?”
“Excuse me, my lord, for disturbing you at such a time, but I had to come see you.”
“Have no fear, shepherd, tell me what is troubling you.”
Reassured, the shepherd began, “My king, I have a son, and he wishes to marry your daughter. I have therefore come to ask you for her hand for him.”
The king thought about this for a moment, then said, “Shepherd, go see my daughter. If she agrees, then you have my blessing. If not, then that will be the end of it.”
The shepherd was taken to where the king’s daughter lived and explained to her why he had come. After thinking the matter over, the king’s daughter responded that she was willing to marry the shepherd’s son. Satisfied, the shepherd returned home and immediately set about preparing for the wedding.
A few days later, just when a delegation was about to set off to bring back the king’s daughter, the shepherd’s son had a dream in which he saw a wise man who begged him not to marry the king’s daughter, telling him that he was rather to marry a girl who lived in another village. When he awoke, the shepherd’s son ran to the delegation and informed everyone that he no longer wished to marry the king’s daughter.
His father was furious at this unexpected news, and he said to his son, “How dare you say such a thing? The king is going to banish us from the village!”
“Be that as it may,” responded his son, “I can no longer marry his daughter!” Then he leapt onto his horse and rode out of the village. As he rode, he came upon two men.
“Where are you going?” he asked them.
“Nowhere in particular. We are looking for work.”
“May I ride with you for a bit?”
“You are welcome to join us!”
The three young men thus rode on together.
Suddenly, an old man appeared before them and asked one of them, “Where are you going?”
“Nowhere in particular. We are looking for work.”
The old man took a pen from the pocket of his cloak and gave it to one of them. To the other, he gave a coin, then he turned to the shepherd’s son. “And what about you? Where are you going?”
“I am going to marry a girl who lives in a far-off village.”
The old man said to him, “The girl you are talking about just died today! When you reach the village, you will see everyone mourning. Ask her parents for her clothes, then go to her grave. Say a prayer and she will come back to life. As soon as she comes back to life, take her to her home and ask her parents for her hand. If they say yes, marry her; if not, then return home alone.”
The shepherd’s son told the old man he understood.
When he reached the village gate, he heard weeping and crying. He went to question a villager. “Why all these cries?”
“Because the daughter of one of the villagers has just died.”
“Where is her parents’ house?”
“Over there. You see, over there where all those people are.” He immediately went to the house where a crowd was gathered. He stood before the door and called the girl’s mother.
She came to the door and asked, “What do you want, young man?”
“I want you to give me the clothes your daughter was wearing the day she died.”
Everyone found his request quite strange and urged her not to give him anything at all. But the mother was touched and gave the young man the clothes he had asked for. He took the girl’s clothes and went straight to her grave, placed them on it, and said a prayer.
The girl came out of the tomb and put on the clothes. He gave her his hand. They both returned to the village and went to her parents’ house. Seeing their son return with the young man, all the villagers began to sing and dance to celebrate her resurrection.
The young man told her parents that he wished to marry their daughter. They immediately agreed, and the two got married and went to live in another village.
