The Navel of the Earth
There was once an old king who had three sons and three daughters. When the moment came
for him to die, he called for his sons and daughters. "Pay heed, my children, to what
I shall ask you to do. Give your sisters to whoever asks for them first, be he lame,
blind, or however he may be, give, if vou wish to have my blessing."
"Very well," said his children, and the King gave up the ghost.
After a shortish-longish wllile, a lame man presented himself to the eldest Prince and
asked for his eldest sister in marriage. When the Prince heard this, he grew angry and
said to him, "Ah, churl face who seeks mv sister! February cripple, pockmarked thing!
Get out of my sight, and quickly, or I'll tear your other rib out! "
So the unhappy lame man got up with a flea in his ear and went to the second Prince,
but here, too, he got thc rough edge of his tongue. Then he went on to the youngest
Prince's palace.
When the Prince heard that he was seeking his eldest sister in marriage, he said,
"Splendid! I'll give her to you, why not? It was my father's command, and I can but
obey." So he gave her to him and he married her and took her away.
Hardly had a shortish-longish while gone by when a one-eycd man presented himself to
the eldest Prince and sought his second sister in marriage. "Ugh! away with you,
one-eyed rascal, coming here for the King's daughter," he said to him. "Get out
of my sight, and quickly, or I'll have your other eye, one-eyed villain."
He, too, fled from the eldest and went to the second, but he also turned him away. Then
he went to the youngest, and this one gave her to him. After some time, along came a
beggar in rags and went to the eldest Prince and asked for his youngest sister in
marriage.
When the Prince saw him and learned that he was after his sister, he was like a demon
in his rage, and said, "Ugh, you raggletaggle! Look what we've come to now! A lousy
beggar, no less! Get out of my sight, you scum, coming here after the King's daughter!
"
The poor man fled to the second brother, but he all but had him flogged. Then he went
to the youngest and he gave her to him with all his heart. So he took her away with him.
After some time had passed, the young Prince decided to go and win the Beauty of the
World. So he closed up his palace and rode off on his horse to win her. Now many princes
had wanted to win the Beauty of the World, but they could not, so she slew them and took
their heads and built a tower with them. But she still needed one head more to finish off
the tower. It might be our own prince's head.
So when he came to that country, he went before the King her father, and told him he
had come to win his daughter.
"Very good," said the King, "and I shall give her to you. I shall shut
you up in an underground room for forty days, and in that time you will think out what the
features are of the navel of the earth. At the end of forty days, I shall let you out to
tell me what you have thought. If you haven't found it, my daughter shall have your head
to put on her tower, for she is building a tower of human heads and needs one more to
complete it-it might well be yours."
"It might well," said the Prince.
So they put him in the underground room and brought him food and water.
One day, when he had thought and cudgeled his brains to findwhat the features were of
the navel of the earth, he became dizzy with thinking, and got up to take a stroll. As he
was strolling, he noticed a small window. He went up and opened it and saw another world.
He climbed through the window, came upon a staircase, and went down forty steps. Then he
found a path and took it to escape from his prison. He went on walking until noon, when he
found a tower, and outside the castle, near the door, a spring and a tree. He drank water
at the spring and lay down in the shade of the tree to rest.
As he was lying there and thinking, a Moorish woman came down from the castle to fetch
water, saw the Prince, and said, "Welcome, pretty lad." "Well may I find
you," said the Prince. "And how is it you are here in these parts where not even
bird on the wing will come?" "Indeed, my fate drove me this way and here I
am."
When the Moorish woman had filled her pitcher, she went back to the castle and told her
mistress that a handsome youth was below at the spring, resting himself. "Run and bid
him come up!" said her mistress.
The Moorish woman went and invited the Prince to the tower. No sooner did the mistress
clap eyes on him than she rushed up to him and embraced and kissed him on both cheeks, for
she was the Prince's eldest sister. The lame man, the blind man, and the beggar, who had
married the princesses, were brothers and all were drakoe. Then the Prince's sister asked
him how he came to be in that place. The Prince told her that he had come to win the
Beauty of the World and had been shut up in an underground room to think out what the
features were of the navel of the earth, and had found a little window which led him out
to that place.
"You should not have gone and been caught in such a place," his sister said
to him, "but fate has helped you and brought you here. It may be that the drakos or
his brothers know what those features are." Then she hid him lest the drakos should
come in angry and eat him.
A little while later, in came the drakos and said, "Phew, the castle smells of
human."
"It is nothing," said the Princess, "you have come in from outside,
that's all."
When the drakos had eaten to his heart's content, the Princess said to him "Well,
now, supposing one day a brother of mine should come here what would you do to him?"
"If the eldest or the second should come, I should tear them to pieces."
"And if the youngest should come?" "Ah, the youngest," said the
drakos, "made me his slave by his good manners; if he should come, I would rise from
my place for him to sit and I'd build him a castle of his own to live in."
"Well, he has come," said the Princess. "What, has he?" said the
drakos. "And, if he has come, why have you not brought him to me?" .
"I was afraid you might do something to him," said the Princess. "What
should I do to him? Come, bring him to me." The Princess went and brought him. When
the dragon saw him he got up at once and kissed him on both cheeks and sat him down in his
place and then asked him how it was he had come to those parts. And the Prince told him
what had befallen him.
"And now I have come to you," he said to him, "to tell me, if you know,
what the features are of the navel of the earth, for I am all but out of my mind with
thinking about it."
Then the drakos said to him, "I do not know what the features are of the navel of
the earth, but stay here as long as you like, and then go to my brother who married your
second sister. He might know."
After staying there a number of days, he was put on the road and went on to his second
sister. When she saw him, she was amazed that he should be in those parts. He told her,
too, what had happened to him, and she told him in her turn. And after the drakos had come
and had eaten and was in a good mood, she led up to the matter, asking him what he would
do if any of her brothers should come. He too said that if her elder brothers should come,
he would tear them to pieces; but if the youngest were to come, he would treat him like a
king. After all this, she brought him to the drakos, who, in his turn, embraced and kissed
him on both cheeks and asked him what need he had to be in those parts. The Prince told
him, too, of his trouble. And he, in his turn, sent him to their other brother, who had
married the Prince's youngest sister.
So he went there, to cut the story short-for the children are sleepy and the tale is a
long one-and when his sister saw him, she embraced and kissed him, then hid him so that
the drakos would not eat him. And when the drakos had eaten his fill of his favorite
victuals, the Princess led up to the matter and then brought him out. When the drakos saw
him, he jumped for joy. And when he had embraced him, he sat him down in his own place.
"Tell me, now," he said to him, "what trouble has brought you to these
parts where never a human treads? "
When the Prince had told him his troubles, the drakos said to him, "I don't know
what the features are of the navel of the earth, but I shall now find out. Follow
me."
He followed him up to the highest part of the castle and the drakos whistled a whistle
such that the mountains rattled with the noise and he saw the wild beasts break out from
inside the mountains and from off the trees. The plain filled with all sorts land
conditions of animals, wild and tame, that called, "What is your
will, Master?"
And he said to them, "Which of you has ever been to the navel of the earth and can
tell us what its features are?"
But none had chanced to go and none answered him
The drakos scolded them and sent them away. Then he whistled again another kind of
whistle, and all the winged creatures of the air, big and small, flocked together, even
the flies and gnats. He asked them the same, but none could give him an answer. As they
stood there in thought, they saw an eagle coming from afar and shining like the sun. As it
drew closer, they saw that it was loaded, at the throat and on the wings, feet, and body,
with diamonds, gold, silver, and pearls.
The drakes said to it, "Why have you tarried?"
And the eagle answered, "I was sick with the mange, O Master. And I remembered
hearing from my old grandfather that whoever gets the mange should go to the navel of the
earth where three springs flow, bathe himself in that water and be cured. As I was in sore
need, I took the road and went. There are three springs there: one runs with gold, one
with silver, one with diamonds, and at each spring stands a tree that bears pearls. So I
went and stood under the spout of each spring in turn and bathed and was cured of the
mange. Then I loaded myself with gold, silver, and diamonds, and I sat on the tree and
loaded myself with pearls. Just then I heard the whistle and took the road, and as I was
heavily laden and old, I was a long time coming; so please forgive me. Now come and unload
me."
When he had unloaded it, the drakos asked, "What else is there at the navel of the
earth?"
'There are many trees that bear all kinds of ornaments," said the eagle.
Then the drakos gave the word, and all the winged creatures flew away. The ornaments
that he had taken from the eagle he tied in a cloth and gave to the Prince, saying,
"Now with your own ears you have heard what the features are of the navel of the
earth. Take these ornaments and show them to the King as proof."
After staying a good many days at the castle with his sister and brother-in-law, he
bade them farewell and left. He called at the other castles and bade his sisters and
brothers-in-law farewell, then took the road and again found the little window, got back
if into his prison, and called to be taken out and brought before the King.
And the King asked him, "Well, how have you fared? Have you thought what the
features are of the navel of the earth?" "I have, Lord King, but let the
Princess come too and hear what they are." The King gave the order for the Princess
to come before him. When the Prince saw her, he was dazzled by her beauty.
And she, too, asked him, "Have you discovered what the features are of the navel
of the earth?"
"I have, Princess," he said. "At the navel of the earth flow three
springs; at each spring stands a tree that bears pearls, and one spring runs gold, the
next spring runs silver, and the third diamonds. Hold out your apron and I'll give you the
proof of it."
The Princess held out her apron, and the Prince emptied into it the ornaments that the
eagle had brought. When the Princess saw them, her eyes lit up. He said to her, "The
gold, silver, and diamonds are from the springs and the pearls are from the tree."
Then the Princess said to her father, "For how many years, my Father, have I
sought for him and he for me! It is a pity that we took the lives of so many young men
wrongly. So it is he I shall have for my husband."
The King gave his consent and married them and ordered the the wedding feast and revels
to go on for forty days.
Griechisches Volksmärchen, cf. G. Megas: Griechische Volksmärchen. (AT 552,
Griechenland)
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