The King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate
Encyclopedia
The King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate is an Indian fairy tale
, included by Andrew Lang
in The Brown Fairy Book.
A widow who raised goats found that her best nanny-goat returned without a drop of milk. She followed the animal when it went to the child, and thought she had at least a son to look after her in her old age.
When the boy was grown, a peddler's donkey started to eat his mother's cabbages, and so he beat it and drove it out. The tale was borne to the peddler, with added claims that the boy had threatened to kill the peddler. The peddler complained to the king, who sent men to seize the boy. The old woman pled for his life, because she needed him to support her. The king, not believing that so old a woman could have so young a son, demanded to know where she had gotten him, and hearing the story, knew who the child was.
The king let him off if he joined the army. When the army life did not kill him, though he was sent on the most dangerous missions, and he proved a good soldier, he was enrolled in the king's bodyguard and saved him from an assassin. The king was obliged to make him an attendant, and in his missions for the king, he was continually attacked but always escaped. Finally, the king sent him with a message to a distant governor, who had charge of the princess. The mischievous princess was up and about while the rest of the castle slept in the heat of the day and found that the message was to kill the bearer of it. She substituted a letter ordering the governor to marry him to the princess.
The king, on receiving the news, abandoned his efforts to harm the boy.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
, included by Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...
in The Brown Fairy Book.
Synopsis
A king with a daughter once was lost while hunting and met a hermit, who prophesied that his daughter would marry a slave woman's son, who belonged to the king of the north. As soon as he left the forest, he sent an offer to the king of the north for the slave woman and her son. The other king made him a present of them. He took them into the forest and cut off the woman's head, and left the child there.A widow who raised goats found that her best nanny-goat returned without a drop of milk. She followed the animal when it went to the child, and thought she had at least a son to look after her in her old age.
When the boy was grown, a peddler's donkey started to eat his mother's cabbages, and so he beat it and drove it out. The tale was borne to the peddler, with added claims that the boy had threatened to kill the peddler. The peddler complained to the king, who sent men to seize the boy. The old woman pled for his life, because she needed him to support her. The king, not believing that so old a woman could have so young a son, demanded to know where she had gotten him, and hearing the story, knew who the child was.
The king let him off if he joined the army. When the army life did not kill him, though he was sent on the most dangerous missions, and he proved a good soldier, he was enrolled in the king's bodyguard and saved him from an assassin. The king was obliged to make him an attendant, and in his missions for the king, he was continually attacked but always escaped. Finally, the king sent him with a message to a distant governor, who had charge of the princess. The mischievous princess was up and about while the rest of the castle slept in the heat of the day and found that the message was to kill the bearer of it. She substituted a letter ordering the governor to marry him to the princess.
The king, on receiving the news, abandoned his efforts to harm the boy.
See also
- The Devil With the Three Golden HairsThe Devil With the Three Golden HairsThe Devil With the Three Golden Hairs is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 29. It falls under Aarne-Thompson classification types 461, "three hairs from the devil", and 930, "prophecy that a poor boy will marry a rich girl."...
- The Story of Three Wonderful BeggarsThe Story of Three Wonderful BeggarsThe Story of Three Wonderful Beggars is a Serbian fairy tale. It is also known as Vasilii the Unlucky its Russian form, collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki....
- The Fish and the RingThe Fish and the RingThe Fish and the Ring is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales. This tale has several parallels in the literature and folklore of various cultures.-Synopsis:...