THE THREE ORANGE APPLES
The boy saluted the old woman and left.
Before sunset, he arrived at the king's castle.
“Good evening, king. Here are the three orange apples."
Quickly, the king opened the basket.
"Thank you, my friend. These are indeed three orange apples."
Immediately, her daughter ate the first one, and she got up from her bed. She ate the second one, and she got up, more beautiful and healthier than ever. She ate the third one and said:
“I will have neither peace nor rest until I am married to the boy who brought me the three orange apples."
The king looked askance at the boy.
“Boy, you will only marry my daughter if you chase away all the flies from the country."
"King, you will be obeyed."
The boy grabbed his whip. Just by hearing it click, flies would fly seven leagues around, never to return, ever. By sunset, not a single one remained in the country.
“King, I did what you commanded me."
The king looked askance at the boy.
“Boy, you will only marry my daughter if you keep three hundred hares in the countryside for a whole week, and if you bring them back to the stable every evening at sunset."
"King, you will be obeyed."
The boy took his silver whistle and went to look after three hundred hares in the countryside for a whole week. Every evening, at sunset, he whistled. Immediately the three hundred hares ran from all sides and followed him like dogs to the stable.
“King, I did what you commanded me."
The king looked askance at the boy.
“Boy, give me one of your hares."
"King, choose your hare. In payment, I ask that I put this gold ring on your daughter's finger."
"Boy, do what you want."
The boy put the golden ring on the king's daughter's finger. As soon as it passed, the golden ring became one with the flesh, and squeezed the finger so hard, so hard, that the king's daughter cried out:
“Father, I will die if you do not marry me to the boy who brought me the three orange apples."
"My daughter, you will marry him tomorrow."
Immediately, the golden ring no longer tightened, and the king's daughter remained quiet.
The wedding took place the next day, and the bride and groom lived happily for a long time.
Source: Les trois pommes d’orange, from the French book Contes populaires de la Gascogne, tome 2, published in 1886
Next Tale: The Son of the King of Spain
Hello, my name is Vincent Celier.
I am writing translations of folk tales that I found in public domain French books, so that people who do not understand French may enjoy them too.
There is no real surprise at the end of this tale. The old woman (who was a fairy in fact) gave the boy everything to satisfy the king, and to force him to give his daughter in marriage.
In the 19th century and before, there were no TV, no radio, no record, and of course no Internet. Furthermore, many people were illiterate, so they could not read; books were of no use to them. In the country, there were no libraries. So literate people had access to few books, that they could read aloud for the illiterate ones.
So, entertainment was mostly live music and listening to tales.
As we have seen, there are many repetitions in these tales. The tales were also told again and again, and people enjoyed them each time, even though they already knew the story. This is similar to people nowadays who see a movie repeatedly because they like it.
As I said yesterday, Kati fried the zucchini that had grown in the vegetable patch in the middle of the "lawn" that is near her house.
She used only two of the zucchini, the green one and one of the yellow one. She had to make two batches, as the frying pan was not large enough for the whole.
I really like fried zucchini and I enjoyed myself eating those. I did not notice any difference in taste between the green and the yellow zucchini.
Bon appétit!
-- Vincent Celier