The Shepherd Boy And The Elf King
There was once a poor shepherd boy named Johan who lived with his stepmother. She was indeed a heartless lady and always grumbled to give her son even a morsel of food. So much wool she had, yet she never bothered to provide him with sufficient clothing during the cold winter. The helpless little boy suffered quietly without a word of complaint and tended the sheep on the green hills nearby. One day, as Johan was looking for a lamb that had gone astray, he saw glittering in the sunshine a tiny shoe of the whitest and the clearest glass. He picked it up and had taken but a few steps when he found a little red cap, set round with silver frills. It was almost evening when he chanced to strike his foot against a golden bell that lay in the grass. It gave forth so sweet and magical a sound that all his sheep gathered in a while and stood still to listen.
The lost lamb, too, came gamboling, as if from nowhere, and joined the flock. It was getting late, and the shepherd boy walked fast homewards wondering who could be the owners of these little things he held in his hands. Suddenly he heard a faint sound of music, singing, and laughter. He strained both his ears and eyes and saw in the light of the moon, which had just risen over the hills, a strange sight. Beside the rippling streamlet and around a small flame danced and sang a host of wee little people. "Ah! That must be the elfin dance of the fairy tales. These things must surely belong to these elves," thought Johan. So dropping on to his knees he gently asked, "Excuse me, little Friends, have you lost a glass shoe, a red cap, and a golden bell?" The fanfare at once came to a standstill and in a chorus, which almost seemed like a whisper, they replied, "At last, the magical bell, shoe of glass, and the frilled cap of red have been found. Hurray!" Then Johan felt something climbing onto his shoulder. On it stood the king of the elves with a flowing white beard touching his toes. "You have done us a good turn. We are grateful and in return, you may ask for three wishes," he said, almost tickling the shepherd boy's ear. Johan at once told the wishes that he had so often dreamt of, lying in his tumbledown hut. "I wish to be a king, and I wish to have a great palace and a very beautiful queen!" "You've wished no trifle wishes!" said the Oldman. "Nevertheless, listen carefully to what I've to tell you. Tomorrow when the owls have begun to hoot, follow that bright star twinkling in the sky. It will lead you to a royal palace. Take this pipe. If ever you fall into trouble, play a sweet strain and you shall receive help. Mind you, the greater the peril, the sweeter and sadder should be the tune. The use of the pipe is limited to three times only and no more."
Then, bidding farewell, the elf king disappeared and Johan bent his steps homewards, rejoicing as he went along that soon he would be free from the clutches of his cruel stepmother. The following night he set forth according to the instructions of the old elf king. The journey was arduous, over hills and dales. Thrice did the sunrise and thrice did it set and still, he seemed to be far from his destination. At last on the fourth day, he came to a magnificent palace. He asked for some work and was taken to tend the royal sheep and cattle as the king was in need of a herd boy. Soon, he came to be liked and respected by one and all as the wild wolves never managed to get a single animal from his custody. Years passed by. Johan had now grown up into a handsome and vigorous young man. The princess of the realm, too, sprang into the fairest figure. In fact, Johan had met the princess on several occasions, when he was a young boy and she a young girl. He had always been delighted to do so and one day, she had even requested him to take charge of her little white lamb and protect it from the wolves. But he was unaware that she was the king's daughter. It so happened that one day, the princess was missing and was nowhere to be found. There was great sorrow in the realm. The king finally made a proclamation that whosoever should recover his daughter shall not only win her hand but also half of the kingdom.