Prslea the Brave and the Golden Apples

A king had a magnificent garden with a tree that bore golden apples, but he never ate them, because every year, the apples were stolen as they became ripe. None of his guards could catch the thief. His oldest two sons tried, one year after the other, but fell asleep near midnight. The next year, the youngest son, Prslea, tried. He set up two stakes to prick him if he ever started to lean in his sleep. At midnight, he heard rustling and shot an arrow. In the morning, a trail of blood led away, and the apples were ripe. The king was pleased, but Prslea wanted to track the thief. He and his brothers followed the blood to a ravine, where the older two brothers tried to have the others lower each one of them, grew frightened, and came back. Prslea had them lower him. He found a copper castle. There, a lovely maiden told him she was a princess, and that the Zmeu that had kidnapped her and her two sisters had wanted to marry them, but the sisters had put them off with demands. He fought with the Zmeu there and killed him; went on to the second castle, of silver, and killed the second Zmeu; went on the third castle, of gold, where the Zmeu was, and wrestled with him as well. It was a longer fight, and Prslea called on a raven to drop some tallow on him, in return for three corpses. This strengthened him, and he fought on. Then both the Zmeu and Prslea called on the princess there to give them water; she gave it to Prslea, and he killed the Zmeu. The princesses showed him a magic whip that made golden apples. Each of them took one. Prslea brought the princesses back and sent them up. The older two told the brothers that they would marry them. Then Prslea sent up a stone with his cap. His brothers dropped it, to kill him, and married the older sisters. Prslea saved some eaglets from a Zgripturoaica (sort of a griffon), and their mother, in gratitude, carried him to the other world. There, he found that the youngest princess was being pressed to accept a suitor. She said that she would accept only if she received a golden distaff and spindle that would spin of themselves, because the Zmeu had given her one. Prslea went to work for the silversmith who had to do this and brought out the one the Zmeu had given her, using the golden apple. The princess then demanded a golden hen with golden chick, and when he produced it, insisted that he be brought before her, because he had to have the golden apple. They recognized Prslea. He and his brothers went

outside and shot arrows into the air. The brothers' arrows hit and killed them, but Prslea's hit the ground. He married the youngest princess.