Another story to summarize as vacation homework -- read and discussed with mom.
Once upon a time, there were three very
beautiful sisters. They were the daughters of an oil merchant (Romania
had lots of clean/pure oil; our oil fueled the second world war, but smaller amounts of oil were extracted and sold long before that.) The first one was so beautiful that sheep would stop eating when they saw her in their midst. The second sister was so beautiful that the wolves would come and guard her sheep. The third sister was more beautiful than the first two combined -- she was beautiful as only she could be. One day the emperor and two of
his friends rode by. The sisters were talking among themselves. The
first one promised to make bread that would keep her husband forever
young. The second one promised to make a shirt that he could wear
through fire without getting burned and through water without getting
wet. The youngest, called Laptita, said she would give birth to twins
with golden hair and a star on their forehead.
The emperor married Laptita, and his friends married the other sisters. The first two sisters deliver their miracles within a few weeks. We are then told of the presence of the evil step mother who had a daughter whom she wanted the emperor to marry. The step mother also has a brother with a big army who declares war when his sister tells him to, which is just when Laptita is supposed to give birth. The emperor goes to war and Laptita gives birth to two magical children. The step mother, naturally, buries them alive in front of the window of their father -- one at each corner. When the emperor returns, he is presented with two puppies and told his wife gave birth to them. He believes it to be true AND punishes his wife by burying her alive up to her breasts in between the graves of her children. This must also be in front of his bed-room window.
[This story reinforces how silly grown-ups are. They believe what they are told even if it's clearly impossible. We see this with COVID-19. Forgiveness is also seldomly for women, but children are more important than living forever or going unscathed through fire or water. Still, the wife is buried alive and somehow survives to forgive her husband after he finally figures out he was wrong (incidentally, he marries another person in the meantime, but that's a detail -- the other person can just become a lowly servant; she is lucky to not be tied to the tail of the mad horse with her mother). The magical parts say what the children have to go through to be believed. We see they have to be impossibly resilient to save the day. Today, many children live in places where the natality is high, i.e., they live in war zones -- and survive impossible odds. Most never get to tell their stories, and if they do, it does not make a long-term difference. Grown ups make more wars and bury more children alive (and plenty of adults, too), and yet somehow humanity survives. But for how long? let's, however, get back to the story...]
Two beautiful trees grow over the graves of the boys, while the step-mother convinces the son to marry her daughter -- i.e., his step-sister. The latter is disturbed by the beautiful trees. They remind her of her guilt. So, she convinces her husband to cut the trees and have beds made out of them. She cannot sleep well in the new bed either. So, she orders the beds to be burned and replaced by beds from ordinary trees. Two sparks jump out of the fire and turn into two golden lambs. The empress takes the lambs proudly to her husband because they were so friendly and beautiful. He becomes very fond of them, and his wife becomes jealous and convinces him to have them killed and cooked. Two pieces of their brains fall when the dishes are washed in a nearby river and turn into fish. The fish are caught by a fisherman who wants to sell them to the emperor. They start talking and tell him they would finally be killed if they were taken there. Instead, they advise the fisherman to gather morning dew and let them bathe in it until it dries. He does so and they turn into to little boys again with golden hair and a star on their forhead.
The boys learn and grow very
fast. They also become stronger than oxen. The fisherman makes two hats
from lamb skin to hide their golden hair and the shinny star on their
foreheads. They then go to see their father. They bypass the guards, but
the emperor kicks them out himself. The empress, however, is curious and
asks to see them. It's dinner time and she seats on 13 pillows. When
she sees them, she orders them out. The emperor does not agree this time
and decides to hear their story. They tell the story of their life and
each time a piece of truth is revealed a pillow falls from under the
empress. At the end of their tale they take their hats off and reveal the
stars and the golden hair to prove that everything they say is true.
The
story ends with the emperor punishing his step-mother by tying her to
the tail of a mad horse and sending the horse go around the country
seven times so that everyone sees what happens to people who commit evil
deeds. The current empress and wife is turned into the lowliest
servant, while they unearth Laptita, who is still alive AND forgives
him, and they all live happily ever after.
This is a story by
Ioan Slavici, but versions of it appear by other authors as well as in
folklore. The Russian version we have read is called Ivan
Preainteleptul. While in our story the girls fulfill their promises, in this story the first two sisters
fail. The emperor has no friends. He thus marries all three sisters -- one at a
time. He, naturally, discards them and remarries the next once each fails to
fulfill her promise and admits it was just silly talk that was
overheard. The last one, however, miraculously keeps her promise and gives births several times. Yet each time the
children are taken from her, and imprisoned while the emperor is shown
various animals. He loves her so much that he forgives her, while continuing to support her aggressor, and hopes that the next time would be different. He, however, never there when she gives births, but comes home just after the children are taken away.
After the last birth the emperor finally disposes of his wife. She is thrown into the sea in a
barrel with her last child where it is believed she will either drown or die of thirst/starvation. The emperor marries the woman who imprisoned his children. Ivan Preainteleptul and his mother, however, escape and manage to build a place
grater than that of his father by stealing some magical objects. Ivan releases his siblings, invites the emperor over to his palace, and convinces him of his folly by telling him the whole story.
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