This is the last of the stories by Romanian authors given as summer reading. I hope you enjoy reading my summaries. I don't enjoy writing them, but I know the teachers mean well. Mom says writing is good for me; she witheld my rights to new books until I finish all homework. It feels like I will never finish.
The sun and the moon have gone missing! The emperor has promised his daughter and half of the kingdom to the person who brings back the Sun and the Moon from the 'zmei' -- from the other land. However, those who try and fail will have their heads cut off.
Author's note: It seems that in the past, young men would risk everything to marry the right kind of lady, which in this story comes with money and power. Ideally, the wife was supposed to also be beautiful, kind and forgiving, and produce children. Today people only discuss the latest gadget. They only care to have the best phone. Since phones cannot have children, natality is decreasing in most countries. David is the phone-loving category when he is home, but he does like traveling. He is now in Germany, and enjoys things like picking wild nuts, which he would never have cared for here just because he is with his father.
Greuceanu is a brave young man who has a way with words. On his way to the emperor he meets two sad young men. They are going to be killed becaused they ran away from murder, a.k.a battle. Greuceanu promises himself he will only undertake the retrieval of the sun and the moon if he manages to gain the forgiveness of the men. He sweet-talks the emperor into understanding that (1) it is unfair to kill the men, (2) they are more valuable as servants if they are alive than dead, and (3) the people will like him better of him if they think him merciful. The emperor forgives the men, but promises Greuceanu he would kill him if he fails even though he really likes him. This is because he has to be fair and keep his word -- since he already murdered some young men for failing to bring back the sun and the moon, he has to treat people equally.
The rest of the story proceeds as usual. Greuceanu murders two zmei who are brothers after they confess they are afraid of him. The youngest and strongest of the zmei even tells Greuceanu where the sun and the moon are, and that the key to their prison is his little finger. So, Greuceanu cuts his head off, and then cuts the little finger. Next, their wives try revenging their husbands by pretending to be a tree with golden pears and a very beautiful garden. They are both easily killed through stabbing. Then the mother of the women comes along and tries to eat Greuceanu. She is instead given his heated iron-likeness created by "Faurul pamantului" (the maker of the Earth) and dies after swallowing it.
On his way back, Greuceanu decides to be lazy, lays down in his cart and sends his brother ahead. A small demon steals his sword, and gives it to a servant who eagerly takes the credit for Greuceanu's work and shows the sword as proof. The emperor believes him, and emprisons Greuceanu's brother, but the preparations for the wedding take a long time. In the meantime, Greuceanu returns and asks for time to prove his case and bring the sword. The demon turns into a mountain of iron and keeps the sword in the mountain. Greuceau shatters the mountain by turning himself into a mace. The mountain shakes and asks for forgiveness, but greuceanu is merciless and turns the mountain into dust. He then retrieves his sword and goes back to the emperor. He marries the daughter in a celebration that lasts three weeks.
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