The White Snake

Long ago, there lived a king who was famed throughout the land for his wisdom. Nothing was hidden from him, and it seemed as if news of the most secret things came to him through the air. But he had a strange custom. Every day at dinner, after the table had been cleared and everyone had left, a trusted servant had to bring him one more dish. It was covered and even the servant did not know what was in it, nor did anyone else, for the king never removed the cover until he was completely alone.

This had gone on for a long time when one day the servant who carried the dish was overcome with curiosity. Unable to resist, he took the dish to his room. After carefully locking the door, he lifted the cover and found a white snake lying on the plate.

At the sight of it, he could not restrain his desire to taste it, so he cut off a small piece and put it in his mouth. As soon as it touched his tongue, he heard a strange whispering of delicate voices outside his window. He went and listened, and realized that it was the sparrows talking together, telling each other of all the things they had seen in the fields and woods. Eating the snake had given him the power to understand the language of animals.

Now it happened that on this very day, the queen lost her most beautiful ring, and suspicion fell upon this trusted servant, who had access to all parts of the palace. The king summoned him and threatened with angry words that unless he could name the thief before the next day, he would be considered guilty and executed. It was useless for him to protest his innocence; the king would not listen.

In his distress and fear, he went down to the courtyard and thought about how he could help himself out of this trouble. Now some ducks were sitting peacefully together by a stream, preening themselves with their beaks while having a confidential chat. The servant stood still and listened to them.

They were telling each other how they had waddled about all morning and found good food. But one of them said rather sadly, “Something lies heavy in my stomach. As I was hastily eating this morning, I swallowed a ring that was lying under the queen’s window.”

The servant immediately seized the duck by the neck, carried it to the kitchen, and said to the cook, “Slaughter this one; it’s well-fattened.”

“Yes,” said the cook, weighing it in his hand. “It has spared no effort to fatten itself and has been waiting to be roasted long enough.”

So the cook cut off its head, and as it was being prepared for the table, the queen’s ring was found inside its stomach. The servant could now easily prove his innocence to the king, who, wishing to make amends for the injustice, granted him any favor he might ask and promised him the highest position of honor at the court.

The servant declined all these offers and only asked for a horse and some money for traveling, as he had a desire to see the world and explore it for a while.

When his request was granted, he set out on his journey and one day came to a pond where he noticed three fish that had gotten caught in the reeds and were gasping for water. Although people say fish are mute, he heard their complaint that they must die so miserably. Since he had a compassionate heart, he got off his horse and put the three prisoners back into the water. They wriggled with delight, stretched up their heads, and called to him, “We will remember and repay you for saving us!”

He rode on, and after a while, it seemed to him that he heard a voice in the sand at his feet. He listened and heard an ant king complain, “If only people with their clumsy beasts would keep off our bodies! That stupid horse is treading down my people mercilessly with his heavy hoofs!”

The young man turned his horse onto a side path, and the ant king called out to him, “We will remember and repay you!”

The path led him into a forest, and there he saw a father raven and mother raven standing by their nest, throwing out their young.

“Get out, you idle good-for-nothings!” they cried. “We cannot feed you anymore; you are big enough to provide for yourselves!”

The poor young ravens lay on the ground, fluttering and beating their wings, crying, “We helpless children! We are to provide for ourselves, and yet we cannot fly! What can we do but die of hunger?”

The good young man dismounted, killed his horse with his sword, and left its body for the young ravens to feed on. They hopped up to it, satisfied their hunger, and croaked, “We will remember and repay you!”

Now he had to use his own legs and after walking a long way, he came to a great city. There was much noise and crowd in the streets, and a man rode up on horseback, proclaiming that the king’s daughter sought a husband, but whoever wanted to court her must perform a difficult task, and if he did not succeed, he would forfeit his life. Many had already tried and lost their lives in vain.

When the young man saw the princess, he was so dazzled by her beauty that he forgot all danger, went before the king, and announced himself as a suitor.

He was immediately led out to the sea and a golden ring was thrown into it before his eyes. Then the king ordered him to fetch it from the bottom of the sea, adding, “If you come up without it, you will be thrown back in again and again until you perish in the waves.”

Everyone pitied the handsome youth, but they had to leave him alone at the seashore. He stood there considering what to do when suddenly he saw three fish swimming toward him, and they were none other than the ones whose lives he had saved. The middle one held a mussel in its mouth, which it laid on the shore at the young man’s feet. When he picked it up and opened it, there lay the golden ring inside.

Full of joy, he brought it to the king, expecting to receive his promised reward. But the proud princess, when she learned that he was not her equal in birth, disdained him and demanded that he perform a second task. She went down into the garden and scattered ten sacks of millet seeds on the grass.

“By tomorrow morning before sunrise, these must be picked up,” she said, “and not a single grain must be missing.”

The young man sat in the garden, thinking about how he could possibly accomplish this task, but he could think of nothing, and sat there sadly, awaiting his death at dawn. But when the first rays of the sun fell on the garden, he saw the ten sacks standing neatly in a row, filled to the brim, and not a single grain was missing. The ant king had arrived in the night with thousands and thousands of ants, and the grateful creatures had picked up all the millet with great diligence and put it into the sacks.

The princess herself came down to the garden and saw with astonishment that the young man had completed the task. But her proud heart was still not softened, and she said, “Although he has performed both tasks, he shall not become my husband until he brings me an apple from the Tree of Life.”

The young man did not know where the Tree of Life stood, but he set out, willing to walk as far as his legs would carry him, though he had no hope of finding it. After he had wandered through three kingdoms, he came one evening to a forest and lay down under a tree to sleep. He heard a rustling in the branches, and a golden apple fell into his hand. At the same time, three ravens flew down, perched on his knee, and said, “We are the three young ravens that you saved from starvation. When we grew up and heard that you were seeking the Golden Apple, we flew over the sea to the end of the world, where the Tree of Life stands, and brought you the apple.”

Full of joy, the young man set off on his way home and brought the beautiful princess the Golden Apple, which she could no longer deny was from the Tree of Life. They cut the apple in two and ate it together, and then her heart became full of love for him, and they lived in undisturbed happiness to a great age.

The young man, who had learned to understand the language of animals and showed kindness to all creatures, became a wise and beloved king. His fame spread throughout the land, not only for his justice and wisdom but also for his special connection with the natural world. It was said that he could often be seen in the royal gardens, speaking quietly with the birds and animals, who would gather around him trustingly, remembering the kindness he had always shown to their kind.

And they lived happily ever after.