The Fairy of the Three Oranges

Once upon a time, when the sieve was in the straw, a sultan had only one son. The prince was very spoiled. One day, as he was playing in the palace garden, an old woman was filling her jug at the fountain. The prince threw a stone, and the old woman's jug broke. The old woman looked at the prince and said, "Son, may you fall in love with the fairy of the three oranges, and may you know no peace until you find her!"

The prince heard these words but paid them no attention. But from that day on a strange sadness began inside him. He stopped eating and drinking, and day by day he grew pale and thin. The sultan sent for doctors, but none of them could find a cure. At last the prince said to his father, "Father, I must find the fairy of the three oranges. Otherwise I'll never get well." The sultan had no choice but to give his son permission.

The prince set out. He crossed mountains and plains. At last he came to the house of a giantess, a mother of giants. She was a huge woman. The prince crept up behind her and drank from her breast. "Now you're my son, so I won't touch you," said the giantess. "Otherwise I'd have swallowed you in one bite." The prince told her his trouble. "My sons know about the fairy of the three oranges," said the giantess. "But so that they don't eat you when they come home, let me hide you," and she turned him into a broom and put him behind the door.

When her giant sons came home, they said to their mother, "There's a smell of humans here." "You have a new brother," said their mother. "Promise me you won't eat him." The giants promised. Their mother turned the prince back into a man. The eldest giant told the prince the way: "Among the mountains there's a garden. A giant guards its gate. If his eyes are open, he's asleep; if they're closed, he's awake. In the garden there's an orange tree with three oranges on it. When you've picked them, run away at once, and don't open them until you come to a fountain."

The prince reached the garden, saw that the giant's eyes were open, and crept inside. He picked the three oranges from the tree and ran away. But on the way he grew very thirsty and could not resist opening one of the oranges. Out of the orange came a girl as beautiful as the moon: "Water, water!" she said. The prince had no water with him, and in an instant the girl vanished. The prince was very sad. When he had gone a little further, again he could not resist and opened the second orange. Again a beautiful girl came out and said, "Water, water!" and when no water could be found, she vanished too.

This time the prince was patient and did not open the third orange until he came to a fountain. When he reached the fountain, he opened the orange. Out of it came a girl more beautiful than either of the others: "Water, water!" The prince at once gave her water from the fountain to quench her thirst. The girl smiled at him and said, "You are my rescuer." And the prince promised to marry her.

The prince helped the girl up into a tree beside the fountain. "Wait here, and I'll go to the palace and bring a procession to fetch you," he said, and he left. Meanwhile a wicked-hearted servant woman came to the fountain to fetch water. When she looked into the water, she saw the reflection of the girl in the tree and thought it was her own face: "If I'm this beautiful, why am I carrying water?" she said, and she broke her jug. Then she looked up and saw the girl. She was seized by jealousy and climbed up beside the girl. "Let me comb your hair," she said, and she pricked the girl's head with a pin. The girl turned into a bird and flew away. And the servant woman sat in the tree in her place.

When the prince came back with the procession, he saw the servant woman in the tree. "What has happened to you?" he asked. "The sun burned me," said the servant woman. The prince was sad, but to keep his promise he took her to the palace and began to prepare for the wedding. Meanwhile a bird came to the palace garden and began to sing every day at the prince's window. The servant woman knew who the bird was, and she had it caught and done away with. Where the bird's blood dripped, a cypress tree grew.

The servant woman had the cypress cut down too, and had its wood burned in the stove. But an old woman took one piece of wood and carried it home. Every morning, when the old woman went out and came back home, she found her house swept and her meals cooked. One morning she hid and waited, and she saw a beautiful girl come out of the piece of wood. She caught the girl, and the girl told her her story. The old woman hid the girl and kept her like her own daughter.

One day the prince went hunting and on the way stopped at the old woman's house. The girl brought him a bowl of water. When the prince saw the girl, he could not believe his eyes: "Who are you?" The girl told him her whole story. The prince understood that she was the fairy of the orange from the fountain. He took her to the palace and exposed the servant woman's lie. The servant woman was driven out of the palace.

The prince married the fairy of the orange, and the wedding lasted forty days and forty nights. They took the old woman into the palace too. One day the prince found the old woman whose jug he had broken, apologised to her and gave her a house in the palace as well. The old woman smiled: "Son, I cursed you, but I taught you patience and true love."

Three apples fell from the sky: one for the one who told this tale, one for the one who listened, and one for the prince who waited patiently until he reached the fountain.