'The king! the king!' And as the young man heard, a cold shiver, that he knew not the meaning of, ran through him.
'This is fear whom you have so long sought,' whispered a voice, which seemed to reach his ears alone. And the youth bowed his head as the vision once more flashed before his eyes, and he accepted his doom, and made ready to pass his life with fear beside him.
(Adapted from _Türkische Volksmärchen_. Von Dr. Ignaz Künos. E. J. Brill, Leiden.)
Once upon a time there reigned a king who had an only daughter. The girl had been spoiled by everybody from her birth, and, besides being beautiful, was clever and wilful, and when she grew old enough to be married she refused to have anything to say to the prince whom her father favoured, but declared she would choose a husband for herself. By long experience the king knew that when once she had made up her mind, there was no use expecting her to change it, so he inquired meekly what she wished him to do.
'Summon all the young men in the kingdom to appear before me a month from to-day,' answered the princess; 'and the one to whom I shall give this golden apple shall be my husband.'
'But, my dear--' began the king, in tones of dismay.
'The one to whom I shall give this golden apple shall be my husband,' repeated the princess, in a louder voice than before. And the king understood the signal, and with a sigh proceeded to do her bidding.
The young men arrived--tall and short, dark and fair, rich and poor. They stood in rows in the great courtyard in front of the palace, and the princess, clad in robes of green, with a golden veil flowing behind her, passed before them all, holding the apple. Once or twice she stopped and hesitated, but in the end she always passed on, till she came to a youth near the end of the last row. There was nothing specially remarkable about him, the bystanders thought; nothing that was likely to take a girl's fancy. A hundred others were handsomer, and all wore finer clothes; but he met the princess's eyes frankly and with a smile, and she smiled too, and held out the apple.
'There is some mistake,' cried the king, who had anxiously watched her progress, and hoped that none of the candidates would please her. 'It is impossible that she can wish to marry the son of a poor widow, who has not a farthing in the world! Tell her that I will not hear of it, and that she must go through the rows again and fix upon someone else'; and the princess went through the rows a second and a third time, and on each occasion she gave the apple to the widow's son. 'Well, marry him if you will,' exclaimed the angry king; 'but at least you shall not stay here.' And the princess answered nothing, but threw up her head, and taking the widow's son by the hand, they left the castle.