The Enchanted Knife

Once upon a time there lived a young man who vowed to marry a woman with royal blood. One day, he gathered his courage and traveled to the palace to ask the emperor if he could marry his daughter. Considering himself a fair and just ruler, the emperor said, “Very well, if you can do the following things, you may marry her. In eight days you must tame three wild horses. The first must be pure white, the second bright red with a black head, and the third coal-black with white head and feet. And, as a present to the empress and me, you must bring back as much gold as the three horses can carry.”

The young man listened with dismay, wondering how he could ever tame these horses and find so much gold. He thanked the emperor politely and went on his way. Luckily for him, the emperor's daughter had overheard everything her father had said, and peeping through the curtains, she thought the young man was more handsome than anyone she had ever seen. She hurried back to her room and wrote him a letter, which she gave to her trusty servant to deliver. She begged the young man to come to her room early the next day and not to begin without her advice.

That night, when her father was sleeping, she crept into his bedroom and took an enchanted knife from the chest where he kept his treasures. Then she hid it carefully before she went to bed.

The sun had barely risen in the morning when the princess's assistant brought the young man to her room in the palace. Neither spoke, but they stood holding hands, realizing how much they loved each other.

Then, the maiden gave him the enchanted knife and said, “Take my horse and ride straight toward the sunset until you come to a hill with three peaks.

When you get there, you will find a field with horses grazing. Pick out the three my father described to you. If they are shy, hold the knife up to the sun, so that its rays light the whole meadow. Then the horses won't be afraid of you. When you have them safely, look until you see a cypress tree whose roots are brass, branches are silver, and leaves are golden. Cut away its roots with your knife, and you will come to countless bags of gold. Load the horses with all they can carry and return to my father.”

The young man set out with the knife. He found the field without any difficulty. He held up the knife so the rays of the sun hit it and lit up the field with bright light. As the princess had foretold, the horses were no longer shy, and the young man chose the three that the emperor had described. Then, he found the cypress tree. He dug deeper and deeper until far down, below the roots of brass, his knife struck the buried gold. He lifted the gold from the ground and laid the bags on the horses' backs until they could carry no more. Then, he led them to the emperor.

The emperor agreed that the young man could marry his daughter. They had a grand wedding and lived happily together. And the emperor wondered but never guessed how it was that the young man had outsmarted him.