A very poor couple was living in an open field with their
little kid. They kept the kid on a cradle made of diapers tied to four sticks
on four sides. Once a wild cat came from the nearby forest, stole the kid and
carried it into her cave. She did not harm it; rather started taking care of it
- brought herbs, roots and strawberries for it, so that the kid’s needs were
fulfilled.
So, the kid was being brought up in the cat’s cave. When he
was grown into a boy, the cat told him once, “You should marry a princess now!”
“But I am naked indeed!” – told the boy, “How shall I appear before the king?”
“Do not worry. I will arrange cloths for you in a moment!” –
promised the cat. She jumped into the forest and blew a silver whistle she
owned. She fizzled and rustled; a large crowd of birds and wild animals
assembled there within moments. She took one feather from each of the birds,
made a dress with those and presented it to the boy. Then she introduced the
boy to the wild animals and told, “Go to the king now; all these animals will
follow you. Tell the king while greeting him, ‘My lord, the feather-king sends
you these animals as gift!” So, the boy went to the castle; met the king and
told the same as the cat had taught him.
Seeing those many animals, the king was very happy. He
thought, “This must be a wealthy king.” Next day, the cat was to send the boy
again with good number of animals. This time the boy needed to say, “This is
another gift from the feather-king.” As the surprised king would indicate, “How
nice it would be, if such a wealthy king did marry my daughter!” - He only needed to tell, “Yes, the
feather-king would be glad to marry your daughter. He will come after three
days to celebrate the wedding.”
Everything went on as per plan. As the boy came to the castle
again with some more animals, the king was delighted with the new gift and
expressed how much he desired his daughter to get married to such wealthy king.
The boy answered the way the cat did teach him – the feather-king would marry
her and would arrive after three days for the wedding.
After the three days were over, the cat jumped into the
forest again and blew the silver whistle thrice and fizzled and rustled thrice
in feline style. All birds and wild animals came there together. The cat picked
up the most beautiful and colorful feathers now. She made a cloak out of these
which was shining and sparkling like a starry sky. She gave it to the boy. This
time the cat accompanied him to the court. As they came close to the palace,
she told the boy, “Remove your old feather dress now. I will bring you elegant
cloths from the palace; you will use the feather–dress only as accessory.” She
quickly ran towards the palace and cried, “I need a royal dress right now - the
feather-king has fallen in a swamp on his way to the palace; he needs new
cloths!” The king gave her the best dresses he had. She brought those for the
boy and dressed him up.
Then the boy marched towards the castle with all animals
following him. As soon as he reached the palace, he wrapped the feather cloak
on his dress; this was shining and glittering so much that people could hardly
look at that. The king and the princess were very happy seeing the wealthy
groom. But after the wedding celebration was over, the king told, “I would like
to visit your country and your palace. Let me accompany you!” As the
feather-king sat with his new bride in the carriage, he kept on looking at his
own beautiful dress but never looked at the bride. The cat marked this; she
jumped on his neck and scratched him, “Look at your bride!” she whispered, “But
if you forget this again and anyone asks you why you are always staring at your
own nice dress, tell them you have many more gorgeous dresses in your home.”
The cat ran away telling this. After some time, the feather-king started
looking at own dress again. The young bride asked him, “Why are you looking at
your dress?” “I remember I have even more gorgeous dresses in my palace” – he
replied.
On the way, the cat found a large flock of sheep. She rushed
to the shepherd, jumped at him, scratched him so hard on the neck that he
started bleeding and threatened, “If anyone asks you who owns this flock, tell
him, ‘This belongs to the feather-king.’ Otherwise I will come back and scratch
all over you again.” After some time,
the king and the young couple came on the way. The king asked the shepherd,
“Who owns this large flock of sheep?” The shepherd did not want to get
scratched again and therefore, he replied, “All these belong to the
feather-king.” The boy told, “Yes, those are mine” - as he noticed by now, how
the cat made a plan for him.
Shortly they came close to a large herd of buffalo. The cat
was already there before them. She had scratched this herder also to make sure
the same happens in this case too. As the king asked, “Who owns this large
herd?”, the herder replied, “Well, the feather-king owns these all” – while
even he did not want to get scratched by the cat. “Yes, those belong to
me,”-told the boy sitting in the carriage. The King was amazed at all these and
told, “I could not believe you are so wealthy!” Likewise, they found a stud of
horses on their way. The cat did the same as she did before. She went to the
herdsman beforehand, scratched him and directed what he needed to tell the
king. So, when the king asked him, “Who owns the large stud of horses” - he
also did not want the cat to scratch him again – he replied, “Well, the
feather-king!” “Yes, I own those as well” – told the boy from the carriage
again. “Now I believe you are richer than that I imagined. So you have
everything at you place more beautiful than those I have!”
At last, they reached the castle of a magician. Everything
there was made of gold and silver, crystal and precious stones. Everything was
arranged there in most elegant order. The table was also nicely decorated with
delicious food. They sat there in a short while and started eating. But the cat
was standing at the door and kept on watching.
The magician came back in the meantime and seeing all these,
he hurtled and blasted, “Robber in my palace, at my table! Aha!
Congratulations! But the cat was still standing in the doorway and did not let
him in and told, “Tell me only one thing – are you the famous magician people
talk about? They say, you could turn yourself into large as well as small
animals!” “Yes, that is a small magic for me” – he replied and turned himself
into a lion. The cat panicked so much that he jumped on the roof. “That went
excellent!” cried the cat, “but I want to see if you can turn yourself into a
small animal like a mouse. I think that is really difficult thing. You may not
be able to do that! ” The magician, outraged, changed himself into a mouse at
once. The cat jumped on him and mauled him in no time.
Now the cat called the boy outside the hall and told, “You will not need
my help anymore. The palace and everything inside and around it, and the large
herd of animals which you have already seen on the way, are all yours while I
have killed the magician, who was the owner of all these. But I would request
you for a help now – take the sword and hit on my head,” But the boy did not
want to do that, “How can I be so ungrateful!” “If you don’t do that right now,
I will scratch your eyes out!” Hence,
the boy took a sword and gave a big blow on her head. What happened to the cat
then! It turned into a wonderful lady at once! The boy immediately took her arm
and led her to the table and introduced her, “This is my mother!” The old king
liked the lady very much. His queen passed away long back; so he took her hand
and told, “Shall we celebrate another wedding here?” She did not oppose that as
well. So there was another celebration for eight more days. After the celebration
was over, the old king went home with his new wife. The young boy, now
wealthier than seven kings together, stayed back in the magician’s palace with
his princess-wife.
Translation of „Der Federkönig“
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