The Wicked Magician and His Attendant

There was an evil castle deep inside a forest. None but a magician used to live in this castle. He had accumulated enormous wealth using his charm and was still collecting more and more every day. This magician used to appoint only one attendant at a time. The attendant was supposed to do nothing else other than looking after the rooms and wiping dust from the books during daytime, when the master used to be away from home.

Once he appointed an attendant, who served him continuously for six years, without giving a thought why his master goes out every day, comes back in the evening and reads books at night. His curiosity woke up only in the seventh year; he wanted to know more and explore how his master became so wealthy. So, he started looking also inside the books during the time he was supposed to take care of the rooms and clean the books. By the end of year, he had finished learning all the magic written there.

Then he took leave and returned home. “Be happy with me.” – He told his parents and brother, “We are going to be prosperous very soon. I will convert myself into a wonderful horse. Then my dear brother will sell me; but without the bridle so that I will be able to change into my real form and come back!” The plan worked well. He instantly changed himself into a horse. His brother sold him out retaining only the bridle and therefore, he came back home in the human form again. The buyer could not do anything but watching this.

The same went on for a long time. They have earned a lot of money as well. But once it led to a different occurrence as they came to market again. This time, a buyer arrived who offered the brother, who was selling the horse, a price four times higher in exchange of both the horse and bridle. The brother did not agree for a long time even though the buyer kept on bargaining; finally he was convinced. He did not anticipate that selling the bridle would do any big harm. The buyer was none other than the wicked magician who had recognized his old attendant. As soon as the horse and bridle was handed over to him, he sat on the horse and rode to a blacksmith. He wanted to fit red-hot shoes on his horse*. So he got down, tied the horse and went to the blacksmith to place an order for the horse-shoes. In the meantime, a group of school kids, who were coming back from school, spotted the wonderful horse. They came to the horse to watch it from a closer distance. As they were standing nearby, the horse requested a boy to take the halter off.

The moment the boy did that, the horse changed himself into a small bird and flew away in a hurry. The magician arrived meanwhile and found the small bird flying away. Instantly he converted himself into a hawk that started chasing the small bird. But the small bird kept on flying till it reached a city. The king of the country used to stay in a palace there.  A window of the princess’s room in the palace was open. The bird entered into the room though the window and converted itself into a handsome young man at once and also closed the window and doors. The princess fell in love with the young man at first sight. He told her, “If you really want to save me, I will have to change myself into a ring. Wear it on your finger but never remove or throw it at any cost, even if one forces you to give it away.” The princess promised him the same. He changed himself into a ring.

The princess did not remove it for days after she wore this. But one day, her father, the king fell ill so seriously that no physician in the country could help him. It did not take long before a new physician arrived in the court. He claimed that he would be able to heal the king, but he would do that only if the princess gives him her ring in exchange. The princess promised so in order to save her father. But at the time she was supposed to hand him the ring, she threw it on the floor instead. It changed into one quarter millet scattering on the floor. The physician turned into a rooster and started eating the millet very fast. It ate up all the millet it could see; then stopped as it believed that there was no single millet left. But a small grain was stuck inside a very narrow crack on the floor which now turned into a handsome young man with a sword in hand. He severed the head of the rooster with one blow.

It became a cheerful moment for all when the young man brought there the huge treasure of the magician from his castle. He married the beautiful princess. As the king did not live for long thereafter, he became the next king as well. He invited his parents and brother to stay with him in the palace; and all of them lived together happily thereafter.

 Translation of „Der Erzzauberer und sein Diener“ from "Sächsische  Volksmärchen aus Siebenbürgen" collected by Josef Haltrich, published 1882

*Horse shoes were usually made of iron. The process of shaping a heated horseshoe immediately before placing it on the horse was common practice in middle age Europe.