Episode 109
This is another one of the folktales that my mom translated in the 1970s. My mom translated many Hungarian folktales into English. This project is designed to preserve her words for her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. This recording is by Landon, her grandson.
Near the edge of the Bakony Forest lived an old woodcutter. It was a hard living for an old man, and he was very poor. The old woodcutter had little he could call his own, except a daughter. Kati was as clever as she was beautiful. In the village of Bakony, she was called Clever Kati by everyone for with her good wit, charm and brains, she was able to solve everyone’s problems.
One day, the old woodcutter received a message from King Matthias ordering him to
come to the palace. When the old woodcutter appeared before the king, the king gave him a stone.
“I’ve heard from many people about your clever daughter, Kati. I’m not so sure she is as clever as people say. I command you now to take this stone to Kati and ask her to skin it.”
“How can anyone skin a stone?” sighed the old woodcutter as he went back to his home.
Kati greeted him at the door.
“What did the king want, Father?”
“He wants you to skin this stone,” answered her father, handing her the stone. He shook his head sadly.
“Do not worry, Father, I think I have the answer. A person must bleed an animal first before he can skin it. So it must be that a person cannot skin anything unless it is bled first.
Take the stone back to the king and tell him that he should bleed the stone first and then I will skin it.”
The old woodcutter went back to King Matthias and told him what Kati had said.
“I should bleed the stone first?” asked King Matthias. “Well, she is clever at that. But here, take this bag of gold and these two hazelnuts. Tell your daughter to plant them. But she must plant them in the kind of ground that will allow growth without bringing forth a tree.”
The woodcutter, weary from just thinking about the problem, sighed all the way home.
Now what would Kati do?
“Oh Father,” shouted Kati excitedly when she saw the gold. “How good the king has been to us!”
“He sent two hazelnuts, too.”
“Why?” asked Kati.
“You are to plant them in the kind of ground that will allow growth without wood.”
“Give me the nuts.” When her father placed the nuts in her hand, Kate quickly cracked them and ate them up.
“There. Now I have planted them and there will be growth, but the nut will add to my growth and there will be no tree.”
As time passed, the king wondered about Kati. He sent word to the old woodcutter to come up to see him.
“What did your daughter do with the nuts?” asked the king.
“She ate them,” answered the woodcutter.
“I see,” said the king, and an amused look crossed his face. “Now then, take Kati these two stalks of hemp and tell her to make them into bonnets for the whole royal court. And take this bag of gold for yourself.”
When the woodcutter arrived home and told his daughter what the king had said, she picked up two wood shavings from their yard and handed them to her father. “Take these to King Matthias, and tell him to make a loom, spools and shuttle out of them, and then I shall make the bonnets.”
After the woodcutter gave the shavings to the king, the king gave him another bag of gold with this message. “Tell your daughter my favorite wine jug is broken and needs to be repaired. Since she is so clever, perhaps she can fix it for me.”
The next day the woodcutter returned with Kate’s answer. “To do a good job of repairing, one must do it on the wrong side. Kate asks that you first turn the jug inside out and then she will repair it.”
“Since your daughter is so clever, let her come to me, but neither on the road or off it, dressed but not dressed, and tell her to bring a gift that will not be a gift. And when she appears before me she should greet me, but not greet me. And if her face is as pretty as they say, I shall let her decide which of my army officers she would like as her husband.”
The woodcutter left and took the news home to his daughter. She began at once to solve the riddle, for she was a very clever girl.
First she caught a pigeon to take as her gift. Then she borrowed her father’s donkey and his robe. Kati gave her father a big hug and kiss and started for the palace.
Now, many of the nobles, palace guards, army captains and other people of King Matthias’ court had heard Kati was coming to the palace. They were all present, for they wanted to see how well Kati had solved the riddle.
Kati approached the palace on the back of her father’s donkey since she was not to go on the road nor off it. She had on her father’s robe, so she was neither dressed nor undressed. When she arrived at the palace and appeared before the king, Kati gave a little curtsey but without saying a word. In this way she had greeted the king but yet she had not greeted him. As a gift she brought the pigeon and after showing it to the king, she quickly let it fly away.
“You are a clever girl Kati, and beautiful too,” admitted the king. “Bring her gold and fine linens,” he ordered. “A clever girl should be a good cook as well. Bring her pots, a wooden spoon and fork, a noodle board and whatever else she needs.”
“Hey,” said Marco, the court jester, jumping up and down. “She is well prepared for marriage with such a large dowry, let us find her a husband.”
“That’s next,” replied the king. He ordered his finest and most handsome men to stand before her.
“You may choose the one you like for a husband. But before you choose, prepare yourself for a big celebration tonight. We will have a ball in honor of you, Clever Kati, and the man you decide is best suited to be your husband.”
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