One day a king was traveling on horseback with his retinue. His followers went first and the king followed them at a distance. On the way, the advance party came across an old woman stuck between a fallen tree and the ground. They passed by the poor woman without giving her any assistance.
However, when the king reached the struggling woman, he immediately dismounted and helped her out of the trouble she was in. The woman was so glad she presented the king with what she called a very special kind of fish.
No sooner had the king arrived back home than he asked the chief cook to prepare the fish for his dinner and advised him against tasting it. This aroused the cook’s curiosity for his majesty the king had never prohibited him from tasting, anything he cooked. So, he tasted the curry even before it was duly cooked. All of a sudden a fly appeared and said to the cook, “Give me a share”, the man complied. The fly thanked him and said, “If you need my help strike the ground with your feet,” and disappeared.
The chef was so glad and laughed so heartily that the king heard him. The king came to the kitchen and tasted the fish too, and learnt the secret. He was enraged and ordered his cook to bring home for him a golden princess with a golden hair as punishment for disobedience. The girl was said to be living in a certain city in a certain part of a certain country.
The poor cook had no idea how he would find the princess. Nevertheless, he decided to try. He therefore set out on a journey. Before going very long, he met an ant burnt by forest fire and helped it. It thanked him profusely and gave him one of its tentacles. “If ever you need any help from me just burn this tentacle” it said and waved him good-bye.
Continuing his journey he stumbled on two men quarrelling over which part of a fish each of them would have. The cook gave the two men money and let the fish go. The creature thanked him and reminded him to splash water if and when he needed assistance and dived into the stream.
The king’s cook went on travelling not knowing which direction to take for many days. One rainy day he heard the groaning of small birds, climbed a tree and moved the soaked little birds to a dry place. The mother bird thanked him, gave him one of her feathers and promised him to come to his rescue if ever he is in trouble. To seek her help, the cook was to burn the feather.
After another two days of travelling and as he was resting in the shade of a big tree he heard the noise of a hungry mosquito and gave the insect his snot. It thanked him and told him to blow on the wall if he should be in need of any assistance.
At long last, the cook reached the city where the golden princess with the golden hair was living. Not knowing the exact site of the place the princess resided, he struck the ground with his feet. In a moment the fly appeared and showed him the palace.
As soon as the cook reached the palace he told the king about his mission. The king said the man could not have his daughter for nothing but if he could accomplish the four favours the king was about to ask of him, he would take away the golden princess for his master.
This king had seven equally beautiful and attractive daughters. So, he bored seven holes on the wall and let his daughters stick out their fingers through the holes. The cook was requested to point out the fingers of the golden princess with the golden hair.
The young cook knew he was in need of help and blew on the wall. In no time the mosquito he had fed appeared and alighted on the finger of the golden princess. The first boon was accomplished.
Next, the king rubbed his gold ring on a grindstone. Gold dust scattered over ten fields. The cook had to burn the tentacle of the ant that came out with millions of worker-ants that gathered the dust and the ring was restored. That was the second favour the cook granted the king.
Again, the king dropped his ring into the water and asked the cook to retrieve it. The cook splashed the water, the fish surfaced and the ring was recovered.
The king of this country was afraid since the cook of another king had accomplished three things which were quite impossible for others to do. But he laid down the fourth boon. “Make me die for a long time and make me live again”.
To do this, the benefactor of insects and creatures again sought the assistance of the bird by burning its feather. As expected, the mother bird appeared and ordered the servants to beat their king until he was black and blue, and died. With her droppings the bird restored the king back to life.
Being satisfied with what the cook of another king had done for him, he allowed the cook to take away the golden princess. The cook and the golden princess went home and found out that the king who wanted the golden princess with the golden hair for himself had died. So the cook married the golden princess and became king.
(The Guardian, April 1988)