So the gold-child rode joyfully through the forest, and no evil befell
him. One day he entered a village wherein he saw a maiden, who was so
beautiful that he did not believe that any more beautiful than she
existed in the world. And as such a mighty love took possession of him,
he went up to her and said, “I love thee with my whole heart, wilt thou
be my wife?” He, too, pleased the maiden so much that she agreed and
said, “Yes, I will be thy wife, and be true to thee my whole life
long.” Then they were married, and just as they were in the greatest
happiness, home came the father of the bride, and when he saw that his
daughter’s wedding was being celebrated, he was astonished, and said,
“Where is the bridegroom?” They showed him the gold-child, who,
however, still wore his bear-skins. Then the father said wrathfully, “A
vagabond shall never have my daughter!” and was about to kill him. Then
the bride begged as hard as she could, and said, “He is my husband, and
I love him with all my heart!” until at last he allowed himself to be
appeased. Nevertheless the idea never left his thoughts, so that next
morning he rose early, wishing to see whether his daughter’s husband
was a common ragged beggar. But when he peeped in, he saw a magnificent
golden man in the bed, and the cast-off bear-skins lying on the ground.
Then he went back and thought, “What a good thing it was that I
restrained my anger! I should have committed a great crime.” But the
gold-child dreamed that he rode out to hunt a splendid stag, and when
he awoke in the morning, he said to his wife, “I must go out hunting.”
She was uneasy, and begged him to stay there, and said, “You might
easily meet with a great misfortune,” but he answered, “I must and will
go.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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