A King's Son Transformed Into Pig

Sham S. Misri

Once upon a time there was a king. His wife bore him only one son, and he had not much pleasure with him, for a wicked witch had transformed him into a wild pig. The king and queen were very sad about this. Full of agony and with a painful heart, they finally came to terms with the situation. They allowed the wild pig to run about the courtyard and the palace garden, where he behaved himself very well and did no one any harm.

Near the king's castle there was another castle where a rich lord lived. He had three daughters. They were extremely beautiful. One day the wild pig ran off further than usual and saw the oldest daughter as she was picking flowers in a field. She pleased him so much that he fell in love with her, and with all his might he wanted to marry her.

The king tried to convince him, that this would not be possible, but to no avail. The wild pig would hear none of this, saying further that if she would not become his wife then he would die of grief. So the king sent someone to the lord of the castle and informed him how things stood. At first the lord was very angry, but after considering that the prince would otherwise die, he gave his consent. However, the daughter did not agree and said, ”O God what have I done to have a disgusting pig for a husband.”  But that did not help her.  The king forced her to accept Pig as her husband. The marriage day was fixed,  and the wedding was celebrated with the greatest pomp in the world.

When it got, late everyone was going to bed.  The bride who was tired, now lay herself down to sleep. The wild pig wanted to lie next to her, but when he jumped into bed, he unfortunately struck her on the neck with his heavy feet, and -- she was dead. No pen can describe how sad were the wild pig and the king and the parents of the bride.

One year later the wild pig ran astray once again and found the rich lord's second daughter in the field. She pleased him so much that he wanted to marry her, whatever it might cost. The king made many excuses, but  failed. In the end there was nothing left to do but to talk with the lord about it. He did not want to hear anything about it, and he opposed the marriage with all his power, saying that he had not raised his daughters for pigs.

The king reported this to his son, who insisted even more eagerly than before. Thus the king had to force the parents to marry off their daughter. With tears and crying the bride was taken from her castle and dragged to the wedding. It was a sad affair, as though each of the guests could foresee that the second bride would fare no better than had the first one. And that is exactly what happened, because when the bridegroom wanted to jump into bed, he hit her on the neck with his plump feet, and -- she was dead.

The sorrow cannot be described that ruled in the king's castle as well as in the other castle. The wild pig was feeling as to what had happened. He struck his head against the walls as if he were tired of living. The bride's parents could not be consoled. Of three daughters, they now had only one, who was still a tender young girl, and they were afraid of losing her as they had the others. Thus they wanted to pack their belongings and move to a foreign country. When the king heard this, he became even sadder than before, and even angrier with his son. He asked the rich lord to remain in his castle and promised him that he would drive away the wild pig immediately.

And he kept this promise. The pig (poor prince), was driven out of the castle without pity or compassion, and he ran into a nearby forest.

The rich lord's third daughter was a beautiful girl, and because she was as good as an angel, her parents no longer thought about the terrible way they had lost their other daughters.

One day everyone left castle to go walking in the woods. The girl liked the beautiful wildflowers so much that she could not pick enough of them, and the birds sang so beautifully that she could not hear them enough. She picked and picked, and listened and listened. While she sat there picking flowers, a wild pig suddenly ran up to her, took her on his back, and ran away with her.

Her parents called and called, and the other people looked everywhere, but the girl could not be found. The evening fell,, and that evening they had to return to the castle without the poor girl.

The wild pig did not eat her up, but instead carried her long way off to a deep cave, where no person would dare to enter. He set the girl down quietly and gently and made a bed for her from soft moss. He ran back into the woods and returned with flowers and strawberries. He did everything he could to please the girl, his wife.

Gracious God! The wild pig was none other than the enchanted prince. The girl felt more and more at ease, and finally she began to rub the wild pig's coarse bristly head with her hands. He licked her hands and was so happy that tears ran from his eyes.

"Why are you crying?" asked the girl.

"Why should I not cry?" said the wild pig. "You could use me, but I know that you will not do so."

This saddened the girl, and she herself began to cry, saying, "Oh yes, I want to redeem you, wild pig, just tell me what I have to do."

The pig answered, "And what if I tell you, and you still don't do it? But I will tell you: You must take me as your husband, and marry me, and be my wife."

With that the girl laughed and jumped up and said, "If that is all I have to do, then I will redeem you."

When the wild pig heard this he jumped up three times with joy. Then he ran off and brought back enough soft green moss to make a bed in which they could comfortably sleep together.

That night the girl had an unusual dream. She thought that someone told her to get up early the next morning and take the large fur that she would find next to the bed. Then she should leave the cave, close it off with a stone, and on this stone burn the pelt to ashes. This seemed very strange to her.

In the morning she looked out of the bed and did indeed see a large fur, like one from a wild pig, lying there. The girl took courage, went to the cave's entrance, and with all the power she could muster rolled a heavy stone that lay nearby to the entrance. Then she made a large fire, and as soon as it was burning well, she threw the fur into it. It had hardly begun to burn when a sad cry  was heard from within the cave. The girl would have liked to open the cave, but the stone had become too hot, and she would have burned her hands terribly on it. After the fire was out and the stone had cooled off a little, she moved the stone aside. The most handsome prince that one can imagine stood before her. He threw his arms around her neck and cried, "Now do you see that you have used me? You are mine and I am yours, and if your two sisters had been as willing as you, then they would not be dead!"

The prince left the cave with the girl and went to the king's castle and explained everything to him and to the queen. The girl's parents were called from the other castle, and he explained everything to them. Three days later they held the wedding with great pomp and ceremony, and one has never seen a more handsome bridegroom than the prince or a more beautiful bride than the girl.

After some time the old king died. The prince came to the throne, and the girl became his queen, and if they have not stood up from throne, then they are still seated upon it.