Once upon a time there was a queen, and this queen desperately wanted to have a child. Every morning that God gave, she went to an isolated part of the garden to pray for a child, but to no avail.

Suddenly one morning, as she was praying again, an angel descended from heaven and said to her: "You can set your mind at ease. Your prayer will be answered. Soon you will receive a child – and this child shall be a prodigy, for all his wishes will come true."

In a state of bliss, the queen went to the king; she told him what had just happened to her, and the king – what else would you expect? – was delighted as can be.

After a while, the queen gave birth to a son, and the boy was as beautiful as can be.

Every morning the queen took the little boy for a walk in the garden. He grew and grew and developed a healthy color in his cheeks. All the nobility at the king's court enjoyed the boy's presence, and they loved and adored him, because he was such a sweet boy.

Now, what you need to know is, that there was a cook at the king's court, and he was a bad person. On many occasions, he had already thought, "If the boy would be mine I could profit from his miraculous powers."

On a hot sizzling day, the queen fell asleep on a bench in the garden. Secretly, the cook took the boy away and smeared some blood on the queen's sleeve. He brought the boy to a cabin the woods to have him raised there. He went back to the king and told him that the queen did not take care of her son well enough and that some wild animal had devoured him.

As you can imagine, the king was very angry. He had the queen thrown into a dark dungeon, had her sealed up alive, so that she would die of hunger. However, our sweet Lord, knowing that she was innocent, took care of her, and every day He sent her two white doves from heaven (angels they were), who brought her food and drink.

After waiting for seven years, the cook finally thought that it was about time to benefit from the wonder boy.

He resigned from the king's service, went to the cabin where the boy was concealed, and said, "My boy, now wish yourself a lovely large castle, with a beautiful garden with flowers and a fruit-tree and a pond and a summer house and all kinds of other beautiful things."

And lo and behold, as the angel had predicted, the little boy's wish came true: a castle, a garden with flowers and a fruit-tree, and a pond and summer house and all.

After they had lived there for a while, the cook said, "Now wish yourself a companion to play with – a girl as pretty as you can imagine."

The words had barely left his mouth, when there stood a girl so pretty that no painter would be able to portray her more beautifully.

Every day the children played with each other, and more and more they started to fall in love with one another. Meanwhile, the cook lived like a lord in his castle: a stiff drink in the morning, a hunting party in the afternoon, and in the evening the spirit bottle was put on the table once more. Still, he began to get a little worried. He kept fearing that the boy, whose intellect increased by the day, would wish to see his father and his mother, and he realized that could turn out badly for him.

So one day he said to the prince's girlfriend, "As soon as he is asleep, go to his bed quietly and push this knife into his heart. If you refuse, it will be time for you to die. As proof that you have done what I have ordered you, you need to bring me his heart and his tongue."

The girl, however, didn't want to do this. She loved the prince very much and she thought, I won't take orders from you!

She had a young goat slaughtered that had recently been born in the stable, and she brought the goat's heart and tongue to the cook. She told the prince about the cook, and told him to hide.

The cook suspected that he was being deceived. He went looking for the prince, and found him in his bed, hiding under the sheets.

Immediately, the young prince jumped up and shouted, "I wish that you turn into a black poodle, and that the only thing you eat will be red-hot charcoal, so that the flames will leak out of your mouth – and to enable me to recognize you all the time, you will wear a golden chain around your neck."

These words were barely spoken, when the cook changed into a black poodle. The girl called a servant to bring the dog a pot of red-hot charcoal and, indeed, the flames leaked from his mouth.

After that, the young prince started longing for his mother terribly, and no one was able to talk him out of this desire, so one day he said to his companion, "I am returning to my country, and you can come along if you like."

The girl couldn't face the long journey, so to make it easy for her, the prince wished that she would change into a flower. Of course, the wish came true. He put the flower into his buttonhole, grabbed his staff, and took off on his journey, with the black poodle walking right behind him.

After a long trip and several adventures, the prince finally arrived at the dungeon where his mother was held captive.

Through the prison window he called her, "My dear sweet mother, honorable queen, are you still alive?"

His mother, however, thought that this came from the doves that brought her food and drink every day, and she said, "I have food enough, sweet angels."

"That's not what I'm talking about," said the prince: "I am your son, who is supposed to have been eaten by a wild animal, but that was a lie. I am still alive and I've returned."

Next, the prince went to the king and asked him if he were in need of a hunter.

"Yes, I am," the king said, "but there is very little game in the woods right now."

"No problem," said the prince, "I can catch them anyhow."

"That I would like to see," the king said, and he called for his men, and they went on a hunting party together.

As soon as they entered the forest, the prince wished for all kinds of game, and the hare, rabbits, deer, and wild boars came running from all sides, and within half an hour they had a high cart full of game.

The king ordered his servants to organize a large banquet, since he had not had so much game in the cellar for a long time. He told the new hunter to sit in the honorary seat to his right.

As they were all eating, the prince wished that one of the noblemen would bring up his mother. He had hardly wished it, when the Lord Chamberlain arose and said, "Your Majesty, now that we are having such a good time and there is plenty of everything, I just wondered what became of the queen. Is she still alive, or did she die from hunger a long time ago?"

The king got angry and said, "Don't speak to me about the queen. She let a wild animal eat my only son."

At that moment, the new hunter stood up and said, "Father, I am your son, and my mother is still alive. The wild animals haven't eaten me. The cook, that old scoundrel, took me away and smeared blood on my mother's sleeve, so that you would believe his story.

Here's the scoundrel," he said, and dragging the black poodle with his chain collar before the king, he ordered for a pot of red-hot charcoal, which the dog ate while the flames leaped from his mouth.

Next, the king requested to behold the rascal as he had known him before, and the prince had barely finished his wish, when there the cook stood with his white apron on, his white chef's hat on his head and a large knife in his hand.

The king recognized him at once, and ordered his guards to seize him and lock him in the prison tower.

Then the prince said to the king, "Father, now I want you to meet the girl who always cheered me up during my exile and who spared my life when the cook wanted to kill me."

"With pleasure," the king said.

The prince took the flower from his buttonhole and showed it to the king. The king said that he had never seen such a beautiful flower, but then the prince made his wish, and the flower changed into a pretty young woman. No one in the whole kingdom had ever seen such a beautiful girl.

Now the king sent his chamberlains to the queen to release her from the dungeon and to bring her back to the castle. However, the queen refused to participate in the banquet. Indeed, she didn't want anything to drink or eat anymore.

"Our Sweet Lord in heaven," she said, "did not forsake me when I was locked into the dungeon innocently. I suppose He will come and get me very soon now."

So it happened. Three days later, she died. When she was taken to the churchyard with much wealth and splendor, two white doves flew over her coffin. These were the angels that had always brought her food and drink.

The king had the crooked cook cut to pieces with a butcher's knife, but after that, he started mourning; his heart was broken, and quite soon they had to carry him to the churchyard as well.

So it was that the prince became king. He married the beautiful girl, and she became queen. For many, many years they have ruled the country. And if they aren't dead, they are still alive. [1]