The Mysterious Knight and
the Golden Apples

A farmer had a large barn on a mountain where he used to store hay. But every summer, on St. John’s Eve, he found that the hay had been eaten up and very little was left for him. He had three sons. The youngest was named Cinder-lad, for he was always covered with the ash at the fireplace where he slept.
That year, the farmer asked his eldest son to sleep in the barn to keep a watch. The young man went bravely up to the barn. But suddenly, the ground shook and rumbled and an earthquake seemed to begin. The terrified son ran all the way home. The next day, all the hay had vanished. The same thing happened the next summer when the second son went to keep a watch on the barn.

The next year, Cinder-lad went to keep a watch. When there was an earthquake, he sat quietly till it stopped. Then he heard a horse chewing the hay. He struck a lantern and saw a large horse with a copper suit of armour on it. He hid the horse and returned home, telling his brothers that there was nothing to be frightened of. That year, the farmer’s hay was saved.
The next year, Cinder-lad found a horse with a silver armour on and the year after, a horse with a golden armour on. He hid both the horses and saved the hay. His brothers were very angry and hated him.
The King had issued a proclamation that any young man who could climb the glass mountain to reach his daughter and get a golden apple from her, would marry her. The two elder brothers tried along with many others but all of them failed as the glass sides were steep and slippery. It was quite difficult to reach there.
One day, Cinder-lad dressed in the copper armour climbed up a third of the way. The Princess threw him one golden apple. The next day, he climbed up two-thirds of the way and received the second apple. On the third day, he went right up in the golden armour and collected the third apple.

All the young men met the King and he asked them to show the golden apples. None knew who the knight was. They did not know who had come in the copper, silver and golden armours. When Cinder-lad produced the three apples, his brothers were astonished! The King gave him the hand of the Princess. There was a grand wedding feast and Cinder-lad lived happily with the Princess.

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