The King of the Fishes
A European folk tale princess, his wife, what that castle might be.
“Go not near that, George,” said the princess, “for I have always heard that none who enters that castle ever comes out again.” The next morning George went with horse and hound to seek the castle; and when he got near it he found at the gate an old dame with but one eye; and he asked her to open the gate, and she said she would but that it was a custom of the castle that whoever entered had to drink a glass of wine before doing so. She offered him a goblet full of wine, but as soon as he drank it, he and his horse and his dog were all turned into stone.
Just at that very moment, his twin Albert, who had heard nothing of him for a year, saw George’s rose in the garden close up and turn the colour of marble. He knew immediately that something had happened to his brother, and he, his horse and his dog and rode off to find out what it was.
When he got to Middlegard, the guard of the gate said, “Your highness, the princess has been in great anxiety about you; she will be so happy to know that you have returned safe.” Albert said nothing, but followed the guard until he came to the princess’s chamber, and she ran to him and embraced him and cried out, “Oh, George, I am so delighted that you have come back safe.” “Why should I not?” said Albert.
“Because I feared that you had gone to that castle with flaming windows, from which nobody ever returns alive,” said the princess.
Then Albert guessed what had happened to George, and he soon made an excuse and went off again to seek the castle which the princess had pointed out from the window. When Albert got there he found the same old woman sitting by the gate, and asked if he might go in and see the castle. She said again that none might enter the castle unless they had taken a glass of wine and brought out the goblet of wine once more. Albert was about to drink it, when his faithful dog jumped up and spilt the wine, which he began to lap up, and as soon as he had drunk a little of it his body turned to marble, just by the side of another stone which looked exactly the same.
Then Albert guessed what had happened, and descending from his horse he took out his sword and threatened the old witch that he would kill her unless she restored his brother to his proper shape. In fear and trembling the old dame muttered something over the four stones in front of the castle, and George and his horse and his hound and Albert’s dog became alive again as they were before. Then George and Albert rode back to the princess who, when she saw them both so much alike, could not tell which was which; then she remembered and went up to Albert and parted his hair on his fore head and saw there the star, and said, “This is my George”; but then George parted his own hair, and she saw the same star there. At last Albert told her all that had happened, and she knew her own husband again. Soon after the king died, and George ruled in his place. And as for Albert, he married one of the neighbouring princesses. The end