A monk keeps bringing a king fruit with gems in them. The
king confronts the man and asks why he keeps doing this. The monk says he needs
the king’s help. He asks him to take a body that is hanging from a tree and
bring it to him. When the king goes to do that, he finds out the body is that
of a goblins. The goblin then proceeds to tell the king riddles. If the king
gets it wrong his head will explode. If he gets them right the goblin will go
back to his tree.
The first riddle is about three young men who love the same
girl. When she dies unexpectedly they all morn differently. One man takes her
ashes and sleeps on them in a hut. One man takes her bones and washes them in
the river. The last man becomes a monk and wanders. He soon comes across a man
who can bring the dead back to life, and learns his secret. He takes what he
knows back to the cemetery and brings the girl back to life. The goblin wants
to know who the king thinks should marry her. He says the one who slept on her
ashes because that is what a lover would do.
The next story is about three different men wanting the same
girls hand in marriage. A brave man, a wise man, and a clever man. They were
each chosen to marry the same girl by accident, but when it came time to the
wedding the girl had disappeared. The wise man told them that she had been
taken by a giant. The clever man made a flying chariot to take them to the
cave. When they got there the brave man killed the giant and saved the girl.
The goblin wants to know who should take the girls hand in marriage. The king
says the brave man because he risked his life to save the girl. The goblin
likes this answer and run back to his tree.
The next riddle involves a beautiful woman, her husband, and
her brother. When they were out in the city they come across a temple and
decide to go in and worship the goddess there. The husband goes in first and
cuts off his head, the brother goes in next and see what happened and cute his
head off too. When the woman goes in and sees what has happened she wants to
kill herself. The goddess stops her and tells her that she can just put their
heads back on and it will be ok. When she does this she accidentally puts the
wrong head on the bodies. The goblin wants to know which head and body
combination is the woman’s husband. The king says the body with the husband’s
head on it. Once agai the goblin escapes and goes back to the tree.
Bibliography: Twenty-Two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder, with illustrations by Perham W. Nahl (1917).
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