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Hungarian Folk Tales: The Poor Man's Vineyard. Once upon a time, in a far-off land, there lived a poor man who had three sons.
A poor man's youngest son tames magical horses and wins the king's daughter's hand by retrieving golden treasures in this Hungarian folk tale.
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Key Takeaways
- Kindness and generosity can lead to unexpected rewards.
- Perseverance and cleverness help overcome difficult challenges.
- Humility and secrecy can protect valuable advantages.
- Family jealousy can cause conflict but does not prevent success.
- Magical elements symbolize the power of goodness and courage.
What the video covers
- A poor man with three sons owns a small vineyard that they must guard from harm.
- The eldest and middle sons fail to protect the vineyard after rejecting a hungry frog's request for bread.
- The youngest son shows kindness to the frog, who rewards him with magical rods to tame three destructive horses.
- Using the rods, the youngest son saves the vineyard from destruction by the copper, silver, and golden-maned horses.
- The king challenges men to retrieve golden items placed atop tall trees to win his daughter's hand in marriage.
- The youngest son, disguised with copper, silver, and golden helmets and riding matching horses, succeeds in all three challenges.
- His brothers try to spy on him but are thwarted by destroying their vantage points.
- Despite the king summoning all men, the mysterious knight does not appear until a young man with golden hair and clothes arrives.
- The story highlights themes of kindness, perseverance, and reward for good deeds.
- The vineyard flourishes unlike any other in the village due to the youngest son's actions.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and vineyard watch
- 01:01Frog's request and eldest son's failure
- 01:36Middle son's failure and youngest son's promise
- 02:13Youngest son's kindness and magical rods
- 02:50Taming the magical horses
- 03:42Vineyard flourishes and king's challenge begins
- 04:05Copper knight retrieves golden rosemary
- 05:19Silver knight retrieves golden apple
- 06:12Golden knight retrieves golden scarf
- 07:21King's summons and mysterious knight's arrival
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
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The poor man had a tiny vineyard, but he owned no more than that. And he guarded his vineyard as if it were gold.
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His sons would also take turns to stand watch at the vineyard all day and all night.
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One morning it was his eldest son's turn to guard the vineyard. And the boy sat down and started to eat.
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While he was eating, a frog hopped out in front of him and said, "Give me a bite of bread, young man, I haven't eaten for two long weeks."
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"When pigs learn to fly!" said the young fellow, and he chased the frog away.
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The frog left in silence, and the boy fell fast asleep. When he woke again, the vineyard had been so badly ravaged that the boy was filled with fear.
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Next day the middle boy went to the vineyard. He too was asked for bread by the frog.
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But he also chased the frog away and threw a stone at the beast. Then he laid down, fell asleep, and when he awoke, less than half the vineyard remained.
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"Hey," the poor man moaned, "all we have is this tiny vineyard and they can't even look after that!"
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Then the youngest boy said, "Worry not, father! What is left will be safe now, for I shall guard it!"
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So the youngest son went to the vineyard, sat down to eat, and the frog hopped out and asked him for bread.
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"But of course, here, take some!" Then he broke off a crust and gave it happily to the frog.
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"Eat, frog, for you are one of God's creatures, too. You are a good boy and you will be rewarded for your kindness in time."
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"Now I shall give you one copper, one silver, and one golden rod. During the night, three horses will come: one with a copper mane, one with a silver mane, and one with a mane of gold."
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"They will come to trample your vines, but if you strike them with these rods, they will be tamed in an instant."
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The night came at last, and the three horses galloped in, kicked, and neighed through earth up into the starry sky.
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But the youngest son was soon to act and hit hard at them with all three rods.
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Then the horses were tamed and stood and stared like three simple sheep. "Don't hurt us!" the horses pleaded.
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"But should you need help, wave the rods in the air and we will appear."
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Then the boy went home. But the youngest son decided not to tell his brothers and his father of what had happened that night.
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All three were surprised by the crop that was so abundant they could barely gather it in.
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And no one in the village had vines as rich as theirs. Time passed slowly by.
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And one day the king decided to erect a pine tree outside the church. Then he placed a golden sprig of rosemary atop the pine tree and told the world that he would give his daughter's hand in marriage to the first man
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who could snatch the golden rosemary from atop the pine tree. All manner of men tried their hand, but none could jump higher than half the height required.
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And when all of them had crept away in shame, a fine fellow appeared on a copper-haired horse.
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He wore a copper helmet so his face could not be seen. Then he spurred his horse on, leapt high in the air, snatched the golden rosemary, and rode away.
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The copper knight was the poor man's youngest son, of course. He went home in his tattered clothes and was sitting in the corner when his father and two brothers returned to the house.
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Because they too had witnessed the joust, his brothers told the youngest one what they had seen.
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"I too saw what happened! But how is that so?"
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"Because I stood atop the fence and watched from there."
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His brothers were so furious that they smashed the fence to stop him watching again.
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The next Sunday the king placed a golden apple on an even taller tree. Many men tried their hand, but all again in vain.
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But as they walked away in shame, a knight appeared on the back of a silver-haired horse.
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And the knight wore a silver helmet to hide his face. With one jump he grabbed the golden apple and vanished.
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By the time his father and brothers returned, the youngest son was sitting in the corner again.
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They quickly regaled him of what they had seen, invisible to him from the corner.
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"Oh, I saw it better than both of you. How is that so?"
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"I climbed atop the pigsty roof."
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The brothers were so furious that they tore the pigsty down to stop him watching from there again.
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The third Sunday came, and the king put a golden scarf atop the tallest pine tree.
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And it was the poor man's youngest son who again snatched it off. He escaped and was recognized again because he rode the golden-haired horse and the golden helmet to hide his face.
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At home, the brothers both bragged of what they had seen. "I saw it better than both of you!"
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"How is that so? Where from?"
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"From atop the house roof, of course." His brothers were so furious that then they pulled the roof to pieces.
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Meanwhile, the king declared that the knight should appear who had taken the golden rosemary, the golden apple, and the golden scarf.
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But the days became weeks, the weeks months, and no one came forth. Then the king summoned all the men in the land to his palace.
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But the famous knight was still not among them. All of them gone. A young man appeared with hair and clothes of gleaming gold.
Topics:Hungarian folk taleThe Poor Man's Vineyardfolk storymagical horseskindness rewardking's challengegolden rosemarygolden applegolden scarfbrothers rivalry
