Pomegranate

There was a king who, before he died, brought his three sons and said to them:

 "  Let this remain between us: wherever you go hunting, above all do not go to the mountain opposite, something bad will happen to you. " 

He says that, and he dies.

Time passes. The eldest says:

 " My God ! what is this mystery? I will go to this mount, I will see what there is”.

He walks, he walks, he arrives in front of a castle. He approaches, he sees a bird which flies away and lands on his head, on his arms, on his shoulder. The door opens. He enters, he sees that the bird has turned into a demon and stands in front of him.

•  " Good morning ! welcome, please come in, I know you are a traveler, you are tired, sit down, rest, eat a bun, may God grant you success wherever you go” said the demon.

Arrived at the foot of the stairs, the demon said: go up first! " 

The young man says: Go up, you! " 

The demon says:  It's not the custom with us to go up first, you have to go first. " 

The young man walks past, the demon hits him from behind and kills him. He does not eat his flesh, he throws him into the well.

As his brother does not return, the youngest goes looking for him.

Exactly the same thing happens to him as to the eldest. The demon cut off his head.

The youngest brother and his sister say: our big brothers are gone, they have disappeared. Let's see what happened to them, whether they're dead or alive. " 

They walk, they walk, they see the castle, the bird lands on the brother's head, on his arms, on his shoulder; they arrive in front of the door, they enter, the bird becomes demon, it stands in front of them. He said to the boy: pass in front, we will go up. " 

The boy says: No, go first! " 

•  " No you first ! " 
• yes – no – yes – no , the demon finally gave in. The boy hits him and kills him, he cuts him into a thousand pieces and throws everything into the well.

The brother and sister see that this house suits them: it is full of furniture, crockery, clothes… They decide to stay there.

The boy went hunting in the mountains, the girl stayed at home, she prepared the meals, did the cleaning and kept the house.

The brother had told his sister to be careful, after sweeping the floor, not to throw the garbage into the well, because that would bring the demon back to life.

However, one day, the girl sweeps and throws the garbage in the well.

Immediately, the demon reappears. He goes out, he bewitches the girl, he makes her his wife. He asks :

 " Where is your brother ? " 

The girl says:

 " He went hunting in the mountains.

 "I'm going to kill your brother!" » said the demon.

 "  No, said the girl, why kill him? Let him hunt and bring us the game; we will eat it. " 

In the evening, the brother comes home. And what does he see? the resurrected demon, the demon and his sister arm in arm, making love to each other!

The girl has whims, she wants pomegranates! She eats them, and nine months later, she gives birth to a boy.

This child had a dagger-shaped excrescence on the side, topped with a pomegranate seed. It was therefore called “Grain-de-grenade”.

While the children of foreigners grow year by year, Pomegranate grows month by month, because he was a demon child, demons grow at full speed.

One day the demon said to the girl:

 " I can't stand the sight of your brother anymore. I will turn into a snake and hide behind the door. As soon as your brother gets home, I'll strangle him and kill him. " 

Pomegranate hears it. In the evening, when his uncle returns, he runs to meet him and says:

 “Uncle darling, take me on your shoulders, and let’s go in together! " 

His uncle takes him on his shoulders, they enter through the door, the snake cannot strangle the brother.

The next day the demon said:

 "I'm going to turn into a snake, I'm going to hide under the door, when your brother comes by, I'll bite him on the heel!" " 

Grain-de-grenade hears his parents' shenanigans. In the evening, when his uncle comes home, he goes to meet him and says:

 " Uncle darling, yesterday you carried me, today I will carry you.

He takes his uncle on his shoulders, they enter through the door, the snake cannot bite the brother.

Then the demon said to his wife:

 Well, I'll turn into a bird, I'll perch in the tree; when your brother returns, you will tell him to kill me, you will put aside my flesh. And my bones, you will throw them into the well. You will make a fire, from my leftovers you will make a pie, you will serve it to your brother, he will eat it and die. You will throw his body into the well over my bones, I will rise again and we will resume our life together. " 

Grain-de-grenade hears the words of his parents. That evening, the uncle had no game, he came home empty-handed. His sister says:

 » Brother, your brother-in-law is not there and you arrive empty-handed. I have nothing to eat, go look on the tree, there is a bird, kill it, I will cook it. " 

The brother shoots the bird and kills it. The sister makes a pie with the flesh and throws the bones into the well. For her and her son, she makes a pâté with good meat. They sit at the table.

Pomegranate Seed says: » Mom, a mouse! A mouse ! " 

The mother turns around; the child exchanges the pies of the uncle and the mother.

Then he tells everything to his uncle.

They free themselves from the demon and his wife.

They set off.

After walking for a long time, the uncle is tired; he sits down in the shade of a tree, and says:

 “Ah! If only I could smoke my pipe, too bad there's no fire! " 

Grain-de-grenade looks, he sees a little smoke rising in the distance.

 " Uncle, he said, lay down, rest, I'll fetch you some fire. " 

Pomegranate leaves, he sees forty demons around a fire where meat is roasting in a copper cauldron. He greets them and says:

 "Please put away your cauldron, I would like to bring fire to my uncle, so that he can light his pipe." " 

The demons say:

 " We, we can't lift this cauldron, if you can, spread it and take fire.

Pomegranate lifts the cauldron to put it aside, but he spills all the meat. Angry demons surround him. Pomegranate grain attacks them, he kills them all, he catches fire, he also takes the chief's wife, he arrives at his uncle. The uncle lights his pipe and they set off again.

They walk, they walk, they arrive in a city. At the very end, they stop at an inn.

The skipper was watching the sky with a spyglass.

Pomegranate asks him:

• Good man, what are you looking at?
• I am an astrologer, I observe the stars, I see who is going to die, who is going to live, under which star will be born such boys, such girls, who will be lucky, who will not be, who will be rich, who will be poor…
• Well, says Pomegranate, here's a handful of gold, if i'm in trouble, come to my aid 

The uncle, the wife and Grain-de-grenade set off again. On their way, they meet a fisherman who had caught a cute little fish and put it in the water from a bucket.

• Brave man, says Pomegranate, what are you doing here ?
• Brother, said the fisherman, I'm embarrassed, wondering if I should fry and eat this little fish or if I should go sell it.
• You're not gonna kill it or sell it, said Pomegranate, handing him two handfuls of gold coins. You gon' keep him safe in your bucket, if he dies you'll know I'm in danger, you gotta come to my rescue

The uncle, the wife and Grain-de-grenade go away. They walk, they walk, they arrive in the town of the uncle's father. They see that everything has changed. Uncle's uncle became king. The uncle remembers his father, his mother, his brothers. He is sad.

A few days later, Grain-de-grenade goes to the king. When the queen sees him, she falls in love with him. The king notices this, he summons a witch and says to her:

• I'll make your fortune if you get rid of Pomegranate and kill him.

The old witch concentrates. She learns that under the last rib of Grain-de-grenade hangs a dagger-shaped excrescence and that if it is torn off, it dies.

The old woman goes to the uncle's house, she meets the woman, she gets hired as a governess.

One day, she sees that Grain-de-grenade has undressed and gone to bed. She enters and tears off her excrescence. He dies.

The astrologer sees that the star of Pomegranate has gone out. He sets off, he goes to the fisherman. He asks him: “Astrologer, where are you running so fast?

The astrologer replies: the star of Grain-de-grenade went out. I will see what happened.

The fisherman goes to see the fish, he sees that it is dead.

 " Ah! What misfortune, Grain-de-grenade is dead!

The astrologer and the fisherman rush to the king's town, they ask where the uncle's house is, they find it, they enter and notice that Pomegranate is hard as wood.

The astrologer puts his eye to the telescope and says: a fragment of the star of Grain-de-grenade was detached. Fisherman, tie him up and our friend will get up. " 

The fisherman looks up and sees that a skin dagger has been thrown next to the body. He picks it up and strikes it dead. Immediately, Grain-de-grenade sits down, in great shape.

The queen is coming for him. She brings the king down from his throne, making him his vizier.

Pomegranate and the Queen ascend the throne, they govern the country.These have made their wishes come true, may yours also come true!