The Enchanted Castle,

by J. W. Cassandra

Image par Happy_i de Pixabay - Photo is by Happy_i, from Pixabay.

Photo is by Bianca Van Dijk, from Pixabay.

My fairy tale titled The Enchanted Castle is one of the pieces of my book Bluebell Pixie's Tales, usually a great favorite. So far, everyone who has heard it, because I read it aloud, or read it, liked it very much. Especially the nursery rhymes and incantations that I invented for it.

But if we want to present the tale properly, then it is a real fairy tale, and at the same time a magic tale, in which the son of man, the lad, sets out on a journey to find his fortune, and this is helped by the tales of dwarves dancing at the entrance to the mine, which he listens to unnoticed. He defeats the fairies' grandmother, fights the seven-headed dragons, and not just any way, he overcomes the giant with a trick: there is nothing that could stand in his way! Furthermore, the phoenix bird also helps him with its song, which can only be heard every five hundred years...

This time Bluebell Pixie was not wandering in a hilly and undulating landscape, but in an enormous, plane country, where small gravel sand guarded his footprints, and the air covered the horizon with a trembling mist full of salt spray away from her. Her nose was already full of the fine salt spray, her bag was pulling her shoulders, her feet were walking of their own accord on pathless paths in the endless sand, when at last she saw the sea.

At first the sea did not even show its boundless infinite greatness touching the sky, some glittering mass could be glimpsed from behind uncertain vapours and mists, and since the sun's rays do not burst from under our feet, Bluebell Pixie finally noticed that she was staring down in front of her, not at the sky. So she reached the place where the waters of heaven and earth meet, and saw a row of small fishing boats dotting the horizon with their sails scattered around.

"Well, if fishermen work, there must be a fishing village nearby," the pixie became lively, and whistling merrily skittered on the increasingly hot sand.

But she could still enjoy the play of the waves, the surfing foams, the glittering bodies of the fish that emerged from time to time, the gulls nose-dive, the glittering playful dance of the sun's rays on the surface of the water, before she indeed reached the fishing village.

There, she found a very wide space to round off The Tale of the Enchanted Castle from the Enchanting Bag in front of the gathered children. It was necessary, you will see in a moment!

The golden rays of the Enchanting Bag, its silver moonlight, and its mysteriously gleaming fairy hair fabric shone in an unearthly light when Bluebell Pixie, opening the mouth of the bag, conjured up the tale of the castle from it. Each child watched the miracle with bated breath, and then a tiny diamond apple appeared outside the loosened bag, which scattered dazzling, eye-popping rays all over the place, rolled away on the sand, and the magic began: it grew, rose, towered, peaked, built and beautified, and before the eyes of the assembled spectators, for some adults mingled with them, a glittering and flashing, tower-capped, grandiose, beautiful, golden-silver, jewelled, diamond-studded palace rose, and as it should be: it was spinning on duck legs. And with that the tale began:

Once upon a time, I cannot tell you anymore where, but surely beyond the Seven Seas, in a faraway land [1], and on this side of the Glass Hill [2], there was once a man who had a son. His son earned his living by hard work: he joined the lords to be hired at a rent, cultivated the land, and he put the profits aside by the copper, and wanted to build a little house for himself, with a garden, land to cultivate, as it belongs. Then this lad wandered into a village where no one needed a journeyman, but there was a collapsed and fallen shack on the edge of the village, in which the village storyteller spent his days, who kept the curious well with wonderful stories. The lad also listened to the old storyteller, who was even then telling of the treasures hidden in the depths of the mountains, guarded by dwarves with pointed hats and beards that beat their knees, and of great strength, and whoever can yaw there is a lucky man, because if he watches the treasures of the dwarves and listens to them at the full moon, sitting by the fire at the entrance to the mine, and when they entertain each other with more and more interesting stories, he can learn things that make not only himself rich, but also his grandchildren and their grandchildren. Well, the lad did not need more, he decided to seek out the dwarves in the depths of the distant mountains and listen to their tales.

He cut a hazelnut stick, made scones baked in ash into his bag, and from it he could last a long journey, and drew water into his flask from the village well. As he was leaning over the rim of the well, something suddenly gleamed in the darkening water below. He looked more closely, and to his greatest surprise, the entrance to the mine of the dwarves was visible in the depths of the well, and a dwarf with a big beard squinting sarcastically. The lad did not hesitate in the least, he jumped headlong into the well, and he did it well, for the water parted in front of him, and he fell into a very, very deep pit upside down. The lad took a dive, so he was from the top of his head to his feet, arriving somewhere that was neither wet nor dark: he descended to a footpath winding through the mountains, illuminated by the light of the moon. A strange gust of wind pushed him in the back, so he took the road as soon as he looked around a little. Bushes of furze and hazelnuts lined his path, and their leaves gleamed silvery here and there in the moonlight. The lad went and walked along the winding path, and then suddenly a faint, then louder and louder singing, whistle and beating hit his ears.

He put his feet carefully, trying to approach the revellers noiselessly, thinking that the dwarves would be the ones the storyteller was talking about. His heart beat fast, for as he stealthily approached, the silvery rays of the moon fell on the gaping, dark hollow of a mine entrance, and on the dwarves with big beards, red, green, blue, yellow, purple hats, and the same waistcoats and black trousers, and red boots, dancing around the fire blazing in front of the hollow. The dwarves were bending over, stomping, spinning, clapping rhythmically, dipping their feet, stamping in shape, squatting down more times, jumping up, and having fun merrily. Then one of them, a dwarf in a white cap, a yellow vest and green pants, blew his whistle briefly three times, at which point the others stopped shouting, pounding, spinning, and sat around the fire. The dwarf in the white cap threw some dust into the flames, and they sparkled in hundreds of colours, and the dwarves began to tell a tale in turn. Many dwarves sat there, telling many interesting and frightening, even more mysterious things they had learned, but I will not tell you all that the lad had listened to, only what he had followed. The middle dwarf, who sat with his back to the lad, told of strange landscapes and even stranger buildings, the most exciting of which was about a castle.

"Last time," the dwarf began, "my fortune threw me to a castle such as no human eye has ever seen. In the Seven Seas, even in the middle of it, springs up a huge, roundish island lined with rocky ridges. In the middle of this island, the enchanted castle spins on duck legs, which no human ear has heard of before. The castle was built by a fairy girl [3]. Our kindred people, the pixies, brought the treasures of the earth to it, the fairy with her charm enclosed the dew-beads to walls of the castle, the pearlescent light of pearl shells to its windows, the gleam of the light of the stars to cover it, the silvery moonlight to decorate its towers, the glitter of the sunbeams, the colours of the rainbow, and the diamond stones of enchantment to its interior decorations. She handed them all over to the giant who built them, and ordered him to weave a spell around it from fairy hair, giant footprints, tiger fat, and from light of starfish, which would protect her home.

The giant built the castle, studded its walls with dew-beads, used the pearlescent light of pearl shells for its windows, covered the whole building with the gleam of starlight on the outside, with the glitter of the sunbeams on the inside, alternating with the colours of the rainbow. He studded them out with the diamond stones of enchantment, decorated its towers with silver moonbeams, and made luxurious furniture in every hall and chamber; he hung elaborate chandeliers of a thousand lights, magic mirrors multiplied the light from the walls a hundredfold, soft, sinking purple carpets covered the mosaic floor everywhere, and a bed with a ceiling and curtained to the ground awaited the fairy girl.

And in the rainbow hall he set up the throne.

The giant equipped the fairy's kitchen with all the good things of heaven and earth, because although every giant knows that fairies do not eat ordinary human food, they can still receive guests...

When he was ready, the fairy girl appeared to take over her new apartment, and dismissed the giant. The giant asked for his wages: he asked for a diamond mountain for the castle, which rises from the bowels of the earth to the sky, but the fairy felt the fee high and drove the giant away.

Then the giant promised vengeance against the fairy girl, placing the castle on duck legs and casting a spell on it, for not only fairies are capable of magic, but also giants. The spell permeated the castle, enchanted it, enveloped it with a hunch, and enclosed the fairy girl in itself. On every wing of its gates a seven-headed dragon sat, twenty-four in all, because the fairy could be approached through twelve gates. And the fairy is spinning and spinning in the hiding place of her castle, and there is no trick, no magic, no spell that can stop this spinning. But if it would be successful, the intruder would have to fight the twenty-four seven-headed dragons, and if he succeeded, which is unlikely, he would have to defeat the vengeful builder, the giant, which is impossible for a son of man, since the mark of the nail of the giant's toe is the sea for him, and the fairy herself could not endure the giant.

Furthermore, the foolish liberator would have to climb up the Glass Hill first, because the firebird whose song can be heard every five hundred years, nests on the summit of the Glass Hill and if the melody of the firebird envelopes the one who wants to free the fairy girl, then he can get to the island, otherwise never."

"And how did you get there?"

"Well, just as I said! That is," the dwarf scratched his head under his cap, "this was told by my grandfather's grandfather, and he also told his own great-grandfather's tale. Now the five hundred years will pass, and it is enough that whoever reaches the enchanted castle spinning on duck legs will have to recite the following magic rhyme three times:

Castle, castle, from your hiding place
Unfold yourself from a mistery of haze,
Open yourself to me under a spell,
Stand with the fairy before me,
Let me go in with my host to thee!

"But what kind of army is to get there?"

"The one who wants to free the fairy of the enchanted castle has to go to the grandmother of the fairies as an apprentice, who is the magic teacher of the giants, and ask her for the invisible helpers' host. But for a year's service he must ask for nothing but the invisible helpers' host, otherwise he who joins the old mother of fairies should not even depart to the castle," said the dwarf mysteriously. "And it is also very important that if he is admitted to the castle and it finally stops spinning, he must not touch anything until he finds the fairy girl on the throne of the rainbow hall and recites the following incantation:

Fairy charm and fairy magic,
Be alive as embers glowing!
Fill yourself up with the heavens,
Get rid of your self-interest!
Here it is, behold, the fairy spring,
Finally take off your strings [4],
So renew and be again free!

Then the spell of forebodings falls from the fairy, and her rescuer can get treasures, but it does matter what he asks. The fairy girl promises everything under the sun in return: treasure, money, gold, precious stones, diamonds; but whoever is clever, if he has succeeded in freeing the fairy, can ask of her only one thing, and that is the greatest treasure in the world: her headband, which looks like an ordinary silk ribbon, but is not: whoever possesses it will never again be hungry, thirsty, or poor: every beam of sunshine that shines on it, every moonlight, every sheen of the stars, gives magic power to that silk band, and no matter how great a treasure the possessor may have, he will always remain rich, and if he puts the strap on his head, he will find his true companion and happiness."

"But you did not say that the fairy had a companion..."

"No siree, because she wanted to find a companion to the castle, but she proved unworthy, and has been waiting for her savior for five hundred years."

"Well, that is a very interesting story!" The dwarves declared. "We just have to be careful that some stupid son of man does not find out, so that the fairy should suffer as much as before!"

"La-la," muttered the lad, "I have a word or two to say about that, as well!"

The dwarves extinguished the fire and went to sleep, and the lad set out. He was determined to find the grandmother of the fairies, to serve her, to learn all the spells, and to free the fairy of the enchanted castle. Yes, but where can he find the grandmother of the fairies? He thought about it and went to the fire that had just been extinguished to see if he could find a cinder, and dug with his walking stick into the ashes. Well, as he poked at the ashes, the cinder glowed, and its glow enveloped the footpad, then lifted him up, and flew over the distances until he landed directly in front of the grandmother of the fairies.

Then he learned all the ins and outs of wizardry, entered her service for three days – this was the year at that time – and then asked the invisible helpers' host as payment. The grandmother of the fairies bore her penetrating gaze into the lad's eyes to find out what he wanted, but it was not for nothing that the lad learned everything, stood her gaze, and tied the dog to the post, saying that he needed no other payment than the invisible helpers' host. What was there to do, the witch beckoned with a sigh, and the lad was surrounded by the invisible helpers' host. Then he set off with them to the Glass Hill, and just as he reached its peak, the phoenix began to sing on its nest. The melody enveloped and drew the lad in and flew him to the round island in the middle of the Seven Seas, straight to the castle. His invisible helpers' host followed him, clinging to the melody. There they descended, and then the lad recited the spell of the enchanted castle:

But under the spell the duck legs ofthe castle rotated even faster than before, and the fairy was already quite dizzy inside. Then the lad recited the words second time, and at last the rotation slowed down. By the time he had said the spell third time, the castle had stopped. Yes, but then the scaly-clawed, huge, flame-blowing seven-headed dragons rushed at the lad two by two! And he told the spell against the seven-headed:

One, two, three, four, five, six, [5]
Be not one of the seven-headed!
Go away, you ugly dragon,
Magic guile does charm you, though.
One, two, three, four, five, six,
Be not one of the seven-headed!

and the dragons disappeared as if by magic. Then the earth thundered, then it opened, and the giant who had enchanted the fairy for revenge stood before the lad. The giant was so enormous that he reached to the sky, and with a single step he crossed seven miles, and his strength was as strong as that of rocks.

But the invisible helpers' host slipped into the giant's clothes and jumped like a small army of fleas on his body, until the giant begged him:

"I will not hurt you, lad, just free me!"

"That is not enough, take the spell off the castle and the fairy, and do not dare to disturb her any more!" The lad commanded.

The giant removed the charm from the castle, and it unfolded from the mysterious mists in all its splendour: the windows of pearlescent light glittered, its walls gleamed, its towers shed light, and the giant knelt before the lad:

"I will never disturb the fairy girl again, only release me, please!" And he kept scratching.

Then the lad waved, and the invisible helpers' host disappeared from the giant's body, and carried him away from there to where he could no longer disturb anyone: to the belly of the Glass Hill.

The lad walked up the seventy-seven steps into the palace, and his eyes and mouth was opened from the luxuriant splendour that greeted him inside. For the walls sparkled and glittered richly with silver and gold, diamonds were decorated, and soft, sinking carpets led to the rainbow hall. He wanted to smooth the dazzlingly gleaming walls, but for his good luck, he remembered what the dwarf had said, and withdrew his hand.

In the middle of the rainbow hall stood the throne, on which the fairy girl sat under the spell. She was beautiful, mysterious, magical, charming, but she suffered, because the giant had freed her from the spell he had cast on her, but her former selfishness still bound her with heavy chains.

Then the lad stood before her and told the word of liberation:

And a miracle happened: the fairy shook, came to life, her chains fell off, and she was freed. As he was freed, so she assumed her true form, which was as brilliantly beautiful as the rainbow in the sky, and her fairy hair, which fell down to her heels, was encircled on her forehead by a silk ribbon, a splendid ribbon of iridescent splendour, of brilliant light. Her dress was airy, and she herself was a beautiful fairy girl.

"Thank you for freeing me, lad. Out of gratitude, I will make you rich. Ask me for whatever you want: a pile of treasure, money, precious stones, gold, diamonds: I do not regret, for you have freed me from long and difficult suffering!"

"Thank you, beautiful fairy girl, but I only ask one thing of you: give me the silk ribbon that surrounds your falling hair on your forehead!"

"Ask for anything else, lad, I cannot give you that one!"

"Nevertheless, I do not need anything but the silk ribbon from your hair!" The lad stubbornly insisted.

The fairy was begging off, hesitant, she did not want to part with it, because she knew that then she would not have enough treasure left to find her destined companion. So she cast a spell on the lad, but it was not in vain that he had learned the magic from the grandmother of the fairies, and it was not in vain that he was enveloped by the melody of the song of the firebird, for now he had cast a spell on the freed fairy girl and had charmed her. And thanks to this spell, the fairy understood that she had found the one she was looking for.

Then she untied the silk band from her forehead and girded the lad with it, and they were both transformed: the fairy girl became what she had always been to be: wonderful, charming, beautiful, and unselfish. And the young man became a fairy. Then they got married, and from the walls of the castle flowed a music of heavenly beauty, so wonderful that it is balm to the heart.

Thus the lad attained his desires, and happiness with the fairy girl, who was never selfish again.

The children of the fishing village watched with their mouths open as Bluebell Pixie returned the tale to the Enchanting Bag, and then the fishermen treated her to a good fish soup. And when the kettle was empty, the pixie moved along.

She ate her fill with fish, soup, and she found a pile of splinters, and threw them all in her path. If she had kept the last splinter, my tale would have lasted longer!

Written: 28 / 05. 2010., by J. W. Cassandra
Translated: 19 / 08. 2025., by J. W. Cassandra

[1] In the Hungarian folklore and folk tales we have the expression 'az Óperenciás-tengeren túl', I rendered it here with 'beyond the Seven Seas, in a faraway land' or 'in the Seven Seas'. The Hungarian name of the sea origins from German: it was originally 'ober Enns', meaning 'over the Enns (the tributary of river Danube in Austria).

[2] We have in Hungarian folklore such a name in the folk tales, not beyond, but in the near side of a hill or mountain, called 'Glass Hill or Mountain'. The hill in the tale is made of pure glass.

[3] The figure of the fairy in Hungarian folklore and folk tales is a figure of might. The most cases, the fairy can take on a shape of a beautiful girl. She may be true or false, in addition kind-hearted or malicious. In every cases, she has magic and charming power, invincible by humans.

[4] I use theis word insted of 'chains' because of the rhyme.

[5] The original version counts to four, in the translation I took it to six, because so the poem sounds better.

The Enchanted Castle,

by J. W. Cassandra

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