Once there was a boy who was tending three hundred hares. He used to bring the hares to the grass plain and take them back home in the evening. This was the largest hare-farm in the country.
A challenge
The king heard about the hares and the boy and sent a challenge through one of his courtiers.
The challenge was to drive all the three hundred hares to the plains and bring them back home in the evening for three consecutive days without missing a single one. If he wins the challenge, the king will give the princess – his only daughter in marriage to the boy.
On that day, the boy drove them out early in the morning, but the hares immediately ran away and the boy cried bitterly. He remembered the challenge but now he did not have a single hare.
A little man
Then a little man came to him and asked, “Why are you crying?”
The boy told the little man how he was supposed to bring all the hares back home in the evening, but now he did not have a single hare. Then the little man asked, “Do you have anything to eat?” The boy said, “Just a piece of dry bread.”
A flute
After the two of them had shared the bread, the little man gave a flute to the boy, saying, “When evening comes just play this flute and all the hares will come running to you.”
The boy did just that, and all the hares came to him.
Winning the challenges
When he arrived back in the village, everyone was standing in front of the palace to count the hares and the boy had won the first challenge.
The next day, he drove them out again and the little man came to him again. They ate breakfast together and the little man asked, “Why are you so happy?” The boy said, “All my hares came back.”
The little man said, “Do the same thing again this evening.” The boy followed the little man’s instructions and he won all three challenges.
The three hundred hares returned to him when he played on the flute.
The king had not expected the boy to win. So, he had already found another groom for the princess during the three days.
Another challenge
The king gave another challenge to the boy. He proposed that the two boys sleep in the same bed as the princess. She would sleep in the middle.
And in the morning, the boy whom the princess was facing would marry her.
In the middle of the night the boy went to a store and bought all kinds of sweets, raisins, and almonds, then got back into bed. At midnight, the young gentleman asked, “What is it that smells so good on you?”
“Oh, I just went outside and ate some cow dung” the boy said. So, the other young gentleman went outside and smeared cow dung all over his face.
Now, everyone thought that the girl would be facing the other young gentleman in the morning, but the princess was facing the boy who had the fragrances of sweets, raisins, and almonds on him.
Happily ever after
So, the king had to accept the boy with the three hundred hares as the winner and his son-in-law. The intelligent prince and the princess lived happily ever after.
