Settle Stories has been working alongside European partners to create a toolkit for applied storytelling (with funding from Erasmus+). Here is one of the stories we’ve been working with.

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Once upon a time there was a king and a queen who had a son and a daughter. The daughter was good and prudent, but the boy was unruly and naughty. His parents were sad about his behaviour but they placed their hopes on their daughter. Time passed, the queen died and the king, who was also in his last days, called his daughter. ” I ‘ll tell you something”, he said, “but you won’t reveal it to your brother before you are sure he became prudent. Please keep your eye on him”. “Don’t worry father” answered the girl. Then, her father led her to a room full of treasures. In some days the king died and the two siblings were left alone.

The princess kept advising her brother. After some time passed, she asked him (who, meanwhile, has been the king): “Brother, if you had a treasure, what would you do?” He answered: “I would buy weapons and gunpowder, I would kill people, you including, me including…” The girl realised that her brother was still immature. After some time she asked him once again the same question but she got the same answer. So she left long time to  pass and then she asked him again: “brother, if you had a treasure, what would you do?” He answered: “I would marry you first and then I would get married too”. The girl liked his answer and she thought that her brother grew up and became prudent. Therefore, she led him to the room with the treasure. “This treasure”, she said, ” is left to us by our parents, but they told me not to reveal it to you before I am sure that you are prudent”. “I ‘ll keep my word”, he said, “I ‘ll marry you first”. “No”, said the girl, “you “ll get married first and then, when I see that you are ok, I ‘ll marry too”.

Her brother agreed and he soon got married to a girl of royal origin. But this woman didn’t like her husband’s sister, she was jealous of her, because the king loved her very much and took her advice for everything. So she wanted to kill her. One day she called a faithful slave of hers and asked her to fetch a snake and to put it in her sister’s in-law cup. So it happened. The princess didn’t see the snake and she swallowed it when drinking water. The snake got bigger and bigger in the girl’s belly, and her belly went bigger and bigger too, in the end fully swollen. The bad queen went to her husband and blamed her: “Look your sister! She got pregnant!”

When the king saw his sister with a swollen belly, he got angry and he ordered the guards to lead her in the wilderness, to kill her and to bring him her blood in a cup to drink. The guards led her in the wilderness but they felt pity for her and they spared her life; instead, they killed a dog who followed them and gave the king the dog’s blood to drink. So he drank it believing that he drank his sister’s blood.

The princess walked long until she saw a sheepfold. She asked the shepherd: “Do you want me to do the household and you to give me in return some bread to eat and some milk to drink?” The shepherd agreed. ‘`Why is your belly so swollen?”, he asked her. “I don’t know. One day I drank some water and afterwards my belly swells’ ‘, she said. The shepherd said: “I know what happened!  You swallowed a snake! I know what you should do, ” he said. In the next morning, after the milk has been milked, the shepherd puts it in a cauldron, lights a fire and puts it on to boil. He hangs the princess from a beam upside down above the cauldron and tells her: “Keep your mouth open, and do not move until the serpent comes out. Don’t be afraid”.The milk boiled and smelled and the smell came from the princess’s mouth to the belly. The snake sniffed and started stirring and crawling out to go to the milk.

“Keep your mouth open,” the shepherd told her. Slowly the snake was dragged and flat! It fell into the cauldron of milk. The girl’s abdomen deflated at once. “Ah”, says the princess “I got relaxed!”

On the other hand the king, when he drank the blood, and because of his great sorrow for his sister’s loss, he fell seriously ill and a tree sprouted in his heart. To forget his pain, he called people to come and tell him stories. One day the shepherd goes down to the city to sell hair and cheese. When he returned, the princess asked him for the news from the city. The shepherd told her about the king and the tree in his heart. “Please”, said the girl, “give me your clothes to wear, because I want to tell him a story as well”.

So it happened. The girl put on the shepherd’s clothes and kept from her own clothes with her only a vest, which was her father’s present. Her brother had an identical vest too. When she arrived at the palace she asked the guards to meet the king to tell him a story, but they didn’t allow her to enter. In the end, the king who heard the argument, ordered the guards to let the shepherd come.

The girl got in the king’s room, stood by him and started to tell a story:

“Once upon a time there was a king and a queen who had a son and a daughter. The daughter was good and prudent, but the boy was unruly and naughty. His parents were sad about his behaviour but they placed their hopes on their daughter. Time passed, the queen died and the king, who was also in his last days, called his daughter. ” I ‘ll tell you something”, he said, “but you won’t reveal it to your brother before you are sure he became prudent. Please keep your eye on him”. “Don’t worry father” answered the girl. Then, her father led her to a room full of treasures. If my story is not false but true, let’s a bough from the tree in the king’s heart fall immediately down!” At that very moment, flat! one bough from the tree in king’s heart fell down. “Ah! I got released!” said the king. The girl continued the story and every now and then, when she added: “If my story is not false but true, let’s a bough from the tree in king’s heart fall immediately down!”, immediately another bough fell down. The king’s wife, who understood whom was in front of the king, shouted: “Drive this awful shepherd out of here!” But the king protested: “No, no, his story makes me feel at ease, let him finish!” So the girl continued: “…and the king drank the dog’s blood and a bough sprouted from his heart! And if my story is true, let’s the whole tree fall down!”. And so it happened, all the boughs of the tree fell down and the king shouted: “You are my sister!” “You are right”, she answered and as a proof she showed the royal vest. The king recognised his sister and hugged her and kissed her. After that he ordered the guards to lead his wife in the wilderness. So it happened. And they lived happily ever after.