Moldova




A Moldavian folk tale from the old world tells the story of a King’s young daughter, who fell in love with a shepherd after he charmed her with a Maple wood flute.

This young daughter went into the fields with her two older sisters to gather the first strawberries of the spring season. Their wretched old father thought so much more of his victuals than of his kingdom or his family, that he promised his kingdom to the first daughter who should return to him with a basket full of fruit. When the young daughter’s basket was the first one filled, it maddened the two older sisters into a jealous rage. Hence, they killed her and buried her body under a Maple tree. The two older sisters divided the berries between them and returned with the improbable story that an elk had eaten her. The King’s sadness was plain for all to see. Sad, too, were the musings of the shepherd on the hill. Blow as he might, the Maple wood flute made no sound, nor did his lady appear.

On the third day the Shepherd, passing the Maple tree beneath which his love was buried, noticed a fair new shoot that had sprung up from the ground at the base of the tree. He cut off the shoot and fashioned a new and more ornate flute, which began to sing when he put it to his lips. The new flute did not sing in wordless notes, but in prophetic lyrics. “Play, dearest! Once I was a King’s daughter; then I was a Maple shoot; now I am but a wooden flute.”

Astonished at this disclosure, the shepherd rushed to the palace and demanded an audience with the King. The King was amazed, as well he might be, when he put the flute to his own mouth and heard it say “Play, my father! Once I was a King’s daughter; then I was a Maple shoot; now I am but a wooden flute.” Wishing to test his senses, he called the wicked daughters and commanded that they also blow into the instrument. As each did so, it cried, “Play, murderer! Once I was a King’s daughter; then I was a Maple shoot; now I am but a wooden flute.” Realizing what atrocity had been committed, the King drove the daughters from the palace and banished them to a remote and desolate island in the Black Sea. The shepherd went back to his sheep and assuaged his loneliness with the voice of his beloved.

Source: Here