The Enchanted Pig is a Romanian folktale collected by Petre Ispirescu.
Synopsis[]
A king who has three daughters has to go to battle and leave his daughters alone in the castle. Before he leaves he tells the princesses they can go to every room in the palace they want, except the room at the back in the right-conner, and gives them the palace keys. After the king leaves, days pass and the princesses get bored until one day the eldest suggests to go and see what’s in the room their father forbade them to enter. The youngest replies saying she doesn’t think that’s a good idea, but her elder sisters ignore her concerns and they go anyway. They discover the room is almost completely empty except for a table in the middle where an open book lies, where the princesses read that the eldest will marry a prince from the East and the second to a prince from the West. The youngest doesn’t want to read the book because she’s afraid of what the book will foretell her about her future, but her sisters drag her to read the book. The moment the youngest princess reads that she will marry a pig from the North she’s horrified, but her sisters convince her there’s no way that would happen. Despite that it doesn’t take too long for the princesses’ father after his return to realise there’s something wrong with his youngest daughter, who everyday looks thinner and sadder. Suspecting what might have happened he calls his daughters and orders them to tell him the truth, and the princesses confess they disobeyed him during his absence.
Soon after these events first comes a prince from the East to marry the king’s eldest daughter and then a prince from the West to marry the second daughter, and saying the future the book predicted to her sisters has become a reality the youngest princess starts to feel everyday more and more afflicted, knowing that what the book said about her will become true eventually. Finally one day a pig from the North comes asking for the princess’ hand in marriage. The king thinks about rejecting that proposal, but when he hears the news that all the pigs in the world have come to the court he decides the best thing to do would be to accept the pig’s marriage proposal. Before the wedding the king advises her to treat his daughter not like other pigs, because the way the pig speaks and behaves is unlikely. Once the princess and the pig get married they leave the kingdom of the princess’ father, and on their way the pig orders the carriage to be stopped because he wants to roll in mud. After he’s satisfied he asks the princess to kiss his snout, which is covered in mud, and remembering her father’s advice the princess does so after she cleans the pig’s snout with her handkerchief. Finally the couple arrives where the pig lives, and while living with him the princess realises the pig turns into a prince by night, but turns back into a pig by dawn. One day the princess sees an old woman pass by, and excited to see another human being the princess invites her to come in and talk to her. The old woman tells the princess she’s a witch and that she knows how to break the spell the pig is under. That night the princess ties round around one of the pig’s foot a thread the witch gave her, but when the thread breaks the pig, who’s actually an enchanted prince, wakes up and tells the princess that she’ve only waited three days more the spell would have been broken, and that the old woman was actually the same witch that cursed him, who has tricked the princess to prolong the spell and now he has to leave her. Before he vanishes the prince tells the princess she won’t see him again until she hasn’t worn out three pairs of iron shoes and blunted a steel staff.
After being left alone the princess breaks into tears, and after crying for a while she goes to the nearest town and orders three pairs of iron shoes and a steel staff to be made. Once they get them ready the princess walks and walks until she arrives where the Moon lives. The princess knocks at the door asking if they would let her stay for the night, and the Moon’s mother opens the door. Taking pity on her the woman lets the princess stay, and while there the princess gives birth to a baby. After a while the Moon’s mother tells her she might go to ask the Sun where she can find the pig prince, and before she leaves she gives her a chicken to eat and advises her to keep all of the bones because she will need them later. The princess goes to where the Sun lives, wearing the second pair of iron shoes because the first is already worn out, and when she finally arrives at the palace where the Sun lives the Sun’s mother opens the door and lets her stay. But the Sun doesn’t know where the pig prince is either, and the only thing he can think of is that the princess goes and asks the Wind. Like in the Moon’s palace the princess is given a chicken before she leaves and the Sun’s mother advises her to keep the bones. Finally in the Wind’s palace the Wind informs the princess where the pig prince is, and before she goes she’s given another chicken to eat and is advised once again to keep the bones. The princess walks and walks until she arrives to the woods the Wind told her the prince lives now, just when her last pair of iron shoes has completely worn out, and after three days and three nights walking around the forest she finally finds the high thicket the pig prince leaves now, whose door is at the top. To reach it the princess builds a ladder with the chicken bones she carried with her. But when there’s only one step left she realises she has run out of bones, so she cuts off one of her fingers and places it where the last bone should be, finishing the ladder. Once inside the thicket the princess waits for the prince alongside her son. When the prince arrives and finds the ladder made of bones he’s astonished, and even more so when he finds the princess with their son. The prince explains to the princess that he killed the youngest of the witch’s sons, who were dragons who terrorized his father’s kingdom, and he was cursed as revenge. The next morning they return to the prince’s kingdom, and then they go visit the princess’ father, who chooses his son-in-law as his heir.