THE SINGING BONE

A wild boar was causing great damage throughout the entire country. Nobody dared to go into the forest, where the beast was running around. Whoever had been so bold as to enter the forest and to try to kill the boar had been ripped apart by its tusks. So the king proclaimed that whoever killed the wild boar would receive his only daughter for a wife.

Now, three brothers were living in the realm. The eldest was wily and smart; the second, somewhat intelligent; and the third and youngest, naive and dumb. They thought of winning the princess and wanted to look for the wild boar and kill it. The two older brothers went out together, while the youngest proceeded alone. As this young man entered the forest, a little man appeared before him. He was holding a heavy lance in his hand and said: "Take this lance and attack the wild boar without fear. You'll easily be able to kill it."

And this is what happened. He struck the boar with the black lance so that it fell to the ground. Then he cheerfully lifted the beast on his shoulders and carried it toward home. Along the way he passed by a house in which his older brothers were enjoying themselves by drinking wine. When they saw him carrying the boar on his back, they called out to him: "Come inside and have a drink with us. You must be tired."

The innocent bumpkin didn't suspect anything evil. So he went inside and told them how he had killed the boar with the lance and was delighted about his good fortune.

In the evening they headed toward their home together, and the two older brothers made a plan to take their brother's life. They let him go ahead of them, and as they approached the city and were on a bridge, they attacked him and beat him to death. Then they buried him deep under the bridge. Afterward the eldest took the boar, carried it to the king, and received the princess for his wife.

It took many years before this deed was revealed, and it happened when a shepherd was crossing the bridge and noticed a little bone lying down below in the sand. Since it was so clean and snow white, he wanted to make a mouthpiece for his horn out of it. So he went down and picked it up. Later he made it into a mouthpiece, and as he set it into the horn and wanted to blow, the little bone began to sing on its own accord:

"Dear shepherd, blowing on my bone, Hear my song, for I want you to know My brothers killed me years ago! They buried me by the brook that flows and carried off the dead wild boar, and won the king's lone daughter."

The shepherd immediately took the horn and brought it to the king, and once again it sang the same words. When the king heard the song, he had the ground beneath the bridge dug up, and the skeleton of the dead brother was revealed. The two evil brothers confessed their crime and were thrown into the water. However, the bone of the murdered brother was laid to rest in a beautiful grave in the churchyard.