Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a wise king. He was just and ruled his country wisely. This king had a beautiful castle. It stood by a crystal lake and was made of glass. You may wonder how a glass castle could withstand hailstorms. It was because this castle was once built by an evil wizard.
The king’s grandfather defeated the evil wizard, took away his magic shoes, and the wizard hasn’t been able to cast spells since. The king’s grandfather had him banished from the kingdom and locked the magic shoes in the cellar, never to be found again.
One day a messenger arrived at the king’s house with a message from a neighbouring kingdom. The princess was looking for a suitable bridegroom who would be rich, handsome, wise and bring her shoes that no other princess had.
The king immediately had crocs made by a master S-’ting from far away China and rushed to the princess with them. He bowed and presented the shoes.
“These are light and durable shoes, which no other princess has,” said the king.
“Every maid in our country wears these ugly shoes. I will not marry you, king,” replied the princess, and she had the king banished.
But the king was not to be disheartened. That very day he had another pair of shoes made by Kao Caoutchouc and hurried back to the princess with them.
“These are tall and sturdy boots that you can walk in even through the water. I bet no princess really has such shoes,” boasted the king.
“Am I some kind of pig to walk around in rubber boots?” The princess scorned. “Take them and get out of my sight.”
So the king took his boots and went back to his kingdom. On the way he was wondering why the princess was said to be modest and kind but she proved to be the opposite. Then the king got an idea. What kind of shoes no one in the world has? The wizard’s shoes that are locked in the cellar!
So the king grabbed the magic shoes and brought them to the princess. The princess was delighted.
“Well, these are beautiful shoes. I want to put them on now,” she said.
As soon as she put them on, something happened that no one expected. A thick fog enveloped the princess. And when the fog lifted, instead of the princess, there was an evil wizard in the shoes.
“Ha, ha, ha! I tricked you, you royal scum,” laughed the wizard. “And I’m taking my castle back!”
“Where is the princess?” asked the king.
“I cast a spell on her. She’s turned into a little grey mouse,” boasted the wizard, waving the small cage in which the mouse was huddled. “From now on, only I am king far and wide.”
And the wizard disappeared.
The king went back home, but he saw that the castle had disappeared. Not a bit of it was left.
“Wizard, wicked wizard, give me back my castle, I will fight you in a duel!” cried the king, for he was very brave. He was also wise enough to know that if he did not get his castle back, he would have nowhere to sleep at night.
The wizard suddenly appeared before the king.
“I accept your challenge. For you cannot defeat me. “Hairy, scary, grow it now!
Fuzzy face and furry brow!”
Before the king could recover, the wizard cast a spell on him. At first, nothing happened. Then the king noticed that a black hair had grown on his chin. He ran to a nearby house for a pair of tweezers. But by the time he got there, he was covered in hair. It grew on his arms, legs, chest, back, butt and face until he looked like a monkey. Tweezers weren’t enough for that. So he called his royal barber and got himself shaved all over. But no sooner had the barber finished than the king was hairy again.
“Wait, Your Majesty, I have a special razor made of glass. My great-grandmother gave it to me once. I’ll shave you with it, but I need some shoes in return. My feet are so cold.”
“That’s not a problem. Look what nice soft crocs I have here.”
“They are beautiful, my king. Thank you.”
So the barber shaved the king with a glass razor. The hair on the king disappeared and never grew back. The wicked wizard appeared and was very angry that the king had so easily beat his spell.
“I will give you back the castle as I promised,” said the wizard, waving his wand, and the castle appeared in its place.
The king, delighted to finally have a place to spend the night, rushed into his chambers. But something was wrong. It was bitterly cold in the castle, and the wind was blowing through the chambers.
“Wizard, where are all the doors?!” shouted the angry king.
“Muhahaha,” laughed the wizard. “You told me to give you back your castle. You said nothing about the door.”
“If you’re not a coward, grab your sword and come fight like a man!”
“Of course,” said the wizard, drawing his sword. But he still managed to say the spell quietly, “Mud and muck from sky to ground,
Trap their feet and spin them ‘round!
Sticky, thick — they’re stuck for good,
Welcome to the boggy hood!”
Deep, dirty puddles formed around the wizard that even the tallest man could not cross or jump over.
“Fight, king. But you must get to me first!” The wizard laughed at the king.
But the king was clever. He put on the rubber boots, which the princess refused, and waded through the puddles to the wizard. With one blow, he knocked the sword out of his hand. With the second blow, he almost cut off his head, but the wizard managed to disappear. All the doors of the king’s castle were suddenly in place. But the king was not satisfied.
“Come back, you coward, and give me back my princess!”
“Why don’t we compete for her?” suggested the wizard, conjuring fire and hot stones on the ground. And behind it he placed a cage with a poor mouse on it.
He knew full well that the king’s rubber boots would not withstand the fire.
“Whoever gets to her first wins and the princess is his,” grinned the wizard.
“Very well,” said the clever king. “Since you’ve lost twice, it’s your turn to start.”
The wizard grinned and set off after the fiery stones. But even his magic shoes were not fireproof and began to sizzle and burn. The wizard howled like a wolf and pranced like a mad dancer. Soon his shoes crumbled to dust and with them all his magic evaporated. The fire was gone. The king ran and grabbed the cage with the princess. Meanwhile, the wizard sat on the ground and blew on his burnt feet.
“You scoundrel, how dare you trick me like that! I will have my revenge!” grumbled the wizard.
“I have won. Turn the mouse back into a princess.”
“You’re a clever king? Can’t you see that the magic shoes have burned? I can’t do magic now.”
The king was sad. He can’t marry a mouse. But after all, why not? He was quite fond of animals.
He took the mouse out of its cage, held it up on his palm against his eyes and said, “My princess, be my queen. From the first moment I saw you, I fell in love with you. Even though you were a wizard in disguise, but that’s just a minor detail.”
And then the king gave the mouse a kiss on the snout. Suddenly it wasn’t a mouse sitting on his palm, but a princess. She was so heavy that the king almost fell over. But then he caught her in his arms and took her to his glass castle. There they both professed their love, a glorious wedding took place, and they both wisely reign there to this day.
And the sorcerer? He could no longer cast spells and had to work for a living. Until death, he had to polish the glass castle so that there was not a single smudge on its walls. And if he did leave one, he had to run around the castle in the rubber boots as punishment.
