A fisherman employed by a Count that paid him well for how big his catches were suddenly stopped catching fish and was let go. Sat out on water, weeping. Mermaid came to him and said she was the one who gave him all the fish and then took them away, and that if he wanted more he’d have to give her something he didn’t know he had. He agreed and caught a large load.
Went home and shocked his wife with the news– she told him she was with child. They were saddened but said they’d make the boy be a man of the cloth, and comforted themselves with the catch, which the man brought to the Count and thereby became re-employed.
When the boy, whom they named Lucas, was of age, he took the vows, but he could not perform his first sermon because he was promised to the Mermaid. So he became a cooper (maker and repairer of casks and tubs) and went on the road with that.
One day he saw a bear, a fox, a falcon and an ant quarreling over how to divide a horse’s carcass. Lucas gave the fore- and hindquarters to the bear, the back to the fox, the innards to the falcon and the head to the ant. He walked away but the bear sent the fox after him to express their gratitude. The animals gave him the power to change into any of their forms at will. He burst out laughing and went on.
To test his power, when he came upon some partridges pecking at grain Lucas turned into a fox and got as many of the birds as he could carry. He then went on and came to an inn, where he had the birds roasted. After he went to sleep behind the stove. Four men entered and started playing cards, and one amassed quite a small fortune. Lucas became an ant, crawled over, transformed into a bear and overturned the table, scattering the money and frightening the cardplayers into fleeing.
Lucas took his “catch” back on the road and came to a town with a black flag and people in mourning. A king had three beautiful daughters and had decided to make the middle his heir, but the sisters looked so alike that people could not tell them apart. Anyone who could choose the middle could marry her, but if he failed, he’d be executed. Many had tried unsuccessfully, and that was why the town was in mourning.
Lucas decided to try his hand, and he espied in the castle, which was surrounded by a deep moat, a garden, and in it three beautiful girls. He flew as a falcon into it and allowed one to capture him. She put him into a golden cage in her room and went to sleep, and he emerged as a man in splendid clothing and took her hand. He professed her love to her and she said she was the middle. She tied a red silk ribbon around her finger to distinguish her from her sisters.
The next day, Lucas showed up at the castle to claim his bride. The king and others mourned for this handsome lad to be the next victim of the executioner, who was getting ready off to the side. But when the three daughters were presented, the middle stepped forward slightly and he saw the ribbon. Everyone rejoiced at his pick and he was made heir and they lived together happily for years.
One day Lucas wanted to go off hunting, but his wife had a bad premonition and asked him not to go, but he insisted. Carrying a deer he’d killed, he ignored his mother’s warning to stay away from water, and he was snatched below by a mermaid. The wife heard the news and mourned him at the stream, and the mermaid came up and said not to worry, that he was happy. She asked to see her husband and she was shown his face, offering her golden comb, and by giving away her ring, then her slipper, he was allowed to progressively emerge until he was in his wife’s hand, and can you imagine, he then turned into a falcon and escaped.
The mermaid disappeared and came back and blew blue sand into the face of the queen, who turned into a dragon. The kingdom was again in trouble, and the king announced the need for help throughout the land. A magician came and asked if the princess could endure the difficult
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