A Hungarian wonder tale from Elek Benedek's great collection of Hungarian folk tales and legends. A princess who will not leave her father's garden is carried off by a whirlwind to the top of the tree that reaches the sky, into the castle of the nine-headed dragon. Kings' sons climb and turn back in shame — until a little swineherd boy takes counsel from a small pig, climbs for seven days and seven nights, and finds the dragon's diamond palace, a starving horse that eats glowing embers, and the hidden secret of the nine-headed dragon's strength. It is told as Benedek wrote it, except for the dragon's death at the very end, which is not read.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
From Benedek Elek, Magyar mese- és mondavilág (Athenaeum, 1894–96), public domain; told in a fresh in-house rendering.
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