The Cloud

The Cloud

Once, on the Italian coast, lived a fisherman with his wife and a large family. Every day he went out to sea, but during one unlucky season his nets came back nearly empty.

One morning he cast his net once more and drew up an enormous silvery fish.

The fish suddenly spoke.

“Set me free, and today the sea will be generous to you.”

The fisherman was astonished, but he did not argue with a wonder. He carefully untangled the fish from the net and returned it to the water.

In a moment the sea around the boat began to sparkle. The fisherman cast his net again and caught as many fish as he could safely carry home.

Before disappearing into the depths, the magic fish left three great silver scales on the deck.

“Hang them above your hearth,” came a voice from the water. “They will be a good sign for your family. And if danger threatens one of your children, the scales will darken.”

Time passed, and three sons were born to the fisherman. They grew up friendly, curious, and very much alike. When they were old enough, each received a horse and a dog, and all three learned to help their father, mother, and one another.

One day the eldest son said, “I want to see the world. Not forever. I only want to learn what lies beyond our hills.”

His parents blessed him for the journey.

The young man took his horse, dog, and a little food and set off.

In the forest he heard a commotion. In a clearing, a lion, an eagle, and a small ant were quarrelling. Each wanted the best share of some food they had found, and none wished to yield.

“You are a human,” said the lion. “Judge fairly between us.”

The young man considered. Then he divided the food so that each received what truly suited them. The lion had the largest share, the eagle had what was easy to carry into the sky, and the ant had small nourishing crumbs enough for her whole family.

“Fair,” said the lion.

“And wise,” added the eagle.

The ant rose on her hind legs.

“For this, we shall give you three powers.”

The lion said, “When you need courage and strength, say, ‘Let my heart become lion-hearted,’ and for a short time you may become a lion.”

The eagle said, “When you must see far away or rise high, say, ‘Let my wings become eagle’s wings.’”

And the ant said, “When you need patience and one small unnoticed step, say, ‘Let my step become an ant’s step.’”

The young man thanked them and travelled on.

Near the sea he saw a great fish that a wave had thrown onto the shore. It beat its tail against the sand and could not get back to the water.

The young man set down his bag, rolled the fish closer to the waves, and waited until the tide carried it away.

“If you ever seek me, call beside the sea,” said the fish. “I will hear.”

Before long the young man came to a city where dark ribbons hung from every house.

“Why is everyone so sad?” he asked.

The townspeople told him, “Each year a great magic Cloud comes down from the mountain. It carries one girl away to its distant palace. Those it has taken before cannot return. This time the Cloud has chosen the king’s daughter.”

The young man could not pass by.

He climbed the mountain and hid behind some bushes. Soon the sky darkened, the wind spun dust around, and a dense silver-grey Cloud descended onto the summit.

It wrapped the princess in cold mist. At once she grew sleepy, as though the Cloud were draining away her strength. Then the mist rose into the sky and bore her away.

“Let my wings become eagle’s wings!” cried the young man.

And he became an eagle.

He flew after the Cloud over mountains and valleys until he saw a strange palace on a lonely cliff. The Cloud slipped inside.

The eagle settled in a tree and looked through a window. In a great room lay the girls the Cloud had taken before. They were alive, but too weak to escape.

When the Cloud went out, the young man whispered, “Let my step become an ant’s step.”

He became tiny, crept under the door, and turned back into a man inside the room.

“Do not be afraid,” he said. “I have come to help.”

The king’s daughter took a ring from her finger.

“If you can reach my parents, give this to my mother. She will understand that I am alive.”

The young man became an eagle again, flew to the city, delivered the ring, and returned with a basket of food and water for the captive girls.

“We must learn what holds the Cloud’s power,” he said.

When the Cloud returned, the girls spoke to it gently.

“You are so powerful. Is there really anything in the world that can scatter your magic?”

The Cloud laughed.

“Almost nothing. On a distant mountain lives a seven-headed magic tigress. A silver knot is tied around each of her necks. While all seven knots remain whole, an egg is hidden away, and my power is locked inside it. No one can untie all seven.”

The next morning the young man went to the mountain.

There indeed sat an enormous seven-headed tigress. She did not attack him, but she guarded the seven silver knots and would not let him come near.

“Let my heart become lion-hearted!”

The young man became a lion.

On the first day he could approach only one head and untie one knot. The tigress roared, the earth shook, and the lion had to retreat.

On the second day he untied the second knot.

This continued for seven days. He did not fight the tigress or try to destroy her. Instead, he waited, distracted her, found a safe moment, and slowly freed every neck from its magic ribbon.

When the last knot fell, the seven-headed tigress suddenly stopped growling. Her seven shadows joined into one ordinary great tigress. She yawned as though waking from a long sleep and walked into the mountains.

From beneath a stone rolled a smooth silver egg.

The young man reached for it, but the egg rolled down the slope, leaped from a rock into a stream, and the stream carried it toward the sea.

“Oh no!”

He raced to the shore.

“Fish that I returned to the sea, help me!”

The water whirled, and the familiar great fish rose to the surface.

“Are you looking for this?”

On its back lay the silver egg.

“That is it!”

The young man thanked the fish, took the egg, and returned to the Cloud’s palace.

When the magic being saw him, mist filled the whole palace.

“Give me the egg!”

“First release all the girls and give back their strength.”

“No!”

“Then the egg will remain with me.”

The Cloud swirled, thundered, and tried to frighten the young man, but he stood calmly.

At last it agreed.

One after another, the girls rose from their beds. Colour returned to their cheeks, and their eyes grew clear again. Carriages appeared beside the palace to take them home.

When the last captive had passed through the gates, the young man placed the silver egg on a stone and tapped its shell lightly.

Crack!

A coil of dark mist burst from the egg and scattered on the wind.

The great Cloud lost its power. It became an ordinary little cloud, rose above the cliff, and drifted beyond the horizon.

The king’s daughter returned home. The city celebrated for several days. In time she and the young man decided to marry, but first they spoke for a long while of their dreams and agreed on the kind of life they wished to build together.

It seemed that the adventures had ended.

But one morning the young man saw a strange mist far beyond the city.

“I will only go and see what it is,” he told his wife.

Behind the mist stood another palace. At its entrance waited two elegantly dressed enchantresses.

“Come in, traveller,” they invited. “Let us play a game of chess.”

The young man did not know that they were sisters of the former Cloud.

He agreed.

As soon as he lost the game, the enchantresses touched the chessboard, and the young man, his horse, and his dog became marble statues.

Far away at home, one of the silver scales above the hearth darkened.

“Our brother is in trouble,” said the middle son of the fisherman, and he set out to search.

He reached the same city. At first the princess mistook him for her husband, for the brothers looked so alike.

But she quickly understood.

“He rode into the mist and never came back.”

The middle brother went there. The same thing happened to him: a chess game, a loss, and marble silence.

The second scale darkened.

Then the youngest brother prepared for the journey.

Before the mist, he met an old man.

“Do not play with their pieces,” the old man warned him. “Here are two plain wooden pawns. Say that you will play only with your own. And agree that the winner may ask for one wish, but neither side has the right to harm the other.”

The youngest brother thanked him.

The enchantresses were already waiting in the palace.

“Chess?”

“With pleasure,” he replied. “But with these two pawns.”

The game lasted a long time. At last the young man gave checkmate.

“My wish is simple,” he said. “Return to life everyone you have made into statues.”

The enchantresses frowned, but an agreement was an agreement.

They touched the board with their magic wands.

The marble cracked. First the horses and dogs came alive, then unknown travellers, and after them the two brothers.

The people who had stood as statues for years surrounded the enchantresses.

The sisters were frightened.

“We have lost. What happens now?”

“Now enchant no one else,” said the youngest brother. “And let the mist become only mist.”

The enchantresses gave up their wands. The palace lost its gloomy glow, and all the freed people went home.

The three brothers returned to the princess together.

She saw three identical young men and was confused for a moment.

“What a puzzle!”

The eldest smiled and showed the ring she had once given him in the Cloud’s palace.

“Does this help?”

“Very much,” the princess laughed.

Soon their parents came to the city. The three silver scales above the family hearth became bright again.

And from then on, the family liked to say that great strength is not always needed. Sometimes eagle’s wings save the day. Sometimes a lion’s heart. And sometimes everything is decided by one small ant’s step or two plain wooden pawns.

May this story leave a little light in your heart ✨