Once, in a mountain village where wolves howled louder than the church bell, there lived an old widow named Baba Velka. Her only companion was the black rooster, a sleek, sharp-eyed, and oddly watchful one. She called him Karakalak, and he never crowed at dawn like other roosters. He crowed only when something was about to change.
The villagers whispered. “That rooster’s cursed,” said some. “No, blessed,” said others. But Velka, half-deaf and fully stubborn, paid no heed. She had outlived a husband, three sons, and a war. A talking rooster wouldn’t shake her.
One winter evening, Velka sat by the fire, knitting socks with thread spun from sheep long dead. Karakalak sat on the windowsill, watching the moon. He turned to her and, in a voice like rustling corn, said:
“Tomorrow, the Tsar’s taxmen will arrive. They’ll take your goat, your grain, and maybe even your bones.”
Velka blinked. “So? Shall I bake them a pie?”
Karakalak flapped his wings. “No. You must outwit them. Fate sent me here, feathered and foul-tempered, to help.”
Now, Velka knew three things: how to cook, how to curse, and how to scheme. She liked the third best.
The Trick
At dawn, she hobbled to the market and bought a sack of salt, a skein of red thread, and a bottle of plum rakia. When the Tsar’s men, sleek as weasels and twice as greedy, arrived, she greeted them in her apron and offered them a drink.
They drank.
She fed them sour cabbage and goat stew laced with salt. When their lips burned, she said, “It’s mountain spice. Good for your virility.” The younger one blushed.
Then she showed them her “sick rooster.”
Karakalak lay on a cushion like a dying nobleman. He groaned. “Ooooh,” he said dramatically, “my feathers are cursed. Any man who touches me will marry a goat.”
The taxmen backed away.
Velka leaned in, whispering, “He speaks only truth. The last man who disrespected him now lives in a barn.”
The older taxman, skeptical but drunk, poked Karakalak with his boot.
Karakalak squawked, jumped up, and proclaimed, “Goat wife! Goat wife!” before flying to the rafters.
The taxmen ran out, spilling rakia and curses all the way to the road.
The Prophecy
That night, Velka laughed so hard she dropped a stitch.
But Karakalak said, “Don’t laugh yet. Fate’s wheel still turns.”
Two days later, the village bell rang, not for a funeral, not for fire, but for fortune.
A royal messenger arrived. “The Tsar,” he declared, “has died without heir. A new ruler must be chosen, from the people.”
The villagers gathered in the square. A great horned ox was brought out, to walk among the crowd. “Wherever it bows,” the elder explained, “that house shall send forth the next Tsar.”
The ox plodded through the square, sniffing boots and bread.
And then, before anyone noticed, Karakalak flew down, landed on the ox’s head, and tugged its ear with his beak.
The ox turned.
It walked, slowly and surely, to Baba Velka’s hut.
The Twist
Velka was stunned. “I don’t want a throne! I want tea!”
But the village chanted her name.
Days later, dressed in wool and wonder, she stood before the palace gates. The royal scribes asked her name.
“Karakalak,” she said. “He’s the real brains.”
The scribes laughed. But when the rooster crowed, every mirror in the hall cracked, and from each crack bloomed a white feather.
They made her queen that day. A queen with a rooster as counsel, socks on her throne, and rakia in her cabinet.
She ruled wisely, never taxed cabbage, and made it illegal to insult poultry.
Moral Lesson
Some loves belong to this world; others to the spaces between. Dragomir teaches us that love doesn’t always mean staying, but sometimes, it means leaping, even when the ending isn’t certain. True love asks not for possession, but courage, and sometimes a quiet goodbye.
This story comes from the Romanian tradition of Europe.
Knowledge Check: The Black Rooster of the Balkans
1. What is the moral of the folktale “The Shepherd and the Moon Princess”?
The story teaches a lesson about courage and sacrifice, showing that love often requires letting go, or risking everything.
2. What cultural group does the tale “The Shepherd and the Moon Princess” come from?
This folktale originates from the Romanian tradition in Europe.
3. Why did Dragomir ask to go with the Moon Princess?
In the tale, Dragomir asked out of love and longing, wanting to live beyond earthly limits.
4. How does the folktale “The Shepherd and the Moon Princess” explain the moon’s shadows?
The story explains why people see figures dancing in the moonlight, believed to be the shepherd and the moon princess.
5. Is “The Shepherd and the Moon Princess” considered a trickster tale, ghost story, or moral fable?
“The Shepherd and the Moon Princess” is a moral fable, told with romance, magic, and spiritual symbolism.
6. How is this folktale relevant to modern readers?
The message of “The Shepherd and the Moon Princess” remains timeless, exploring sacrifice, passion, and love that transcends worlds.