In the Austrian mountains, there lived three goldsmiths— Hans, Schwartz and Gluck. They were brothers. Hans and Schwartz were very selfish and unkind. They often played mean tricks on Gluck.
One day, they found Gluck’s favourite pot. It was made of gold and had on it the face of a man with a beard. It was, in fact, the only valuable thing Gluck had. His wicked brothers put the pot into the furnace and it began to melt.
Gluck had been standing at the window and watching the sun setting over the mountains. It was a golden evening, and he wished aloud, “If only it were a real river of gold; how wonderful it would be!”
“No, it wouldn’t be wonderful at all!” said a voice.
Gluck turned around to see who had spoken, but there didn’t seem to be anyone in the room. He looked out of the window, and then searched under tables and chairs, inside cupboards and even under the stairs. Then he went upstairs, but there was no one at all. He looked around in all the rooms but even his brothers were not there. Then Gluck heard someone singing and he followed the voice. The voice seemed to be coming from the large cauldron in the furnace. He looked into it and in the cauldron there was a lot of melted gold with an old man’s face.
“Pour me out!” ordered the face. And Gluck poured the gold out. It formed into a little man with a curly beard, completely made of gold and wearing golden clothes.
“Who are you?” asked Gluck, thoroughly astonished.
“I am the King of the Golden River!” announced the little old man, “My neighbour was a wicked king who cast a spell on me and turned me into a pot! Thank you!”
“But I didn’t do anything!” said Gluck.
“You did,” said the King, “You poured me out! And now, I will do something special for you.” So, he said, “Listen carefully to what I say. Go to the place from which the Golden River starts. If you add three drops of holy water into it, it will turn into gold! But remember, you must do it at the first attempt; if you make a mistake then the river will turn into black stone!”
Then, in a trice, the King disappeared into the furnace and all that Gluck saw was a bright golden flame!
