The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Transformation and Redemption

  The luck-child transforms from a discarded infant to a prince, while the king's greed leads to his eternal punishment as a ferryman.

• Greed and Its Downfall

  The king's greed for gold drives him to seek the ferryman's treasure, resulting in his perpetual servitude.

• Promises and Their Consequences

  The king's promise to let the luck-child marry his daughter after fulfilling the condition backfires, leading to the king's own downfall.

Characters to notice

• the luck-child

  The protagonist, born with a caul and prophesied to marry the princess; survives the king's attempts to kill him and succeeds in obtaining the devil's three golden hairs.

• the king

  The antagonist who tries to prevent the prophecy by throwing the child into water and later ordering his death; ultimately becomes the ferryman as punishment.

• the princess

  The king's daughter, who marries the luck-child after the altered letter and later welcomes him home.

• the Devil

  The infernal being whose three golden hairs are sought; he reveals answers to the riddles in his sleep.

• the ferryman

  The ferryman who is cursed to row endlessly until someone takes the oar from him; freed by the luck-child's advice.

Key passages

• “There was once a poor woman who gave birth to a little son; and as he came into the world with a caul on, it was predicted that in his fourteenth year he would have the King’s daughter for his wife.”

  A poor woman bore a son with a caul, foretelling that at fourteen he would marry the king's daughter.

  Sets up the prophecy that drives the plot.

• “The King, who had a bad heart, and was angry about the prophecy, went to the parents, and, seeming quite friendly, said, 'You poor people, let me have your child, and I will take care of it.'”

  The king, angered by the prophecy, pretended to be kind and took the child from the parents.

  Reveals the king's deceitful nature.

• “The King put it in a box and rode away with it until he came to a deep piece of water; then he threw the box into it and thought, 'I have freed my daughter from her unlooked-for suitor.'”

  The king placed the child in a box and threw it into deep water, believing he had eliminated the prophesied suitor.

  First attempt by the king to prevent the prophecy.

• “The box, however, did not sink, but floated like a boat, and not a drop of water made its way into it.”

  The box floated like a boat and stayed dry, preserving the child.

  The luck-child's miraculous survival.

• “Then the King knew that it was none other than the luck-child which he had thrown into the water, and he said, 'My good people, could not the youth take a letter to the Queen; I will give him two gold pieces as a reward?'”

  The king recognized the youth and devised a plan to send him with a letter ordering his death.

  Second attempt by the king to kill the luck-child.

• “The robbers opened the letter and read it, and in it was written that the boy as soon as he arrived should be put to death. Then the hard-hearted robbers felt pity, and their leader tore up the letter and wrote another, saying, that as soon as the boy came, he should be married at once to the King’s daughter.”

  The robbers, moved by pity, replaced the death order with a command for the boy to marry the princess.

  The altered letter leads to the marriage.