In this fairy tale of The Wounded Lion, a poor peasant girl finds herself a job looking after a herd of cows. She’s out in the fields one day with her herd when she hears an animal moaning in pain and turns to find a lion with a thorn in its paw. (So, the fairy tale starts out with with a story line of practically universal origin).

Although the lion in this account thanks the peasant girl by gently licking her face, when she turns her attention to the field once again, she sees that the herd of cows entrusted to her care have simply vanished into thin air. Of course, she takes a real beating from her employer, who sets her to herding donkeys instead.

Another year on, however, the girl encounters the lion once more, again with a thorn in its paw. She tended to the wounded lion as before and was startled and dismayed, when she turned to look for the donkeys, that they had disappeared once again. A similar thrashing from her master followed and this time she was told to look after his herd of swine.

In true fairy tale tradition, the cycle of misfortune continued, when after a further year, the wounded lion appeared for a third time, the peasant girl tended to its wounds, and – sure enough – when she turned back, the herd of pigs had vanished.

This time, however, she decided to wait a while before reporting the loss of yet another herd of animals to her increasingly irate master. While waiting to see whether the pigs would turn up, therefore, she climbed a tree to get a better view. From her vantage point, she watched as in the distance she saw a man approaching towards her down a long winding trail. He still hadn’t reached her as the sun was going down and at sunset he appeared to disappear completely behind a rock.

Fascinated, she decided to stay perched in her tree until she saw the man re-emerge. To her surprise, however, it wasn’t until dawn that there was a movement from behind the rock and then it was a lion that came out. Once the lion had wandered off, the peasant girl clambered down from her tree and went towards the rock to investigate what lay behind it. She discovered a beautiful house, hidden away behind the rock and couldn’t resist the temptation to go inside it to investigate. This she did, tidying up the rooms as she went and eventually helping herself to a meal before she left the house, to climb back into her tree and resume her surveillance of the rock behind which the house was built. Towards sunset, the same man again came down along the path and disappeared behind the rock. The following morning, the lion reappeared, took a quick look about him, and set off on his way.

For three days (remember the magic of the number three in fairy tales) the girl watched the man disappear behind the rock at night and the lion emerge from it each morning. She was no closer to fathoming the secret of whatever was going on.

So, at the end of the third day, the girl plucked up all her courage, got down from the tree and ran up to the man before he disappeared behind the rock for the night, to ask him what was happening. The man told her that a wicked giant had put him under a spell, turning him into a lion by day, and that this was the lion she had helped by removing thorns from his paw. But the tenderness shown to the lion outraged the cruel giant, who in revenge had stolen the animals she had been shepherding.

When she heard the story, the peasant girl told him she wanted to free the man from the spell that kept him locked inside a lion’s body every day. He explained that the only way that this was possible would be to find a way of getting a lock of hair from the king’s daughter and weaving a cloak from it for the wicked giant.

Intent on helping the man, the peasant girl managed to get herself a job at the castle as a maidservant. She did her job exceptionally well, dressed immaculately every day and soon caught the attention of the princess herself. The princess soon allowed the girl into her chambers and gave her the job of tending her hair each day. The girl pleaded for a lock of the princess’ hair, was given it and delicately wove a coat from it to give to the wicked giant. Of course, it was too small, so the girl had to beg another lock from the princess. This time, the princess agreed to a further lock of hair, but only on condition that the girl would find her a prince to marry.

Thinking of the man she wanted to set free, the girl told the princess that she had already found her her prince and, so, won the lock of hair, which she made into a coat fit for the giant. The giant was pleased enough with the finished coat that he asked the girl what reward she desired. Of course, she told him that she wanted the giant to turn the lion back into a man once again. After some argument, the giant told her that the only way to get what she wanted, she would have to kill the lion, cut it up into small pieces, burn them and then throww the ashes onto the water, from which the man would arise again as a prince.

The poor peasant girl went away in tears, terrified that the giant was lying to her and that if she killed the lion, she would surely also kill the prince. So, that night, once the lion had become a man again, she asked him outright: “Should I kill the lion that appears in the morning, chop it into pieces, burn them, and scatter the ashes on the lake?”.

Having reassured her that she should slay the lion, the girl did just that, and to her huge delight, discovered the plan worked and that a handsome prince emerged from the waters of the lake. Overcome by gratitude, the prince at once promised to marry the poor peasant girl. Tears welled up in her eyes again as she explained that she had promised the princess that she had found her the very same bridegroom.

Disheartened, the couple therefore sought out the princess and her parents, the king and queen, who straight away recognised the handsome prince as their very own son! So he was free, after all, to marry the peasant girl who had saved him.

And so, of course, they all lived happily ever after!