The Boy (TPTPATB)

## The Boy

**\*\*THIS PAGE CONTAINS SOME BRIEF/SLIGHT MATURE THEMES**

**The Boy** is the protagonist of the episode, The Princess Three Pigs And Three Birthmarks. He was born to a poor man and woman who lived at the foot of the King's garden. The boy plays a ocarina with his three dancing pet pigs which attracts the attention of the daughter of the king who offers to buy the three pigs on three different days, the boy asks her instead of giving her stashes of gold to pull up her dress, the first day to her knees, the second day to her waist, and the third day to her neck.

## Role in Story

One day, the boy went to the foot of the King's garden to play his ocarina with his three dancing pigs, there, he attracted the attention of a princess who is intrigued by the dancing pigs. She offers to buy one of the pigs, but the boy tells her he doesn't want to earn money but instead to see her pull up her dress to her knees, after she does his desired task, he gives her the pig. The boy's father questions whatever happened to the third pig, to which he lies that a wolf took it. The next day, the boy goes back to the King's garden to play his ocarina with his remaining two dancing pigs, then comes along the princess who complains about how the pig he gave her wasn't dancing alone without another pig, so she wanted to buy another, then he asked her to pull up her dress to her waist and then he would give her a second. The father asks again whatever happened to the second pig, to which he again says that a wolf took it. The third day, the boy went back to the same place with the last remaining dancing pig, where he found the princess waiting for him. She asks him how much he'd sell the third pig to her as the first two would not dance without the third. The boy offers the pig for free if the princess pulls her dress up to her neck, which she did, making him give his final pig, as well as his ocarina, to the princess. His father then asked him again whatever happened to the third pig, to which the boy lies that the wolf took the last and final pig and would one day pay the price, the father says that the wolf has no money, the boy then replies that the wolf does indeed have money, and has a lot, and that he shall pay the price for the pigs. The boy then ventures to the King's castle to which a guard asks what the boy wants, the boy then says he came for the princess to pay the price for the pigs, the guard then gets the princess and tells her that a boy has come to retrieve money for the dancing pigs, the princess then tells the guard to fill a bag with gold and give it to the boy. The boy then gets the sack of gold and arrives home and pours all the gold on the table, the boy's mother and father have never seen so much money in their lives before. The next day, the king announced that his daughter has three birth marks on her body, and any man who could tell him where they were could marry her, but any man who would make a mistake, would be beaten for his troubles. Hearing this, the boy said to his father, "Go to the market and buy me the strongest horse, the finest saddle, a beautiful suit, and a silver sword, but do not bargain and pay the proper price.", after the father bought all three things the boy desired, he was off for the royal palace. As he was riding, he met a prince and a young baron who asked, "Where are you going, young knight?" to which the boy replied, "I'm riding where I like, what is your name?" the prince and the young baron then suggested they ride with him as the boy knew a lot of jokes, and from then on, they called him "the Joker". As they were riding and they found themselves on the shore of a large lake. After the boy fell asleep, the prince and the baron drove a stick into the center of the lake and fastened the boy's horse to it. When the boy awoke, he saw what they have done to his horse but said not a word, so he cut the hide of the prince and baron's horses and rolled it up to the knee, then he fell asleep again. When morning came, they shouted: "Get up, Joker, you are a lazy fellow! Look your horse swam to the middle of the lake to quench its thirst." The boy proceeded to laugh and replied, "That's right! And yours rolled their trousers up to go and save it." The three then continued to journey to the palace and reached it the next day. There were many princes, barons and gypsies gathered, but none of them knew where the princess had her birthmark, and each received sixty strokes of the cane for his troubles. The baron thought it best to go in with the boy as he might find out the answers. The boy said, "Venus is shining on her delicate belly" to which the king agrees that that is the correct answer, the baron then lies that he was about to say the exact thing, the boy proceeded by saying "The Sun and The Moon radiate their beams from her bosoms." "That's right!" came the reply from the king. The baron then lies that he was about to say the same thing. The courtiers began to discuss the result, their decision being that the princess and the two young men should go to the same bed and the one she turns to, will be her husband. And that's what they did. The boy had a good stock of sweets and cakes in his pockets and he ate them noisely. "What are you eating?" the baron asked the boy, "The heel of my boot, take off your boot and eat its heal." the boy replied. So the baron tore the heel off his boot and offered a part to the princess, to which the princess turns to him and the baron says, "Please, have some, my dear!" The princess could not chew through the leathery heel and she kicked the baron out of the bed. Then she turned towards the boy who offered her her sweets and cakes. The next morning, the king and his courtiers saw that the door was open and they saw only the boy was in the bed, while the baron hid in shame. The baron got sixty strokes for feeding the princess the heel of his boot, and another sixty strokes because he did not know the whereabouts of the birthmarks. And so, for that reason, the boy and the princess married and they had a big feast. All invited were rich and poor.