The Companions
as told by Michael Meade in Men and the Water of Life ¹

In the old times, not long ago but way before anything else, there lived an aged queen, who was also a sorceress, and her daughter, who was simply the most beautiful maiden under the sun. The old queen, however, had no thought but to lure mankind to the edge of destruction. When a man would appear and seek the hand of the beautiful princess, the old queen would awaken and require that he complete a task or die. Many had been drawn by the beauty of the daughter and had taken the risk, but they never could accomplish what the old woman required. They had to kneel on the ground and a blade would sing in the air between their heads and their bodies.
A certain king's son heard of the maiden's incomparable beauty and said to his father, "Give me your permission to seek the daughter of the old queen and ask for her in marriage."
"Never," said his father the king. "If you go in that direction, you go to your death."
Hearing this, the son fell into a sickness and began to waste away toward death. For seven years the youth lay ill. Physicians of all kinds came, but none could cure him. When the king perceived that all hope was over, when he realized that there was nothing else to be done, when he grasped that this was not in his control--then, with a heavy heart, he said to his son, "Go and try your luck, for I know of no other means of curing you."
When the son heard this, he rose from his bed and was well again. And no sooner had he arisen than he joyfully set out on his way.
As he was going along, he came across a field and saw a huge mound rising from the ground like a heap of hay. As he drew closer, he could see that it was the stomach of a man who had laid himself down there, but it was a stomach that looked like a small mountain. The prince walked all the way around the side of the mound until he encountered a head. The huge man turned toward him and asked, "Where are you going? Where are you headed these days?"
The Prince said, "I'm seeking the beautiful daughter of the old queen."
The huge man rose slowly and said, "If you're in need of company and would like assistance, take me with you."
The prince replied, "What can I do in the company of a clumsy man that I couldn't do better on my own? How could it improve my condition to be in the company of such an oversized person?"
The Stout One said, "Oh, this is nothing, when I really expand and puff myself out, I'm three hundred times this size."
"If that's the case," said the prince, "you're welcome to come along."
So the Stout One and the prince went on, and after a time they came upon another man lying on the ground with his ear laid close to the turf.
"What are you doing down there?" asked the prince.
"I am listening," answered the man.
"What is it that you listen to so attentively?"
"I am listening to what is just now going on in the world. Nothing escapes my ears. I even hear the grass growing out of the ground."
"Tell me then, what do you hear at the court of the ancient queen who has the beautiful daughter?"
"I hear the whizzing of the air moved apart by the sword the descending on the neck of a youth who was wooing the beautiful maiden."
The son of the king said, "With ears like that, you are welcome to travel the way with us."
The three went on, and after a time they saw a pair of feet lying on the ground and saw behind the feet a pair of legs, but they could not see the rest of the body because a forest got in the way of their looking. They walked on a great distance and saw how the body continued, finally, after another extended hike, they encountered a head.
"You are a tall rascal," said the prince.
"This isn't the full extent of the story," said the Tall One. "When I consciously stretch out my bones and my limbs, I am three hundred times as tall as this---taller than the highest mountain on the earth."
"If you have an interest in travel, you are more than welcome to go the way with us," said the prince, and the four traveled on.
After a time, they came upon a man standing by a tree at the side of the road. His eyes were bound and bandaged like one who had wandered off a battlefield. The prince asked him, "Have you weak eyes that you cannot look at the light?"
"No, but I must not remove the bandages, for whatever I look at with my eyes shatters into pieces because of the power of my glance. If you are going somewhere, I should be glad enough to go along with you."
"You are welcome to travel the way with us," the prince replied.
And they on went. After a time, they came upon a man standing in the direct sunlight in the heat of the day, but he was trembling and shivering all over so that not an inch of his body was still.
"How can you shiver when the warm sun is striking your body?" asked the prince.
"Alas," said the man, "I am of a different nature. The hotter it is, the colder I am, and the frost pierces through my bones. Now, the contrary is also the case: the colder it is, the hotter I am. In the midst of ice, I cannot escape the heat; in the midst of fire, the cold assails me."
"You are a strange fellow," said the prince, "but you are welcome to travel the way with us." And they all traveled onward.
After a time, they came upon a man standing and stretching his neck, squinting his eye, looking all about him, and searching to a great distance.
"What are you looking at so eagerly?" asked the son of the king.
The man replied, "I am exercising my sight, polishing my vision and my searching. I have such sharp eyes that I can see into every forest and field, every hill and valley throughout the world."
"What do you see in the court of the old queen?" asked the prince.
"I see the bits of dust in the air being divided by the edge of a sword that is descending on the neck of a man foolish enough to court the beautiful daughter of the queen," the man said.
"You are welcome to come along, then," said the prince, "We can use such a man as yourself." And they went along together.
After a time, they came to the realm where the aged queen had her dwelling. The son of the king went directly before the old queen. He did not say who he was, but he spoke out, "I have come seeking your beautiful daughter. I will perform whatever tasks you require of me."
The old queen was glad to have the handsome youth caught in her net, and she said, "I will set you three little tasks, that is all I require, no more or less. If you are able to perform them all, you shall become the husband of my daughter. If you should fail, well, don't hold it against me, but your head must come off."
"I agree to the terms, what is the first task?"
"First you must fetch me my ring, for I have dropped it somewhere. I haven't been able to find it for years. It may be in the depths of the Red Sea, though."
The king's son went to his companions. "The first task is not easy. The old queen's ring must be gotten from the bottom of the Red Sea. How can we doe it? Can you help me on this matter?"
The Man of Great Vision said he could readily see where the ring lay. He looked in the deepest waters and said, "The ring hangs there in the depths, caught on a pointed stone."
The Tall One said he would readily snatch up that ring with his long arm, but he could not see through the water."
"Is that the only problem?" said the Stout One, and he lay down, put his mouth to the water, and began to drink. The waves formed and moved toward his great mouth and fell into him as if he were a whirlpool. In a short time, he had drunk up the whole sea, and all that remained was a dry plain. Then the Tall One reached down and plucked the ring from the stone.
The son of the king rejoiced when he had the ring and took it directly to the old queen. The queen was astonished. "Yes, it is the right ring," she said. "You have done it, and you are safe into the bargain. Well, then, it is time for the next task.
"Look there. Do you see that meadow there, that plain lying beyond my palace? Do you see those three hundred fat oxen feeding back and forth there? Those you must eat. The skin, the hair, the bones, the horns, the flesh, the entire heft and hoof of each one of the three hundred must be eaten. That may cause you a thirst or dryness in the mouth, so in the cellar bellow lie three hundred casks of wine. Those you must drink as well. If one hair of one oxen remains in the field, if one drop of wine remains in the corner of one of those barrels, then your life is forfeited and your head must leave your body."
"Well," said the prince, "a dinner, whatever its size, is a poor thing if it is taken with out company. Can I not invite guests?"
The old woman laughed with malice, "You may invite one for the sake of companionship, that is all."
The king's son went to the companions and called the Stout One, saying, "You shall be my guest today, and you shall eat your fill." The Stout One was ready for this event. He first puffed himself up and then began to capture oxen. Some he pounced on, others he caught on the hoof as they ran by, and still others he rolled over as he went about. Whatever way he caught them, he treated them all similarly, devouring each one, skin, flesh, bones, and marrow, down to the last organ, to the last hair. After finishing the three-hundredth ox, he began to complain that it was unfair, false advertising, seriously misleading to invite someone to a brunch and then provide nothing but little snacks, when one was expecting a combination of breakfast and lunch.
The complaining engendered a thirst, and the Stout One was glad enough to enter the cellar and drink the wine that was there. He drank it by opening the spigot of each wooden barrel he came to and drawing the wine out. He would draw out the wine until there was not a drop left in the barrel, until there was no moisture at all, until the barrel was as dry as bones and collapsed. He treated three hundred large barrels of wine in that fashion, and when he was done, he berated the keepers of the cellar for the paucity of their stock, saying that it was a crime of another order to have such a limited supply that a man, just as he was beginning to appreciate the fine qualities of the grapes, should find himself already at the bottom of the barrel.
When the meal was over, the prince went to the old woman and told her that the second task was completed. She was amazed, saying that no one had ever gotten this far before. "Still," she said, "one task remains." And to herself she thought, "You shall not escape me, nor will you keep your head connected to your shoulders after this night!"
"Tonight," she said outloud, "I will bring my daughter to your chamber, and you shall put your arms around her. But you must keep your arms about her and beware of falling asleep. When the clock is striking twelve, the last hour, I will come. If she is no longer in your arms, you are lost forever."
The prince thought, "This task is easy and pleasurable. I will keep my eyes open gladly." Nevertheless, he called the companions and told them of the task, saying, "Who knows what treachery may lurk behind this. Let everyone take care that once the maiden is in my room, she does not leave it again."
Night fell and the old queen brought her daughter and gave her over into the prince's arms. Then the Tall One wound his arms around the two of them, and the Stout One placed himself in front of the door so that no living creature could gain entrance past him. The rest of the companions arranged themselves around the room. There the two sat, and the maiden spoke never a word, but the moon shone through the window on her face and the prince beheld her wondrous beauty in that soft light. He did nothing but gaze at her; he was filled with love, and his eyes did not weary for all he looked. He held her in his gaze and in his embrace until eleven o'clock. At that time, the old woman cast such a spell over all of them that they fell sound asleep, and in the same moment the maiden was carried away. They slept a deep sleep until a quarter to twelve, when the spell lost its power.
"She is gone and I am lost," cried the prince. The companions all began to lament the loss of the whole thing.
Finally, the Listener called for quiet. "No more laments, no more noise, I want to listen." He listened. "She is stranded on a rock far from here, bewailing her fate and isolation. Only you can reach her quickly, Tall One, with your long strides."
"I'm off," said the Tall One, "but the One with Piercing Eyes must go with me, that we may destroy the rock." The Tall One took the one with bandaged eyes on his back, and quick as an eye can blink, they reached the enchanted rock. One piercing look shivered the huge rock into a thousand pieces. The Tall One caught the maiden in his arms and carried her back in no time, turned her over to the prince, returned and fetched his companion, and in short order all were sitting exactly as they had been before.
The clock struck twelve and the old queen came abruptly in, certain that the maiden was stuck on the enchanted rock and that the prince was in her power. What a shock when she beheld her daughter gazing into the eyes of the prince and the prince gazing raptly back on her as the moonlight bathed them both! "Here is one who knows more than I do," she said in alarm. She feared to set up any further opposition to him, and she promised her daughter to him.
But she whispered one little thing into the sweetly formed ear of the beautiful maiden: "Isn't it a disgrace and a shameful thing that you have to obey common people, to give yourself to a common man and not even be allowed to choose a husband equal in quality to you and suited to your own liking?"
The daughter of that old and powerful queen began to think about what had been said. She knew nothing of this man; he seemed common enough. What if he meant harm to her, and what of all these strange companions?
The next morning she caused three hundred bundles of wood to be brought to the palace hall. She called the prince and said that although he had accomplished the three tasks, she would not consent to be his wife until he had seated himself in the midst of the great fire that she was about to set burning. The prince asked if it were allowed that someone do the sitting for him. The princess said that it was allowed, for she was sure that none of the companions would let themselves be burned for him, that he would have to enter the fire himself, that he would be burned, and that she would regain her freedom.
The companions gathered and said that each had done their part except for the Man of Temper, so he must now set to work. He was placed in the middle of the great heap of wood, and it was set on fire. The fire blazed up and burned with intense heat, driving away all the onlookers. It burned that way for three full days, until all the wood was consumed and the flames died out. Then as the smoke settled to the great surprise of all, the Tempered One was seen standing in the pile of ashes, trembling like an aspen leaf, saying, "Oh, it was a killing frost. I never felt such a frost in my whole life; had it lasted any longer, I would have been benumbed and turned to stone."
The last test being done, no other pretext was found, and the beautiful daughter of the old queen was forced to take the unknown youth to wed. When they set off together, the old woman said, "I cannot endure it, the loss, the disgrace." So she sent her warriors after them to cut down everyone and bring her daughter back. But the Listener had his ear to the ground and heard the secret discourse of the old queen.
"What shall we do?" he said to the Stout One.
The Stout One didn't speak but turned back and spit out some of the water he had earlier consumed and caused a sea to form suddenly and catch the warriors as they rode, drowning them. One escaped and reported back to the old queen, who railed at him and sent another army.
This time when the Listener heard the sound of the soldiers' pursuit, he undid the bandages of Piercing Eyes and turned him toward them. Piercing Eyes looked rather fixedly at the charging troops, and they all broke into pieces like shattered glass.
There were no more attacks, and they were able to go on their way. At a certain point the companions said, "Your wishes are now satisfied, you need us no longer. We will go our ways." After many embraces, each went his way.
Near the palace of the prince's father was a village, and near that was the hut of a swineherd. When they reached the hut, the prince said to his new wife, "I wish I were the prince of the great palace, but truly I am a herder of swine, and this is our family hut, and that old man is my father. Now that we arrived, we two must set to work and help him with the swine."
He passed word of what he was doing to the villagers, and in the morning the princess was given an old gown and was escorted to the herd. To herself she thought, "Well, he accepted the fire I set for him, so I guess I must accept the little hut, the common clothes, and a number of pigs." She set to work and so did he.
One day people came and asked her if she knew who her husband was. "Yes," she said, "he is the swineherd, and you can find him on his way to market with pigs and ropes, hoping to drive a good bargain when he gets there."
They said, "If you'll come with us, we will take you to meet him." She agreed, and they took her straight to the palace. There, they didn't hesitate at the entry gate, didn't stop at all until they were in the throne room. There stood her husband in kingly raiment. She did not recognize him in her amazement. But when he came close and they gazed into each other's eyes, she knew at once who he was. It was as if they were gazing at each other again, bathed in moonlight, guarded by companions. After that they began to prepare a great wedding feast.

¹ Michael Meade Men and the Water of Life (HarperSanFransisco, 1993) reprinted with the permission of author.

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