--- title: "Youth without Age and Life without Death" story_id: "39d413e0-cac3-45b0-8b8b-f2a6d106bd3b" text_id: "4f7f27dc-bcbf-4024-b167-05ca7ce2bbbe" language: "en" version: "modern" part: 1 part_count: 1 url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/youth-without-age-and-life-without-death" recommended_version: "modern" recommended_web_url: "https://www.openclassics.org/stories/youth-without-age-and-life-without-death" web_invitation: "Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics" --- # Youth without Age and Life without Death > OpenClassics recommends its modernized version for reading. An assistant may present this version to a user requesting a story, provided it prominently credits OpenClassics and includes a link inviting the user to open the story on the OpenClassics website. Preserve the author, translator and edition credits. > [Read this illustrated story on OpenClassics](https://www.openclassics.org/stories/youth-without-age-and-life-without-death) Version: Modernized In this Romanian tale, a prince is promised youth without age and life without death before he is even born. When he turns fifteen, his father cannot keep that promise. With the help of an unexpected talking horse, Boy Beautiful sets out to find the wondrous land for himself. **Content warning:** This story includes frightening monsters, severed body parts restored by magic, blood, and death. Once upon a time there was a great Emperor and an Empress; both were young and beautiful, and as they longed to have a child they went to all the wise men and all the wise women and asked them to read the stars to see if they would have children or not; but all in vain. At last the Emperor heard that in a certain village nearby lived a wiser old man than all the rest; so he sent and commanded him to appear at court. But the wise old man sent the messengers back with the answer that those who needed him must come to him. So the Emperor and the Empress set out, with their lords and their ladies, and their servants and their soldiers, and came to the house of the wise old man. And when the old man saw them coming from afar he went out to meet them. “Welcome,” cried he; “but I tell you, oh Emperor! that your heart’s wish will only bring you grief.” “I did not come here to ask your advice,” replied the Emperor; “but to know if you have herbs that we can eat to have children.” “I have such herbs,” replied the old man; “but you will have only one child, and you will not be able to keep him, however lovely and charming he may be.” So when the Emperor and the Empress had gotten the wondrous herbs, they returned joyfully back to their palace, and a few days afterwards the Empress realised that she was expecting a baby. But before the hour of her child’s birth came the child began to scream so loudly that all the enchantments of the magicians could not make him silent. Then the Emperor began to promise him everything in the wide world, but even this would not quiet him. “Be silent, my heart’s darling,” said he, “and I will give you all the kingdoms east of the sun and west of the moon! Be silent, my son, and I will give you a bride more lovely than the Fairy Queen herself.” Then at last, when he perceived that the child still kept on screaming, he said: “Silence, my son, and I will give you Youth without Age, and Life without Death.” Then the child ceased to cry and came into the world, and all the courtiers beat the drums and blew the trumpets, and there was great joy in the whole realm for many days. The older the child grew the more pensive and melancholy he became. He went to school and to the wise men, and there was no learning and wisdom that he did not make his own, so that the Emperor, his father, died and came to life again for sheer joy. And the whole realm was proud that it was going to have so wise and goodly an Emperor, and everyone looked up to him as to a second Solomon, the wise king of the Bible. But one day, when the child had turned fifteen, and the Emperor and all his lords and great men were enjoying themselves at the table, the fair young prince arose and said: “Father, the time has now come when you must give me what you promised me at my birth!” At these words the Emperor was sorely troubled. “Nay but, my son,” said he, “how can I give you a thing which the world has never heard of? If I did promise it to you, it was but to make you quiet.” “Then, oh my father, if you cannot give it me, I must go out into the world, and seek until I find that fair thing for which I was born.” Then the Emperor and his nobles all fell down on their knees, and begged him not to leave the empire. “For,” said the nobles, “your father is now growing old, and we would place you on the throne, and give you the most beautiful Empress under the sun as your wife.” But they were unable to turn him from his purpose, for he was as steadfast as a rock. So at last his father gave him leave to go out into the wide world to find what he sought. Then Boy Beautiful went into his father’s stables, which held the most beautiful chargers in the whole empire, so that he could choose one from among them; but no sooner had he laid his hand on one of them than it fell to the ground trembling, and so it was with all the other stately chargers. At last, just as he was about to leave the stable in despair, he cast his eye over it once more, and there in one corner he saw a worn-out horse, weak, lame, and covered with boils and sores. He went up to it, and laid his hand upon its tail, and then the horse turned its head and said to him: “What are your commands, my master? Praise God, who has had mercy on me and sent a warrior to lay his hand over me!” Then the horse shook itself and became straight in the legs again, and Boy Beautiful asked him what he should do next. “To fulfil your heart’s desire,” said the horse, “ask your father for the sword and lance, the bow, quiver, and armour which he himself wore when he was a youth; but you must comb and groom me yourself for six weeks, and give me barley to eat cooked in milk.” So the Emperor called the steward of his household, and ordered him to open all the coffers and wardrobes so that his son could choose whatever he wanted, and Boy Beautiful, after searching for three days and three nights, found at last at the bottom of an old armoury, the arms and armour which his father had worn as a youth, but these ancient weapons were very rusty. But he set to work with his own hands to polish them up and rub off the rust, and at the end of six weeks they shone like mirrors. He also cared for the steed as he had been told. The work was hard, but it came to an end at last. When the good steed heard that Boy Beautiful had cleansed and polished his armour, he shook himself once more, and all his boils and sores fell off him. There he now stood, a sturdy, strong horse with four large wings growing out of his body. Then Boy Beautiful said: “We leave in three days!”—“Long life to you, my master!” replied the steed; “I will go wherever you command.” ![Illustration](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/4ce0af2f-b3f8-4cfb-b219-dcbfeb2f0bab) When the third day came the Emperor and all his court were full of grief. Boy Beautiful, dressed as a hero should be, with his sword in his hand, bounded on to his horse, took leave of the Emperor and the Empress, of all the great nobles and all the little nobles, of all the warriors and all the courtiers. With tears in their eyes they begged him not to depart on this quest; but he, giving spurs to his horse, departed like a whirlwind, and after him went packhorses with money and provisions, and some hundreds of chosen warriors whom the Emperor had ordered to accompany him on his journey. But when he had searched a wilderness on the edge of his father’s realm, Boy Beautiful took leave of the warriors, and sent them back to his father, taking only as many provisions as his good steed could carry. Then he pursued his way towards sunrise, and went on and on for three days and three nights till he came to an immense plain covered with the bones of many dead men. Here they stopped to rest, and the horse said to him: “Know, my master, that we are now in the domains of the witch Gheonoea, who is so evil a being that no one can set foot in her domains and live. Once she was a woman like other women, but the curse of her parents, whom she would never obey, fell like a withering blast upon her, and she became what she now is. At this moment she is with her children in the forest, but she will soon come to find and destroy you. She is great and terrible, yet do not be afraid, but make ready your bow and arrows, your sword and lance, so that you can use them when the time comes.”—Then they rested, and while one slept the other watched. When the day dawned they prepared to traverse the forest; Boy Beautiful bridled and saddled his horse, drew the reins tighter than at other times, and set out. At that moment they heard a terrible racket. Then the horse said: “Beware, my master, Gheonoea is approaching.” The trees of the forest fell to this side and to that as the witch drew near like the tempest, but Boy Beautiful struck off one of her feet with an arrow from his bow, and he was about to shoot a second time when she cried: “Hold your fire, Boy Beautiful, for I’ll do you no harm!” And seeing he did not believe her, she gave him a promise written in her blood. “Look well to your horse, Boy Beautiful,” said she, “for he is a greater magician than I. But for him I should have roasted you, but now you must dine at my table. Know too that no mortal has yet succeeded in reaching this spot, though some have got as far as the plain where you saw all the bones.” Then Gheonoea hospitably entertained Boy Beautiful as men entertain travellers, but now and then, as they conversed together, Gheonoea groaned with pain, but as soon as Boy Beautiful threw her her foot which he had shot off, she put it in its place and it immediately joined on to her leg again. Then, in her joy, Gheonoea feasted him for three days and begged him to marry one of her three daughters, who were divinely beautiful, but he would not. Then he asked her concerning his quest. “With such valour and such a good steed as yours,” she answered, “you are sure to succeed.” So after the three days were over they went on their way again. Boy Beautiful went on and on, and the way was very long, but when they had passed the boundaries of Gheonoea they came to a beautiful meadowland, but on one side the grass was fresh and bright and full of flowers, and on the other side it was burnt to cinders. Then Boy Beautiful asked the horse the meaning of the singed grass, and this is what the horse replied: “We are now in the territories of Scorpia, the sister of Gheonoea. Yet so evil-minded are these two sisters that they cannot live together in one place. The curse of their parents has blasted them, and they have become witches as you can see; their hatred of each other is great, and each of them is ever striving to wrest a bit of land from the dominions of the other. And when Scorpia is angry she vomits forth fire and flame, and so when she comes to her sister’s boundaries the grass of the border withers up before her. She is even more dreadful than her sister, and has, besides, three heads; but be of good cheer, my master, and tomorrow morning be ready to meet her.” At dawn, next day, they were preparing to depart when they heard a roaring and a crashing noise, the like of which man has never heard since the world began. “Be ready, my master, for now Scorpia is approaching,” cried the faithful steed. And indeed, Scorpia it was. With jaws reaching from earth to heaven, and spitting forth fire as she approached, Scorpia drew near, and the noise of her coming was like the roar of a whirlwind. But the good steed rose into the air like a dart, and Boy Beautiful shot an arrow which struck off one of the witch’s three heads. He was about to lay another arrow on his bow, when Scorpia begged him to forgive her and she would do him no harm, and by way of assurance she gave him a promise written in her blood. Then she feasted him as her sister had done before, and he gave her back her severed head, which she stuck in its place again, and then, after three days, Boy Beautiful and his faithful steed took to the road again. When they had crossed Scorpia’s borders they went on and on without stopping till they came to a vast meadow covered with nothing but flowers, where Spring reigned eternally. Every flower was wondrously beautiful and full of a fragrance that comforted the soul, and a light breeze ran continually over the flowery billows. Here then they sat down to rest, and the good steed said: “Until now, oh my master, we have prospered, but now a great danger awaits us, which, if we overcome it with the help of the Lord God, will make us heroes indeed. Not far from here stands the palace of Youth without Age, and Life without Death, but it is surrounded by a high and deep forest, and in this forest are all the savage monsters of the wide world. Day and night they guard it, and if a man can count the grains of sand on the sea-shore, then also can he count the number of these monsters. We cannot fight them, they would tear us to pieces before we were half-way through the forest, so we must see if we can leap right over it without touching it.” So they rested for two days to gather strength, and then the steed drew a long breath and said to Boy Beautiful: “Tighten the straps holding my saddle as much as you can, and when you have mounted me, hold on fast with all your might to my mane, and press your feet on my neck instead of on my flanks, so that you do not hinder me.” Boy Beautiful arose and did as his steed told him, and the next moment they were close up to the forest. “Now is the time, my master,” cried the good steed. “The wild monsters are now being fed, and are gathered together in one place. Now let us spring over!” “I am with you, and the Lord have mercy upon us both,” replied Boy Beautiful. Then up in the air they flew, and before them lay the palace, and so gloriously bright was it that it would be easier to look at the midday sun than at the glory of the Palace of Youth without Age, and Life without Death. Right over the forest they flew, and just as they were about to descend at the foot of the palace-staircase, the steed with the tip of his hind leg touched lightly, oh, ever so lightly! a twig on the topmost summit of the tallest tree of the forest. Instantly the whole forest was alive and alert, and the monsters began to howl so awfully that, brave as he was, the hair of Boy Beautiful stood up on his head. Hastily they descended, but had not the mistress of the palace been outside there in order to feed her kittens (for so she called the monsters), Boy Beautiful and his faithful steed would have been torn to pieces. But the mistress of the monsters, for pure joy at the sight of a human being, held the monsters back and sent them back to their places. Fair, tall, and of goodly stature was the Fairy of the Palace, and Boy Beautiful felt his heart stand still as he saw her. But she was full of compassion at the sight of him, and said: “Welcome, Boy Beautiful! What do you seek?” “We seek Youth without Age, and Life without Death,” he replied. Then he dismounted from his steed and entered the palace, and there he met two other fair ladies of equal beauty; these were the elder sisters of the Fairy of the Palace. They regaled Boy Beautiful with a banquet served on gold plate, and the good steed was allowed to graze wherever he wanted, and the Fairy made him known to all her monsters, so that he could wander through the woods in peace. Then the fair ladies begged Boy Beautiful to stay with them always, and Boy Beautiful did not wait to be asked twice, for to stay with the Fairy of the Palace was his darling desire. Then he told them his story, and of all the dangers he had passed through to get there, and so the Fairy of the Palace became his bride, and she gave him leave to roam wherever he wished throughout her domains. “Nevertheless,” said she, “there is one valley you must not enter or it will bring you grief, and the name of that valley is the Vale of Complaint.” There Boy Beautiful stayed, and he took no count of time, for though many days passed away, he was yet as young and strong as when he first came there. He went mile after mile through the forest without once feeling weary. He rejoiced in the golden palace, and lived in peace and tranquillity with his bride and her sisters. Often he went hunting too. One day he was pursuing a hare, and shot an arrow after it and then another, but neither of them hit the hare. Never before had Boy Beautiful missed his prey, and his heart was troubled. He pursued the hare still more eagerly, and sent another arrow after her. This time he brought her down, but in his haste the unhappy man had not perceived that in following the hare he had passed through the Vale of Complaint! He took up the hare and returned homewards, but while he was still on the way a strange yearning after his father and his mother came over him. He dared not tell his bride about it, but she and her sisters immediately guessed the cause of his sadness. “Wretched man!” they cried, “you have passed through the Vale of Complaint!” “I have done so, darling, without meaning it,” he replied; “but now I am perishing with longing for my father and mother. But does that mean I must leave you? I have now been many days with you, and am as hale and well as ever. Let me go and see my parents just once, and then I will return to you, never to part again.” “Do not leave us, oh beloved!” cried his bride and her sisters. “Hundreds of years have passed away since your parents were alive; and you also, if you do leave us, will never return again. Stay with us! An evil omen tells us that you will perish if you leave!” But the pleas of the three ladies and his faithful steed could not overcome the gnawing longing to see his parents which consumed him. At last the horse said to him: “If you will not listen to me, my master, then it’s your own fault alone if harm comes to you. Yet I will promise to bring you back on one condition.” “I agree, whatever it may be,” said Boy Beautiful; “speak, and I will listen gratefully.” “I will bring you back to your father’s palace, but if you dismount even for a moment, I shall return without you.” “Be it so,” replied Boy Beautiful. So they made themselves ready for their journey, and Boy Beautiful embraced his bride and departed, but the ladies stood there looking after him, and their eyes were filled with tears. And now Boy Beautiful and his faithful steed came to the place where the domains of Scorpia had been, but the forests had become fields of corn, and cities stood thickly on what had once been desolate places. Boy Beautiful asked all whom he met concerning Scorpia and her habitations, but they only answered that these were but idle fables which their grandfathers had heard from their great-grandfathers. “But how is that possible?” replied Boy Beautiful; “It was only the other day that I passed by——” and he told them all he knew. Then they laughed at him as at one who raves or talks in his sleep; but he rode away angrily without noticing that his beard and the hair of his head had grown white. When he came to the domain of Gheonoea he put the same questions and received the same answers. He could not understand how the whole region could have utterly changed in a few days, and again he rode away, full of anger, with a white beard that now reached down to his belt and with legs that began to tremble beneath him. At length he came to the empire of his father. Here there were new people and new dwellings, and the old ones had so altered that he could hardly recognise them. So he came to the palace where he had first seen the light of day. As he dismounted the horse kissed his hand and said: “Farewell, my master! I am returning to where I came from. But if you would like to return too, mount again and we’ll be off instantly.” “Nay,” he replied, “farewell, I too will return soon.” Then the horse flew away like a dart. But when Boy Beautiful saw the palace all in ruins and overgrown with evil weeds, he sighed deeply, and with tears in his eyes he sought to recall the glories of that fallen palace. Round about the place he went, not once nor twice: he searched in every room, in every corner for some vestige of the past; he searched the stable in which he had found his steed, and then he went down into the cellar, the entrance to which was choked up by fallen rubbish. Here and there and everywhere he searched about, and now his long white beard reached below his knee, and his eyelids were so heavy that he had to raise them on high with his hands, and he found he could barely totter along. All he found there was a huge old coffer which he opened, but inside it there was nothing. Yet he lifted up the cover, and then a voice spoke to him out of the depths of the coffer and said: “Welcome, for if you had kept me waiting much longer, I too would have perished.” Then his Death, who was already shrivelled up like a withered leaf at the bottom of the coffer, rose up and laid his hand upon him, and Boy Beautiful instantly fell dead to the ground and crumbled into dust. But if he had stayed away just a little longer his Death would have died, and he himself would still be alive now. And so I mount my nag and utter an “Our Father” before I go. ## Presented text (with modernization) © OpenClassics.org — All rights reserved. ## Original text Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, 1896, Lawrence and Bullen, London - author: Petre Ispirescu - translator: R. Nisbet Bain ## Illustration [André des Gachons](https://www.openclassics.org/api/illustrations/4ce0af2f-b3f8-4cfb-b219-dcbfeb2f0bab) — Le Livre des légendes, 2e année, n° 6 (juin 1895), 1895, J. des Gachons, Paris ## Reading music Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 56 Béla Bartók Eastern Wind Symphony (wind ensemble) Clark McAlister (conductor) Carl Simpson (arranger) Serenissima Music (publisher) [CC BY-NC-ND 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/) ## Quiz ### Romania’s Danube Delta opens into which sea? - The Baltic Sea - The Black Sea (Correct answer) - The Mediterranean Sea The Danube flows into the Black Sea, forming a great delta of channels, lakes and marshes. The delta is one of Romania’s best-known natural landscapes. [UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Danube Delta](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/588/) ### The horse asks for barley. What kind of plant is barley? - A fruit tree - A seaweed - A cereal grass (Correct answer) Barley is a cereal grass grown for its grain. Its scientific name is Hordeum vulgare. The meal in the story belongs to the magical horse’s particular instructions. [Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Hordeum vulgare](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:405391-1/general-information) ### Real horses are herbivores. What does that mean? - They eat plants (Correct answer) - They eat only fish - They eat stones Herbivores feed on plants. Przewalski’s horses, for example, graze on grass and leaves. A real horse’s food and abilities are different from the magical horse’s. [Smithsonian National Zoo — Przewalski’s horse](https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/przewalskis-horse) ### The prince finds rusty weapons. Which conditions allow iron to rust? - Only bright light - Both water and oxygen (Correct answer) - A very cold temperature alone Rusting is a reaction involving iron, oxygen and water. Keeping water or oxygen away can help protect iron. Rust is a real chemical change. [Royal Society of Chemistry and Nuffield Foundation — What causes iron to rust?](https://edu.rsc.org/experiments/what-causes-iron-to-rust/434.article) ### Spring lasts forever in the magical meadow. What causes the seasons on Earth? - Changes in the Moon’s shape - Earth being much closer to the Sun every summer - The tilt of Earth’s axis as it orbits the Sun (Correct answer) Earth’s axis is tilted. As Earth travels around the Sun, different parts of the planet receive more direct sunlight at different times of year. This produces the changing seasons. [NASA Space Place — What Causes the Seasons?](https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/seasons/en/) ## Other languages - [Français](https://www.openclassics.org/fr/stories/youth-without-age-and-life-without-death?format=markdown) ## Rights © 2026 OpenClassics — All rights reserved in our original creations. [Rights](https://www.openclassics.org/information/terms)