Episode 37 - The Apprentice and the Eleven Goblets

You were the child of a well-known farmer and laborer. Everybody in the area knew Ohan, your father; which meant everyone knew you. Your father had tried to teach you his trade, but you quickly found you had no talent for farming. He apprenticed you to a carpenter, and found you lacked any ability with wood-working. The same could be said for smithing, milling, and fishing. Quickly, you ran out of trades to learn.

He grew more frustrated until finally he decided he would take you to the largest city nearby to try to find you work. You journeyed toward the city, until Ohan decided he was not going to complete the journey, leaving you to find a trade to apprentice in yourself.

On your now-lonely trip, you were beset upon by a powerful storm. You came across a run-down home along the road. Hoping for shelter from the storm, you barged in.

You found yourself entirely surprised when inside the home were forty people. At once, you tried to explain your presence and asked if you could be their apprentice. They laughed and asked why you would ever want to be apprentice to thieves, for that is what they were.

Regardless, you repeated your request. The leader shrugged and responded that you could be their apprentice if you could draw water from the well behind the house. He gave you a pitcher and you quickly made your way to the well in spite of the rain and wind. You tied the pitcher to the rope and lowered it into the well. When you began to draw it out, it was incredibly heavy, but you fought and fought and eventually you pulled the pitcher free.

To your surprise, a pale, white hand was clasped to the bottom of the pitcher. You quickly grabbed the wrist of the strange hand and a shriek emanated from the well. The arm flailed, but you held strong, until shortly another pale hand arose from the water grasping an impossibly beautiful golden goblet.

You took the goblet in one hand, and the pitcher in the other, and returned to the thieves, amazed at the thing you had found.

A folk story of Armenian Origin, the Apprentice and the Eleven Goblets is an adventurous story that ranges from large city to wilderness expanse. It involves magic, and fighting, and trickery, and triumph. It is a story about a person thought to be good-for-nothing, who roams the land and becomes a great hero.

A curious thing, in the story, the hero is never named, only referred to as the Apprentice, it is left to the audience to decide who the Apprentice may be. The Apprentice remains unnamed and yet is a powerful folk hero by the end of the tale, with a multitude of magical gifts, power, and wealth.

The Eleven Goblets is a story of loyalty, and magical beasts. A tale of daring adventure and overcoming impossible odds.

The Apprentice could be anyone. It’s one of the best parts about this particular story in my opinion. This is not some well-established hero. Not an Odysseus, not a Beowulf, and not a Lancelot. This is just an ordinary person forced into extraordinary situations. Many of the creatures and themes which appear throughout the story share traits with Slavic folklore. It features shapeshifters, giants, and strange magic.

And of course, it is all about the Apprentice’s quest for the eleven goblets.

I am Andrew Eagle, and I’m excited to invite you to come Through the Veil and into the story of the Apprentice and the Eleven Goblets.

The thieves were amazed you had returned at all, everyone before you who had drawn water from the well had managed to tumble down and drown. However, they were even more amazed at the goblet which you brought back with you.

The leader quickly took the goblet and declared that all the thieves, and of course their new and talented apprentice, would travel to the large city and sell the goblet. With the proceeds, all of you could live in luxury until the day you died. Excited by the prospect, you and the thieves traveled quickly to the city and visited a jeweler to have the goblet appraised.

The jeweler took the goblet, telling you to return in the morning. That evening, the jeweler went to the king and claimed the goblet as their own, saying the thieves had stolen it from him. The king was furious, and sent his soldiers to arrest you and your companions. You were brought before the king and accused. Of course, you refuted. The alternative was execution. The king asked you for proof of your story, that you had found this goblet.

Thinking fast, lest the king grow angry and execute you and your friends, you told him you could bring him eleven more goblets just like it! That would prove you knew where to find them, and that the jeweler was lying.

The king thought quietly, but quickly agreed. You would be allowed to leave to find the goblets, however the rest of the thieves would remain as prisoners in case you did not uphold your end of the bargain.

You left quickly, unsure of how you would possibly keep your promise, you set out upon the road to seek these treasures.

Several days passed and you arrived in a new city, larger than the one where your friends were now imprisoned. You arrived expecting respite from the road, and perhaps you could find someone who may know where you could gather the treasures you were seeking. Instead, you found a city in mourning. All of the inhabitants seemed dejected and morose.

You made your way to the castle and got an audience with the king. You discovered that the city was in mourning because the prince had recently died, and each day they found his grave disturbed and were forced to rebury him. You offered to stop this tragedy from continuing, in exchange for a reward. The king agreed, he would give you anything in his power, if you could prevent this desecration.

So you made your way to the cemetery where the prince was buried and you hid. You waited all day, and into the dark of night.

Then, as midnight struck, two doves landed near the grave and quickly transformed into pale women - Dove Maidens. The first Maiden laid out a tablecloth, which suddenly filled with food, a feast set for three. The second Maiden drew a crimson wand from her dress and tapped upon the prince’s grave. The earth opened and the prince clambered free from the ground and set to the feast alongside the Maidens.

You now leapt from your hiding place and called out. At the noise, the two Maidens shifted back to their Dove Form and flew quickly away, leaving behind their wand and the table-cloth. You collected these, knowing them to be objects of power. The prince looked saddened at the Maiden’s departure. You told him it was time to return underground and after he clambered into his grave, you tapped once upon the gravestone and returned him to rest. The rest of the night you recovered the coffin, and by morning, it was as if nothing had occurred.

When the king discovered this he was delighted, you had truly solved the problem. You requested eleven golden goblets, just like the one you had found. However, sad as he was to say so, he said this was beyond his power. It would bankrupt his kingdom many times over to provide such treasures. Instead, he offered knowledge. He told you of another kingdom, larger and wealthier than his, that may be able to provide the goblets. You thanked him for the knowledge, and made your way toward the next kingdom.

The city you arrived in was larger than the last certainly, and beautifully sat upon a glimmering coast line. However, within the walls, you found the people starving. Even within the castle, decorated with silver and other metals, the people were hungry and grim. You went to the king and offered your help. He said ships bearing food were trying to enter the city, but each had been sunk entering the bay. You told him, not only could you feed all of his people, you could also make the bay safe again. In exchange, the king offered you any reward which was within his power to give.

You went out to the streets and gathered all the people of the city together, and with a flourish you brought out the table-cloth and spread it. It spread farther and farther, expanding to fill the square. Food began to appear, a feast large enough to feed all the people of the city. When everyone had eaten, you gathered up your table-cloth, made your way to the shore, and borrowed a small vessel from a fisherman.

You rowed out into the bay. There at the edge of the bay you could see a fleet of forty merchant ships, all the ships bearing food that did not wish to brave whatever was sinking the others that had tried to reach the city. As you approached the edge, you saw a pale white hand with a golden bracelet rise from the water. It beckoned for you to approach, but as soon as you got close it struck out, trying to sink your boat. You were, fortunately, too quick. You lashed out and caught the hand, tearing the bracelet from the wrist and avoiding the blow. The creature to which the hand belonged loosed a terrible scream from beneath the waters, but it receded, and you knew it would not trouble the ships anymore.

You returned to the king and asked for your reward. Eleven golden goblets, just like the one that you’d found. He shook his head and responded that to do so would bankrupt his kingdom many times over. But he had seen such goblets, and would tell you where they could be found. With the knowledge in hand, you boarded a ship preparing to leave the bay. It would take you to the island kingdom which apparently had such wealth as to possess eleven such goblets.

You arrived in the island kingdom, although it was strange, there was no city to speak of, only a vast wilderness and a small home along the coast.

You disembarked the ship, thanking the captain and crew for their trouble, and made your way toward the home. Inside you found a solitary old man. He welcomed you into the home, but seemed cautious. When you asked what troubled him, he said his three daughters would be returning soon, and if they found a stranger in their home, they would certainly kill you.

As soon as he spoke, you heard foot falls outside the house, and the man quickly pointed you to a hiding place.

Hidden now, you waited to see what would happen.

The door opened, and in came three beautiful, impossibly pale women. They were strange enough to see in this distant place, but stranger still was that you recognized two of them. For they were the women who had sat a picnic with the dead prince.

Their father began to serve them a meal, and they started telling him stories of their journeys.

You did not know many of the details, but quickly you realized how much your journey overlapped theirs. Then they spoke of a stranger who had so impressed them, who seemed very capable.

The first spoke up, complaining that although the stranger had stolen her goblet, they had been very strong and had avoided a watery grave at her hand. The second spoke up, complaining that although the stranger had stolen her crimson wand, they had been very clever to catch them in their midnight revelry. The third spoke up, complaining that although the stranger had stolen her golden bracelet, the stranger had been very brave to sail a ship right into a bay that was cursed by shipwrecks.

They all agreed, they would be lucky to meet such a person. At this, you emerged from your hiding and showed the treasures you had taken from them.

Although the old man had been cautious, they did not try to kill you. Instead, they asked for help. Their brother had been taken, kidnapped by a powerful giant known as Azrail.

You traveled toward Azrail’s home and fortress, deep in the wild lands of this strange kingdom. You traveled for many days, doing small tasks for various people who inhabited this land. As you traveled, you were paid in food and housing, information, friendship, and other assistance in your task.

So you arrived at Azrail’s home prepared, carrying weapons, a shield, and a helm in addition to the treasures you had claimed from the Dove Maidens.

You fought his servants, and in the ruckus, Azrail awoke angry. He charged forth and met you in combat. He was a fierce combatant, but you had grown sure and strong. You slashed out at him, cutting him deeply once and then twice. You knew to cut a giant a third time would return it to health and vigor. So while Azrail, defeated, taunted you, you did not strike again, and simply left him behind as you entered his home.

There you found the prince of the strange island kingdom, and freed him from his imprisonment. While you traveled back to the sea-side cottage that you now knew served as home to the king and his children, you befriended the prince. The evening before you arrived back at his home, he told you to ask for a reward for finding him, that all things were within the power of the king.

So when you arrived the next day, and the king asked what you would have as reward, you asked for three things. You asked first for the wisdom earned over a long reign as king, that you may one day lead well. You asked second for favorable winds and a swift ship to carry you quickly home. You asked third for eleven golden goblets, that you may free the forty thieves from their imprisonment as well.

He granted your requests, and the next morning you were aboard a ship back to the city where your adventure had started.

You found the city much the same as you had left it, although you no longer felt it large or strange. You had seen far larger kingdoms, and been through stranger adventures now than when you had first arrived.

Now you carried magical artifacts, wielded blade and mace with skill, and carried the knowledge and wisdom of a good king. And of course, you carried what you had left to seek.

When you arrived in the king’s audience hall, he seemed genuinely surprised. He thought you would simply run, leaving your thief friends to rot away in the dungeons. When you displayed the eleven golden goblets, he was impressed. Quickly he called for the jeweler who had lied about the origins of the first goblet to be imprisoned and the thieves released.

During the feast in celebration of your return, you impressed him yet further with stories of the adventures you had been on, and the things you had found and learned. By the end, the king who lacked any children, named you his heir, that you may rule this kingdom after him. From that day forth, you and the thieves lived well in the city, you helping to run the city, and them as your advisers.

The Apprentice and the Eleven Goblets is a classic hero story about, rising from anonymity to eventually take on the mantle of regent. A story of deceitful merchants and honorable thieves, it is filled with adventure and fights and magic.

But through it all, we only ever know the Apprentice by their father. They are never given a name, only a story, filled with deeds worthy of being remembered.

It lets us think, maybe even for just a moment, that any of us provided an extraordinary-enough moment could rise to heights considered previously impossible.

Thank you for joining me for this episode of Through the Veil. I hope you enjoyed this very story-heavy episode.

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As always, thank you, for listening.