A little boy came out in an opening in a forest.
"Oh, opening", he said, "can you tell me the way to the king's castle?"
"Just follow your heart", said the opening. "Unless it tells you to turn right, when the path crosses a wheat field, because you should really turn left."
The boy came to the wheat field which was on the top of a hill with a wonderful view of a river, which ran between meadows with goats and sheep grassing peacefully.
"Oh view," said the boy, "can you tell me the way to the king's castle?"
"The king's castle?", said the view a little confused. "Would that be a wooden house with grass growing on the roof?"
"I don't think so" said the boy. "The king's castle is probably a huge marble building surrounded by a moat and guarded by knights on white horses."
"Oh, that castle", said the view relieved. "Yes you just follow the river upstream, and at the second waterfall - not the first one mind you - at the second waterfall, you can ask someone else. They are awfully clever people over there."
The little boy followed the river. At the first water-fall there were birds jumping of pure joy between the branches of some trees, that stretched out over the water.
"Oh joy", said the boy. "Am I on the right way to the second water-fall, where there are some clever people, who can tell me where the king's castle is?"
"I guess so", said the joy with a tired voice. "This water-fall here is no good. It's sparkling sound makes you forget all your sorrows and everything else as well, so no one here will know anything for sure."
But the boy had stopped listening. He didn't remember why he wanted to go to the king's castle in the first place, so he just sat down and admired the merry birds. To see better he leaned out over the river and swoosh suddenly he fell into the waves. Luckily it wasn't deep, and he swiftly got out of the water again, but he did want to dry his clothes.
"If you take a walk along the stream", said the joy, "your clothes will surely get dry."
"That's true" thought the boy, and even though he rudely forgot to thank the joy, he set off following a path next to the river.
After some time, he got to the next water-fall, and suddenly he remembered what he was doing here. He looked around to find someone to ask for the way, but there was no one there except himself. He got that feeling of loneliness you sometimes get, if there is something difficult you have to do, but there is no one there to help you.
"Oh, loneliness", said the boy. "Can you tell me where the king's castle is?"
"Yes of course I can", said the loneliness annoyed. "Cannot everyone? Why wouldn't I be able to?"
"Well I cannot tell", said the boy.
"Of course not", said the loneliness. "You're just a boy." And then it stopped speaking.
"Oh, please", said the boy, "mister loneliness, tell me where the king's castle is."
"Well, if you really want to know, but I cannot see why a little boy like you would care where the king's castle is."
"Please..." said the boy.
"Oh, well", resigned the loneliness. "You see the mountain over there in the West. You walk in that direction for a quarter of an hour. Then stop."
"And then I will be at the castle?"
"Good heavens, no. Then you will be close enough to smell the food from the castle's kitchen, and you can follow the smell from there."
The little boy walked towards the mountain for a quarter of an hour, and then he stopped. Just like the loneliness had said, he could distinctly smell coriander and rosemary from a kitchen somewhere, but he could not tell from where the smell came. He had left the river behind. There were no birds and even the buzzing insects seemed to have gone to take a siesta in the middle of the day. It wasn't often you got to a place with such a silence in the middle of a forest.
"Oh, silence", said the boy... But before he could continue, the silence was gone. And suddenly it was back again.
"Dear silence..." said the boy, and there it was gone.
"This won't do" said the boy to himself. So he took out a pencil and a piece of paper, and on the paper he wrote with big letters.
"Dear silence, In which direction can I find the king's castle, please?"
As soon as he had put down his screechy pencil, the silence came back. So the boy held up the paper to the silence, and waited patiently. The silence looked at the boy with his big inquisitive eyes. Why do you ask me? they seemed to say. I could give you an answer, but I wouldn't be here so you could thank me for it. But the boy returned the stare and tried to look as desperate as possible. Finally the silence raised his shoulders and took out a little parcel from his waistcoat pocket. He put the parcel on a stone, and was about to attach a label to the parcel, when the boy surprised shouted "Hey! what's that?" and suddenly the silence was gone.
All alone again, the boy walked up to the parcel and looked at it. It was wrapped in white paper and a red ribbon. He picked up the label that lay in the grass beneath the stone. On the label was only one word: "Answer". Curious the boy ripped open the parcel. Inside was a little wooden box, not bigger than a pine cone. He opened the lid and out came the words:
"So, you want to get to the king's castle, young man. Well, I'm sure you'll like it there. They always have big noisy parties where people dance and sing and tell each other silly jokes. So I'm told anyhow. I'm never there myself of course." The words of silence gave a short laugh. "Well, you can smell the kitchen, can't you?"
The boy nodded.
"And the smell comes with the wind. So the only thing you have to do is to go against the wind, and you'll be there in a jiffy."
The boy wasn't too keen on getting there in a jiffy, as he didn't know what a jiffy was, and it sounded like something sticky. Still he absolutely had to go to the castle, so some jiffy was something he just would have to risk.
The little boy wet his finger and held it up in the air. It got cold on one side. He started walking in that direction, and after a couple of minutes he was in front of a huge castle. It wasn't of marble but sand stone, but that kind of things are not important, as long as the castle is surrounded by a moat and guarded by knights on white horses, and this castle was.
On a meadow next to the castle was a man picking flowers with such a worldly manner and royalty, that the little boy realised that this must be the king.
"Dear royalty", said the boy. "What should I do if I want half the kingdom, marry the princess and live forever happy hereafter?"
The royalty looked at the worldly manner and said:
"Here is finally someone who wants to marry the princess. That's good news, isn't it?"
"It sure is", said the worldly manner. "Then we don't have to look any further. Should we tell the king?"
"Yes, why don't we?"
And the royalty tapped the king on the shoulder. The king gave a start.
"Oh, don't do that", the king said. "You scared me so I tore off this daisy at the middle. It would have been the tallest one I had found today, if I hadn't torn it off."
"We're so sorry" said the worldly manner, "but we have found someone to marry the princess."
"Have you indeed?" said the king with a friendly smile. "Who is that?"
The royalty and the worldly manner pushed the little boy forward.
"I know I'm young" said the boy, "but I'm good at hide-and-seek and I'm best in my class in writing limericks."
"Splendid" beamed the king. "Capital, capital. Just what we need. It is true that you are young, but the princess is only three years old, and the important thing is that you love each other. You can get married when you're both twenty years old. Until then, I appoint you minister of limericks and hide-and-seek."
And in that way the citizens of the country became world champions in hide-and-seek, and the little boy lived happily forever after with his princess, who for their wedding day wrote an excellent limerick about an old man of Bydgoszcz.
