A Fairytale Of The Past [closed]

Question

Four friends were travelling together. Their names were Dim, Burk, Lait and Kron. As they walked on, they saw a magician selling a flying carpet.

"This carpet costs 100 gold coins. It will take you anywhere you want to travel to. For a bonus, it won't ever require any gas or rocket fuel!" said the mage.

Dim had 90 gold coins with him which he paid to the magician and promised the remaining 10 coins for a later date. The magician sold him the flying carpet on credit. Now they all sat on the flying carpet and ordered it to take them to their destination. As they were flying over, they saw an old hermit sitting on a rock with a magic lamp.

"Instead of light, this lamp emanates darkness. Only the holder of this lantern can see what is around him, when it is lit, the others will only see pitch darkness! The price is finding my ten goats which went grazing this morning but haven't returned yet. But don't think it is easy, for they run faster than an Arabian horse and are sneakier than a mouse." said the hermit.

Dim said to Lait: "You are the fastest runner amongst us. Only you can go and find it. This lamp might help us if we have it."

So Lait ran in the direction of the pasture and after two days of tireless struggle, returned with the goats. The hermit handled him the lamp of darkness. They sat on their flying carpet and resumed their journey.

Soon they saw a large grizzly bear being chased by a crowd of people. When the crowd reached the bear, it turned around, upon which the people fled. But as the bear turned back and ran again towards the woods, the crowed followed it again.

"Help us!" a man from the crowd shouted. "This bear has killed our tribe chief who kept a secret magic bowl with him. If you kill this bear, we shall give you the bowl."

Burk was the strongest of them all. Dim asked if he could kill the bear. Burk grunted and stepped down from the carpet. After a long and fierce battle, Burk managed to kill the bear$\dots$ empty handed. The people awarded Burk the magic bowl which would show its master anything the master wanted.

As they flew further on the carpet, they saw a young man sitting solemnly on a tree trunk. "What's wrong, fellow?" Dim asked as they flew over him.

"My lover is dead and I don't know what to do with my magical perfume anymore. It will soften any woman's heart and make her fall in love with you, but oh, she's dead now and I love no-one else. I would give it to you if you sing me a song to console my broken heart." replied the young man.

Kron had the softest voice and was masterful with his violin. He played a tune so soft and soothing that the young man forgot his agony and gave him the perfume.

Now that they were flying on the carpet again, Dim suggested that they see the most gorgeous woman in the world, in the magic bowl. All agreed. Burk ordered the bowl to show them the most gorgeous woman. It showed a lofty castle with 1000 rooms. It was the castle of King Ramana, whose own daughter (the most gorgeous woman in the world) was being held prisoner there by the rebel minister who had killed the king and was forcing the princess to marry him. Her name was Princess Kamni.

"We must save her!" Announced Burk. "But I don't know how to do it."

Dim ordered the carpet to take them to the castle of Princess Kamni. Upon reaching the castle grounds, Dim asked Burk and Lait to go together, holding the lantern of darkness and the magic bowl. The lantern should keep them from being spotted and the bowl would show them in which room the princess was kept.

They did so and managed to rescue her. Upon reaching the sunlight, a few castle guards tried to confront them, but were quickly disposed off by Burk. The princess was asleep as they took her. Kron sprayed some of his perfume on the princess. When she woke up, she saw the four friends and said thus: "I know you are my saviors and I would marry one of you. So, who has done the most for my rescue?"

Upon this, they all started quarreling. Dim said his carpet had the major role as they couldn't have reached the castle in these tall mountains without it. Burk refused and said if it wasn't for his magic bowl, they wouldn't even have known that such a princess exists. Lait claimed it would have been impossible to safely rescue her without his lantern of darkness, and Kron finally announced if it wasn't for his perfume, she would simply shoo them away and walk her own way.

The princess listened to their full story and decided who her husband would be. She then awarded three things to the other three friends.

• A cat whose master would have 9 lives.
• A herb that would heal any injury.
• A potion whoever drinks it, would stay young till the day of his death.

Question (worth the princess): Who got to marry the princess and how/why were the other three gifts awarded?

Answer 1

The way you've told the story, Dim is clearly the leader and can take at least partial credit for each item:

Dim had 90 gold coins with him which he paid to the magician and promised the rest 10 for a later date.

Dim said to Lait: "You are the fastest runner amongst us...

Dim asked if he could kill the bear.

"What's wrong, fellow?" Dim asked as they flew over.

Dim suggested that they see the most gorgeous woman in the world,

Dim asked Burk and Lait to go together, holding the lantern of darkness and the magic bowl.

He's co-ordinating things, finding out what they need, and assigning the right people to tasks. So he "wins" the princess.

The other three items:

• the cat to Kron, since his talents won't otherwise keep him alive
• the herb to Burk, who lives by his strength and is likely to get hurt often
• the potion to Lait so he can retain his talent of running fast

Answer 2

Taking advantage of the 'lateral thinking' tag:

• The herb to the young man on the tree-trunk - perhaps it can heal his broken heart
• The potion to the old hermit, so that he may run after his own goats
• The cat to the tribe chief, giving him another 8 lives
• Finally, she marries the magician. Without the magic carpet, none of this would be possible, and, until the 10 coins are paid, said carpet arguably still belongs to him

(Although it was Kron who sprayed her with the perfume, which presumably made her fall in love with him - hopefully she is somehow resistant to the effect of magic rohypnol)