Youth Without Old Age and Life Without Death : A Romanian Fairy Tale

YOUTH WITHOUT OLD AGE & LIFE WITHOUT DEATH is one of the most exquisite Romanian folktales. It was collected & published by Pierre Ispirescu at the end of the 19th century. Ever since his birth the prince in this fairy tale desired eternal youth, but, because his father could not offer it to him. he assumed the risk of looking for it himself, facing countless dangers. In the end he succeeded in finding youth without old age & so he lived happily in a world in which time was not measured by our ordinary units. It so happened that just when he thought he had found happiness, he stepped into the real world & thus became the person he had been before: a human being with feelings, exposed to error, obeying his heart rather than his reason. That is why he became homesick & wanted to go back to see his parents & the place where he had spent his childhood. But to his amazement he realized, not unlike Rip Van Winkle, that a hundred years had passed since he left to look for youth without old age. Everything was changed: his parents had been dead for a long time & the castle was in ruins. He himself lost his immortality, getting older like any mortal... Order from Gabriel Stanescu, Editor in Chief, Criterion Publishing, P.O. Box 930698, Norcross, GA 30093. 404-923-9053.Ionescu, Auriel is the author of 'Youth Without Old Age and Life Without Death : A Romanian Fairy Tale', published 1996 under ISBN 9781887304009 and ISBN 1887304002.