by Mart Atanassov (edited by Lyz Harvey)   

   A very popular bulgarian fairy tale motif was called “The three brothers and God”. It tells about three poor brothers who once asked God to give them means for their livelihood. After this wish, the first one was given a dairy farm and the second one, a tavern. Both of them promised to provide people with free meals and drinks. The youngest brother, however, asked for nothing else but a goodhearted wife and a home, where they would feed themselves as they best they could.

   After some time God came down on Earth again, disguised as a poor ragged old man, to see how the three brothers lived and kept their promises. First he begged the older brothers for something to eat and drink, but they gave him nothing, so he took away everything they had. But when he went to the very poor youngest brother, in contrast he was granted the greatest hospitality.

   Based on “Bulgarian fairy tales and popular beliefs” by Kuzman Shapkarev vol. 8-9, Sofia, 1892 a translation of this fairy tale was first published in England by A.H.Wratislav in his book “Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources”, 1890.

   “Once upon a time, when the Lord had formed the world, he wished to see how his people lived; he came down from heaven first of all onto the Balkan Mountains and, taking the form of a man with a long white beard and white clothes, took a staff in his hand, and went about the land of Bulgaria. He travelled a whole day long over desolate mountains and in the evening he came to a village to pass the night. He went into the first house at the end of the village and sat down on the threshold, said nothing, but meditated by himself. The mistress was in her house doing some work and did not see him. However, when her husband came from the field, from his plough, and espied the old man he was delighted, and said to him:

   "Old man, you are very tired; you are a weary traveller. Come into the house and rest yourself; even though it is but a poor one. I will entertain you with all that the Lord has given me--only say the word."

   "Do you know, master’ God said ‘- if you wish to entertain me, I cannot eat everything, but I do wish for baked human flesh. Kill your little son, wash him nicely, and place him whole on the frying-pan in the oven; only make sure that your wife does not see you, for she will weep."

   He replied: "Is this all that you want, old man? Why did you not tell me long before, that you, a guest, might not have sat hungry in the house? Did I not tell you that all that the Lord had given me is yours? Indeed, I love you exceedingly, old man; my heart tells me that you are good and worthy, and now you shall see; only have a little patience, till I get ready what you desire."

   The man went out of doors, and his wife had begun to do some work, having left  her child to play by itself in the moonlight till it fell asleep, without knowing what was about to take place. Her husband stole the child, killed it with all haste (in another version of the same fairy tale the fact is emphasized that the intestines especially are cleaned), put it entire in the frying-pan, and shut it up in the oven so that its mother might not see it until it was cooked; he then went to the old man, sat down by him and conversed cheerfully with him.

   They had not talked long, when the old man became silent, sniffed with his nose, and said to the servant lad:

   "Go, look at the baked meat; it smells nicely; perhaps it is cooked."

   The lad rose, went out, opened the oven to look at and take out the baked meat. But what did he see? He was amazed and frightened at the wonder - the oven and all the house was glittering with the brightness of the child. The frying-pan and the child had become gold, and shone like the sun. The child was sitting in the frying-pan like a big boy - handsome, cheerful, bright, and well. On his head was a crown of pearls and precious stones; on the girdle at his waist was a sword. In his right hand he held a book of blessing; in his left hand he had a wheatsheaf full of ears; and all this was shining more than the fire, because it had all become gold. The lad returned to tell the old man what a wonder had taken place, and to ask what was to be done, but the old man was no longer there - he had gone outside in front of the house, and said to them:

"Fare ye well, and live as ye have done till now, honourably and contentedly. Your good hearts will have prosperity from field and cattle, and blessing and peace upon your children and children"s children from the Lord. He will receive you and entertain you in his heavenly house." He then went away alone under cover of the night, no one knows whither." 

   This is how the fairy tale ends. Especially significant is the information, apparently clairvoyantly received, that God has something to do with the physical formation of the Balkan mountain on which, as the fairy tale relates, He first came down from heaven. In yet another version of the same fairy tale, God had wounds on his hands when he was received into the youngest brother’s house. They could only be cured with the ashes from a baked child (see below), so the youngest brother cured them by sacrificing the only thing he had, namely his son!

   This, among other things, is a reminder of the spiritual-scientific fact that God the Father, as personalized in the Elohim Jahve, made the human physical body visible by implanting in it the mineral element, which the Bible calls “dust” or “ash”. Correspondingly, the cosmically active God the Father is the One who has the power to take away this ash from the human physical body, which would ultimately transform it into the immortal Atma body, totally transparent to the eye – the highest principle of the human organism. A most distinguished symbol of this body is the transparent sphere which God the Father holds in his left hand on many of his ancient works of art depictions. (Fig. 1 and 2)

 Fig. 1 Giulio Cesare Procaccini’s Coronation of the Virgin



Fig. 2  Ludovico Mazzolino - God the Father

Another of His attributes is the book (Fig. 3), which in the fairy tale the “baked” child holds in the oven in its hand. (In yet another version of the fairy tale it holds a book in which, after a while, it starts writing.) The oven, which symbolises its physical body, shines in gold which reminds the reader of Rudolf Steiner’s description of Solomon’s temple:  

“The whole inner sanctuary is covered in gold.” GA 93, 22.5.1905.

   According to Rudolf Steiner the mineral element has the tendency to transform itself into warm ether, or heat, which the fairy tale relates to the oven as a symbol of this process. This mainly concerns the lower parts of the human body, which are imbued with the God the Father’s gravitational forces, and especially to the heat-producing stomach. For the aims of initiation the latter needs purification both physically and mentally - which in the fairy tale corresponds to the cleaning of the intestine.



Fig. 3 Illuminated Manuscript

   After the older brothers were given everything they wished for they refused to cooperate with God, which expresses man’s tendency to develop individual materialistic consciousness. The youngest brother, on the contrary, is an image of man’s noble consciousness which is sacrificed and elevated to the consciousness of the gods. An interesting detail is that God’s wounded hands are cured by the son’s ash, the meaning of which will be explained later.

   Thus the fairy tale concerns the process of transformation of the human body into the Atma or Fanthom body, which needs heat. Atma is the highest and most difficult achievement in the Holy Mysteries, which will generally be reached in the far future. This depends on God the Father’s will, but also on the will of God the Son, or Christ (related to the etheric body) and the Holy Spirit (related to the astral body). Certainly the ancient initiates such as the Bogomils knew about this and its relation to the future state of the planet.