Join us at the campfire for tales from around the world, told by storytellers of all backgrounds and creeds. From the heros and heroines of old, let us relearn and rediscover the wisdom of our ancestors. Shhh..the story begins..
Once there was an innkeeper who traded in horses, donkeys, and mules. One year, the conquering Romans invaded the land and built roads. The horses' hooves suffered a great deal of wear and tear from going over the hard roads, instead of over the sandy dunes as they had before the Romans came. The innkeeper's oldest son brooded over this problem, and it occurred to him that it should be possible to fit wooden clogs onto the hooves of the horses. The very next day, he carved some horseshoes out of cedar...but they were not very durable.
Some weeks after making the first wooden horseshoes, the innkeeper's son dreamed of a way to forge iron shoes for the horses and, within a month, the first smithy was built. The innkeeper's son became the first blacksmith, and he shoed horses and made nails for the whole world.
One day, when the first blacksmith had grown very old, a man came to him and ordered twelve large nails. The blacksmith went to work and soon delivered nine of the nails, but then he found out that they were to be used to nail Jesus and the two thieves to the cross, so he withheld the remaining three.
One of the executioners brought a search party with him to the smithy in order to get the three missing nails, but one of the blacksmith's sons had managed to escape, taking them with him. The Gentiles never did find them. So, the crucifixion had to be done with nine nails only, three for each of the condemned...two through the wrists and one through both feet.
Legend has it that the Gentiles' constant search for the three missing nails has, ever since, led to the persecution of the Gypsies. If these nails are found, then the persecution will end, but if they are never found, then the Gentiles will eventually kill each other off by being too clever by half, and only the Gypsies and other wandering people will survive.
But...to return to the story.
After the crucifixion, the citizens of the town formed a lynch mob and went to string up the smith, his family, and all his friends because they had been the ones to deliver the nine nails used for the crucifixion. The smith and everyone connected with him managed to make a getaway but have been hounded from place to place ever since.
The smith was condemned to eternal life for his part in the crucifixion. On bright nights, he can be seen sitting on the moon with his hammer in his hand, his anvil by his side, and the other tools of his trade scattered around him.
One of the smith's sons was able to conceal his identity and finally married a princess of royal blood. Her father, the King of Romania, went blind because of the curse on the smith's family. The smith's son went in search of a magic herb grown by a magician from his tribe, but he was waylaid by the King's three sons, who nailed a red-hot horseshoe on his rear end and branded its imprint deep into his skin. The smith's son, however, recovered from this torture and obtained the magic herb, by which the Romanian ruler was cured of his blindness.
Instead of being grateful to the smith's son, the monarch banished him from the country when the princess told her father about the mark branded on her Gypsy husband's rear end. The King, in his wisdom and generosity, did not banish any of the smith's people from the country though...partly because they were very clever herbal doctors and partly because they forged excellent weapons for his army. Only the husband of the King's daughter was banished for making a fool of the monarch and his royal house. The smith's descendants stayed in Romania for many centuries...which is why they are to this day known as Romanies and why their way of life is called roaming or roving.