There lived one king, and he had three sons. The father has grown old, has lost his sight and thinks: “I need to test which of my sons is more worthy to reign.” The old man called his eldest son and asked: “Tell me what is fuller in the world, what is faster and what is most beautiful - I want to test you whether you are worthy of reigning.” If you answer as you should, I will put you on the throne. And that king had a wonderful horse. So the eldest son says: “There is no one in the world fuller than your horse, more beautiful than your wife (he is talking about his mother), faster than your hounds.” “No, my son, you are not worthy to reign,” said the father and called the middle son. The middle son said: “The most beautiful is my wife, the fullest is my horse, and the fastest is my hound.” “No, and you are not worthy of the kingdom,” said the father and called the youngest son. “Here, my son, there is only hope for you - and you must return my sight and solve my riddles.” Tell me, what in the world is fuller, what is more beautiful and what is the fastest? Said the youngest son: “What could be more beautiful than spring, fuller and more satisfying than a fruitful autumn and what could be faster than our gaze - in a minute it will reach everything and everything will embrace our gaze.” “Truly, you alone are worthy of the kingdom,” said the father, “you will return my lost sight.” “Okay,” said the son, “just let me think.”
That king had a horse. The young man went to that horse, and the horse said: “What are you thinking?” Tell your father to order you a saddle with nine girths and give you his best sword and whip. As soon as you sit on me, hit me with that whip so that three calamans of skin falls off of me, and I’ll rush, so much so that no one will notice whether I flew into the air or fell into the ground. Where I stop, get down and start digging in the ground - you will find a cure for your father. Just be careful, grab it quickly, and before you have time, it will fly into the sky. The young man did everything.
They flew to that place, he dismounted and dug up the ground. Suddenly something, like a snowball, flew out of the ground, flew into the sky and melted in the air, so quickly that he didn’t even have time to see it, let alone grab it with his hands. The horse said: “Well, it will only fall back in a week, but for now, rather than wait here, it’s better to go, - now the king of the East is going to war against the king of the West, wants to enslave him, we need to intervene, help the oppressed.” He looked. the young man sees something moving, and everything is black with dust, and it is the troops of the Eastern king who are moving. The young man flew on his horse, crashed into the very thick of it. The horse crushes with its hooves, and the young man chops on both sides with a sword, he killed everyone, only the king and his advisers managed to escape. And the king of the West looks through the telescope and sees - the enemies are defeated, they fled. The king marvels: “Who did such a service for me, destroyed all my enemies?” The young man cut his little finger in this battle and sent it to the king to say: “Send me something to bandage my hand with.”
Whatever you send, everyone comes running, surrounds him, and leads him in with honor. They took me into a separate room and laid me down to rest. And the horse was taken to the stable, unsaddled, cleaned, blanketed, fed him with sultanas and almonds. The courtiers were jealous and were afraid that the king would bring this young man closer to himself. They went and reported to the king: “This young man can get enough ivory for the whole palace, tell him to bring it.” The young man went out to breakfast, and the king said to him: “Build me a palace made of ivory.” “Let me think,” said the young man. He went and said to the horse. “This is not a difficult matter,” says the horse, “just take from the king a hundred wineskins of wine, each for thirty buckets, and more wool, and we’ll build him a palace made of ivory.” That’s what the young man said to the king.
They prepared wine and wool for him. He went to the country where elephants are found. He arrived. There is a mountain, and nine icy springs gush out. They all flow down together - this is the water that elephants drink. The young man blocked the path of the water at the source with his wool and let it go in the other direction. And he built a dam from the remaining wool and stones and poured wine into it. “Well, look, are the elephants lying or walking?” - asks the horse. “One group is visible,” says the young man. “Well, they’ll come soon,” says the horse. They hid. The elephants came to drink, but there was no water. They tried the wine, didn’t like it, and left. Yes, they are tormented by thirst, what to do? They stood there, looked, couldn’t stand it, came up again and started drinking wine. They drink, they drink, they all got drunk and fell to the ground. “Now go, work with the sword,” says the horse, “cut the tusks.” They took what they could, and put the rest in a pile to take away next time.” They brought ivory. The courtiers were stunned. “He didn’t die there, he came back!”
And the young man builds a palace and hammers in golden nails. The king rejoices, and the courtiers come and say: “What a fine fellow you have found!” Yes that's what! He can catch the king bird, put it in a golden cage and hang it on the wall of the palace, the whole world will marvel at its singing. The king called the young man and said: “Bring me the king bird.” “Let me think until tomorrow,” says the young man. He went to the horse. “The king orders him to bring the king bird.” “Nothing,” says the horse, “let him give nine wineskins of millet, each for thirty buckets, and we’ll bring him the king bird.” The king gave him millet. They went to foreign countries.
They drive and drive - they see mountains, birds are visible and invisible in the mountains. They chirp and sing! They fill in all the frets. The horse said: “Now lie down and cover yourself with millet.” Birds will fly in, and the king bird will sit on top, right above your heart. Know how the king bird will peck you once, twice, three times - then grab it, and then you won’t catch it. The young man lay down and covered himself with millet. The king bird flies, other birds fly after her, chirping, singing in every way. They sat down and pecked. The king bird pecked once, twice, and when she pecked a third time, the young man grabbed her and jumped to his feet. Birds pounced on him, pecking, scratching, beating with their wings, and were about to peck the poor fellow. A horse flew in, scattered all the birds, picked up the young man with the king bird and flew away. They arrived, brought the king bird. The courtiers were amazed - and he managed to do it, he returned alive! They went and reported to the king: - Tell him, if he is such a fine fellow, let him bring you a beauty from the distant country of Nigozeti as a wife. The king called the young man and said: - Bring me a beauty from a distant country to wife Nigozeti. The young man went to the horse and said, The horse thought: “This is not an easy matter!” And here's the rub. That beauty, from the country of Nigozeti, is served by a mare - my sister. She is both stronger and faster than me. I'm afraid we won't be able to handle it. Well, what can we do? Let’s go. Just know that this beauty lives in a castle, the door to the east is open, and the door to the west is closed. There, at the door, there is a goat and a wolf on a leash. The goat has a bone, and in front of the wolf there is a bunch of hay. And my mare sister is standing guard there. You close the door to the east, open the door to the west, throw hay to the goat, throw a bone to the wolf, I’ll take care of my sister mare. And the beauty sits in the castle, with her long, very long hair loose; As soon as you enter, quickly wrap your hair around your hand; if you have time, it’s yours, but if not, it will destroy us.
We've arrived. The young man grabbed a bone from a goat, threw it to the wolf, and gave the goat some hay, opened the western door, flew into the castle, closed the eastern door, rushed to the beauty and instantly wrapped her hair in his hand. The beauty shouted: “Eastern doors, save us!” We barely waited, closed our locks, let the hinges rest, should we unlock again? - say the eastern doors. - Western doors, save us! - They barely waited, opened us, let us ventilate the hinges, locked ourselves again? - say the western doors. - Save me, goat! - I barely waited for the hay! I’ll throw it! “Help me, wolf!” “For the first time they threw me a bone,” says the wolf, “I won’t throw it.” The beauty calls the mare: “Save me, my faithful one!” “I can’t even cope with my brother, I don’t care,” says the mare. So the young man overpowered the beauty from the country of Nigozeti and took her to the king.
We've arrived. And the beauty says: “I won’t show myself to the king until they put me a large bathtub, all made of marble, and fill it with boiling milk to take a bath.” They set up the bathtub and filled it with boiling milk. “Let the king please,” says the beauty. The king came. “If you please, take a bath first,” said the beauty. The king approached the bath to see how the beauty would push him! The king fell into the boiling milk and was cooked. They threw all the courtiers into the milk, and no one was left alive.
So the young man got both the Eastern and Western kingdoms, and the beauty from the distant country of Nigozeti. And then the time came for that one to fly from the sky with a drug for blindness, and now it will burrow into the ground again. A young man flew on a horse, managed to grab him in the air, and did not let him touch the ground. The young man was riding home, carrying a beauty, bringing his father a cure for blindness. The blind father rejoiced that his son returned with victory. “Here, father, I brought you a cure for blindness, and I won this beauty from the distant country of Nigozeti for myself, and conquered two more kingdoms,” the son rejoiced his father.
The father regained his sight, celebrated a rich wedding and lived happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru