Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife in a small town, and they had a beautiful daughter, whose name was Abadeha.
When the daughter was thirteen years old, the mother died. The father grieved for a long time, and then married a widow who had three daughters. The stepmother disliked her stepdaughter because Abadeja was more beautiful than her daughters. She treated the girl very poorly and forced her to do all the hard work around the house. And if Abadeja couldn’t cope, her stepmother scolded her and beat her.
One evening she said to Abadeje:
- Take these two scarves to the river and wash them, so that after washing the white one becomes black, and the black one becomes white. If you don’t do it, blame yourself.
Abadeha, bursting into tears, went to the river bank, sat down on a large stone and, looking up, saw a beautiful woman near her. The woman asked Abadeja kindly:
- Why are you crying so bitterly?
“I’m crying because,” the girl answered, “because my stepmother demands the impossible from me.” She told me to wash the white scarf so that it became black, and to wash the black so that it became white.
The woman who spoke to Abadeja was a good sorceress. She took the scarves in her hands, and the color of both scarves instantly changed. The sorceress gave the scarves to Abadehe and said:
- Come to this stone whenever you need help.
Having said this, she disappeared, and the delighted Abadeja went home and gave the scarves to her stepmother.
She was very surprised when she saw that the black scarf had turned white, and the white one had turned black. She did not expect Abadeha to carry out her order, but no matter how annoyed the stepmother was, she had no reason to punish the girl.
The next morning the stepmother ordered Abadeje:
- Scatter rice on a mat and dry it in the sun.
Abadeja spread a mat in the sun, scattered rice, and then went into the house to do other work. At this time, a pig came to the mat, ate all the rice, and tore the mat into shreds. The stepmother, having learned about what had happened, hit Abadeja painfully and screamed:
“Now fix the mat so it’s as good as new!” Abadeha took the tattered mat and, crying, went to the river. Before she had time to approach the stone, a sorceress appeared in front of her. She took Abadeja by the hand and led her into her house - it stood nearby among tall trees. There she began to question Abadeha:
- What happened to you? Why are you crying so bitterly again?
“My stepmother told me to make a new one out of a torn mat,” Abadeja answered, sobbing.
The woman took the mat from the girl’s hands, waved it, and the mat became new.
“Don’t cry, here’s a new mat for you,” the sorceress said, smiling. - And I also want to give you a chicken - look how beautiful it is, what colorful feathers it has!
Abadeha, thanking the sorceress for her help and for the gift, hurried home, because she knew that her stepmother would scold her if she returned late. When she came home and brought a new mat and chicken, the stepmother became even more angry, but did not show it - after all, she had nothing to complain about.
The next day, the stepmother sent Abadeha to the neighboring village, and when Abadeha left, she killed the chicken that the girl had brought and cooked it. In the evening Abadeha returned, and the stepmother said, chuckling:
-Where have you been for so long? I slaughtered and cooked the chicken you brought, and the soup from it turned out to be delicious. We ate everything, only the paws remained.
Abadeha began to cry and ran to the river to ask the sorceress what she should do now. She, having listened to her story, stroked the girl’s head and said:
- Don't be sad. Go home, take the chicken feet, go into the forest and bury them there. Bury the right one with its claws to the east, and the left one with its claws to the west.
Abadeja did just that. And a month later, when she returned to the forest, she was amazed to see: where she had buried her paws, two trees had grown with extraordinary fruits - pearls, diamonds, rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings and expensive clothes. Abadeha was very happy, but decided that she would not tell her stepmother and her daughters about these trees.
And then one day the son of the most respected man in their town, walking through the forest, saw these two trees. He plucked a ring from a branch and put it on his finger. But when he came home, it turned out that he could not remove the ring from his finger, and the next morning his finger hurt seriously.
The young man's father called the best doctors, but no one could remove the ring. Finally one old doctor said:
“Women, especially young ones, are more skilled than us in handling rings.” Let's call some girl - maybe she can take off the ring.
Then the father called all the girls of the town and told them:
“The one of you who manages to remove the ring will become my son’s wife.”
One after another, the girls tried to remove the ring, but no one succeeded. Abadekh’s stepmother did not let him in, and someone said to the young man’s father:
- Not all girls are here - there is one more, her name is Abadeha.
The young man's father immediately sent for her, but Abadeha did not want to appear to people in the torn dress that her stepmother had put on her. She ran into the forest, to her trees, put on the most beautiful dress that grew on them, and hurried to the young man’s house. As soon as she touched the ring, it immediately, of course, came off.
Abadeja married a young man. The good witch was also at the wedding, although only the bride saw her.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru