One day a woodcarver and a goldsmith argued about whose craft was better. They argued and quarreled, and the king came to them. They began to ask him to judge them. The king said that both had good crafts, but in order to determine for sure, he ordered everyone to do the thing and set a deadline themselves, and then the decision would be made as to whose craft was better. The goldsmith asked for a week, and the carver asked for two weeks. That's where we parted ways.
A week passes, and the goldsmith brings goldfish to the king, which swim on their own if you put them in the water. The king really liked the work, and he began to wait to see what the carver would bring. He once sat in the palace by an open window and looked out onto the street. Then suddenly there was a strong rustling sound, the king did not have time to look around, suddenly a carver flew into the room on wooden wings. He made such wings that any person could attach them and fly like a bird.
The king was amazed, ordered to call the goldsmith and praised both of them for their great skill, but he could not say which of them was better. But he ordered them in advance to argue on pain of death. Then he richly rewarded them and released them. And for the goldfish, the king ordered to build a pond on a flowing stream so that the water in it would always be fresh.
The king had a little son, he often played with these fish. Then the war began, and the king went to fight, but left his son at home. The little prince was playing with the fish, playing and thinking: “Why are they all just splashing in the pond, we need to see how they swim along the stream” - and he released the goldfish into the stream. The fish swam, swam, and then swam away.
The prince got scared and ran after them along the bank of the stream, but did not catch up. What will he tell his father now when he returns from the war? And the prince remembered that the king had hidden wings. I wish I could find wings and fly away on them. The prince ran to the palace, found the wings, adjusted them, and that was all they saw.
He flew and flew, and he wanted to eat. He sees a shepherd grazing pigs below. The prince descended to the ground, took off his wings, hid them, went up to the swineherd and asked to be his assistant, promising to herd the pigs for some grub. The swineherd was old, he liked the prince, and he took him as his shepherd. And the prince began to herd the piglets.
The prince used to sit and look after the piglets while he carved out the pipes, then he began to play the pipe and taught the piglets to dance.
Once he was grazing under the windows of the royal palace, and his princess saw him playing with the piglets, and the princess marveled at his fun and piggy dances. But most of all the princess looked at the young swineherd - she liked him so much. And no wonder - the prince was very handsome and handsome. The swineherd also noticed the princess, and he liked her too. He often drove his flock under the windows of the palace. What's the use - would they let a swineherd into the princess's chambers?
Then the swineherd prince remembered his wings and was delighted. He adjusted them in the evening so that no one would see, and flew into the princess’s open window, and in the morning, while it was still dark, he flew away. For a long time he flew to visit the princess, and no one knew about it.
But nothing lasts forever, one day everything was revealed. The princess ordered dinner for two to be brought to her in the evenings, and when the king found out about this, he became suspicious. He ordered to track down who was visiting the princess. They placed a guard at the door, but no one came through the door to it. And the king thought: are the guests climbing into the princess’s window? He called the masons to set a trap under the princess’s window, and they told her to tell her that the tower was being strengthened and propped up so that it wouldn’t fall apart.
The masons did everything as ordered, they set a huge trap under the window. The princess was worried at first, and when the masons explained to her that they were strengthening the tower, she again began cheerfully waiting for her kind shepherd. He flew in, as always, but when he wanted to enter through the window, the trap slammed shut with a terrible roar, and the poor fellow could neither get out nor move.
The princess cried bitterly, but she, too, could not open the trap. The prince reassured her as best he could, consoled her that everything would end well, and so the night passed.
In the morning the king came to see who had been caught, and became terribly angry when he saw the shepherd in the trap. He ordered them both to be thrown into a deep dungeon and then executed.
The day of execution arrived. Knights, noble lords, and common people arrived, and everyone crowded in front of the palace. They brought the prince and princess to the platform. Then the shepherd prince asked the king to allow him to say goodbye to the princess aside before his death. The king allowed it. The shepherd prince took the princess aside, took out the wings that he always hid away, adjusted them, took the princess in his arms, and both of them rose high into the sky. And below the people began to laugh and shout:
“The devil has taken away our king’s daughter!” The devil has taken away our king's daughter!
And everyone believed, even the king himself, that the devil had carried away the princess.
And the prince flew with the princess to his father the king. The old father was incredibly happy with them - after all, he had long considered his son dead. And they had a wedding, a noisy wedding, the guests walked and drank and ate there for a whole week. After the wedding, the king handed over his kingdom to his son, and everyone began to live happily together.
Time passed, the young king and his wife went to her father to ask for forgiveness. But the king did not recognize his daughter or the shepherd.
The prince spoke to him and began to ask why he did not have children. The king said that he had a daughter, but did not want to admit that the devil had taken her away. The prince kept asking himself: would the king recognize his daughter after so many years of separation? Then the princess threw herself at her father’s feet, and both of them began to ask him for forgiveness. The king almost lost his mind in joy, forgave them and gave them his kingdom, so that they had two of their own.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru