The father had a son who was a hero. His father sent him to study shoemaking, thinking that he would learn how to make boots as a joke. But as soon as the student takes the dredge in his hands, it breaks. The shoemaker endured, endured, and even drove him away, and at parting he said:
“I can’t feed you, look for another owner, and since you are so strong, then my advice to you is to go apprentice to a blacksmith.”
So he did, but he didn’t get along with the blacksmith either. He hit the anvil with a hammer - everything around shook, and the anvil went into the ground.
“I’ll pay you as much as you want, just leave quickly,” the blacksmith tells him.
“Nothing can be done,” thought the young blacksmith and said to the owner:
“I don’t need payment, just give me that iron stake that’s lying behind the forge.”
The master was glad that he got rid of the student so easily, and immediately sent six assistants for the stake. They puffed and puffed, but they didn’t move. A young blacksmith came up to them, laughed at the strong men, picked up the stake and left. He had nothing else to do here, and he went around the world to look for any kind of work. I visited two countries and finally came to a third. He walks through the forest and sees that a certain man is uprooting pine trees. They became friends and hit the road together. They come to a neighboring country. One day they walk past a mill and see the miller playing with millstones: he throws them up and catches them. And his brothers-in-arms took him with them.
They walked and walked and finally decided to measure their strength to see who could throw the stone higher. The miller was the first to throw it in. The stone fell an hour later. Then he threw up the pine tree - more than an hour passed before the stone returned to the ground. Finally it was the blacksmith's turn; They waited three days until the stone fell to the ground.
“We have more than enough strength, no giants can defeat us,” thought the brothers-in-arms and went further along the road.
One day they walk past a dense forest and see: there is a large castle standing on the edge. No one lived in that castle, because there was evil spirits there. They turned to the castle and remained to live in it. There was plenty of food and drink in the pantry, and they decided: every day two would go hunting, and the third would cook dinner. As soon as lunch is ready, the cook will raise a flag on the tower - it’s time to have lunch.
On the first day, the miller prepared lunch. He was just about to climb the tower and hang out the flag when suddenly a beggar came to the door and asked for alms. The miller handed him a piece of meat; The beggar took it, but immediately dropped it and politely asked the miller: pick it up, they say, - I’m already old, my back doesn’t bend at all. The miller bent down for the meat, and the beggar grabbed the blacksmith's iron stake and began to beat the owner. The poor miller had never been beaten so cruelly in his life. The beggar beat him half to death and left. Meanwhile, the hunters are hungry, and every now and then they look at the castle to see if they can see a flag on the tower. There is still no flag. They came home hungry in the evening. Wow, they got angry when they saw their comrade beaten half to death. The miller told them what had happened to him. His comrades bandaged his wounds, put him to bed, and let’s make fun of him - some old guy already beat him up!
The next day the sosnoder stayed to prepare lunch. The blacksmith went hunting alone. And the same thing happened to the pine grower as to the miller. The brownie, taking the guise of a poor old man, beat him half to death, like the miller the day before. The blacksmith waited and waited for the flag to rise above the roof, and without waiting, he went home.
- Oh, you strong men! - he said angrily, seeing the pine tree prostrate on the ground. “Tomorrow it’s my turn to cook dinner, so we’ll see who gets it.”
The next day he stayed at home. As soon as the meat was cooked, the old man came and asked for alms. The blacksmith grumbled, but still gave him a piece of meat and ordered him to get away right away. And this time the meat fell from the old man’s hands, and he asked the blacksmith to pick it up.
- What? - the blacksmith cried. - You, I see, are so lazy that you don’t even want to raise your own? - and hit him so hard on the shoulder with a stake that the beggar barely took off his feet and immediately disappeared behind the castle - went into the ground.
“That’s it,” muttered the blacksmith, “now he’ll forget the way here forever.”
When the wounded recovered, everyone went to look at the place where the old man had disappeared. There was a black abyss there.
“One of us needs to go down there,” the blacksmith says to his comrades.
For a long time they stood in indecision. Finally they agreed. They tied a rope to the rock, and a bell to the rope, so that whoever went down into the abyss would ring it in case of danger. The miller was the first to go down, but he immediately rang and was pulled up. Sosnoder also did not remain below for long. The blacksmith began to descend. He took an iron stake with him so that he would have something to defend himself if someone attacked him. So he went downstairs and felt an iron door with a huge bolt. He hit it with a stake as hard as he could, the door gave way, and - what a miracle! — a completely different world opened up before him. Everything there was much more beautiful than on our land. The blacksmith recovered from his surprise and walked along the road, and it led him to three castles. One was silver, the second was gold, and the third sparkled so much that it was painful to look at. The blacksmith thought about it and decided to look into all three castles. I went to the first one. The door is guarded by a snake, such a huge one that the blacksmith had never seen in his life. As the brave man swung, struck with a stake, and killed the snake on the spot. Entered the castle. A beautiful maiden ran up to him, called him her savior and told him that she had been bewitched. There was no end to their joy. The blacksmith quickly led the girl to the abyss through which he descended into the underworld, tied her to a rope and rang the bell. Then the girl thanked the blacksmith for saving him, gave him a diamond ring and said that two more enchanted girls were languishing in other castles. The pine cutter and the miller pulled her up. And they liked her so much that they both wanted to marry her.
The blacksmith put the ring on his finger and boldly headed towards the golden castle. He was about to enter it, when suddenly a filthy monster jumped out of the thick bushes and rushed at him with an open mouth. A bloody battle then ensued, as soon as the blacksmith defeated the monster. And here a beautiful maiden came out to him, even more beautiful than the first. He also sent her into the world. As a farewell, the girl gave the blacksmith a golden sword and ordered him to draw it only in case of great danger. The pine grower and the miller saw that the second girl was even more beautiful than the first, and let’s tease each other - everyone wanted to marry her.
With a sword at his belt and an iron stake in his hands, the blacksmith went to the third castle. And there the entrance was guarded by a terrible three-headed snake. The blacksmith, without much conversation, grabbed the monster with a stake, thinking that he would kill him with one blow, but that was not the case. The snake rushed at him and was about to devour him. They grappled and fought for a long time; Finally the snake weakened, the blacksmith swung his golden sword and cut off all three of its heads. The snake fell dead at the feet of the young man - even the earth shook...
The blacksmith entered the castle and saw a beautiful maiden. Just as the morning star outshines other stars, so she outshone the first two maidens with her beauty. The young man and the girl looked at each other for a long time, they could not stop looking at each other, and when they came to their senses, the beauty told the blacksmith that she would remember him forever. The blacksmith took the rescued woman to the abyss, and she was also lifted up. The pine cutter and the miller saw her and, well, hit each other with blows.
Finally, the blacksmith himself called, but his comrades did not even think of raising him, they did not want him to get the beautiful maiden, over whom they fought to the death.
The blacksmith began to think about how he could get out into the world. I thought and thought and decided to go around all three castles again. There he collected as much gold, silver and diamonds as he could carry. In the last castle, a brownie caught his eye: he huddled in a corner with fear and was shaking like a leaf. The blacksmith told him to show him the door that led to the ground. The brownie took out a huge key, handed it to the blacksmith and showed the way with his hand - this, they say, will lead to that door.
- What? - the blacksmith cried angrily. “It wasn’t enough for me to unlock the doors myself!” Come on, quickly forward, if you don’t want me to push you with an iron stake!
Willy-nilly the brownie had to go. We came to the door. The brownie rang the bell, the doors opened, and - what a miracle! — all three castles fell through the ground.
The blacksmith got scared and rushed out of the underworld as fast as he could. He ran out onto the ground, and, lo and behold, there were castles on the green plains. The blacksmith thought: “Isn’t all this a dream?” He approached the castles, and there the pine-grower and the miller were fighting over the third girl. They became afraid at the sight of the blacksmith. The fierce battle instantly stopped. Both fell to their knees in front of the blacksmith and began to beg for him to spare them. The blacksmith graciously forgave them, but on the condition that he would take the third girl for himself, give the first to the miller, and the second to the pine maker.
All three girls thanked their savior, and the most beautiful one happily agreed to become his wife.
And at that same moment the blacksmith turned from a commoner into a beautiful young man in silk clothes. His heroic strength disappeared because it was no longer needed. The same thing happened to the miller and the pine grower.
Three days later, all three played a cheerful wedding. Everyone got a castle: the blacksmith - the best one, the miller - a silver one, the pine maker - a gold one. And from each brother-brother came a glorious family.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru