In ancient times, many, many years ago, they say, winter and the wren quarreled among themselves. I don’t really know why.
- I'll teach you a lesson, birdie! - winter threatened.
- We'll see this later! - answered the little king.
By nightfall, winter sent a bitter frost.
In the morning, winter, seeing that the little king, as always, was cheerful and dashing, was surprised and asked him:
-Where did you spend the night?
“In the laundry room, where the charwomen do their laundry,” answered the little wren.
- Okay, I’ll get to you today.
That night it became so cold that the water froze in the fireplace.
But the wren was not at all where everything was frozen, and the next morning winter, seeing that he was still cheerful and cheerful, asked him:
-Where did you spend the night?
“In the stable, with the oxen,” answered the wren.
The next night there came such a bitter cold, such an unprecedented cold that the oxen's tails were frozen to their hindquarters, and in the morning the wren still fluttered and chirped, as if it were May outside.
- What, you haven’t died yet? - asked winter, amazed that the wren was right there again. -Where did you spend the night?
With the newlyweds, in their bed.
- This is where I found a place for myself! Who would have guessed to look for him there? Well, nothing will go wrong with me. Tonight I will finish you off.
- We'll see this later! - answered the little king.
That night winter sent such a frost, it became so cold, so cold that the next morning the newlyweds were found frozen to death in bed.
The little wren took refuge in a cavity in the wall, near the baker's hot oven, where the cold could not penetrate him. But there he met a mouse, who was also looking for a warmer place, and they quarreled seriously. Since they could not get along with each other, it was decided to end the matter by scheduling a great battle in a week on Mount Bre between all the birds and all the four-legged animals of that region.
All the animals were notified, and on the appointed day, the birds of the entire area gathered on Mount Bre in the morning. In a long line, the inhabitants of poultry yards stretched there - ducks, geese, turkeys, peacocks, roosters and chickens - and all sorts of other birds: magpies, crows, jays, blackbirds; horses, donkeys, oxen, cows, rams, goats, dogs, cats, rats and mice met there - no one could stop them from doing this. The battle turned out to be brutal; he walked with varying degrees of success. Feathers were still flying in the air, and the ground was strewn with shreds of wool, screams, mooing, neighing, grunting, bleating, meowing came from all sides. That was scary!
It already seemed that victory would remain with the quadrupeds, when suddenly an eagle flew in, much late; he rushed into the thick of the battle. Wherever he struck, he struck everyone to death, and soon the advantage was on the side of the birds.
The king's son watched the battle from the window of his palace. Seeing how the eagle was dealing with the four-legged creatures, he seized the moment when it was level with the window and hit it with a saber so hard that the eagle’s wing broke and it fell to the ground. Thanks to this, the four-legged ones still won. However, the wren, who fought like a hero, sang his song in the bell tower of St. Herve, which still stands on Mount Bray to this day.
And the wounded eagle could no longer fly and said to the king's son:
“Now you will have to feed me partridges and hares for nine months.”
“I agree,” said the prince.
After nine months had passed, the eagle, completely healed, said to the king's son:
- Now I will fly to my mother; I wish you to come with me to look at my castle.
“Willingly,” said the prince, “but how will I get there?” After all, you are flying through the air, and I can’t keep up with you either on foot or on horseback.
- Sit on my back.
The prince did so. They rushed over the mountains, over the valleys, forests and seas.
“Hello, mother,” said the eagle, flying home.
- Is it you, dear son? You were absent for a long time this time, I was already worried that you were still gone.
“I was very ill, dear mother,” answered the eagle and, pointing to the prince, added: “This is the son of the king of Lower Brittany, he came to see you.”
- King's son! - cried the old eagle. - Here is a tasty morsel; We'll feast to the fullest!
- No, mother, don’t do him harm; he treated me well during the nine months that I was ill with him; I invited him to stay with us, in our castle - we need to receive him better.
The eagle had a beautiful sister, and the prince fell in love with her at first sight. Eagle and his mother were very unhappy about this.
A month passed, then a second, a third; Six months passed, and the prince did not even talk about returning home. The old woman did not like this at all, and finally she told her son that if his friend did not go home, she would fry him for dinner and serve him with some tasty sauce.
Hearing what his mother was up to, the eagle invited the prince to play bowling with him on the condition: if the prince loses, he loses his life; if he wins, the eagle’s sister will become his wife.
“I agree,” said the prince. “Where are the skittles?”
They entered a wide, long alley of old oak trees where the skittles stood.
When the prince saw them, his heart sank. These pins were made of cast iron, each of them weighed five hundred pounds. The eagle took one of them and let’s play with it: he playfully tossed it high, high, and then caught it like an apple. But the poor prince couldn’t even move his pin.
“You lost, now I am the master of your life,” said the eagle.
“And I’ll win back,” the prince told him.
“So be it, tomorrow we’ll play another game.”
The prince went to the eagle's sister and with tears in his eyes told her everything.
- Do you promise to be faithful to me? - she asked him.
“Yes, until death,” answered the prince.
“Then this is what needs to be done: I have two large bull bubbles, I will paint them black so that they look like skittles, and I will put them between my brother’s skittles, in that alley; Tomorrow, when you arrive there, try to be the first to start the game and choose two bubbles for yourself.
Then you will tell them: “Roe deer, rise higher and quickly fly to Egypt - you have been here for seven years now, and you have never tasted iron”; they will immediately fly up into the sky, so high, so high that they will not be visible. My brother will imagine that it was you who planted them so cleverly; there is no way he himself will be able to throw his pins as high, and he will have to admit defeat.
And so they went again to the alley where the skittles stood. The prince took his two skittles, or rather two bull's bladders, and began to play with them, throwing them into the air as easily as if he had two balls filled with bran in his hands; and his adversary marveled, looking at him.
“What would that mean?” - the eagle asked himself anxiously.
He himself was the first to throw his pins, so high that a good quarter of an hour passed before they fell to the ground again.
- Clever! - said the prince. - Now it’s my turn.
Following this, he quietly whispered the words:
- Roe deer, fly to your homeland, to Egypt - it’s been seven years since you’ve been here, and you’ve never tasted iron.
Immediately the pin rose into the sky, so high, so high that soon it was no longer visible; and no matter how long they both waited, she did not fall to the ground.
- I won! - said the prince.
- So, each of us won one
parties; “Tomorrow we will play another game,” said the eagle.
He returned home in tears and told his grief to the old eagle. She said:
- We need to slaughter him and eat him, why hesitate any longer?
“But I haven’t defeated him yet, mother; Tomorrow we'll play another game and see how he gets out.
“For now, bring me water from the spring, there isn’t a drop in the whole house.”
“Okay, mother, tomorrow morning the prince and I will go for water, and I will invite him to compete to see who can carry the most in a barrel at one time.”
The eagle immediately went to the prince and said to him:
“Tomorrow morning we will go fetch water for my mother - we’ll see which of us can bring the most at one time.”
“Great,” said the prince, “just show me what to wear.”
The eagle immediately showed the prince two barrels, each containing five barrels; he himself easily lifted one such full barrel in the palm of each hand - after all, he was either a man or an eagle, according to his whim.
The prince became more worried than before and again went to the eagle’s sister.
- Do you promise to be faithful to me? - she asked him.
“Until my death,” answered the prince.
“So, tomorrow morning, when your brother takes his barrel to go with it to the spring, you will say to him: “What do we need barrels for? Leave them here, they are not needed at all, but rather give me a pick, a shovel and a stretcher.” The brother will ask: “What do you need this for?” You will answer: “To remove the spring from its place and move it here, this is much more convenient: you can take water whenever you want.” Having heard this, he will go to fetch water alone, because neither he nor his mother will want to spoil their beautiful spring.
The next morning the eagle said to the prince:
- Let's go get some water for my mother.
- Let's go! - answered the prince.
“Here is my barrel, and you take those over there,” the eagle continued, pointing to two huge barrels.
- Barrels? What do we need them for? To waste time?
- How else can we apply water?
- Just give me a pick, a shovel and a stretcher.
- Why do you need them?
- Why? Dumb! Yes, then, in order to move the spring here, to the very door of the kitchen, then you won’t have to go so far for water.
“What a strong man!” - thought the eagle, and out loud he said:
“That’s it, stay here, and I’ll be alone, I’ll go get some water for my mother.”
So he did.
When the next day the old woman again began to tell the eagle that the surest way to get rid of the prince was to slaughter him, roast him on a spit and eat him, the eagle replied that he had been treated well by the prince and did not want to show ingratitude, but that he would subject the prince to other tests, from which it would be difficult for him to emerge with honor.
And indeed, the eagle announced to the prince:
“Today I managed it alone, and tomorrow it will be your turn.”
- What will work be like tomorrow? - asked the prince.
“My mother needs firewood; she has nothing to heat the kitchen with.” It would be necessary to cut down the avenue of old oaks over there and stack them here in the yard so that she would have a supply of firewood for the winter; all this must be done before sunset.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” said the prince, pretending to be carefree, although in fact he was very worried.
This time he went to the eagle’s sister.
- Do you promise to be faithful to me? - she asked him again.
“Until my death,” answered the prince.
“So, tomorrow, when you come to the forest with the wooden ax that they will give you, take off your doublet, put it on an old oak stump that lies there with the roots turned out, then hit the trunk of the nearest tree with this wooden ax, and you will see what happens.”
The prince did just that: at first light he went into the forest with a wooden ax on his shoulder, took off his doublet, laid it on that old oak stump with the roots turned out, which was indicated to him, then with his wooden ax he hit the trunk of a nearby tree, and it immediately cracked and collapsed.
“Okay,” the prince said to himself, “if this is such an unwise matter, I can deal with it in an instant.”
He immediately grabbed a second tree with an ax, then a third - both of them fell to the ground at the first blow, and so things went on until there was not a single oak tree left in the entire alley. After this, the prince slowly returned to the castle.
- How, have you already done everything? - the eagle asked him.
- All! - answered the prince.
The eagle immediately ran into his alley; Seeing that all his beautiful oaks had been knocked down to the ground, he began to cry and went to his mother.
- My poor mother, I am defeated. All my beautiful trees have been cut down! I am unable to defeat this devil; he is probably being helped by some powerful wizard.
While he was complaining to his mother, the prince entered and said to him:
“I defeated you three times, now you must give me your sister!”
“Alas, this is so,” said the eagle. “Take her and leave quickly.”
This is how it happened that the prince took the eagle's sister with him. But she had not yet agreed to marry him and did not even want to accompany him to his father’s domain. She told him:
“Now we will have to be apart for some time, because we cannot get married yet.” But be faithful to me, no matter what happens, and when the time comes, we will meet again. Here is half of my ring and half of my handkerchief: take care of them - they will help you recognize me in the future, if necessary.
The prince was greatly saddened. He took half a ring and half a handkerchief and returned alone to his father’s castle, where everyone was heartily glad to see him return after such a long absence.
The eagle's sister hired herself into the service of a jeweler who lived in that city and worked for the royal court.
After a short time, the prince completely forgot his bride: he fell in love with a princess who arrived at his father’s court from a neighboring kingdom. Soon the wedding day was set; They began to prepare a great feast and invite numerous guests. The jeweler, who had been ordered wedding rings and all sorts of other jewelry, was also invited, along with his wife and even her maid, who was famous for her beauty and noble bearing.
The maid asked her master to cast her a small cockerel and the same chicken out of pure gold and, going to the wedding feast, she put them in her pocket. She was seated at the table just opposite the newlyweds. She placed half of the ring on the table next to her, the other half of which was with the prince.
Seeing this other half, the newlywed said to her husband:
“I have exactly the same one.” It turns out that the prince gave her his.
Immediately both halves were attached to one another; they came together and the ring closed again.
The same thing happened with both halves of the handkerchief. Everyone present expressed amazement. Only the prince remained calm and seemed to have no idea about anything. Then the eagle’s sister placed a cockerel and a chicken made of gold on the table in front of her, and then put a pea on her plate. The cockerel swallowed it instantly.
“Again, you glutton, you ate a pea,” the chicken told him.
“Be quiet,” answered the cockerel, “I’ll give you the next one!”
- No matter how it is! The king's son also promised that he would be faithful to me until death, when he went to bowl with the eagle, my brother.
The prince became wary. The eagle's sister threw a second pea onto her plate; The cockerel pecked her this time too.
- Again, you glutton, you ate a pea! - the chicken said again.
“Be quiet,” answered the cockerel, “I’ll give you the next one.”
- No matter how it is! The king's son also promised that he would be faithful to me until death, when my brother the eagle ordered him to go with him to the spring for water.
All those present were extremely surprised and at a loss. Meanwhile, the eagle's sister threw a third pea onto her plate, which the cockerel instantly swallowed, just like the other two.
- You ate a pea again, glutton! - the chicken said for the third time.
“Be quiet, my dear hen, I will certainly give you the next one.”
- No matter how it is! The king's son also promised that he would be faithful to me until death, when my brother the eagle sent him to cut down a long alley of old oak trees with a wooden ax.
Now everything became clear to the prince. He stood up and, turning to his father-in-law, told him this:
- Dear father-in-law, I need to ask you for advice. I had a beautiful golden casket containing priceless treasure. I lost it and got another one. But it so happened that I found the first box again, and now I have two of them. Which one should I keep: the first or the second?
“The advantage should always be given to the older one,” answered the elder.
“I think so too,” said the prince. “So, before your daughter, I loved another girl and promised her that I would take her as my wife.” Here she is!
With these words, he approached the jeweler’s maid - and this was the eagle’s sister! - and, to the amazement of everyone present, he took her hand.
The other bride and her father and mother, along with their relatives and guests, left, greatly annoyed.
Despite this, feasts, games and fun continued, so that the wedding of the prince and the eagle's sister was celebrated with due splendor.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru