There lived a grandfather and a woman. And they had a daughter, Alyonka. But none of the neighbors called her by name, but everyone called her Nettle.
“There,” they say, “Hives took Sivka to graze.”
— Nettle and Lyska went to pick mushrooms. All Alyonka hears is: Hives and Hives...
One day she came home from the street and complained to her mother:
- Why is it, mom, no one calls me by name?
The mother sighed and said:
- Because you, daughter, are the only one we have: you have neither brothers nor sisters. You grow like nettles under a fence.
- Where are my brothers and sisters?
“You don’t have any sisters,” says the mother, “that’s true, but you had three brothers.”
- Where are they, mom?
- Who knows? As they were still cradling you in the cradle, they went with the fiery snakes - smokes - to fight, to gain happiness for themselves and people. Since then they have not returned...
- Mom, I’ll go look for them, I don’t want to be called Nettle!
And no matter how much her father and mother tried to dissuade her, they could not do anything.
Then the mother says:
“I won’t let you go alone: you’re still too young for such a journey.” Harness Sivka and go. Our old, smart Sivka will bring you to your brothers. Yes, look, don’t stop anywhere for the night: drive day and night until you find your brothers.
Alyonka harnessed Sivka, took some bread for the road and set off.
She left the village and saw their old dog Lyska running after the cart. Alyonka wanted to drive her back, but changed her mind: let her run, it will be more fun on the road.
She drove and drove and approached an intersection. Sivka stopped and looked back. Alyonka asks her:
Laugh, whine, mare, Tell me, tell me, Sivitsa: Which path should I direct you to, Where should I look for my brothers?
Sivka raised her head, neighed, and pointed to the left road. Alyonka let her go along the left road.
She travels through clean fields, she travels through dark forests. I arrived at dusk in the thicket of the forest. He sees a hut standing in the forest near the road. As soon as Alyonka arrived at the hut, a hunchbacked, bony old woman with a long nose ran out. She stopped Alenka and told her:
“Where are you going, foolish one, at night?” The wolves will eat you here! Stay overnight with me, and tomorrow, when you clear up, you’ll go.
Lyska heard this and yelped quietly:
Yip, yap! Mother didn’t tell Nochek to spend the night!.. Yip, yap! It is not the old woman who speaks to you, the Witch of Barabakh, who is plotting evil...
Alyonka Lyska did not listen and stayed overnight in the hut.
The witch Barabakh asked Alenka where she was going. Alyonka told her everything. The witch jumped up with joy: Alenka’s brothers, she thinks, are probably the same heroes who killed all her relatives from the world. Now she will deal with them...
The next morning the witch got up, dressed up as if for a fair, hid all of Alenka’s clothes and woke her up:
- Get up, let's go look for the brothers! Alyonka stood up and looked - there were no clothes...
- How will I go? - says Alyonka. The witch brought her old beggar's rags.
“Here,” he says, “these clothes will look good on you.”
Alyonka got dressed and went to harness Sivka. The witch took a knife and a pusher, sat in the cart like a lady, and put Alenka in place of the coachman.
They are driving, and Lyska runs along the side and barks:
Yip, yap! Mother didn’t tell Nochek to spend the night!... Yip, yap! The witch Barabakh Lady is sitting, Alyonka, looking at you like a snake...
The witch Barabakh heard this, grabbed the pusher and threw it at Lyska. Lyska screamed and the witch broke her leg.
Alyonka cried:
- Poor, poor Lyska, how will you run now!
“Shut up,” the witch threatened her, “or the same will happen to you!”
They drive on, and Lyska doesn’t lag behind, jumping on three legs. We reached a new intersection. Sivka stopped. Alyonka asks her:
Laugh, whine, mare, Tell me, tell me, Sivitsa: Which path should I direct you to, Where should I look for my brothers?
Sivka neighed and pointed to the right road. The whole night they drove through the dark forest along the right road. Early in the morning they went out into the meadow and saw a silk tent standing in front of them, and three horses grazing nearby. Sivka neighed cheerfully and took Alenka and the witch straight to the tent. Alyonka was delighted:
“My brothers probably live here!” The witch snorted angrily:
- Better keep quiet. It’s not your brothers who live here, but mine!
We arrived at the tent. Three slender fellows come out of there - all looking the same, voice for voice, hair for hair.
The witch jumped off the cart and towards them:
- How are you, brothers? And I traveled all over the world, I was exhausted, I kept looking for you...
- So you are our little sister? - the heroic brothers ask.
“Yes, yes,” says the witch, “your own sister...
The brothers rushed to her and began to kiss and pardon her and toss her in their arms. We are so happy that we can’t even tell you.
“Look,” they are surprised, “how long we fought: during this time my sister not only grew up, but also managed to grow old... Well, never mind: we killed all the enemies, only the witch Barabakh remained.” When we find it, we’ll burn it, and then we’ll go home.
The witch heard this and just grinned: let’s see who will burn who!..
- And what kind of girl came with you, sister? - asks the older brother.
“Yes, this is my hireling,” answers the witch Barabakha. “She acts as my coachman and tends my filly.”
“Okay,” say the brothers, “she will graze our horses too.”
The witch turned and shouted in a stern voice to Alenka:
- Why are you sitting? Unharness Sivka and take her out to graze!
Alyonka began to cry and began to unharness Sivka. And the brothers picked up the witch Barabakha in their arms, carried her into the tent, and began to give her food and drink.
The witch Barabakh eats, drinks, and thinks: “As soon as they go to bed, I will kill them all...”
Meanwhile, Alyonka sits in the meadow near the horses and sings, crying:
Sunshine, sunshine, damp earth, fine dew, and what is my mother doing? The earth and the sun answer: He weaves canvases, He weaves canvases, He curls with a golden pattern, He awaits his daughter Alenka with her brothers...
The younger brother came out of the tent and listened.
- You know, sister, you know, brothers, either it’s a bird in the meadow chirping, or it’s a girl humming. Yes, it’s so pitiful that it’s enough to grab your heart.
“This is my hireling,” says the witch Barabakha. “She’s cunning in every way, but she’s just too lazy to work.”
Then the middle brother came out to listen, although the witch did not let him in.
He listened to Alenka’s plaintive song, and then heard the dog Lyska bark:
Yip, yap! The witch Barabakh sits in the tent, looks at the strangers at the brothers of the Viper, eats rolls, drinks wine, washes it down with honey, and her dear sister sheds tears.
The middle brother returned and told the elder
- Go and listen.
The older brother went, but the middle brother kept looking at the witch Barabakha.
The elder brother listened to Alenkin’s song, listened to what the dog Lyska said about the witch Barabakha, and guessed everything.
He then ran up to Alenka, grabbed her in his arms and brought her into the tent.
“That’s who,” he says to the brothers, “our real sister!” And this is the deceiver witch Barabakh!
The brothers lit a big fire and burned the witch Barabakha on it, and scattered the ashes in an open field so that she would be gone. And then they rolled up the silk tent and went happy together with Alenka to their old people, to their father and mother.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru