In ancient times, one father had four children - one son and three daughters. The daughters diligently looked after their widowed father, and his son tirelessly treated him to the most delicious dishes. My father lived happily in his declining years with such kind children. He used to say: “As long as you, children, begin to live peacefully and amicably, Laima herself will smile at you. You, son, when I die, don’t get married right away, but first marry off your sisters. If you listen to me, you’ll go far in life.”
The son obeyed his father and lived with his sisters for a long time after his death. But one unfortunate day, fate decided differently and took his brother’s beloved sisters away. And it happened like this: one day at noon the sisters were walking in the garden. Then a whirlwind came out of nowhere and whisked the sisters away to God knows where. The brother searched for the sisters for three days and three nights - not a trace anywhere! The brother left home and went around the world to look for his sisters. He walks, searches, asks questions - but all in vain. He ate the bread, he ran out of supplies, the poor brother doesn’t know what to do now, what to do?
"Whatever happens," he decided, "but I still have no return home. If such a thing happens, I will eat whatever God sends me."
Soon he met a hare. He galloped past, and his brother said to him:
- Stuttering stutterer, don’t jump past: I’m hungry, I have no urine. I'll eat you.
- Don't eat me, little brother. I will go with you, I will help you in trouble.
OK. Soon the wolf met his brother, he wanted to run past, and his brother said to him:
- Wolf thief, don’t run away: I’m hungry, I’ll eat you.
“Don’t eat me, little brother: I’ll run after you and help you in trouble.”
OK. My brother met horse flies and wasps. They wanted to fly past, and their brother said to them:
- Hey, biting horse flies, hey, blowing wasps! Don't fly away, I'm hungry, I'll eat you.
- Don't eat us, little brother! We will fly with you and help you in trouble.
OK. Soon the falcon met his brother. The falcon wanted to fly past, and his brother said to him:
- Crooked beak falcon! Don't fly away: I'm hungry, I'll eat you.
“Don’t eat me, little brother: I’ll fly with you, I’ll help you in trouble.”
OK. Soon my brother met cancer. Cancer wanted to back away from his brother, but his brother said to him:
- Don’t back away, creepy crawler: I’m hungry, I’ll eat you.
“Don’t eat me, little brother, I’ll crawl after you and help you in trouble.”
OK. Together they go together: a boy-brother, a bunny, a thief, a wasp, a horse-fly, a falcon with a crooked beak, and a crawfish. They entered the forest. On the second day they see a hut on a chicken’s leg spinning and spinning. Her brother says to her:
- Stop, little hut, give the travelers shelter. The hut stopped. Travelers entered and saw an old woman sitting. She asks the travelers:
-Where are you going? Her brother answered:
“You feed us and put us to bed, and tomorrow we’ll tell you everything.”
An old lady gave them shelter. In the morning, her brother told her everything in order and asked:
- Do you know where my sisters are?
The old lady responded:
- I, brother, don’t know where your sisters are. But if you go to my sister, she’ll probably tell you.
They went. The next day, in a remote forest, they saw another hut on a chicken’s leg. Brother says:
“Stop, little hut, give the travelers shelter and rest a little.”
The hut stopped. Travelers came in and saw another old woman like her sitting. The old lady asks:
-Where are you going? And the brother answered:
- Feed him and put him to bed. We'll tell you everything in the morning. An old lady gave them shelter. In the morning, her brother told her everything in order and asked:
- If you know, open it, where are my sisters? The old lady responded:
- I'll tell you where your sisters are. One is married to a pike, another to an eagle, and the third to a bear. And in order for you to get to them, you must first earn a riding horse from the witch. And it’s three days’ journey to the witch’s dwelling.
The travelers went to look for the witch. Three days later they found her, and her brother hired her as a worker with the following agreement: if he guarded a dozen mares for three days in a row, he would receive a foal. In the morning, the brother drove twelve mares to pasture, and twelve foals remained in the stable. My brother and his fellow travelers went, and they all went to bed and lay down. Only the bumpkin bunny is not sleeping: he, lo and behold, turned out to be more cunning than everyone else. Says:
“You go to sleep, little brother, go to sleep, everyone, and I’ll go and listen to what the mares are talking about among themselves.”
Jump-jump! The goofy bunny jumped up to the mares and heard: here you go! The mares don’t even think about going home in the evening - they are not fools: after all, the witch strictly punished them - while they are chasing one, the rest will run away into the bushes. My brother heard this and a shiver ran down his spine. And horseflies and biting wasps laugh:
- Don't spin around. They will go wandering through the bushes, and we will sting them. Let's drive them home, you'll see.
And so they did: in the evening the mares wander and wander. But biting horse flies and wasp wasps began to prick their skins! The mares flew home like moths.
The witch scolds them, and they respond:
- Go ahead yourself: let’s see what you’re going to do?
And the next day the same thing happened.
And on the third day, the goofy bunny galloped up with the following news: the witch ordered that the mares should not escape from the biters into the stable, but into a dense forest, where the biters could not get through.
A shiver ran down my brother’s spine, and the thief wolf said:
- Just think! As if there are only biting biters in this world, such as horse flies and wasps? It's a craft and I mean it. And for my fangs the thicket is no hindrance.
And so it happened: in the evening the mares were attacked by horse flies and biting wasps, and the mares ran away from them into the forest. But it didn’t work out their way: the wolf’s fangs drove them out of the thicket, and the bites of horseflies and wasps drove them home. The witch sees that the mares have been grazed, and says to her brother:
- Get a foal tomorrow - and don’t let your spirit be here!
The brother and his friends went to bed, and the goofy bunny galloped off to eavesdrop on what the witch was talking about with the foals. And she explains to them:
– You, eleven, remain as you are. And you, twelfth, my strongest, tomorrow crawl under the manger and pretend that you are sick, half-dead. The guy can choose whichever one of you he likes: that’s how you dress up. If you're sick, he won't care about you.
The bumpkin bunny overheard this and brings fresh news to his brother. The next morning, eleven foals are galloping around the stable - so much so that I can save a pet. And the twelfth one is lying upside down under the manger, breathing so heavily, like the sound of a blacksmith’s bellows. The witch praises those eleven, extols them to the skies, and about the twelfth she says: “He was bad, bad and will die.”
But her brother doesn’t listen to her: give him something sick! The rest are somehow painfully timid. I don’t want to give the witch the twelfth foal, but what can you do? An agreement is worth more than money.
The brother took his foal and left the witch's lair.
Along the way the foal says:
- Graze me on white clover for three days - I will become like my mother with the witch. Grow white clover for six days and I will become three-winged and fly with the wind. If you leave it on white clover for nine days, I will become six-winged and fly up like a whirlwind.
And so it happened - on the ninth day the six-winged horse teaches his brother:
- Let go of the hare, the wolf and the horsefly with the wasps - they have served you their duty. Sit astride me, put the falcon on my knee, and let the crayfish cling to my tail: I will take all three of you to the first sister.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru