Once upon a time, there lived in the north of Scotland a wealthy farmer. He had seven sons and one daughter. And people gave their youngest son a very strange nickname - they called him Assipatl, which means: “The one who wallows in the ashes.” Perhaps Assipatl deserved this nickname.
He was a lazy boy - he didn’t want to work on the farm like his brothers did.
All day long he ran around somewhere, ragged, unkempt, and on his mind there were only trolls and giants, elves and dwarves.
On the long summer days, when the sun was hot, when the bees buzzed, inducing slumber, and even the tiny insects moved as if in a dream, the boy lay down on a pile of ash in the farmyard. There he lay for hours, pouring ash between his fingers, like sand on the seashore, basking in the sun and telling himself stories.
Meanwhile, his brothers worked hard in the field. They pointed their fingers at Assipatl, laughed at him and told each other that it was not for nothing that people called him “He who rolls in the ashes.” A completely useless fellow! When the older brothers returned home from work, they chased the younger one around on errands and teased him, and his mother forced him to sweep the floors, fetch peat from the peat heap and water from the well, and generally do jobs that no one else wanted to do.
Life was hard for Assipatlu. Often he would have had a really hard time if it weren’t for his sister. She loved him very much and patiently listened to his stories. And she never laughed at him, did not say, like her brothers, that he was “all lying.” But then trouble came. At least for the unfortunate Assipatl. The king of the country where the farmer's family lived had only one daughter - Princess Jemdelawli. Her father loved her dearly and refused her nothing. It so happened that Princess Jemdelavli needed a servant. One day the princess was riding past a farm and saw Assipatl's sister standing at the gate.
The princess liked the girl, and she asked her father to take her into his service. The king agreed immediately - he fulfilled all his daughter’s wishes. Soon a messenger rushed to the farm and conveyed to the farmer the king’s order to let his daughter go to the palace.
The farmer was very happy that his daughter had such happiness.
Her mother and six brothers rejoiced - in a word, all the members of the household, except Assipatl. And he sadly looked after his sister as she rode away on horseback, proud of her new outfit and shoes. Her father himself sewed these shoes for her from cow leather so that she would wear them when she arrived at the palace and began to serve the princess - she always ran around barefoot at home.
Time passed, and then one day a royal messenger galloped across the country with terrible news. The night before, some fishermen who had gone out to sea in boats saw Mester Sturuorm from afar, and everyone knows that this is the largest, most important and most famous of all the Sea Serpents. In Scripture he is called "Leviathan", and if he lived today, his tail would stretch to Iceland, while his muzzle would touch the North Cape.
The fishermen saw how the terrible monster turned its muzzle towards the shore and every now and then opened its mouth and yawned ominously. It was as if it wanted to show that it was hungry, and if it was not fed, it would destroy everyone on earth - man and beast, birds and creeping creatures.
Everyone knew that the Serpent’s breath was poisonous and burned everything he breathed on like fire. If this terrible monster were to raise its head and breathe destructive heat onto the land, the flourishing country would turn into a desert in a few weeks.
When this news spread, people died of horror - because they knew what a great misfortune threatened them. The king called all his advisers and asked them to figure out how to help the grief.
These important bearded men conferred for three whole days. They proposed a lot, expressed many wise opinions, but - alas! — they couldn’t figure out how to drive away the Sea Serpent.
Finally, towards the evening of the third day, when everyone had ceased to hope for salvation, the door to the council chamber opened and the queen entered. It must be said that the queen was the second wife of the king. It is not popular among the people
they loved her because she was an arrogant and harsh woman. She hated her stepdaughter, Princess Dzhemdelavli, and spoke with her husband, the king, much less often than with one famous wizard, whom everyone was afraid of. The dignified councilors looked disapprovingly at the queen as she boldly entered the council chamber, stood at the throne and spoke in a loud voice:
“You think, elders, that you are brave and strong and capable of protecting the people.”
Maybe that's true when you have to fight mortals. But the enemy that now threatens our country is beyond your control. Before him, our weapons are like straw. It is not by force of arms that one can defeat him, but by sorcery. So listen to my words, even though I am a woman. Consult the great wizard. Nothing is hidden from him. He knows all the secrets of the earth, air and sea. Neither the king nor his entourage liked this advice. They hated the wizard. And besides, they knew that the queen was in his power. But they themselves could not come up with anything and did not know where to look for help. So they had to, willy-nilly, listen to the queen and send for the sorcerer. When he answered the call and sat down among them, they felt uneasy. He was a long, skinny, scary man; his beard hung down to his knees, his hair wrapped around him like a cloak, and his face was whiter than lime. It seemed that he was afraid of the sun and spent his entire life in the dark.
The advisors and the king looked at him askance. But no one else could help them. So they told him everything and asked him for advice and help. The sorcerer coldly replied that he would think about it, and tomorrow he would come to the conference chamber again and tell him what to do.
The next day he came and gave such advice that everyone’s hair stood on end with horror.
“Only one can appease the Great Serpent and save the country,” said the wizard. “We must throw seven young girls, the most beautiful ones, to him to eat every Saturday.” Try this two or three times, and if the Sea Serpent does not have mercy and swims away, then you will have to resort to another, last resort. But it is so terrible that it is not worth talking about it yet, so as not to scare people ahead of time.
What should the king and advisers do? They both hated the wizard and feared him. But, no matter how hard it was for them, they had to listen to him. And the king unwillingly issued a cruel decree.
And so every Saturday the royal servants grabbed seven beautiful, innocent girls, brought them to the shore, tied hand and foot, and left them alone on a cliff that jutted out into the sea. The monster stretched out its long forked tongue and licked the girls into its mouth, while the people looked on in horror from the top of a high hill. Or rather, the men looked on with stone faces, and the women covered themselves with aprons and sobbed loudly.
- Is there really no other way?! - they shouted. - Is it really impossible to save the country in some other way?
But the men only groaned and shook their heads.
“There is no other way,” they said, “no!”
And then one day an indignant child’s voice sounded in the crowd:
“Isn’t there an adult man among you who is ready to fight the monster, kill him and save the lives of the girls?” If not, I'll take it on. I'm not afraid of Mester Stuwarm.
It was the boy Assipatl who shouted, and everyone looked at him in surprise. And he looked at the huge Sea Serpent, clenching his fists angrily, and his large blue eyes sparkled, full of pity and indignation.
- The poor fellow has gone crazy! His mind was clouded by this sight, people whispered.
They surrounded the boy to caress him and calm him down, but then Assipatla's elder brother came up and slapped him in the face.
- Do you want to fight the Sea Serpent? - he shouted contemptuously. - No matter how it is!
Go home, bury yourself in your ashes and stop talking nonsense. He grabbed Assipatl and dragged him to his brothers, and then they all went home. But Assipatl kept repeating that he would kill the Sea Serpent, and the older brothers were so angry with the “braggart” that they began to throw stones at him, and the boy had to flee. That same evening, six brothers were threshing rye in the barn. Assipatl, as always, lay in the ashes and thought his thoughts until his mother came and ordered him to run to his brothers and call them for dinner.
Assipatl stood up - he was a rather obedient son. But as soon as he entered the barn, the brothers rushed at him, in revenge for the fact that he ran away from them during the day, knocked him down and covered him with straw so much that, if the farmer himself had not come to find out why they were so slow, Assipatl would probably have suffocated. At dinner, the mother began to scold her older sons. She said that only cowards attack in droves someone who is younger and smaller than them. Then Assipatl stopped eating his oatmeal, looked up and said:
- Don't be upset, mother! I didn't want to fight with them myself. If he had wanted to, he would have beaten everyone.
- Why didn’t you try? - the brothers shouted.
- Because I don’t want to waste my energy. I’ll need them when I go to fight the huge Serpent,” Assipatl answered calmly.
At this point all his relatives started laughing more than ever.
And time kept passing. Every Saturday, seven girls were thrown to the monster to be eaten. And finally, people started saying that it was time to end this, otherwise there wouldn’t be a single girl left in the country.
The king again called his elders. They deliberated for a long time and decided that they should once again send for the wizard and ask him what other, last resort he knew.
“Whatever it is,” said the elders, “it is impossible to do worse than what we are doing now.” But they did not know what the new remedy meant.
It must be said that the cruel queen hated her stepdaughter, Princess Jemdelawli, and the evil wizard knew this. He also knew that the queen was not averse to completely getting rid of her stepdaughter; so he figured out how to please the queen. He came to the meeting, pretending to be very upset, and said that there was only one thing left to do: give Princess Jemdelawli to the Sea Serpent. Then he will probably float away.
As soon as he said this, an ominous silence fell in the meeting chamber. Everyone covered their faces with their hands, because no one dared to look at the king.
The king loved his daughter dearly and cherished her like the apple of his eye. But he was fair and understood that you cannot spare your own child when you force other fathers to sacrifice their daughters for the sake of saving their homeland. He went to the princess and talked to her. Then he returned to the elders and in a trembling voice announced that both he and his daughter were ready to make a sacrifice.
“She is my only child,” said the king, “she is the last in our family.”
However, we both believe that she needs to give her life to save her native country.
Salty tears flowed down the cheeks of the stern, bearded men as they listened to the king. After all, they all knew how dear Princess Dzhemdelavli was to him. However, they found that the king's words were wise words and that his decision was right and fair. Of course, it is better for one girl to die, even if she is of royal blood, than for crowds of other girls to die week after week and without any benefit.
The advisers sighed heavily. And so the elderly lawyer, the head of the Royal Council, stood up to pronounce the death sentence on the princess. But before he had time to utter a word, the royal squire suddenly stepped forward.
“Nature teaches us that every reptile has a tail,” he said. “Now your lawyer will pronounce his sentence, and this sentence is truly a poisonous bastard.” So he must have a tail. And here’s the tail: if the Lord of the Sea Serpent devours the princess, but does not leave immediately, he should be treated not to a girl, tender and young, but to this skinny, creepy, old sorcerer!
Before he had time to say this, such loud cries of approval were heard that the evil wizard shrank and his pale face turned pale. And so the sentence was pronounced, but it was decided that it would be carried out only after three weeks, so that during this time the king would send his envoys to all neighboring kingdoms. The ambassadors were to announce that any brave man who could drive away the monster and save the princess would receive her as his wife. And as a dowry, he will be given the entire kingdom and, in addition, the famous royal sword, which in ancient times belonged to the Scandinavian god Odin.
With this sword Odin fought and defeated all his enemies. The sword was called "Sickersnapper", which means "True Striking", and not a single person could resist it.
Rumors about these decisions spread throughout the country, and every person in it mourned Princess Dzhemdelavli - after all, she was threatened with such a terrible death! The farmer, Assipatl's father, and his wife, and their six sons - in a word, all the members of the household, except Assipatl himself - mourned her. And he sat on a pile of ash and was silent.
When the neighboring kingdoms learned about the king’s appeal, all the young brave men perked up. It seemed to them that killing a sea monster was not so difficult, but it was not every day that you found a beautiful wife, a flourishing kingdom and a good sword.
And so thirty-six warriors arrived at the royal palace, and each firmly hoped to receive the promised reward. But the king sent them all to look at the huge Serpent that lay in the sea, opening its immense mouth. And when the soldiers saw him, twelve of them suddenly fell ill, and twelve were so frightened that they started running without looking back and never stopped until they reached their native places. So, only twelve of the thirty-six brave men returned to the royal palace, but even these were so depressed when they realized what a feat they had undertaken to accomplish that their courage was gone. Not one even tried to kill the Sea Serpent. Three weeks passed slowly. And then the evening came on the eve of the day when the princess was to be sacrificed. That evening, the king decided to entertain his guests at least a little and arranged a gala dinner. It was a sad feast: everyone was only thinking about what terrible thing would happen tomorrow, and no one could eat or drink. And when dinner was over and everyone had gone to bed except the king and his old squire, the king returned to the main hall and slowly ascended to his throne, which stood on a high platform. This throne was unlike the present ones: it was just a huge chest, and in it the king kept all his most expensive treasures.
With trembling hands, the old king pushed back the iron bolts, lifted the lid of the chest and took out the wonderful sword True Striking, the one that once belonged to the god Odin.
The devoted squire had once fought shoulder to shoulder with the king in hundreds of battles and now looked at him with great compassion.
-Why did you take out your sword? - he asked quietly. “After all, the days of battle are over for you.” You fought valiantly, my lord, when your hand was strong and true. But when a warrior is eighty years old, and even sixteen, as you are, it’s time for him to send other, younger people into battle. The old king turned to him in anger, and his eyes lit up as in the old days.
- Shut up! - he shouted. “Otherwise I will raise my sword against you.” Do you really think that I will give my only daughter to be devoured by a monster, and will not lift a finger to save her, when no one else will do it? I tell you, no, I swear on this sword,” and he crossed the thumbs of both hands on the True Striker, “that both the sword and I will die before a hair falls from my daughter’s head. So, go, my old comrade, order my boat to be prepared, set the sails on it and turn its bow to the sea. I will go fight the Sea Serpent myself. And if I do not return, I instruct you to protect my beloved daughter. My death, perhaps, will save her life.
That evening at Assipatl's parents' farm, people went to bed early: the next morning the whole household was going to climb to the top of the hill by the sea to see the Sea Serpent swallow the princess. Everyone except Assipatl - they decided to leave him at home to guard the geese.
The boy was so upset that he could not sleep - after all, he had a big plan in mind! He tossed and turned from side to side in his corner on a pile of ash and suddenly heard his parents talking as they lay on their wide bed. Assipatl listened and realized that they were quarreling.
“It’s a very long way to the hill above the sea,” said Assipatla’s mother. -I'm afraid I can't get there on foot. I'd rather stay at home.
“Well, no,” the father objected. - Why on earth would you sit at home when the whole neighborhood will gather there? Sit in the saddle behind me. Let's ride together on my good mare Quickfoot.
“I don’t want you to worry - take me with you,” said his wife.
“And that’s why I don’t want to, because, in my opinion, you don’t love me as much as you did before.”
- You're crazy! - the farmer shouted in frustration. - Why do you think that I stopped loving you?
“Because you stopped telling me your secrets,” answered the farmer. - Well, it’s not far to walk, let’s take this same Swift-legged one. For five whole years I have been begging you to tell me why, when you ride on her yourself, she flies faster than the wind, but if anyone else sits on her, she drags along like a wretched old nag.
The farmer laughed.
“I hid this from you, mistress, not because I loved you little,” he said, “but because I trusted you little.” After all, a woman’s tongue chatters uncontrollably, and I didn’t want other people to know about my secret. But if this upsets you, then so be it, I’ll tell you everything... Listen! When I want to stop Swiftfoot, I slap her on her left side once. When I want her to run like other horses run, I slap her right side twice. And when I need it to fly like the wind, I whistle into the goose neck. But I don’t know when I’ll need it to fly like the wind, and that’s why I always carry a goose neck with me in the left pocket of my jacket.
“So this is how you handle this horse,” said the farmer’s wife, very pleased, “and this is where our goose necks go!” What a cunning master you are! And now that I have found out about everything, I can go to sleep.
Assipatl has already stopped tossing and turning from side to side in the ash. He sat quietly in his corner, and his eyes sparkled.
The boy realized that his time had finally come.
He waited patiently until he realized from his parents' breathing that they had fallen asleep.
Then he crept up to his father’s clothes, pulled out a goose neck from his jacket pocket and silently slipped out of the house. And as soon as he ran out into the yard, he rushed like an arrow to the stable, saddled and bridled Swiftfoot, threw the reins around her neck and led her out the gate.
The good filly was not used to Assipatl. She reared up, kicked, and rushed forward. But the boy remembered his father’s words and slapped her on the left side.
Swiftfoot immediately stood rooted to the spot. Assipatl jumped on her, slapped her twice on the right side, and the good horse began to trot with a loud neigh.
The tramp of her hooves in the silence of the night brought the whole house to its feet. The farmer and his six sons stumbled down the stairs, shouting in alarm to each other that someone must have taken Swift.
The farmer was the first to reach the door, and when he saw in the light of the stars how his beloved horse was running away, he shouted at the top of his voice:
- Thief! Thief! Stop the thief! Whoa, Swiftfoot, whoa! Swiftfoot heard her owner's voice and immediately stopped. "Well, I'm lost!" - thought Assipatl. After all, he knew that his father and brothers were running fast and were about to run up to him. And Swiftfoot doesn't move! But, fortunately, he remembered about the goose neck. He took it out of his pocket and whistled. The playful mare immediately rushed forward, ran quickly like the wind, and jumped over the hill in one bound. The chase had not even run ten steps before it was left far behind.
Dawn was already setting when the boy saw the sea. There, ahead, on the waves lay a huge monster, and Assipatl knew that he had to kill him - then he rushed here from afar. Anyone would say that it is stupid to even dream about it. After all, Assipatl was a puny, unarmed youth, and the Lord of the Sea Serpent was so large that, as people said, his length was equal to a quarter of the earth’s circumference. His tongue was forked at the end and resembled a pitchfork. And with this pitchfork he could grab whatever he wanted, put it in his mouth and devour it. However, Assipatl was not afraid - the hero’s heart beat under his rags. “Well, brother, now be careful!” he said to himself. “If you don’t have enough strength, cunning will help you out.”
Assipatl jumped off Swiftfoot, tied the good horse to a tree, and went on foot, carefully looking around. And then he noticed a small house at the edge of the forest.
His door was not locked. The boy entered and saw that the old woman of the house was fast asleep on the bed. He did not bother her, he himself took the cast iron pot off the shelf and examined it carefully.
“This will be useful to me,” he thought, “and the old lady probably won’t be angry when she finds out that I took the cast iron to save the princess’s life.” Then he pulled out a piece of glowing peat from the hearth, put it in the cast iron pot and went on his way.
In the sea, near the shore, he saw the king's boat. She was already under sail, and her bow was turned towards the Lord of the Sea Serpent. The boat was guarded by a boatman.
- What a cold morning! - Assipatl told him. “Aren’t you freezing here?”
If you want, go to the shore, run and warm up, and I will sit in the boat and guard it until you return.
- No matter how it is! - objected the boatman. - What will the king say if he comes now? He will see that I left his glorious boat under the guard of such a brat like Kakty, while I myself am basking in the sand, and what will happen then? Perhaps they will blow your head off!
“As you wish,” Assipatl said carelessly and began to look for something on the shore among the stones. “In the meantime, I’ll look for some good shells and fry them for breakfast.”
And so the boy collected shells, and then began to dig a hole in the sand to put the glowing peat there. The boatman looked at him with envy: he also wanted to eat.
But suddenly Assipatl shouted and jumped:
- Gold, gold! I swear to God Thor, who would have thought that there would be gold here?!
At this point the boatman could not stand it - he forgot both about the king and about his head. He jumped out of the boat, pushed Assipatl away and began to hastily rummage in the sand. Then Assipatl grabbed his cast iron, jumped into the boat, pushed it away from the shore and managed to swim half a mile across the sea before the boatman realized how he had been fooled.
After all, of course, he did not find any gold.
The boatman became very angry, and the old king became even more angry when he and his courtiers went down to the shore. In his hand he had the glorious sword True Striking - after all, he still cherished the unrealizable hope that he, a weak, decrepit old man, would be able to defeat the monster and save his daughter. But now that the boat has sailed, even this hope has faded. The king could only stand on the shore among the ever-growing crowd of subjects and wait to see what would happen. And that's what happened.
Assipatl slowly swam across the sea, not taking his eyes off the Sea Serpent. Soon he noticed that the terrible monster yawned from time to time, as if he couldn’t wait to feed. And every time it yawned, a huge stream of water rushed into its throat, then poured out again through its huge gills. And so the brave boy lowered the sail and pointed the bow of the boat straight towards the monster’s mouth.
As soon as it yawned again, the boat and the boy were pulled into its mouth, and they fell through the Sea Serpent’s throat into its dark womb. The boat sailed there further and further, but soon the water began to subside and pour out of the snake’s huge gills. Finally the boat seemed to run aground. Then Assipatl jumped out of it with a cast iron in his hands and ran in search.
A little later he reached the monster's liver. And he knew that fish liver contains a lot of fat. The boy dug a hole in it and stuck the glowing peat in it. What a fire broke out here! Assipatl barely managed to jump into the boat in time - the Sea Serpent began to have such convulsions that he belched the boat, and it was thrown straight onto land, unharmed.
There was such a commotion on the sea that the king, his daughter (she had already gone ashore, dressed like a bride in a white dress), and all the courtiers and all the villagers had to seek refuge on the top of the hill. From this safe place they now looked out to sea, waiting to see what would happen next.
And the Lord of the Sea Serpent darted in all directions, twisting and writhing. He stuck his disgusting head out of the water, and his tongue shot up and hit the ground with such force that he dug a huge crack in it. The sea poured into this crack, and it formed a crooked strait, which now separates Denmark from Sweden and Norway.
Then the monster lost several teeth. They did not sink, but formed islands that are now called the Orkney Islands. A little later, the monster lost a few more teeth, and they also turned into islands. We now call them the Scottish Isles.
Then the Serpent curled up into a ball and died. This lump turned into the island of Iceland.
A fire still burns in its depths - the same fire that once lit Assipatl with a piece of glowing peat. That is why in this cold country some mountains spew fire.
When everyone finally realized that the Lord of the Sea Serpent was truly dead, the king, overwhelmed with joy, embraced Assipatl, kissed him and called him his son.
He took off his royal robe, put it on the boy and girded him with his good sword, Faithful.
Then the king called his daughter, Princess Jemdelawli, placed her hand in Assipatl's and announced that when the time came, she would become the wife of this hero, and he would be the ruler of the entire kingdom.
Then everyone mounted their horses, with Assipatl riding on Swiftfoot next to the princess, and, happy, returned to the royal palace. But as soon as they arrived at the gate, a servant, Sister Assipatla, ran out to meet them. She asked the princess to bend over and whispered something in her ear.
The princess's face darkened; She turned her horse back, galloped to her father - he and the courtiers rode behind - and conveyed to him the words of the servant. The king's face also darkened like a thundercloud. This is what it turned out to be: the cruel queen was glad that she had gotten rid of her stepdaughter forever, and spent the whole morning making love with the evil wizard, since the old king had left.
- He must be executed immediately! - exclaimed the king. - There is no forgiveness for him!
“It will be difficult to find him, Your Majesty,” said the maid. “For an hour now, he has been running with the queen on the fastest horses that were found in the stable.
- And I’ll catch up with him! - Assipatl shouted and rushed faster than the wind after the fugitives on his good mare Swift.
Soon he almost caught up with them, drew his sword and loudly ordered them to stop.
They heard a scream, turned around and laughed when they saw that it was just the boy who always rolls around in the ashes.
- Impudent boy! I'll teach him a lesson! - the wizard shouted and rushed towards Assipatl.
He had never been a warrior, but he knew that ordinary weapons could not harm his enchanted body, and he was not afraid of anything. But he did not know that Assipatl was holding in his hand the very sword with which the great god Odin defeated all his enemies. The boy killed the wizard with one blow of his sword, and he fell off his horse dead.
Then the courtiers arrived. They also set off in pursuit, but their horses were not as fast as Swiftfoot. The courtiers grabbed the reins of the queen's horse and led him and her rider to the palace. The queen was brought to the council, tried and ordered to be imprisoned in a high tower. Tamona languished until the end of her days.
When Assipatl became an adult, he married Princess Jemdelawli, and many guests feasted and had fun at their wedding. When the old king died, the young ones took his place and ruled the kingdom for many years.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru