A fairy tale, a fairy tale, a true story.
If all this had not happened, the rumor would not have spread around the world.
Once upon a time there lived a man and a woman, and they had a daughter as beautiful as a clear morning, agile, a jack of all trades, and as playful as the spring wind. Anyone who happened to see how her hands worked, how her eyes burned, how her cheeks flamed, she sank into his soul for the rest of his life; and for those who were younger, their hearts began to beat faster.
One fine day she took two jugs and went to the well for water. And as soon as she filled the jugs, she wanted to rest on the frame of the well. Suddenly the girl saw a stalk of basil. Without thinking twice, she picked it, smelled it, and conceived a child from the smell of basil.
The girl’s parents began to scold and vilify the girl so much that the world no longer pleased her, and she decided to run away. they look. She quietly gathered away from everyone, left - and there was no trace of her.
The girl walked with fear and resentment and walked without rest until she reached a dense forest and came across a cave there. She thought of resting in the cave and just crossed the threshold, and an old, old grandfather came out to meet her, coughing and grunting.
- What kind of person are you and how did you get here? - the old man asks her, raising his eyebrows over his eyes with a crutch.
The girl cried, moaned, and then told him what happened and why she ended up in his cave.
The old man heard her story, consoled her with a warm word and persuaded her to live in his cave.
So they lived, the girl consoled her grief, and the grandfather consoled his old age. In the morning, three goats approached the cave. The old man milked them, and that was what they fed on. Time flew by, and the girl gave birth to a boy. They bathed him in the morning dew so that no evil would stick to the baked goods, they held him over with fire and iron, so that he could pass through all sorts of hardships unharmed and would always remain clean and clear, like a red sun. Then the mother read a spell so that he would be brave, and the grandfather rummaged around in the dark corners of the cave, took out a broadsword and a club that had remained to him from the days of his youth, and gave it to the baby so that they would serve him well. They didn’t drink or eat much at the christening, but there was a lot of joy and fun, and they wished the boy happiness in life. His grandfather named him Basil, from a basil stalk, and his mother also added the name Fat-Frumos. Her precious son seemed very handsome. Basil Fat-Frumos grew up, began to go on long-distance hunts, through the forests and oak groves he went further and further - as far as the eye could see. One day Basil reached a certain valley and, as he looked into the distance, it seemed to him as if he saw a vast green wilderness in which the sun was bathing. And as he came closer, he saw a palace made of pure gold and pearls, shining above an endless green forest, thick as a brush. For the first time in his life he saw such beauty and, adjusting his broadsword and club in his belt, he headed straight to the palace. He walked for a short time and then crossed the threshold of the palace. Windows and doors are open, but
Not a single living soul is visible either in the palace or near it. He walked through the entire palace from chamber to chamber, went out into the courtyard, again looked around - no one. And suddenly Basil hears: the forest began to hum, the trees began to crackle. Then seven terrible dragons came out of the forest:
Goat heads, donkey hooves, wolf mouths, eyes full of bile. When they saw the Basilica of Fat-Frumos, they rushed to it. But Basil drew his sword, and as soon as one of them steps over the threshold, he will kill him! - and head off your shoulders. Heads rolled across the floor like chopped cabbages. So he beheaded six dragons one after another. But when the seventh came in, he didn’t take his broadsword.
Basil beat him with a point and flat on the neck, on the head, stabbed him in the very heart - in no way. Then Basil Fat-Fru-mos grabbed his club. The dragon spun around and began to retreat, bumping its head against the walls every now and then. He reached the ninety-ninth room and hid in a stone mortar. Basil locked it, put the key in his bosom and, satisfied that he had done a good deed, went home.
He returned with great joy to the cave and said to his mother:
- From now on, mother, we will live in another place, we will leave the cave. I found a large and beautiful palace.
The mother was delighted, went with Basil to the palace, made of gold and pearls, and they lived there as masters.
“Here,” says Basil Fat-Frumos, “all this is ours.” But be careful not to open the door to the last room; there is one more dragon left.
- Be calm, son! If he wanted to eat you, then I will be able to keep the door locked.
The mother took the key, tied it in a scarf with ten knots and hid it so that no one could find it forever and ever.
Life has now begun to shower them with goodness and blessings, as if from a cornucopia. And they had a magnificent house, and rich hunting, and unprecedented beauty around them.
They lived like this for more than a year or two. Yes, just like weight. Sometimes unexpectedly, unexpectedly, gentle warmth brings, and so it happens, and storms suddenly fall on the earth, ready to tear it to shreds.
The seven dragons were from another kingdom. They were raised there by the old witch Kloantsa, black as pitch and so furious that the earth burned out at her mere glance. She waited as long as she waited for the dragons, and when she saw that they were gone longer than usual, an evil premonition burned her heart. Kloantsa rushed about like a snake on a fire, and in a terrible rage rushed to their palace to see what was the matter.
Then the witch found out what fate befell the dragons - she grabbed her head.
Beside herself with rage, she rushed at Basil’s mother, snatched the key from her, grabbed her hand and threw her with all her strength into the basement; and then she rescued the dragon and began to hold advice with him: how to take revenge on Basil, how to decide his life.
- Challenge him to battle.
“I’m afraid,” says the dragon. “His blow is much harder than mine.” I would think this way: it’s better for us to leave here in good health, out of sight of him, otherwise it won’t be good for either me or you.
- If so, rely on me. I will bring him to the point where he will crawl into a snake hole and seek death himself.
Having said this, she hid the dragon, and she herself spun like a top and took the form of the mother of Basil Fat-Frumos. Then she pretended to be suffering and tormented by a serious illness, and began to wait for him.
A day passed, two passed, and Basil Fat-Frumos returned from the hunt. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the witch began to moan and lament:
“Woe is me, my boy, you left, as if you had sunk into the water, you didn’t think of returning home as soon as possible.” But I fell seriously ill, and there was no one to come to my aid. If I had even a drop of bird's milk, I would immediately drive away the illness and get back on my feet.
With great sadness, Basil Fat-Frumos listened to the news about his mother’s serious illness, took the jug and, reassuring his mother that he would return soon, left to look for bird’s milk.
He walked, walked through the mountains, through the valleys, and finally reached some palace. He knocked on the gate, and from behind it a girl’s voice was heard:
“If you are a good person, come in, if you are a bad person, come in, otherwise I have a dog with iron fur and steel teeth.” If you enter inadvertently, it will be torn to shreds.
“A kind, kind man,” answered Basil Fat-Frumos.
The gate opened in front of him, he saw a house with doors and windows wide open and entered.
In that house he saw a girl of unprecedented beauty.
“What brought you to our region, good fellow,” the girl asked him.
“I’m looking for bird’s milk,” answered the young man.
- As long as I have lived in the world, I have never heard of such food or such
drug. But since you are a kind person, I will do good to you too - I will find out. A little later I’ll go to my brother, Little Red Sun, he knows where everything is in the world.
This is how Basil Fat-Frumos came to Ilyana Kosynzyane, the sister of the Sun. Later, when fatigue overwhelmed the traveler, Ilya-na Kosynzyan went to her brother and began to ask him:
“Do you know, brother, where in the world I can find bird’s milk?”
- Far away, little sister, bird's milk is far away from here. You have to go there for many weeks - all the way to the east, towards Copper Mountain. But it’s still impossible to get it, because this bird is an unprecedented monster, each of its wings is like a cloud, and as soon as it catches someone close, it drags it to its nest and gives it to the chicks to be torn to pieces.
Pity and fear gripped the sister of the Sun at the thought of the fate of the traveler, who was heading to certain death, and she decided to help him. The next morning she took the twelve-winged horse out of the stable and gave it to Basilica.
“Take a horse, good man, it will serve you well and help you out of trouble.” Whether you get lucky or not, stop by on your way back to us. Basil Fat-Frumos wanted to lay his heart at the feet of this friendly and beautiful girl. He thanked her warmly, jumped on his horse and set off on his way. He rode, rode through the mountains, through the valleys, along secret paths, through endless forests, until he saw in the distance something like a copper rampart. He began to approach, and the shaft grew and grew, grew into a hill, and from a hill into a huge mountain. When Basil found himself at the foot of the Copper Mountain, he saw that its peak supported the sky. You don't often see a mountain like this! Basil Fat-Frumos looked around the mountain, measured it with his gaze from the foot to the top and only then noticed a huge bird high in the sky with wings like clouds.
Then Basil Fat-Frumos pulled the reins and urged the horse up. In an instant I found myself at the top of the mountain. He looked and saw such a wonder: not yet fledged chicks were sitting in copper nests, each the size of a buffalo, and howling with hunger. Basil Fat-Frumos looked around and, finding a crevice in the copper rock, hid in it with his horse. A little time passed, a bird flew in, began to fly around the nests, and feed the chicks with bird's milk. The bird flew up to the nest, near which Basil Fat-Frumos was hiding, and he, plucking up courage, held out the jug, and the bird poured milk into it. Then he jumped on his horse and drove off - God bless his legs. The chick howled again from hunger, and the bird looked back and saw Basil. She rushed after him, like an unclean spirit, but could not catch up. She had only one pair of wings, but Basil’s horse had six pairs, so he flew much faster. On the way back, he drove again through the mountains, through the valleys, along secret paths, through endless forests, until he reached Ilyana Kosynzyana. She greeted him cordially and invited him to stay to rest. He ate, drank Basilik Fat-Frumos and went to bed, and Kosynzyana, knowing how things were, hid the bird’s milk and poured cow’s milk into the jar instead.
Basil Fat-Frumos woke up and, taking his jar, said:
“You are good to me, sister, it’s good for me to rest in your house, but it will be better on the road.” My sick mother won’t wait for me. And Kosynzyan answered him:
“Well, knight, have a good journey, and don’t forget to come and visit us sometime.”
Basil Fzt-Frumos bowed to her, said goodbye and left. I drove up to the palace, the witch spun around like a top, as if someone had pierced her with fiery arrows - she sensed it. She threw herself into bed, moaned and groaned, as if she were really dying:
“It’s good that you’re back, dear son.” Oh, I've been waiting for you for a long time! Did you bring me medicine?
“I brought it,” Basil Fat-Frumos answered her and handed her the jug. The witch put the jug to her mouth and lapped up all the milk.
“Thank you, dear son, it seems easier now.” Then she went to bed, but she didn’t sleep a wink, she kept thinking about where to send him so that not a trace of him would remain. I thought for a long time and suddenly pretended to be waking up even more suffering, tossed and turned, and moaned:
- Oh, my dear son, illness has taken over me again. And I dreamed that I would get better if I ate wild boar meat.
“Well, I’ll go, mom, and get some meat like this, so long as you get well.”
He jumped on his horse and set off on his journey. I drove and drove until I came to Ilyana Kosynzyane again.
— Are you happy to have guests?
- I’m glad, I accept it with my dear soul.
He sat down to rest and began to tell Kosynzyana what new misfortune had befallen him.
- Do you know where I can find a wild boar? Again my mother is overcome by illness, and she says that only wild boar meat can save her.
“I don’t know, but you rest for now, and in the evening I’ll ask my brother, the Sun.” He certainly knows, up there he can see everything and knows everything. Basil Fat-Frumos stayed to spend the night, and in the evening, having put his rays to rest, Ilyana’s brother also came to rest.
Kosynzyana went to the Sun, began to caress him and ask:
— I heard a conversation about wild boars; Do you know in which part of the world they are found?
- Far away, sister, far from here, all the way to the north, behind a clear flowering field, in a large shady forest.
- How can I get a wild boar to fry?
“There’s no way to do this, sister.” Even my rays cannot penetrate into the codry where they live, much less a human foot. Even then, I only see them at noon, when they go out to the edge of the forest to wallow in the swamp. Their teeth are sharp, and whoever approaches them will be torn to shreds.
Ilyana Kosynzyana conveyed these words to Basil, and he, now knowing where to go and what awaited him ahead, mounted his horse and rode away. He rode, rode through the mountains, through valleys, through rivers and ravines, drove through a clear field and reached a shady forest. He drove into the forest, and there it was so dark, as if in hell. The horse took off, raised him higher than the tallest trees, and then Basil saw the swamp that Kosynzyana had told him about.
The sun was just approaching noon, a loud grunt was heard in the forest, and wild boars began to come out to wallow in the mud. Basil spotted a nice little boar, picked it up, put it on his horse, and God bless his legs. When the wild boars grab hold of it and chase after it, they strive to catch it and eat the earth. If Basil Fat-Frumos had not had such a fast horse, he would have had to die here with his bones. The fast running of his horse saved him from the sharp fangs of fierce beasts. And now the horse was playing under them, Basil Fat-Frumos himself was humming songs, rejoicing that he had brought this matter to a happy end.
On the way back, he turned again to Ilyana Kosynzyan and, as before, stopped with her to rest. The Sun's sister replaced his boar with a simple, domestic pig, and then, without letting it show, I kindly saw him off on his way.
Basil Fat-Frumos returned home. The witch saw him and gnashed her teeth so hard that sparks fell, but she immediately pulled herself together and met him, pretending to be mortally ill:
- Oh, dear son, thank you for having the chance to see you again. If he had stayed a little longer, he would not have found me alive. Kill the boar quickly and let me taste the meat.
Basil Fat-Frumos slaughtered a wild boar, roasted it over coals, browned it well and gave it to her to taste.
“Now it seems as if it has become easier and my eyes have brightened,” the witch pretended to come to life. And when she had eaten everything, she groaned again, even more loudly than before:
“Oh, my dear son, my poor boy, you’ve already had a lot of grief on long roads, but if you really want me to get rid of my illness, go one more time.” Again I felt worse, and if you don’t bring me living and dead water, you won’t be able to snatch me from the clutches of death.
“Then I’ll go, mom,” answered Basil Fat-Frumos and set off on his way.
He drove and drove, came to Ilyana Kosynzyane and began to complain bitterly:
“No medicine helps my mother, and she told me to bring dead and living water.” Don't you know where to look for that water, what ways to get it?
“Wait a little, rest, maybe I’ll help you this time too.” In the evening she went to her brother, who had just sat down from the road.
- Brother Sun, you can see the whole earth from the sky, don’t you know in which region the dead and living water flows?
- Far, sister, far from here, far away, far away
seas, at the Lady of the fields. But no matter how many people went for this water, no one returned alive, because there was a fierce dragon standing there at the border. He allows you to enter the kingdom, but does not allow you to leave. Not only does he drink water, but he also decides the lives of daredevils.
Basil Fat-Frumos found out where he should go and what awaited him ahead, but did not succumb to fear, but only adjusted his broadsword and club in his belt, said goodbye to his mistress and, jumping on his horse, rode off. The journey was long, he rode without a break, traveled around the seas, counted the boundaries. He traveled across distant seas, distant lands and reached a wondrous kingdom. The delights of the earth here were three times more beautiful. Not a single dry twig, not a single blade of grass anywhere. Everything grew rapidly, bloomed luxuriantly, and bore fruit richly. He walked through the kingdom - his soul rejoiced from everything he saw - and came to two rocks on which two springs flowed. “Here they are, the keys that I need,” thought Basil Fat-Frumos and, to make sure, he caught a moth, tore it to shreds, then dipped it in the water of one key, and the moth stuck together as it was, dipped it in the water of another, and the moth came to life. The hero was delighted, filled two jars with water from the springs and turned back. But as soon as he reached the border of the kingdom, the trees around cracked as if from a storm, the sky darkened, and a ten-headed dragon rose in front of him, angrily waving his tail.
Basil Fat-Frumos grabbed a club in one hand, a broadsword in the other and, only the dragon extended one of its heads towards him, hit it with a club and a broadsword
chopped off. It’s the same with the second head, the same with the third... The dragon saw that its end was near, soared to the sky; but the hero’s horse flew even higher. Basil Fat-Frumos cut off all ten heads and threw the dragon to the ground. Now he moved on unhindered and arrived at Ilyana Kosynzyane. After a difficult battle and a long journey, Basil Fat-Frumos lay down to rest, Ilyana Kosynzyana replaced his flasks, putting in the same ones, only filled with spring water.
It never occurred to Basil Fat-Frumos to suspect Ilyana Kosynzyan, who had helped him so many times, of anything. He had a good rest, saddled his horse and rode home.
When the witch saw him, her face turned black and sallow. Her heart filled with poison from anger and frustration. She drank some water, came to her senses a little, and again began to think through in her thoughts all the ways in which the Basilica of Fat-Frumos could be swept away from the face of the earth.
Having given him a little rest from the road, the witch called him and, caressing him, said:
- Dear son Basil, how much you walked along the paths and roads, you probably spent a lot of strength. Well, let's see if you can break this silk rope? And, taking out a silk rope, she tied it around him.
- Well, push yourself, dear, let's see if you haven't scattered your strength throughout the world, along untrodden roads.
Basil Fat-Frumos tensed and tore the rope into shreds.
“Now let’s see if you can break the two ropes.” Basil also broke two ropes.
- There is also, there is a strong girl. Let's see if all of it is left. And having said this, the witch entangled him with three silk ropes. Basil Fat-Frumos tensed up and pulled, but nothing happened; he strained himself again—the ropes pressed heavily on his muscles; the third time he gathered all his strength and as soon as he rushed, the silk ropes cut into his body right up to the bone, but remained intact.
Old Kloantsa shouted with joy:
- Hey, dragon, where are you hiding, run here, deal with Basil Fat-Frumos.
The dragon neighed with joy, left his hiding place and, grabbing a broadsword, chopped up Fat-Frumos like your cabbage. Then he collected all the pieces into torn desags, threw them over the saddle, whipped the horse with a whip and, exultingly, shouted:
- Hey, bad horse, where he carried the living, carry the dead too.
The horse rushed like a ghost, the earth began to hum under its hooves, and directed its run to where it grew up, where it was fed and caressed: it stopped right in front of Ilyana Kosynzyany’s palace.
Kosynzyana went out to the threshold, but saw not a traveler who wanted to rest from the road, but her horse, covered in soap and stained with blood. In grief, she rushed to the horse, took off the desags and recognized them as the remains of Basil Fat-Frumos.
“Hey, hey, poor fellow, that’s how they killed you,” she wailed.
and began to add piece to piece until she had formed the Basilica of Fat-Frumos as it was before.
Having done this, she ran to the pantry and brought dead and living water, a wild pig and bird's milk. Where there were not enough pieces of Basil's body, she put together a piece of boar meat, then sprinkled it with dead water, and all the pieces grew together, washed it with living water, and the hero was resurrected. Basil Fat-Frumos sighed heavily:
- Oh, I slept for a long time.
- Hey, my dear, you would sleep forever if I weren’t here
“It was,” Ilyana Kosynzyana answered him and brought a jar of bird’s milk to his lips.
Basil Fat-Frumos drank the milk and gained strength with every sip. And when he drank it all, he became so powerful that he had never been before. A flint rock could be crushed into powder with one blow of a club. Rising from the ground and shaking off his weakness, Basil Fat-Frumos remembered how the dragon mocked him, grabbed a broadsword and rushed to the palace.
He reached the palace and saw: a witch and a dragon were sitting at the table and happily feasting, and his mother was standing aside with a napkin in her hands and serving them. As Basil Fat-Frumos entered the refectory, it was as if an abyss opened up under the reptiles’ feet. The good fellow flooded the copper furnace and burned them to the ground, so that not a trace remained either on the ground or on the water, or under a black cloud, or under a mountain steep.
Then Fat-Frumos hugged his mother and consoled her with filial affection. Soon, even greater joy came to them: Basil Fat-Frumos asked for Ilyana Kosynzyana’s hand in marriage. People gathered, apparently or invisibly, and they played a cheerful wedding. And at the head of the table sat Brother Sun himself, drinking the jugs to the end, wishing happiness to everyone, giving joy to everyone, fun and singing sometimes in the spring.
After the wedding, they lived in love and harmony and live, perhaps to this day, if they did not die.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru