Once upon a time there lived a peasant. From his childhood he was left an orphan, and he had to become a farm laborer for the landowner. He worked tirelessly and yet was not well-fed every day.
Year after year passed, and the peasant still had only a dilapidated hut.
He did not even dare to dream about marriage.
One spring morning, a peasant went out into the field to plow. The birds sang, the flowering trees smelled fragrant, and the peasant felt extraordinary lightness and joyful excitement in his soul. A happy presentiment took possession of him. Even the buffalo seemed to be working harder than usual.
The peasant plowed until the midday heat dried the morning dew and all the people went home. Then he, shouldering the plow, drove the buffalo back.
He met a girl in the forest. The surprised peasant could not take his eyes off her gentle face, her slender figure and beautiful blue dress. The stranger politely greeted the peasant and asked if he would like to become her husband.
The peasant hesitated, remembering his poverty, but the girl insisted on her own.
From this day on, much has changed in the life of a peasant. The husband and wife worked together to repair their home and worked hard in the fields. Gradually, the peasant planted a small garden, and then, having saved money, bought a plot of land. Now he did not need to work as a laborer for the landowner.
During this time, the peasant became even more attached to his wife. He loved her so much that he could not work properly: he did not have time to plow a few furrows before he remembered his wife and quickly ran home to see her.
And the economy gradually began to go worse and worse; No amount of persuasion from my wife helped. Then she decided to fix things differently: she took two sheets of paper, drew her portrait on each of them, secured them on poles and stuck them in different ends of the field. The young woman turned out to be a skilled draftswoman, and the portraits turned out lifelike.
Since then, the peasant’s work has gone smoothly. No matter which direction he walked with the plow, raising his eyes, he saw the face of his beloved wife ahead, and his strength seemed to increase. Only the peasant could not whistle near the portraits: his wife warned him that this should not be done.
One day the peasant was plowing as usual. He looks ahead - the wife in the portrait is smiling, as if she had come out to meet him; He looks back and his wife smiles, as if she’s seeing him off. The peasant's heart felt joyful. And then the birds began to chirp all around, and he, forgetting about the prohibition, began to whistle to them. The birds thought that the voice of their fellow bird was coming from somewhere far away, and they chirped even louder, and the peasant also whistled louder in response.
And then suddenly a gust of wind came, bent the trees to the ground, and raised clouds of dust to the very sky. Now only the peasant remembered his wife’s warning, but it was too late: the wind tore off the portraits, twisted them and carried them away. They flew for a long time until they got caught in a tree and fell to the ground.
It so happened that they were picked up by a landowner who was hunting in those parts. Having learned that the peasant not only stopped working for him, but also married a beauty, the disgruntled landowner decided to take revenge.
The next day he went to the palace and presented the portraits to the king. The king was amazed that there was such a beauty in the world, generously gifted the landowner with lands and money and appointed him governor of the entire region.
All the courtiers gathered to figure out how to get the beauty. But first the king wanted to know if she was as smart as she was beautiful.
The next day, he sent an official on horseback and ordered him to ask the peasant several difficult riddles. But the peasant's wife helped her husband, and he passed the test with honor.
Then the king gave him the order to paint three hills black by evening.
The task was difficult, and the peasant turned pale with fear. But his wife calmed him down and explained what he needed to do. The peasant was happy, had a good lunch, took a large torch, went to the hills and set them on fire. And since there had been a drought for a long time, the bushes and grass were dry as gunpowder. By evening, everything on the hills burned to the ground, and they became completely black. The king again had to admit defeat.
Then he conceived a new trick. The next day the king gave the following order to the peasant:
By evening, weave me a rope from ants. If you don't do it, I'll cut off your head.
The peasant trembled with fright all over. At home he developed a fever, and he collapsed on his bed, exhausted.
Having asked what was the matter, the wife laughed:
- That's all?
She smeared the thread with honey and took it outside. Soon the entire thread was thickly covered with ants. The husband was so happy that his illness vanished.
And the king decided to give the peasant a more difficult task. This time, the official conveyed on his behalf the order to make a rope from the ashes and warned that if the rope was not ready by evening, the peasant would be hanged.
The smart woman found a way out here too. She wove a rope from rags, covered it with a stone and set it on fire. The rope, having decayed, completely retained its shape. The official reported that everything was done. And the king decided that this woman was a fairy who had descended from heaven to earth. He sent soldiers and ordered them to bring the peasant's wife.
The husband wept sadly, but his wife said to him:
“It’s my own fault, I shouldn’t have whistled.” There is nothing you can do to help the trouble now. But wait, the time will pass, and we will be together again.
With these words, she handed him a date and a cup of rice.
“This date and this rice are magical,” she said. “Eat the date, plant the seed in the garden, and plant the rice grains in the field.” When the rice is ripe and the birds fly in to ripen it, take a feather from each of them. Collect all these feathers and make a dress out of them, and when the dates on the tree ripen, put on this dress and go sell them.
And the peasant’s house became empty again, but he did not lose heart and diligently grew rice and dates. So a year passed, followed by a second, a third. The rice ripened three times, and the peasant accumulated a lot of feathers. Finally, the tree grew and was covered with juicy fruits.
The peasant made a dress from feathers, put it on and went to sell dates in the capital. The dates were delicious, and everyone who tried them could not praise them enough.
And the peasant’s wife was seriously ill at that time. She had been ill since the day she was forcibly taken from home by order of the king. All attempts to cure her were unsuccessful. And in the third year she was even speechless.
The king was very happy when she suddenly spoke again and demanded that the date seller be called to the palace. The king immediately sent an official to fetch the peasant.
The peasant came, saw his wife and was so happy that he began to dance, and the tails of his cloak, made of feathers, fluttered like wings. The wife laughed.
And the king decided that extraordinary clothing had such a wonderful effect.
He ordered the peasant to take off his cloak and put it on himself, giving him his robe in return. Then the king wanted to continue the treatment of his captive himself and also began to dance. But the peasant’s wife did not laugh this time.
She called a pack of evil royal dogs. Seeing the king wrapped in feathers, the dogs did not recognize their master and bit him to death. Thus ended the life of the treacherous king.
And the peasant took all the gold and silver from the palace treasury and divided it among the poor. Then he and his wife returned to their home, and they lived happily as before.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru