There lived an old man and an old woman. They had two children - a son and a daughter. And they grew up so beautiful that they could not be sung in a song or told in a fairy tale. The old man and the old woman have grown quite old and feel that death is near. They teach their children:
- Live together, children, do not offend each other!
The brother and sister buried their parents and were left alone, and they also had a dog. My brother goes hunting, my sister runs the house. They live together. One day while hunting, a guy met a prince. The prince looked at him so much that he couldn’t take his eyes off him, and said:
- How handsome you are, brother! Who are you and where are you from?
The guy answers him:
- What am I doing! My sister is a real beauty!
- Give her to me as a wife! And you will live your life richly, next to us.
The brother came home and told his sister about everything. The girl thought and said:
“I won’t get married until I erase my father’s threshold with my hem.”
As soon as the sister left the hut, the brother took an ax, cut the threshold into pieces and put it back. The sister entered the hut, touched the threshold with her hem - the threshold and crumbled. Brother says to sister:
- Will you marry the prince now?
“When I grind my father and mother’s hand millstone, I’ll go then.”
The brother went underground, broke the millstone into pieces, collected them and put them in place. In the morning, my sister began to grind grain - the millstone fell into pieces and crumbled. Brother says:
- Now, probably, will you get married?
- And now I won’t go yet! When the needle my mother left me wears out from sewing, then I’ll marry the prince.
The brother took the needle, broke it in half, and put the pieces together. The sister began to sew a shirt for her brother - the needle broke.
There was nothing to do, the sister had to agree to marry the prince. She gathered her best clothes, got into the boat and took the dog with her. They sail on a boat, whether long or short. They see the witch Suoyatar running along the shore. She ran onto the toe and shouted: children of good parents, take me into the boat! My little legs are scratched by branches and bitten by ants! The girl says:
- Don’t take her into the boat, brother! This is Suoyatar, and evil will not turn out to be good.
They move on. Suoyatar runs along the shore. She ran to the next toe and shouted:
- Oh, you children of good parents, take me into the boat! The bushes scratched my legs and the ants bit me! I can't go any further.
The girl says again:
“We won’t take her, brother, evil will not turn out to be good.”
They swam and swam, and in one place they found themselves so close to the shore that Suoyatar jumped into the boat, sat down to row the girl’s place and took away her hearing. The royal shore appeared ahead. Brother says:
- Prep yourself, sister! Put on your cashmere sundress - the royal house is visible, the city wall glows!
The sister doesn’t hear, she asks again:
- What are you saying, dear brother? And Suoyatar answers instead:
- This is what your dear brother says: spit in the water, jump into the sea, turn into a black duck! The girl was sad. And brother again:
- Prep yourself, sister! Put on your silk sundress - the royal house is visible, the city wall glows!
The sister asks again:
- What does my dear brother say? Suoyatar in response:
- Spit in the water, jump into the sea, turn into a black duck!
The sister thinks: “Why is my brother angry with me?”
The royal palace is very close. Brother says:
- Prep yourself, sister, put on your wedding sundress - the royal house is visible, the city wall is glowing!
Sister asks:
- What does my brother say? Suoyatar again reports:
- This is what your brother says: spit in the water, jump into the sea, turn into a black duck!
The sister cried, but did not dare to disobey, she spat in the water, jumped out of the boat, turned into a black duck and swam. And Suoyatar is happy, she put on her wedding dress.
The guy with Suoyatar drives up to the shore and does not tell the prince what happened to them on the road. The prince sees that he was deceived, but there is nothing to do, he had to accept Suoyatar. And the young man was locked up with wild stallions, let them mutilate him!
A black duck swims not far from the shore, quacks in a sad voice, as if calling someone. And the dog, which the brother and sister took from home, runs along the shore and whines pitifully.
Night has come. The duck came ashore, climbed onto the bridge, brought with it an embroidered shirt for the prince and began to call the dog:
Fifteen, Fifteen,
My sweet dog!
Run quickly to me
Tell me, where is my beloved brother?
The dog answers:
- They threw your brother to the wild stallions to die!
A girl asks for a dog:
Darling; my Fifteen!
Go to the prince's chambers,
Take him the shirt
So that the gates don't creak,
So that the doors don't knock,
So that the servants don't wake up
And they didn’t see you.
Maybe the prince will take pity on my brother. And you come to the shore again tomorrow.
Fifteen ran and left the prince’s shirt at the head of the bed; no one saw it.
In the morning, the prince wakes up and looks at the shirt lying at the head, embroidered with multi-colored silks. Asks:
- Where is this shirt from, who made it? Suoyatar answers:
“I myself am sleeping, but my hands are working!” The prince is surprised and Syoyatar does not believe. He tells the servants to take the guy to the cows in the barn, if he is still alive. The servants did so.
The next evening, when everyone had settled down, the duck again came out onto the bridge and called to the dog:
Fifteen, Fifteen,
My sweet dog!
Run quickly to me
Tell me, where is my dear brother?
The dog runs to the shore and says to the duck:
- They transferred your brother to the cows.
This time the girl brought with her a towel that she embroidered for the prince. Asks for a dog:
My dear Fifteen,
Go to the prince's chambers,
Bring him a towel
So that the gates don't creak,
So that the doors don't knock,
So that the servants don't wake up
And they didn’t see you.
Maybe the prince will take pity on his brother. Come again tomorrow. I'll go out for the last time.
The dog did just that: she took the towel and put it at the head of the prince. When he wakes up in the morning, a towel has appeared! What miracles! And Syoyatar again his:
- I embroidered this! Even though my eyes are closed, my hands are not asleep.
The prince thought even more. He ordered the guy to be transferred to the sheep, and he himself went to the old widow, who helped everyone with advice: does she know what this all means?
He comes to the widow and tells her how he wanted to marry a beauty, but she turned out to be ugly, and how gifts have appeared under his pillow for two nights in a row. Widow says:
- Of course, I know! Suoyatar turned your bride into a duck, and pretends to be the bride. And this duck sends you and the dog gifts so that you will have mercy on her brother. Even today she will come to the shore to say goodbye to her dog, and then fly off to other lands.
- How can I save her so that she becomes a girl again? “Please advise, good widow,” the prince asks.
“Okay, I’ll give you advice,” says the old woman. “Come to the shore early this evening and hide in a secluded place.” As soon as everyone falls asleep, a duck appears and starts calling the dog. You catch her here. If you catch it, don’t let it out of your hands. She will turn into different creatures. But don’t be upset, throw it to the ground over your left shoulder until she turns into a girl.
The prince thanked the old woman and went home himself. He ordered the servants to transfer the young man to the palace, secretly from Suoyatar. In the evening I went ashore, hid and waited.
Night has come, a duck comes out onto the bridge and calls his dog. The dog runs towards its owner's voice. And the prince jumped out of his hiding place and grabbed the duck! He caught her and held her tightly. She turned into a snake, the prince tore it apart and threw it over his left shoulder; she is like a lizard. The prince tore it in half again and threw it over his left shoulder. She turned around like a spindle - he breaks the spindle and throws it over his left shoulder. What has she not turned into? It was Syoyatar who bewitched her so that she would no longer be a girl. Finally it turned into a rolling pin, the prince broke the rolling pin, threw it away and waited. When he looks around, there’s a girl of unprecedented beauty standing there, the kind he’s never even dreamed of! He takes the girl by the hand and invites her with him. And she says:
- I won’t go with you! Suoyatar will destroy me, kill me from the world.
- Don't be afraid of anything with me! - the prince calms the girl.
He left her with the widow and went home himself. He ordered the servants to heat the bathhouse hotter, dig a hole nine fathoms under the threshold and fill it with boiling resin. And spread red cloth from the porch to the bathhouse. That's all they did. They take Suoyatar to the bathhouse - she turns her head in all directions: let everyone see what honor they show her! Two servants lead the Tsar's wife arm in arm into the bathhouse along the red carpet! They brought her to the threshold, pulled off the cloth, and she fell into the pit, into the boiling resin. I just managed to shout:
“Let my hands turn into snakes, my legs into vipers, my hair into creeping worms!” Let mosquitoes and midges fly out of the pit to bite and torment people forever.
The prince brought his real bride to the palace. She was very happy to see her brother alive and well. The Tsarevich celebrated the wedding with great success, calling all the people to the feast who could move. And the bride’s brother was in first place, and here he stayed with his sister. And they didn’t forget the widow; they rewarded her richly. And they live to this day, if not dead. And people believed for a long time that all the forest evil spirits on earth came from Suoyatar.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru