There was once a large country in the world where all the people were red-haired, only the king’s son was born black-haired. After his father’s death, he is supposed to sit on the royal throne, but his subjects don’t want to see him because of that hair.
The old king does not know what to do; he fears in advance for his country and for his son. The king began to think about how to help the matter. He asks everyone how to turn his son’s black hair into red. Some advise one thing, others - another, others - this way, others - that way. And they anointed his poor little head, and rubbed it, and washed it, and rinsed it, but it was all in vain - nothing helps. The hair was and remains black. They realized that everything was in vain and left the poor prince alone!
But the old king, day by day, becomes more and more frowning and angry, and his son no longer dares to show himself to him. It went on like this for a long time.
Suddenly, one day, a rumor reached the royal castle that in such and such a city they could make their hair whatever a person desired. But to do this, you need to go to that city and stay there for a long time.
The king heard and, without wasting a minute, gathered his son on the road and sent him to that city for five whole years, strictly ordering him to carry out everything exactly, no matter what was advised to him.
OK.
It might be good, but who knows! The prince went to that city. Whatever they did to him! Five years later, the king sends a servant for his son, and meanwhile the prince’s hair has become even blacker. The prince is ashamed to return home, but he must.
He and the servant walked most of the way, and the prince began to be tormented by thirst. He asks the servant if he knows what well is nearby.
“I know,” the servant answers, “we’ll go to him now.”
How long or short did it take them to the well? And the well is so deep that you can’t drink from it, you can’t reach the water unless one holds the other’s legs. Then the scoundrel servant says to the prince:
- Wait, first I’ll try what the water is like, and you hold me tight. The prince holds the servant by the legs, and he gets drunk and says:
- Oh, and the water is good!
It was the prince's turn. As soon as he hung upside down, the scoundrel servant shouted to him:
- Now you are in my power! Either I will drown you or swear that you will become my servant forever and declare me a prince!
What could the poor prince do? He swore a terrible oath to his servant and began to serve him. They came to the royal palace, and the king-father and mother-queen rejoiced, because the son was now also red-haired! The subjects and courtiers of the red-haired prince do not carry them in their arms!
But the false prince finds no place for himself, he is afraid that someone will find out the whole truth about him. I thought and thought, came up with a trick and pretended to be sick.
The king and queen groan, order to call the doctors, and the doctors stuff him with all sorts of drugs. He, the rogue, doesn’t take anything into his mouth, he just asks for one thing, that a servant be sent to a magic well, he, they say, will drink water from that well and immediately get better. The vile deceiver knew that the dragon was guarding the well and the end of the real prince would come there, and then no one would ever find out about his meanness.
The poor prince had to get ready for the journey and go for water. He reached the well, saw the dragon and cried bitterly:
- Ah! Unhappy, unhappy man I am!
And his tears flowed into the well. One tear fell on the dragon's blind eye and he immediately regained his sight. His dragon began to ask why he was crying.
“How can I not cry,” the prince complains. “I need water, but I don’t know how to get it.”
“Don’t be afraid,” the dragon shouts to him from the well, “bring down the jug, I’ll fill you with water.”
The prince lowered the empty jug, and the dragon gave him a full one. The prince returned home, the rogue servant drank from that water, jumped to his feet cheerfully, as if he had never been ill.
But soon he pretended to be sick again.
“I,” he says, “will only get better if the servant brings me the beautiful Floriana from the glass castle.”
The prince had to get ready for the journey again. They strictly tell him to hurry and not return home without Floriana.
Our prince wanders and thinks bitterly about how far he has lived and what awaits him next. Suddenly he sees hordes of ants moving across the road. They walk beautifully, row after row, like soldiers. The prince stopped, waiting: suddenly you take a step and crush some ant! The very last one to move was a large ant with a crown on its head. He thanked our prince for not offending his subjects, and said that if any help was needed, let him remember him.
The ant fell silent, and the prince continued on his way.
Soon he found himself in a birch grove. He sees two birds in a snare, their wings fluttering, but they cannot get out. He freed the birds and released them into the wild. The birds chirped cheerfully and also promised to help.
The prince came out of the grove and approached the stream, and there on the shore there was a fish struggling on the sand, and that fish had a pearl crown on its head. He picked up the fish and threw it into the water.
The fish swam, and then stuck its head with a crown out of the water and said:
“I’ll serve you again,” she waved her tail and went under the water.
Our prince walked around for a long time until he finally came across a glass castle. The prince is in a hurry to get there before dark. He approaches, and at the gate Baba Yaga stands guard with a drawn sword. He bowed to her courteously, but she did not answer, only glanced angrily at the prince. How dare he come here? It's about to blow his head off his shoulders. Our poor guy explains that it is not his fault, he would never have come here himself, but it was only there and there that the prince fell ill and will not get back on his feet until he receives Floriana as his wife.
“This is a different matter,” Baba Yaga answers. - So you are not to blame for anything!
- and leads him to the castle. “Rest,” he says, “we’ll talk tomorrow.” She served him a hearty dinner and showed him where to go to bed. The prince ate and fell asleep like a log. In the morning Baba Yaga appears to him with a drawn sword and says:
“You’re not the first, son, to come for Floriana.” Many of these people have been here, but I will only give it to someone who will work properly for me.
The prince realized that jokes were bad. But he can’t return home without Floriana. I decided to try my luck.
“That’s okay, son, that’s okay,” Baba Yaga nodded her head. - Get ready for work!
I went to the pantry, brought out a measure of poppy seeds and mixed them thoroughly with a measure of millet.
- Take it. Sort everything down to the grain and have it ready by evening! – she said, turned and went to the gate.
“Well, you gave me a task,” the prince said to himself, “I’ve never heard of, separating poppy seeds from millet!”
He felt sorry for his own head. Yes, fortunately, he remembered about the big ant with a crown, and it was already right there, standing in front of him, followed by a wave of smaller ants.
“Fear nothing, prince,” exclaimed the Ant King, “so we have come to your aid.” Go and look at the castle, while we sort through all the grain.
And not an hour had passed before the ants had done everything, the prince returned - there were no ants, only the poppy lay separately, and the millet - separately. The sun began to set. The evil Baba Yaga rushed with a drawn sword. Well, to be a headless prince! Yes, I saw two piles of grain and immediately became kinder:
“That’s great,” he says, “I see that you tried.” Now have dinner and rest! But that's not all, tomorrow you'll get another job.
The prince was about to take Florian to the castle, but upon hearing the witch’s speeches, he lost his appetite and sleep. I didn’t sleep a wink the whole night, I kept tossing and turning from side to side.
The dawn had just broken, and Baba Yaga was already right there, putting two vials on the table and saying:
“Fill these bubbles with living and dead water, at least a drop at a time, and come back in the evening, and if you linger, don’t blow your head off.”
She turned and went to guard the gate.
The prince began to think and wonder what kind of water this was and where to get it. Suddenly he hears someone knocking on the window. I looked and there were two birds. The same ones he rescued from the snare. The prince opened the window and heard one bird chirping: “Don’t be sad, we will help you, we will bring living and dead water. Wait by evening.”
The birds flew to distant lands.
Meanwhile, the prince is walking in the garden. He returned, and the birds were already flying into the window, dripping water - living and dead - from their beaks into the bubbles, and saying:
- Take it! If Baba Yaga asks where he got the water, answer that dead water is the tear of a robber son, and living water is the tear of a father who bitterly mourns him.
The birds flew away, Baba Yaga rushed in, and the prince gave her living and dead water and told her about what he learned from the birds. Baba Yaga took the bottle and praised the prince. But he won’t give Floriana back until he serves her one more time. And he will find out which one tomorrow.
The prince could not sleep and dinner was not good for him.
As soon as the sun rose, Baba Yaga appeared:
“Come with me,” he says.
He grabs the prince by the hand, leads him to the seashore and shouts in a loud voice:
“I dropped my gold ring into the sea!” If you don't get it before evening, you'll be headless.
She left the prince and ran to guard the gate.
The prince wanders sadly along the seashore. Doesn't know what to do. He might throw himself into the water. Then there was a loud splash: the prince was looking, and a fish jumped out of the water, the same one that he had thrown into the stream, a pearl crown glittering on its head.
“Don’t be sad, prince,” the fish tells him. “I came to your aid, now I’ll find the ring.”
And she ordered all the fish in the sea to look for the ring. They searched from morning until noon, from noon until evening, but they could not find it. Already both the prince and the fish queen began to worry, suddenly some fish found the ring and gave it to its queen. She threw the ring ashore and disappeared into the waves.
The prince was delighted, grabbed the ring, and hurried to Baba Yaga.
- Well, where is the ring? - Baba Yaga grins, and she herself already raises her sword.
- Here he is! - the prince answers, and holds out the ring.
“Oh, you’re lucky,” the old woman said in surprise, “Oh, you’re lucky!” OK. If I promised something, then I will do it. Only you and Floriana will spend the night here.
The prince enjoyed the dinner and slept soundly. But Baba Yaga didn’t sleep a wink all night. I lit the oven and baked pies for the road. At dawn I woke Floriana. She immediately got ready and took with her bottles of living and dead water. In front of the castle there are already horses at the ready and a rich carriage. Floriana and the prince sat down and arrived safely at the royal palace.
The vile servant saw the beautiful maiden and immediately recovered. But Floriana doesn’t even want to look at him. The prince, her liberator, really took a liking to her heart. A wicked servant noticed this, got angry and, in order to hide the ends in the water, called the king’s son into the garden and killed him there. Floriana came running, saw the dead prince, sprinkled living water on him and the prince immediately came to life. And, oh! Miracle of miracles! At that same moment his black hair turned red. The prince told her what happened to him and how it was.
And then the scoundrel servant runs, again wanting to attack the king’s son. But Floriana splashed dead water on him - and that’s when the end came for him.
That was joy! The parents hug and kiss their own son and beautiful daughter-in-law.
They played a cheerful wedding and everyone rejoiced with them.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru