There lived two boys, a weaver and a carpenter, and they went to see the same girl. They went to her, and she told them this:
“I can’t marry both of you,” and he says to the carpenter: “Make me such a chest that it will fly through the air, and let the weaver weave such a shirt so that it will be whole.”
She told them this, and they left.
The weaver came home and wondered how he could make such a shirt. And he remembered how the Jews make one-piece stockings, and he made himself such a figure out of wood and wove a shirt.
And the carpenter made a chest to order, the blacksmith forged it, if you climb into the middle and twist it, it will fly through the air. They both brought their gifts and she really liked them. She looked at the shirt, that it was whole, and agreed to marry the weaver. She looked at the chest and didn’t know if she would really fly through the air.
The weaver says to the carpenter:
- Come on in!
And the carpenter says to the weaver:
- No, you climb!
Neither one nor the other wants to get into the chest. And the weaver, stupid, climbed into the chest, turned the handle in the middle and climbed up a whole mile. And he didn’t return to the girl at all. That’s how he flew away, and the carpenter married her. And when the weaver flew, he flew for a whole week and landed on a haystack. When evening came, he saw that the city two miles away was glowing, he turned the knob again and flew straight towards the lights. She flies up to the light, to the window, and it was a palace where a king lived and that king had such a beautiful daughter that the king had to take her to the third tier at night, he was always afraid for her, so that she wouldn’t do some trouble.
A weaver flies up to the window in a chest, knocks, and she asks:
- Who is it?
“I am,” he says, “Saint Peter.” God sent me to you for joy.
He talked to her, sat for a while, and then flew away. The next evening he flew to the window again. And the next evening she prepared everything properly: she gave Peter something to eat and drink. So Petro had a good meal and asked her if her father would allow him to marry her, talked to her and flew away.
Morning came and the father asked:
- Why are you so funny? Did anyone come to you at night? And she says: “Saint Peter comes to me and asks if my father will allow me to marry Peter.” Her father says to her:
“How can I marry you to him if the son of the neighboring king is already engaged to you?” As soon as I marry you to him, he will immediately begin to fight with me. Ask him when he flies in the next night, will he be able to give me advice and help if he gets married? After all, that king is stronger than me.
So he arrives at night, she told him everything, and he says:
- Okay, I’ll give you advice and help.
And the king gave her in marriage to Peter. When the neighboring king found out that she was already married, he immediately began a war.
Both kings are already preparing for war, but this one was stronger, he had much more troops than this one; then the smaller king says to his son-in-law:
- Well, son-in-law, what should I do?
“Don’t be afraid,” he says, “tattoo, go out and fight.” But Petro stayed at home, heated large cauldrons with oil and hot water and flew out to the enemy. And as he began pouring hot oil and hot water on top, the king admitted:
“It’s clear, it’s true, that this is Saint Peter, he’s punishing us from heaven.”
Peace was made and the war ended. Soon that king says:
- Why would I give in to such a fool? And he went to war again. The father asks his son-in-law: “Well, son, what should we do now?” And this Petro says: “Go out to war again, I will help you.” They went out to fight, and Petro loaded a chest full of burning coals and flew out at the enemy. And when they began to shower him with heat from above, they had to make peace. They say: “It’s true that this is Saint Peter!” The war stopped again.
Six months passed like this, and the stronger king said: “I won’t give in to such a fool.”
And he writes to him that he will go to war against him again. And Petro, when he learned about this, was greatly saddened, because when he flew home from the war, he was left with a large piece of coal in his chest and the wings on which he flew were burned from it. And when both kings went to war, he ordered Petro to bring him a horse without a saddle and bridle. He mounted his horse and ordered his legs to be tied from below under the horse’s belly and rode out into the field, thinking that the horse would kill him there, because he had nothing to defend himself in the third war. And the horse raced with him across the field, and Peter wanted to get to the forest. He thought: “When the horse gallops past the tree, I will grab it with my hands, because my legs are tied to the horse, well, he will tear me apart.”
But the horse galloped straight to the war, but did not run to the forest. And when he rushed through the field, there stood on the road an old crucifix, and when the horse flew past, Petro grabbed it with his hands, thinking that he would die here. But the crucifix from below rotted and broke off, and he rushed with it straight at the army. And he began to crush the enemy with a crucifix - in one direction with a cross, and in the other with a base, and rushed several times between the enemy ranks and killed more than half of the army. The enemy sees that things have gone seriously wrong, and he had to make peace, since he no longer had soldiers with whom to fight. And the king said:
“This is a sign that his son-in-law really is Saint Peter, because I started to fight with him three times, hoping to win, but I couldn’t, because he punished me from heaven.”
And the poor man remained as the king's son-in-law. That's it.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru