So, there lived a master, and he had a boy as his apprentice. The owner and apprentice often went to the forest to get firewood. One day they were wandering through the forest, and suddenly the owner saw a door - it led, you know, straight underground. The master himself was afraid to enter this door and shouted:
- Hey, apprentice, get down there! We'll divide the spoils equally!
Well, what can you take from a boy: he’s young and green, they told him, and he’s happy to try, he crawled underground and began to walk in pitch darkness until he found himself in a huge dungeon. And in that dungeon, three piles of treasures sparkle brighter than the red sun. On one pile sat a mighty gray eagle, on the second a motley snake with three heads was coiled in rings, and on the third the devil was hiding, baring his teeth at the boy. But the boy is not a timid guy: he flew up to the first pile - it won’t budge, he flew up to the second - he couldn’t move it, he flew up to the third - and he couldn’t move it. All the boy could take was a small box. He put that box in his bosom, and suddenly a terrible wind blew and carried the boy into a rocky desert region, into a dense forest, where there were no birds, no people, no human habitation. He wandered through the forest, lost his way, kept looking for the way, was completely exhausted, and miraculously got out of the thicket. A boy came out to the seashore, and beyond the sea a city could be seen. But how can he, a poor boy, get across there? He racked his brains for a long time until he came up with an idea. He gathered thick poles, tied them, and a raft came out, he sat on it and swam. He swam and swam and reached the other shore, where the same city stood.
The boy thought deeply. “Where can I go now, poor thing, I don’t know anyone here, I don’t have anyone here!” And he decided to go to the inn. The boy hired out to chop wood, and the owner fed him lunch and dinner. The next day the owner said to the boy:
- That's it! I fed you and gave you something to drink, now go and look for a new place, because I don’t need you anymore!
The boy trudged to the market square and stopped near one shop, and the merchant asked:
- What do you want here, little one?
The boy answers the merchant:
- Would you give me, master, some money for dinner, I’m very hungry!
The merchant was a compassionate man and gave the boy enough coins for two dinners:
- Go eat!
The boy ran away, and when he had spent all the money, he came to the shop again, and so on three times in a row. On the third evening the merchant said to the boy:
- Go, son, ask someone else, I can’t give you anything else.
The boy listened to him and turned back to the inn. He walks around the room from corner to corner, and the cats are scratching at his heart - how can he get lunch and dinner? And suddenly the boy felt a box in his bosom, opened it - and there were nine candlesticks. “I wish I could buy nine candles, put them in candlesticks, and light them - let them burn!” The boy decided to go to one gentleman and ask to serve him.
- Pay me, sir, nine pennies, and I will serve you for nine days!
That's how we got along. Nine days later the boy received nine groschen and bought nine candles with them. I put it in the candlesticks, lit it, and - what do you think? — out of nowhere, nine girls arrived and sang, danced and played on the vestibule until midnight. When the clock struck twelve, the girls handed the boy nine tight wallets and said goodbye:
- Here you go, my dear, for expenses! - and flew away.
The next day, in the evening, the boy ordered the owner of the inn to serve a rich dinner. The owner laughed and said:
- Where can you pay for such a dinner?
And the boy responded:
“I have so much money that I could buy your whole house,” and showed nine wallets with gold. The owner was surprised - such a miracle!
- Dear God, where did you get so much money from, you didn’t even have a penny to your name! Surely you stole them somewhere to my misfortune?
And the boy answered him:
“I swear to you in the name of my father, I didn’t steal this money, God sent it to me.” Come in the evening and take nine candles with you - you will see something you have never seen before!
The owner is curious, like an old woman who wants to gossip. He took nine candles, took with him a hearty dinner, went to the boy and sat down next to him, waiting for what would happen next. And the little one ate dinner, then lit nine candles that were inserted into candlesticks, and immediately nine girls flew in, began to sing, dance, play on the vestibule, and at exactly midnight they presented the boy with purses of gold and flew away. This happened every night. The boy became immensely rich and bought up half the city.
The news of this miracle spread throughout the world, and it reached the Sultan himself and his daughter. They called the boy to them and asked:
— They say that nine girls fly to you and give you gold? Is this true or not?
And the boy answers:
- Wait, Sultan, until it gets dark, then you will see for yourself!
At dusk, the Sultan and his daughter, and with her all the noble women of Istanbul, gathered to look at an unprecedented miracle. They sat down in their places, the boy lit the candles placed in the candlesticks, and immediately the girls appeared and began to sing, dance, and play on the vestibule. And as soon as the clock struck midnight, the girls flew away, giving the boy wallets full of gold as parting gifts. The Sultan really liked all this, and he decided to take the box with candlesticks from the boy.
The next evening, the Sultan summoned the Istanbul nobles and went with them to the house where the boy lived with nine candlesticks. The Sultan and his entourage sat down on the pillows, the boy lit the candles - suddenly there was a whistle, a noise, and instead of the girls, nine araps with thick clubs flew in and attacked the Sultan and his nobles. The gentlemen of Istanbul scream and yell, and when the Sultan himself tasted the club, he begged and asked the boy for mercy:
- Spare me the blackamoors, I will leave you a box with nine candlesticks!
The boy blew on the candles, the candles went out - and the araps instantly disappeared.
And the boy returned to the city that stands on the seashore, and still lives there, unless he died.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru