There lived an old man in the world, and he had three sons and one daughter. One fine day a young man came to them and asked for his daughter’s hand in marriage. As soon as they got married, he took her from her father's house. He wanted his wife not to take anything from her father, and took her to him in whatever she was wearing, because this young man was Saint Peter, and it was not fitting for him to take things from a sinner’s house.
The young wife was happy with her life; only one thing upset her: her husband. The shepherd disappeared from dawn to dusk with his sheep and could not spend a single day at home. When her older brother came to visit her, she complained to him about her misfortune. He decided to wait for his brother-in-law, and when he returned towards nightfall, his wife’s brother said to him:
“Brother-in-law, my sister complained to me that because of your sheep, you have never spent a day at home since you got married.” Let me go tomorrow to graze the sheep, and you stay with your wife.
Saint Peter agreed. The next morning he called the sheep, handed them over to his brother-in-law and advised him to follow the sheep all the time: where they go, let him go, where they stand, let him stop, and when they head home in the evening, let him return. The sheep went out to pasture, and Saint Peter's brother-in-law went after them. They walked and walked and found themselves on the bank of a wide river, across which, instead of a bridge, a silver sword was thrown point up, and it was as sharp as your razor. The sheep stepped onto this bridge and crossed the river, and the young shepherd, seeing this, said:
- Who will pass here? I can't cross here! He sat down on the bank under a tree and spent the whole day there quietly and peacefully. And Saint Peter, who had been watching him from afar, passed by him unnoticed and went after the sheep. And in the evening, as soon as the herd returned to the bridge, Saint Peter hid. When the flock crossed the river, his brother-in-law followed the sheep. Saint Peter, having already rested a little, waited for his return. He asked his brother-in-law:
- How was your day?
- Fine.
“Did you walk with the sheep all the way to the pasture?”
- Yes.
- What did you see on the way?
- Nothing special.
Saint Peter told his wife that her brother was not fit to be a shepherd and sent him home. The next day the middle brother appeared, and the same thing happened to him as to the eldest. On the third day the younger brother came, to whom Saint Peter said the same thing as to the two older ones. The young man replied:
- Stay home, son-in-law. Don't be afraid, everything will be fine. But Saint Peter did not believe his words and decided to follow him, as well as the two elders. When the sheep approached the river and crossed it along the edge of the sword, the young man said to himself:
- Since you, sheep, creatures of God, crossed without any harm along the edge of the sword, it means that I will cross, and nothing will happen to me.
As soon as he put his foot on the sword, it immediately turned into a real bridge, and the young man calmly crossed the river. When Saint Peter saw this, he realized that the young man would cope with the matter, and went home to his wife.
Walking further, the young man saw two huge stones, which were constantly knocking against each other and striking fiery sparks. It was scary to watch, but the sheep walked between the stones without any harm. Although with great fear, the young man followed the sheep. Then he saw two huge lions - monsters, and nothing more! — they fought like mad, tooth and nail, tearing out pieces of meat from each other. But the sheep walked calmly between them, and so did the young man. Then he found himself in a green meadow, overgrown with lush grass, and horses grazing there, so thin that their bones almost broke through their skin. Then he saw a field covered with dry, burnt grass, and well-fed, beautiful horses grazing on it. He walked with the sheep and walked, and then a huge fire appeared in front of him, from which such huge tongues of flame were bursting out that each of them could burn the whole world. The sheep passed through the fire without being scorched, and behind them came the young man. Finally they found themselves in a large beautiful garden, a miracle, but it was not a garden, and the sheep stopped there and began to graze.
The young man was simply dumbfounded when he saw so many rose bushes, completely strewn with flowers. He said to himself:
“I’ll go pick some flowers and take them to my sister.” He began to pick roses. He tore and tore, then put them in a hat and again went for flowers. He returned, looked in the hat, and there were only five roses left. He shouted here:
- Oh, my God! The sheep ate all my roses!
Again he went for roses, again he put them in a hat and another time he went for flowers. When he returned, he saw that there were five roses left in the gang again. So he ran back and forth, and meanwhile the sheep turned towards the house. He then grabbed his hat and five roses and went after the sheep. Saint Peter was very pleased when his brother-in-law returned.
They had dinner, talked about this and that, and finally Saint Peter asked his brother-in-law what he saw on the road. ‘The young man told everything as it happened. Then Saint Peter explained to him that the sheep are the souls of the righteous, the river with a silver sword is the Jordan, in the waters of which John baptized Jesus, two stones and two lions are quarrelsome neighbors who never stop quarreling even in the next world, skinny horses in a fat meadow are rich people who in this world bathe in luxury, but they still don’t have enough money, well-fed horses in a burnt-out field are poor people, content with little, the fire is purgatory, the garden is paradise, and five roses are the five wounds of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Having said this, Saint Peter washed his wife’s feet, washed his brother-in-law’s feet, placed them in his palms and ascended to heaven with them.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru