A long time ago, they say, there lived a husband and wife. And they had one son and one daughter. But then one day the mother of these children died. The children were left orphans. My father married someone else. The stepmother did not take care of the children.
The children had a very beautiful brown cow, left to them from their mother. Every time they returned from the madrasah, they caressed this cow like a mother. When they really wanted to eat, they sucked the cow's udder and satisfied their hunger with its milk. They lived like this for a long time and were very attached to the cow. But the stepmother found out about this.
And then one day, before her husband returned from work, she pretended to be seriously ill. The husband had not yet had time to really walk through the door when his wife began to wail:
“I’m seriously ill, old man, I want to eat the heart of a brown cow, if I eat it, I’ll get better.”
The husband was confused and said:
“The children won’t want her to be stabbed.”
“Am I more valuable or are the children?” the wife began to wail. - You killed one wife, now you want to see me off to the next world?
The husband was forced to give in to her. He brought out the cow and was just getting ready to slaughter it when the children returned from the madrasah. No matter how much the children begged, the hard-hearted father did not heed their plea. Seeing this, the children began to beg:
“Father, before you slaughter the cow, let us ride it once.”
The father agreed. The children climbed onto the cow, and she quickly carried them to the far edge of the forest.
The next day they reached the golden forest. The brother forbade his sister to tear the wonderful leaves. But the sister, when the brother did not see this, tore off one golden leaf and hid it in her pigtails.
In three days, the children passed through gold, silver and copper forests. Little sister in every forest quietly picked a leaf and hid it in her pigtails. As soon as we got out of the last forest, the girl turned to stone. The brother cried in despair. Then the brown cow ordered three hairs to be pulled out of her tail and burned. As soon as the brother did this, the sister came to life. And the stepmother at home immediately turned to stone.
They went home, healed, they say, well and happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru