Once upon a time there lived a childless countess, and more than anything in the world she wanted to have children. As soon as he sees the child, he immediately becomes sad, sighs heavily and says:
- I wish I had one like that!
She sighed and sighed, but still no children. Once a herd of pigs was driven past the castle. The Countess saw them and said in her hearts:
“I wish I could at least give birth to a piglet, if fate won’t give me a child!”
Less than a year had passed before the countess gave birth, not a child, but a piglet. The Count was paralyzed from grief. The young count grew up, spoke like a human being, but his habits were swinish.
When he was twenty-four years old, he said:
- Mother, I want to get married, get me a bride!
The countess went to a poor sharecropper, he had three daughters, and she began to marry the eldest daughter to the young count. The mother didn’t want to marry her daughter to a hog, but even so, there was something to think about: after all, the girl would become a countess. For a long time there was matchmaking, persuasion, contracts, and finally the sharecropper and his wife agreed - not only were they not asked for a dowry for their daughter, but they were also paid three hundred guilders.
After the wedding, a big feast began in the castle. The groom was cheerful, dancing and joking, and how could one not have fun at his own wedding. The guests got pretty drunk. At sunset, the groom quietly slipped out into the street, fell up to his ears in mud, and then went back into the house and wiped himself on his bride's wedding dress. Drunk guests, let's scold him and feel sorry for the bride, and she just say:
- My husband, as he was a pig, will remain a pig!
The groom began to spin when he heard such words; He immediately lost his desire for both sweet foods and wine. He hid in a corner and sadly looked from there at the drunken guests and at his cruel wife. And in the evening, when it was time for the newlyweds to go to the bedchamber, the hog count drove away his wife because she had laughed at him on their wedding day.
The news of how the wedding ended spread around the area faster than lightning. Some felt sorry for the old countess, others for the bride's family, and only a few felt sorry for the bride, because everyone knew that she did not marry the hog for love, but simply wanted to become a countess.
A year has passed, and again the son asks his mother: woo him and get him a bride. The sharecropper and his wife resisted for a long time, but the second daughter was not averse to trying her luck, even though her sister did not like it. The old men again received three hundred guilders. But the second daughter didn’t care about the groom either; she also coveted wealth and the title of count. The Count Hog behaved at the wedding the same way as the first time, and the wife said out loud that her husband, just as he was a pig, would remain a pig. And she suffered the same fate as her older sister.
Again the count grieved for a whole year, and then begged his mother to marry him a third bride. The mother denied:
- An empty idea! Who will go for you when you have already driven away two!
“Find me a bride, otherwise I’ll smash everything here into pieces,” the son threatened her.
The poor people were ready to die of hunger rather than give their last daughter to the hog. But she said:
“He’s a human being—after all, he speaks like a human being.” It was a bitter fate for him to wear a vile disguise; one must feel sorry for him.
Her parents blessed her.
There were no fewer guests for the third wedding than for the first two. Everyone was filled with curiosity: how would the hog deal with his third wife? And again the count rolled out in the mud and wiped himself on the bride’s dress.
The guests don’t care about him, they wave their fists, but then the bride intervenes:
- He is my husband and can do with me as he pleases, it’s your business!
The guests were offended and left without a sip, but the groom rejoiced and began to have fun from the bottom of his heart. When the young people came to their bedchamber, he lay down in the middle of the room on the floor, the pig's skin peeled off, and a beautiful young man appeared before the astonished girl.
The count's mother was eager to find out how the young people got along. As soon as it was light she ran to her daughter-in-law. The young woman was tempted to tell someone about her happiness, she blurted out to her mother-in-law that at night her son turned into a young man, and into such a handsome man, the likes of which the world had never seen. She really didn't deserve such happiness.
The mother really wanted to see her son in human form. She begged her daughter-in-law and begged her, and she finally gave in. In the evening the countess climbed under the young couple's bed, and when they fell asleep, she lit the stove and burned the pig's skin in the fire.
Getting up in the morning, the young husband saw that there was no pig skin, and shouted:
- What have you done, you unfortunates! Mother should not have seen me in human form. Now I can’t stay here anymore now that she’s seen me. You will find me only when you have passed through seven mountains and seven valleys and cried rivers of tears. You will experience a lot of grief while you search for me around the world.
He said, and he is gone - he disappeared. The mother soon died of grief. The wife was very upset, she couldn’t forgive herself for her talkativeness, but you can’t undo what you’ve done. I had to submit to fate - to remain a widow with a living husband until he found the missing one. She put on her girlish dress and went to look for her husband around the world. She suffered a lot and spent many nights in tears.
Finally, after much ordeal, she came to the First Wind and asked if he knew about her husband. The wind replied:
“I haven’t seen him, go to my older brother, maybe he knows about it.”
At parting, he gave her a nut and told her to crack that nut when things got tough for her.
The woman thanked him for the advice and gift and went to the Second Wind. It was not an easy path, but she did not touch the nut. She cried for many nights until she finally got to the Second Wind and told him about her misfortune.
- I'm still young. I don't know anything about your husband. But my elder brother flies all over the world. He knows about everything. Go to him!
And he also gave her a nut and told her to crack it when it was really hard for her. And it became more and more difficult to walk.
The Third Wind, who knows everything that is happening in this world, already knew who she was and why she had come. He saw her back in her parents' house, and then in her husband's castle.
- I know where he is. “Just tomorrow I’ll fly to that region to sweep the rapids, because tomorrow is his wedding,” said the Wind and also gave her a nut, ordering her to crack it only in the greatest extreme.
- Be careful not to oversleep! - he said as she went to bed.
The poor thing didn’t close her eyes all night and came to the Wind on time - he always got up before people. So they set off on their journey. The poor thing could not keep up with the Wind: she was just there, and lo and behold, there was no trace of him. The Wind had to return and show her the way. I would be glad to fly more slowly, but it just doesn’t work out, and the woman fell further and further behind. The Wind guessed to give her his boots; she climbed into them and went to measure the miles: every step she took, she blocked the three-day path, stepped on the Wind’s bare heels - just know to keep up.
They arrived in the city just at the moment when the woman’s husband was leaving the church with his young wife after the wedding. She recognized him at first sight. And when she saw another woman next to him, her grief took over her so much that she almost screamed. But her husband didn’t recognize her. She rushed after the carriage and ran to the castle where the husband settled with his second wife. Without hesitation, she asked to join the countess in the service; They took her to herd pigs. She suffered a lot and suffered only in order to be close to her husband and at least occasionally see him. But the more often she saw him, the heavier her heart became. Then she cracked the nut that the First Wind gave her. A beautiful gold ring fell out of the nut; it sparkled so much that it was as if the sun was sparkling in the countess’s little room. The Countess immediately sent servants throughout the city to see where the magical radiance was coming from. One servant looked into the pigsty and saw a wonderful ring there. The countess told her maid to ask the pig farmer what price she would set for the ring. The pig farmer replies: the ring is not for sale. Then the countess herself came to the pigsty and promised the pig farmer all her gold for the outlandish ring. But the pig farmer was not tempted by the gold. However, she promised to give the ring for free if the countess allowed her to spend one night in the count’s bedchamber. Greed overcame the countess, and she agreed.
The count was already fast asleep when the pig farmer entered his bedchamber. She woke him up, woke him up, told him how she learned about him from the three winds and how she gave the countess a wonderful ring for permission to come to him. But the count never woke up. She cried all night and left with nothing.
The next evening she cracked the nut of the Second Wind. The earrings fell out of the walnut, and immediately two rays shone in the countess’s room. She guessed where that radiance was coming from and sent the maid again, but she received the earrings only after she allowed the pig farmer to spend another night in the count’s bedchamber.
And all night the pig farmer burst into tears, vainly begging the count to wake up. She became more saddened than ever and returned to the stable with the pigs.
But that night his friend spent the night next to the count’s bedchamber. He heard a woman crying behind the wall and was very surprised when in the morning he did not see any traces of burning tears on the countess’s face.
He told the count everything and asked why the countess was crying at night. The count listened to him carefully and immediately guessed that his first wife had come to him. And he slept soundly, apparently because he drank very strong black coffee in the evening.
The pig farmer became completely unable to bear it, and she cracked the nut of the Third Wind. And a dress embroidered with precious stones and pearls fell out. Such a radiance came from him that the whole city was illuminated. The Countess immediately ran to the pigsty and promised to give at least the entire county for the dress. The pig farmer named her previous price, and the countess agreed for the third time.
At dinner, the count accidentally knocked over a candle and rearranged the coffee cups in the darkness. The countess fell asleep, and she fell asleep right at the table.
On the third night the count did not sleep a wink. All night he hugged and kissed his first, real wife, the one who suffered so much for him. And when the day broke, he called together all the eminent people in the city and, while the second wife was sleeping, made the following speech:
“I dropped the key to my chest somewhere.” I looked for him and looked for him, but never found him. When I had lost all hope of finding it, I bought a new one. And now suddenly the first key was found. Which is better, old or new? Which one should you keep?
And when the guests shouted: “The old one is better, the old one is real!” - The count hugged his wife and left with her to his native castle.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru