An old man lived with an old woman, and he had a daughter. The old woman died, and the old man waited a little and married a widow who had her own daughter. The old man's daughter had a bad life. The stepmother was hateful, she doesn’t give the old man rest: —? Take your daughter to the forest, to the dugout, there she will work harder.
What to do! The man listened to the woman - he took his daughter to the dugout, gave her a flint, a flint and a bag of cereals and said: -? Here's a light for you; Don’t turn off the light, cook the porridge, and don’t yawn - just sit and spin your hair.
Night has come. The red maiden lit the stove and made porridge; out of nowhere, the mouse says:—?Maiden, maiden! Give me a spoonful of porridge!—?Oh, my little mouse! Talk about my boredom - I will give you more than one spoon, but I will feed you to your fill.
The mouse ate its fill and left. At night a bear broke in: “Come on, girl, turn off the lights and let’s play blind man’s buff.”
The mouse climbed onto the old man’s daughter’s shoulder and whispered in her ear: “Don’t be afraid, girl!” Say: come on! Put out the fire and crawl under the stove, and I’ll run around and ring the bell for you.
And so it happened. The bear is chasing a mouse, but he won’t catch it. He began to roar and throw logs. He threw and threw, never hit, got tired and said: “You’re an expert, girl, at playing blind man’s buff!” For this I will send you a herd of horses and a cartload of silver in the morning.
The next morning the woman says: “Go, old man, check on your daughter for all the trouble she had during the night.” The old man left, and the woman sat and waited: one day he will bring his daughter’s bones. It's time for the old man to toss and turn, and the dog: -? Tuff-tuff-tuff! The daughter is riding with the old man, driving a herd of horses, carrying a cartload of silver.—?You’re lying, you vile little dog! It's the bones rattling in the back!
The gates creaked, the horses ran into the yard, and the daughter and father were sitting on the cart: the cart was full of silver. The woman’s eyes lit up with greed. “What importance!” - shouts. - Take my daughter to the forest; my daughter will drive two herds of horses and bring two carts of silver.
The man and the woman's daughter took him to the dugout; gave her flint, steel, a bag of cereals and left her alone. In the evening she made porridge. A mouse came running and asked: “Natasha!” Natasha! Is your porridge sweet? Give me at least a spoon!—? Look what! - Natasha shouted and threw a spoon at her.
The mouse ran away, and Natasha just ate some porridge. She ate a full pot, turned off the lights, lay down in the corner and fell asleep. Midnight came, the bear broke in and said: -? Hey, where are you, girl? Let's play blindman's buff.
The girl was frightened, silent, only chattering her teeth in fear. “Oh, there you are!” Run to the bell, and I will catch it.
She took the bell, her hand trembled, the bell rang uncontrollably, and the mouse said: -? The evil girl will not be alive!
The bear rushed to catch the woman’s daughter and, as soon as he caught her, he strangled her and ate her. The next morning the woman sends the old man into the forest: “Go!” My daughter will bring two carts and drive two herds.
The man left, and the woman was waiting outside the gate. Here the dog came running: -? Tuff-tuff-taff! The old woman’s daughter won’t come home, the old man is sitting on an empty cart, rattling his bones in the back!—?You’re lying, you vile little dog! My daughter is driving, driving herds, driving carts. Here, eat the damn thing and say: they will bring the woman’s daughter in gold, in silver, but the old man’s suitors will not take him!
The dog ate the pancake and barked: “Tuff-tuff-tuff!” They will give the old man's daughter in marriage, and they will bring the old woman's bones in the back of the car. Whatever the woman did with the dog: she gave her pancakes, and beat her, she keeps saying her own thing... Lo and behold, the old man is at the gate, giving the body to his wife; The woman opened the body, looked at the bones and howled, and became so angry that she died of grief and anger the next day. The old man gave his daughter in marriage to a good groom, and they began to live and live well and make good money.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru