One fine summer day, Count Mara's daughter ran out dancing from the castle into the garden. There she ran, frolicked, and sometimes stopped to listen to the birds singing. But then she sat down in the shade of a green oak tree, looked up and saw a cheerful dove high on a branch.
“Little dove,” she called, “come down to me, darling!” I will take you home, put you in a golden cage and I will love and cherish you more than anyone in the world!
Before she had time to say this, a dove flew off the branch, landed on her shoulder and clung to her neck. She smoothed his feathers and took him home to her room.
The day faded and night came. Count Mara's daughter was about to go to bed when she suddenly turned around and saw a handsome young man in front of her. She was very surprised - after all, she had locked her door a long time ago. But she was a brave girl and asked:
- What do you want here, young man? Why did you come and scare me? For several hours now my door has been bolted; so how did you get here?
- Hush, hush! – the young man whispered. “I am the same little dove that you lured from the tree.”
- So who are you then? – she asked very quietly. “And how did it happen that you turned into a cute little bird?”
“My name is Florentin,” answered the young man. “My mother is a queen, and even more important than the queen—she knows how to cast magic.” I didn’t want to obey her, so she turned me into a dove. However, at night her spell dissipates, and then I turn into a human again. Today I flew across the sea, saw you for the first time and was glad that I am a bird, and therefore I can get closer to you.
But if you don't love me, I'll never know happiness again!
- And if I love you, won’t you fly away and leave me? – she asked.
- Never, never! - answered the prince. “Marry me and I will be yours forever.” By day a bird and by night a man, I will always be with you.
And so they secretly got married and lived happily in the castle. And no one knew that the dove ghoul turns into Prince Florentin at night. Every year they had a son, so handsome that it was impossible to describe. But as soon as the boy was born, Prince Florentin carried him on his back overseas - to where his mother, the queen, lived - and left his son with her.
So seven years passed, and suddenly a great misfortune came to them. Count Mar decided to marry his daughter to a noble man who wooed her. Her father forced her to agree, but she told him:
- Dear father, I don’t want to get married. I feel so good here with my little dove.
Then the count became angry and swore in his hearts:
“I swear on my life, I’ll break your bird’s neck tomorrow!”
He stamped his foot and left the room.
- Oh God, I’ll have to fly away! - said the dove. And so he fluttered onto the windowsill and flew away. And he flew and flew - he flew across the deep, deep sea, flew further and flew until his mother’s castle appeared. And at this very time, the Queen Mother went out into the garden and saw a dove - it flew over her head and landed on the fortress wall of the castle.
- Hurry here, dancers! – the queen called. - Dance a jig! And you, bagpipers, play your bagpipes more joyfully. My dear Florentin is back! He returned to me forever, because this time he did not bring a pretty boy with him.
“Oh, no, mother,” said Florentin, “I don’t need dancers, I don’t need bagpipers!” My dear wife, the mother of my seven sons, will be married off tomorrow, and this day will be a day of sorrow for me.
- How can I help you, my son? – asked the queen. - Tell me, and I will do everything in my magical power.
“So, dear mother: twenty-four dancers and a piper serve you - turn them all into gray herons.” Let my seven sons become seven white swans, and let me turn into a hawk and be their leader.
- Alas, alas, my son! This is impossible! - the queen objected. “My charms can’t do it.” But perhaps my mentor, the sorceress Ostri, will tell me what needs to be done.
And the Queen Mother hurried to Ostri's cave. Soon she came out of there, pale as death, with a bunch of flaming herbs in her hands. She whispered some spells over the grass, and suddenly the dove turned into a hawk, twenty-four gray herons surrounded it, and seven young swans soared above them.
And without hesitation they all flew across the deep blue sea. The sea tossed and groaned beneath them. But they flew and flew and finally flew up to the castle of Count Mara, just as the wedding train moved to the church. Armed horsemen rode ahead, followed by the friends of the groom and vassals of Count Mara, then the groom, and behind them all the pale and beautiful daughter of Count Mara.
Slowly, slowly, to the sounds of solemn music, they moved until they approached the trees on which the birds were sitting. And then Florentin the hawk let out a cry, and all the birds rose into the air - the herons flew low, the young swans above them, and the hawk circled highest. The wedding guests were marveling at the birds, when suddenly - bang! – the herons rushed down and scattered the riders. Young swans surrounded the bride, and the hawk rushed at the groom and tied him to a tree. Then the herons again flocked into a close flock, and the swans laid their mother on their backs, like on a feather bed. Then the birds soared into the sky and carried the bride to the castle of Prince Florentin.
This is how the birds upset the wedding! No one has ever seen such a miracle. What about the wedding guests? All they could do was watch as the beautiful bride was carried away further and further, until finally the herons, the swans, and the hawk disappeared from sight.
Prince Florentin on the same day brought the daughter of Count Mar to the castle of his mother, the queen, and she lifted the spell from her son, and they all lived happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru