In one kingdom there lived a woodcutter. He had no one, only a daughter, and she had slanted eyes. One day a woodcutter went into the forest and met a dervish. “Father,” said the dervish, “don’t go cutting wood today, but take a walk with me, I’ll give you a gold piece for it.”
The woodcutter did not want to walk with the dervish, but the promised gold changed his desires, and they went into the forest together. Wandering through the forest, they suddenly saw a hillock.
“Father,” the dervish asked, “take me on your back and climb the hill, and then I will carry you.”
- How can I lift you with your huge aba (cloak) and huge turban? - answered the woodcutter.
Continuing their journey, they met a funeral procession.
- Do you think there is a living person or a dead person in the coffin? - asked the dervish, and the woodcutter was surprised:
- Do they put the living in a coffin?
In the evening the woodcutter returned home. His daughter began asking him where he was and what he was doing. The woodcutter told everything that happened to him. He also told about how the dervish offered to take him on his back and carry him to the hill, but then his daughter interrupted him:
- Father, you did not understand the dervish’s words. He wanted to say: "Let's climb this hill with jokes and fun."
“On the road we met a dead man,” the woodcutter continued, “and the dervish asked: “Is there a dead person in the coffin or a living person?”
“Oh, father,” his daughter interrupted him again, “that’s not what he wanted to say.” He wanted to know whether the dead man was rich or poor.
In the morning, the girl made scrambled eggs from ten eggs, gave her father a loaf of bread and ordered him to take it all to the dervish. The woodcutter obeyed his daughter, but when he arrived in the forest, he thought: “Am I really going to give all my eggs to this dirty dervish?”
Having said this, he opened the lid of the pot, ate half the scrambled eggs, then covered the pot and began to wait for the dervish. When he arrived, the woodcutter placed a pot in front of him, offering:
- Take this, my daughter sent this to you.
“A warm wind blows below, and a storm rages above... The month is waning, but the day is waxing,” said the dervish, removing the lid.
The woodcutter did not understand his words and, returning home in the evening, asked his daughter to reveal to him the meaning of the dervish’s speeches. The daughter smiled:
- Father, he wanted to say that you ate half the eggs. Let's invite him to have dinner with us today.
The woodcutter invited the dervish. When the men were having dinner, the girl looked at them through the half-open door. The dervish noticed this and, hinting at the girl’s slanted eyes, said to the woodcutter:
“Your house is nice, but the pipes are crooked.”
“They may be crooked, but the smoke goes straight up through them,” the girl said boldly.
The dervish liked her answer, and he began to ask the woodcutter to give him his daughter as a wife. The woodcutter agreed.
And this dervish, it turns out, was a padishah. Having exchanged his royal attire for the clothes of a dervish, he wandered around the world. After the wedding, he lived for several months in the woodcutter's house, and then began to yearn for his palace.
“My wife,” he once said to the woodcutter’s daughter, “I’m going to my homeland.” If I have a son, then put this amulet on his hand and send him to me; if a daughter is born, then sell the amulet and buy her a dowry.
Having given this instruction, he left the woodcutter's house.
Much or little time passed, but the woman gave birth to a son and named him Gek, which means “Heavenly.” When the boy was sixteen years old, his comrades on the street began to tease him and call him a bastard. The child often asked his mother: “Don’t I have a father?” And every time his mother pointed him to her own father.
And the boy believed that his grandfather was really his father. The poor woman finally sent her son to the padishah. She put an amulet on his hand and sent him to his father, who, having learned that his son had set off on a journey, ordered magnificent festivities to be organized throughout the country.
One rogue Keloglan, having heard about this, went to meet Huck and, seeing him, said:
- Your father sent me to you. You must wash yourself with water from this well. If you do not carry out the command, you will die.
He tied the young man with a rope and lowered him into the well. The boy took some water and asked to be pulled up, and Keloglan said:
- I'll leave you in the well!
- Why?
“If you agree that I should be the heir to the throne instead of you, and you will become my groom, then I will pull you out of the well and save you from death.”
“Oh, save me, I agree to everything, I swear by Allah, I won’t tell my father anything,” the Shahzade prayed.
“Swear,” Keloglan demanded, “that even under the threat of death, even standing before the executioner, you will not reveal the secret.”
Then Keloglan put on the young man's clothes and gave him his own.
When they came to the city, the padishah disliked his son, but for some reason became very attached to his groom.
“My son,” said the padishah, “wouldn’t you like the groom to live with you in the palace?”
- No, father, let him sleep in the stable, guard my horse. What could the padishah do, he had to agree. One day Keloglan came to the padishah and asked him:
“Father, tell me to cast a gold ball for me.”
The padishah fulfilled his son's request. Keloglan, playing with the ball, often hit Huck on the head with it.
One day, as usual, he was playing with his ball and hit the jug of an old woman who was collecting water at the spring.
“Oh, well done,” said the woman, “what can I say, after all, you are the son of a padishah.” I only wish for you to fall madly in love with Dilruba Sultan - the Golden Leg.
Keloglan, hearing her words, fell to the ground and pretended to lose consciousness. They immediately ran up to him and brought him to his senses. Opening his eyes, the swindler began to rage and shout:
- Father, let my groom go and bring Dilruba-Sultan - the Golden Leg - to me.
- My son, have you lost your mind? Many times I went to war against her kingdom and could not take her.
“No, no, he must go and bring Dilrub,” Keloglan insisted.
The padishah equipped the ship, appointed Gek as captain and sent him to distant lands. On the way, Huck heard the sailors shouting:
- Catch, catch, can’t you catch her! Huck approached them and asked:
- What are you doing?
“We’re fishing,” answered one of the sailors.
- Leave her, what do you need her for?
The fish he saved jumped out of the water and said:
- As a reward, ask me for whatever you want!
-What should I ask the fish? - says Huck. But the fish tore off three scales and gave them to the young man with the words:
- When trouble falls on your head, rub one scale against another.
The young man took the scales and hid them.
A few days later, while Huck was sleeping on the deck, he heard a rustling sound. He looked around and saw a huge dragon. He drew his sword, killed the dragon and went to bed again. Suddenly he heard the rustling of wings and saw an emerald Phoenix bird, which said:
- Ask me for anything you want!
-What should I ask the bird? The Phoenix bird gave him three feathers:
“When you get in trouble, rub them together.”
A few more days passed, and for some reason the ship suddenly stopped, as if it had stumbled upon something. The young man went to the bow and saw the wizard Yunus-baba in front of the ship, who had turned into a huge fish.
“My son,” said Yunus Baba, “on the way to the Dilruba-Sultan palace you will see the walls of the fortress made of severed heads.” Entering the palace, you will see the executioners, who, lined up in two rows, will shout: “Bakhshi! Bakhshi! You answer them: “I’ll give it to you when I return.” After this, you will find yourself on the stairs and climb it, stepping over each step. So you will approach Dilruba, and she will ask you: “Why did you come?” You will answer: “I came to take you away, my beauty.” Now take two of my hairs and, when trouble overtakes you, tie them together.
Yunus Baba disappeared, and the ship finally reached the shore. Everyone who was on the ship disembarked and headed towards the palace. As Yunus Baba promised, a fortress appeared in the distance, behind the walls of which a palace could be seen. As soon as they entered the palace, the executioners began to shout: “Bakhshish! Bakhshish! The good fellow answered them: “I’ll give it to you when I return.” He climbed the stairs, jumping over the steps, and approached Dilruba-Sultan, who was sitting under forty blankets.
- Why did you come, donkey? she asked.
- To take you away, my beauty!
Dilruba-Sultan - The golden leg clapped her hands and ordered the servants who entered:
- Lock him in a stone dungeon!
In the morning a servant came to Huck, gave him a watermelon rind, a fragment of a dish, a piece of iron and said:
“Make a watermelon from the rind, turn a broken dish into a whole, and forge a knife from a piece of iron.” When you complete everything, Dilruba will become yours.
The servant left. The young man thought and thought, wondered and wondered, and finally remembered the words of Yunus Baba. He tied the donated hairs, and Yunus Baba appeared before him.
“Well, my son,” said Yunus Baba, “what is your grief?” Shahzadeh told everything and asked:
- How can I fulfill the order?
Before Yunus Baba had time to run his hand over the rind, it turned into a watermelon, he ran over the fragment and created a dish, touched the iron - and it became a knife. Having done all this, Yunus Baba disappeared. The young man cut the watermelon, put it on a plate and went to Dilruba-Sultan, and she immediately shouted:
- This doesn't count! Doesn't count!
She clapped her hands, called the servants and ordered them:
- Throw the young man into a stone dungeon. The next morning the servant came to the young man again.
— Not far from here there is a high mountain. Tomorrow at dawn you will go there and if you get to the top of the mountain before Dilruba Sultan, pick up brushwood and make coffee, then it will become yours.
The servant left. Huck tied the hairs and when Yunus Baba appeared in front of him, he told him everything.
“Tomorrow they will give you an old mangy mule, and under Dilruba Sultan there will be a beautiful, fleet-footed horse.” Take my whip and quietly whip the mule with it,” saying so, Yunus Baba disappeared.
When morning came, Huck was given a mule, which he furtively struck with a whip. The mule ran as fast as lightning. Having reached the top of the mountain, the young man immediately collected brushwood and made coffee. Before he had time to pour the coffee into cups, Dilruba Sultan appeared in front of him and shouted again:
- It doesn’t count, it doesn’t count! Now, if you wash the cups, put them in a basket and arrive at the palace before me, then I agree to everything.
The young man did everything as she ordered, hit the mule with a whip and in an instant found himself in the palace. And this time the wayward girl declared that this did not count, and ordered the young man to be imprisoned. The next morning the servant came to him again.
“When our lady was five years old,” he began, “she dropped a ring into the sea.” Go and find him immediately.
Then Huck remembered the fish he saved. He rubbed the scales she had given her, and she immediately appeared before him.
- What do you order? - asked the fish.
— The ring of Dilruba Sultan fell into the sea. Find him.
The fish disappeared under the water and soon returned, holding a ring in its mouth. The young man took it and carried it to Dilruba-Sultan, and she again began to repeat:
- It doesn't count, it doesn't count. Tell me, what did Sultana Gül say to Sultana Güllü and why was Güllü angry with Gül? If you guess my riddle, everything will be as you want.
Huck thought and thought and, remembering the emerald Phoenix bird, rubbed the feathers given by her one against the other. The Phoenix bird flew in, and the young man told her about his grief.
“Tomorrow,” said the bird, “take a rope with you and wait for me at the foot of that mountain.”
In the morning the young man went to the foot of the mountain and began to wait for the Phoenix bird. When she arrived, the young man sat on her back, and they flew to the top of the mountain to the well.
“In this well,” said the Phoenix bird, “there lives a diva.” There are two bird cages near his house. There you will find heavenly apples and heavenly wine. If the evil diva is not at home, then take everything and shout to me: “Pull.”
The young man tied himself with a rope and went down into the well, but the diva was not at home. Huck grabbed the cages, the apples of paradise, the wine of paradise and shouted: “Pull.” The emerald Phoenix bird pulled him out of the well. He went to the palace, appeared before Dilruba Sultan and showed her the cages with birds. Then the beauty said:
- Now I agree.
It turns out that Sultana Gul was sitting in one cage, and Gullu-Sultan, Dilruba’s sisters, was sitting in the other. They were bewitched and, having quarreled, turned into birds. As soon as they were given a sip of the heavenly wine and a sniff of the apples of heaven, they became girls as beautiful as gazelles.
Huck lived in the magic palace for a few more months, and then he and the girls set off on a journey. When they arrived at the palace of the padishah, Keloglan, seeing the beauties, almost went crazy with joy and shouted:
“I asked him to bring me one girl, but he brought three at once!”
Keloglan began to prepare for the wedding: he wanted to marry all three girls at once. But the girls said at once:
- We only want to marry Huck.
Dilruba-Sultan - The Golden Leg taught her sisters this way:
- Don't be sad. After all, when Keloglan enters our chambers on his wedding night, he will first perform prayer. And then we kick him and throw him out the door.
Keloglan first entered Dilrub's chambers. When the groom was performing namaz, Dilruba kicked him and threw him out the door. At first Keloglan cried, and then he thought and said to himself:
“Why did I cry? After all, I still have two brides left!” Thinking this way, he headed to Güllü-Sultan’s room, who also gave him a good kick. Her sister treated him the same way.
“You reject me and want to marry my groom.” If so, execute the groom! - commanded Keloglan.
Huck was handed over to the executioners, and they cut off his head.
“Give us your husband’s corpse, give it back,” all three girls begged.
- Well, let them take the corpse. Let’s see what they will do with him,” Keloglan chuckled.
The girls took the corpse and spilled heavenly wine on the severed head of the young man - the head immediately grew back to the body. Then they gave him the apples of paradise to smell. The young man sneezed three times and came to life.
Keloglan learned this and said:
- Apparently, he was executed poorly! Execute again!
The executioners grabbed the young man and dragged him to the scaffold. And the padishah looked out the window. Then Huck rolled up his sleeve and showed him the amulet.
- Stop! - the padishah shouted and ordered the young man to be brought to him. Shahzadeh told his father everything that happened to him. The padishah ordered Keloglan to be tied to the trunks of two trees and addressed the people:
- Every person who passes by must tear out a piece of meat from the body of this scoundrel!
The people complied with the command, and Keloglan died in terrible agony. And the padishah’s son Gek married three girls, and the wedding lasted forty days and forty nights. They achieved everything they wanted, and we will be happy that they are happy.
Three apples fell from the sky: one for the one who tells, another for the one who listens, and a third for the one who writes down.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru