Once upon a time there lived, and unknown to me, a young king. Every day he went into the forest to hunt. And on the edge of that forest an old miller lived his life. He previously served with the king and nursed the prince in his arms. Every time, returning from a hunt, the young king stopped at the miller and knew every corner of his hut. There was only one window he did not even dare to approach, much less look out. The prince begged the old man this way and that to allow him to look out the window, but he did not allow it and only curtained the window more and more tightly.
One day the prince was sitting near the window, and the old man left the house.
“I must finally find out,” the prince decided, “what is hiding behind that window.” And he opened the window. He saw three maidens swimming on the lake under the window, one more beautiful than the other, and the youngest the most beautiful of all.
The prince pretended as if nothing had happened. But the old miller immediately understood everything and strictly forbade the prince to look out the window, and if he did not listen, trouble would befall him, and he would never see those birds again.
From that time on, the young king stopped going hunting; he only thought about how to get the youngest peahen.
He walks around the yard one day and meets an old prophetess:
- Eh, prince, prince, I know what’s saddening you. And if you want, I will give you good advice.
“What advice can you give me, old woman?” the king interrupted her and ordered her to leave.
The next day he walks around the yard, and the old woman comes towards him again:
- Listen to me, prince, I will give you good advice!
“Get away, old woman, with your advice,” the prince chased her away again. On the third day he met the old woman again.
The prince says:
- Okay, so be it, tell me what you have there - and don’t pester me anymore.
“You, prince, are being tormented because of three birds, those that swim in the lake near the mill.” You really liked the youngest one. Hide behind the willow trees by the lake and look: on the third willow, in an eggshell, the youngest is hiding her shirt. Take this shirt and show yourself to the girls, but just try so that they don’t notice you before, otherwise they’ll fly away from the lake forever. Don’t give the shirt to the girl, no matter how much she begs: after all, without the shirt she won’t be able to show herself to her mother.
The prince hid behind the willow trees, took a shirt out of the shell and went out to the lake. The two older ones grabbed their shirts and flew away, but the younger one remained on the water.
- Give it back, give me your shirt! - she screamed.
“I won’t give it back until you promise to become my wife.”
“I promise, just give me my shirt back!”
- No, I won’t return it here, let’s go to my castle! A beautiful maiden came to his castle and became his wife.
And the prince hid the shell along with the shirt at the very bottom of the chest and did not give the shirt to his young wife.
They lived amicably and happily, but their happiness did not last long.
One day the prince went hunting, and his wife searched every corner of the house and found a chest, and in it a shell, and in the shell a folded shirt.
The king ran home, and she had already turned around and flew away, only managing to shout:
– If you want to find me, look for an eggshell castle! He was the only one who saw her.
How to deal with this: it’s unbearable without a wife, and it’s impossible to look for a castle made of eggshells. I struggled and struggled and couldn’t stand it:
“Come what may,” he finally said to his relatives, “you live here as best you can, and I’ll go!”
He took a servant with him and set off on a long journey around the world. Wherever he goes, he asks about the castle made of shells, but no one knows anything about it. And you don’t know either? So the prince would have returned with nothing, if not for the old man who lived on a rock in the forest. People advised the prince to go to the old man, since if he doesn’t know about the castle, then there is no such castle at all.
For a long, long time our king and his servant wandered through the mountains and forests, but nowhere did they even meet a small bird. One day they had to climb a high bare rock. They climbed to the very top, suddenly in front of them was a cave, and in it an old man lived - gray as a harrier, with a beard that reached to his waist.
“Hello, my children, hello,” said the old soothsayer, “what good wind brought you to me?”
- What kind of wind do you say? “Yes, I’m left without a wife, that’s why I’m looking for her in the castle made of shells,” the young king answers him.
- Oh, son, this is a waste of time. I’ll show you the way, but even though you get there, you still won’t leave there alive. After all, their mother withered away from grief that her youngest daughter was missing, and cast witchcraft on her daughters: everyone who comes there will be killed from the world.
- So be it! “I have to go,” the king answered the old man, “all the same, I can’t live without a wife.” Show me the way to the castle!
- Well, if that’s the case, I’ll help you! Here is an iron apple, and here is a copper apple. When you approach the iron mountain, roll an iron apple up, and when you get to the copper mountain, roll a copper apple. So go over the mountains. When you reach the glass mountain, take this mirror, look into it, you and your servant will grow wings and fly over the mountain. That's where the castle made of shells is located. Ask to spend the night there. If your wife loves you, she will help you and you will remain safe and sound. And if you remain intact, take this egg, peel it, cut it and throw it on all four sides. You'll see what happens.
The young king thanked the old man.
They walk through dark forests and along rocky roads further and further. All the forests become dense, not a single living soul for a hundred miles around. It took a long time or a short time, but they finally reached the iron mountain.
- Let's climb the mountain! - said the king and climbed up. The king and the servant climb up, but their legs slip, they fall onto the iron ground, the wind showers iron leaves on them and hits them on their heads.
“Looks like our death has come!” - the king groaned, - his legs gave way, he knocked over the servant, and both rolled down.
They rose from the ground, the king said:
“Let’s eat the last piece of bread we have left, it’s going to waste anyway, and let’s try to climb the mountain again.”
The servant began to take bread out of the bag, and with it the iron apple fell out.
- King, king, I still have an apple lying around!
-What kind of apple?
- And that iron thing that the old man gave you.
“You fools,” the king shouted, “we are toiling here, but we could already be behind the iron mountain.” Give me an apple!
He threw the apple, and it rolled upward, paving the way for them. The king and his servant went along this road and climbed over the iron mountain. And when they climbed over, the road closed behind them.
The king and his servant reached the copper mountain, which was even steeper than the iron mountain. They climbed up, took a step, and their noses became bloody, and then the wind tore leaves from the trees and hit them on the heads.
“Apparently, the end has come for us,” the king shouts to the servant. - Throw everything out of the bag, and go forward, pave the way!
“It’s true, the bag is pulling me down,” the servant answers, reaching into the bag and pulling out a copper apple.
The apple rolled up on its own. Where the apple rolls, the road spreads out like a tablecloth in front of them; they will pass, and it closes behind them.
So the king and his servant crossed the copper mountain.
We walked and walked, and finally reached the glass mountain. The mountain is smooth as a mirror, you can’t take a step!
- Let's climb up! - says the king.
They climb up, paying for every step with a broken nose, but they don’t move, only their legs move apart. They climbed and climbed and rolled into the valley again.
They are exhausted, ragged, and cannot move their legs or arms.
It is known that a good thought does not come immediately. When the king and servant were completely exhausted, the king remembered that the old soothsayer had given him a magic mirror. They took out a mirror, looked into it, and at the same moment wings grew on both of them. Our travelers flew over the glass mountain and landed in a wide meadow.
They see: in the middle of that meadow there stands a beautiful castle, white as snow. The servant admires the white castle, praises the housewives who live in that castle, and says that in the whole village no one will whitewash their hut so clean.
“But this castle is not white at all,” the king explains to him, “but it was built from eggshells, that’s why it is so white.” Let's go there quickly! Let's take a closer look.
“That can’t be true,” the servant replies, “there was never and isn’t such a castle in the whole world!”
- Hurry up and look! - the king interrupted him and hurried to get to the castle as quickly as possible.
The servant runs after him, but cannot keep up.
- How crazy is it that you can barely drag yourself along? - the king is angry.
“I would be glad to do it sooner,” the servant answers, “but I can’t.” Look what wings I have grown! Twice as many as before.
The king turned around and saw: the servant was dragging huge wings on his back.
- Where did you get such a colossus from? – the king attacked him.
– Do you think you have less? - The servant grins.
-Are you lying? How will I show myself to my sweetheart now?
- Look in the mirror! Here it is! - the servant answers.
The young king looks in the mirror - and he is no better than his servant. But as soon as I looked in the magic mirror, the wings fell off. And after him, the servant looked in the mirror, and his wings fell off! They breathed a sigh of relief and by evening they safely reached the castle.
The servant looks and is surprised, the castle is really built from eggshells.
And in front of that white castle there is a beautiful garden. Three girls are walking in the garden, one more beautiful than the other, and the youngest - the most beautiful of beauties - is the wife of our king. The servant remained behind the fence, and the young king hid on the path behind a rose bush and began to listen to what the beautiful sisters were talking about.
He hears that the two older ones scold the younger one, why did she allow her shirt to be stolen, because from that time on they were under the mother’s curse.
“If,” they get angry, “your hubby comes here, we will never have mercy on him, we will either poison him or kill him with a sword at night.”
The younger one gets upset and doesn’t want to listen to them. She stopped and stood. They went ahead, and she turned to the bush where her husband was hiding and began to smell the rose. Then they saw each other, recognized each other, and began to give advice on what to do next.
The wife told her husband that he should show himself to his sisters, but not touch anything at dinner. Then she gave him a ring so that he would not sleep at night, and when the sisters wanted to kill him, she told him to show off to them with a magic egg. And as if nothing had happened, she followed her sisters to the castle.
The young king returned to the servant, and they also went to the castle.
-Who are you and what are you, passersby? - their sisters ask.
“So, they say, so,” the young king answers, “we are distant travelers and came to you to ask for an overnight stay.”
The sisters leave them with them, tell them to settle down and cook a good dinner.
- Oh, we're lucky! - says the servant to the king.
“Don’t even think about touching anything,” the king answers him, “no matter how they treat you.” Because all the food is poisoned!
The sisters began to put food on the table, and a sweet spirit was walking throughout the castle. They treat guests up to ten times, but the servant looks at the owner - he doesn’t eat and he doesn’t take anything in his mouth, even though his mouth is watering.
After dinner, they put the guests on silk beds, but the king does not order the servant to bask on the soft, orders him to crawl under the bed, and he sits more and more than lies, waiting for what will happen next.
The servant began to snore under the bed, but the young king still did not fall asleep from hope and fear.
But then, closer to midnight, a breeze blew, and the young king’s head became heavy. He would have fallen asleep if not for the ring on his finger, and then the end would have come for him!
Exactly at midnight the doors opened, and the elder sister entered the chambers, holding a naked sword in her hands. The king felt a chill run down his spine. And she approached the bed, about to pierce the king. His teeth are chattering with fear, but he doesn’t show it, doesn’t move. She swings her arms, but the king lies motionless. She raises her sword for the third time and is about to kill, but then the king jumped up and showed her the magic egg. The villainess's sword fell out of her hands.
The king grabbed the sword, cut the egg into four parts and threw it to all four corners of the world. Immediately everything changed. His wife threw herself on his neck, promising to stay with him forever, and her two older sisters thanked the king for his release.
Three mountains - iron, copper and glass - got rid of the evil spell, and in the morning people freed from the spell began to flock to the castle from all sides.
And then the king settled in that direction forever with his young wife. And they lived happily. Maybe they are still alive, if they haven’t died.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru