Children always pester their elders:
- Tell me, tell me a story!
And the elders start:
- Once upon a time there was a boy, he found a small chest. There is a bunny in that box, and the bunny has such a small tail! And they’ll show you your little finger, and then they’ll bend your little finger, twirl it in front of your nose and say nothing!
The kids shout:
- What next? Oh, what a short fairy tale!
The narrator answers:
- If the bunny had not a tail, but a tail, then what a fairy tale it would be! The tail was so tiny (and again he twirled his little finger in front of his nose), what a tiny fairy tale!
The children again do their thing, they ask and ask, they become so attached that the narrator waves his hand:
- So be it! Listen!
The guys sit quietly, like mice, and listen to the fairy tale to the end:
“The father had three sons, the eldest learned to be a carpenter, the middle one became a blacksmith, only the youngest was not trained in any craft.
The father sent all three of them around the world to look for work. They reached a dense forest. While the younger one was sleeping, the two older ones got into an argument, robbed the younger one completely and disappeared. After all, he doesn’t have any craft, and there’s no desire to feed him with it.
The younger brother woke up and saw that his brothers had left him naked and barefoot. He cried like a little child and decided to make his way back home so as not to perish from hunger. Yes, I got lost. He got lost and got lost and came out to some hut.
“Eh, I was, I wasn’t,” he thought, “I’ll go in and ask how to get to the nearby village.”
He entered, and then two huge dogs jumped out, they blocked his way, they barked like hell, they were about to tear him apart, they didn’t let him pass. He sat down, sitting there, not breathing. The dogs are quiet and wagging their tails. One crawled closer to him and said in a human voice:
- Eh, brother, brother, you don’t know, you don’t know that we are your brothers. We robbed you and abandoned you in a deep forest, but we ourselves got lost and ended up with Baba Yaga, she whipped us with a twig and turned us into dogs. Make sure you don't give in to her! We’ll let you through to her, and we’ll go in next.
The younger brother enters the hut.
Baba Yaga greets him kindly and sits him down for dinner. She sets the table, puts the bowls, and she runs into the kitchen for some stew.
“Don’t eat from this bowl,” the older brother tells him, “it’s a filthy bowl, we eat from it.”
He grabbed the bowl in his paws, slipped it to Baba Yaga, and put another one for his brother. Baba Yaga did not notice anything and ate from a dog bowl! Then she started talking to her younger brother, but she herself wanted to reach him with a rod. But that guy was no slouch, he snatched the rod from Baba Yaga and hit her! Baba Yaga turned into a cat, and he shouted to her:
- Answer, Baba Yaga, how can I free my brothers from evil spells? Baba Yaga refused for a long time, but she had to submit. She told him to turn the thick end away from himself and hit the brothers three times with it. He did just that. The brothers became people again.
They left the cat, let it meow, and moved away. They walked for a long time, saw no one, heard nothing. Suddenly they see an enchanted castle standing on a bare rock. The older brothers did not enter the castle, they were afraid that something might happen to them again. The younger one went alone. He looks and the city is spread out around the castle. Only in that city there is not a single living soul! I walked around the whole city and still didn’t meet anyone. I reached the very gates of the fortress. And there are two iron guards standing there, standing there and not moving. The gates opened on their own, Yanko went inside, looked around, and the castle was also empty, there was no one. Yanko has gained courage and is pacing around the castle like the owner.
He sees chambers, in the chambers a table is set for one, and on the table there are the best dishes. He sat down and ate his fill. He entered the other chambers, there the bed was open. He stretched out on the soft down jackets and fell asleep. Early in the morning he moved to the third chambers. And there on the table lies a silver violin. He grabbed the bow in his hands and, although he had never learned to play, he made the violin sing, so much so that it was a pleasure to listen to! The next day he went to the next chamber and found a sparkling golden violin there. He played the golden violin even better. On the third day it goes further. He finds a violin decorated with precious stones. Whoever looks at it will go blind from the shine. Yanko started playing. He plays like this, he plays like this - even a dead man will start dancing!
Yanko walks around the castle, no matter what room he looks into, gold and jewelry are piled up everywhere.
Yanko lived in that castle for a long time. But the evenings and nights became dark and long, and he became sad alone in the dark rooms. Suddenly he sees a wax candle standing on the table! As thick as an arm, two cubits long. As soon as he lit the candle, an unbearable roar was heard, two guards were coming from the gate, they asked him:
-What do you want, your lordship?
Yanko got scared, blew out the candle, the guards disappeared.
Yanko realized what the secret was! I lit a candle and the guards were right there again! Yanko began to question them until he found out that everything around was enchanted, and the life of the iron guards depended on the candles. Wherever Yanko is, as soon as he lights a candle, they will instantly be near him and whatever he wishes will be fulfilled.
The next day Yanko filled his pockets full of gold, took a candle and went on to seek happiness.
Comes to the royal capital. The king lives there, and the king has a beautiful daughter. But the problem is that she doesn’t want to marry anyone. Yanko decided here: “Well, wait a minute, birdie, you should be in a cage.
He rented a house with rich apartments not far from the royal palace. In the evening he lit a wax candle and the guards appeared. He orders the silver violin to be carried from the castle. In the morning he started playing and could be heard far away. The king's daughter heard the playing and demanded the violin. Yanko sent her a violin. The next day he orders the guards to carry the golden violin. He stood at the window, took the violin in his hands, all the people came running to the palace, they thought there was a fire, but this violin was sparkling.
Yanko began to play, everyone praised the music, but they themselves could not stand still, their legs just begged to dance. The royal daughter demands a violin again. Yanko does not refuse her and sends her a violin as a gift. She can’t get enough of it and plays the violin herself.
On the third evening, Yanko orders the guards to bring him a violin with precious stones. I started playing - everyone around me almost went blind from the brilliance, and everyone started dancing from the cheerful music!
The royal daughter herself came running to get this violin.
“I’ll die,” he says, “if I don’t get the violin!” And Yanko answered her:
- Okay, take it! Will you marry me?
“Go to your father to woo me,” the beauty shouted, “and we’ll see!”
“I grabbed the violin and ran home.
Yanko went to the king. And the king says to him:
“If you are so clever that you managed to please my daughter, then now get yourself a kingdom so that you can equal me in wealth.” Then we'll have a wedding.
Yanko returned, lit a candle, and the iron guards appeared.
- Anything, Your Grace?
-What do I want? Yes kingdom! Otherwise, the king will not give his daughter to me.
– The Kingdom of the Enchanted Castle has long been yours. But in order to remove the evil spell from him, the candle must burn out. Only after this we will no longer be able to serve you. Just one single time, and even then in the extreme! - the guards answered.
- Well, let's get to work! - said Yanko, - I want the kingdom of the Enchanted Castle to get rid of evil spells, and the royal daughter to become my wife!
And lit a candle. The candle burned down halfway, the princes woke up from their sleep and came to bow to Yanko. The stub of the candle remained - an army appeared, obedient to his orders. And as soon as the candle burned out, the people flocked to ask Yanko to become king.
Yanko became king, took the royal daughter as his wife and celebrated the wedding.
After the wedding, Yanko and his wife went to their disenchanted kingdom. He sent princes and troops ahead to meet him. The royal carriage reached the very mountains, suddenly, out of nowhere, two robbers rushed onto the carriage, plotting a daring deed. Yanko remembered about his faithful guards. And they are right there! Let's beat up the robbers! What a fight it was! After all, robbers were guys no matter what! The guys fought in earnest, no one wants to give in! Suddenly the iron armor fell off the robbers and Yanko recognized his brothers.
- Is that you, brothers? - shouted the Yanko King. And they recognized him.
This is where the fight ends. Everyone calmed down, went with him, and began to serve him.
They all came together to the kingdom, and there was no longer an enchanted castle, but living people walking around and meeting the king and queen. The castle became even richer. Yanko went through all the rooms and settled with his wife in the best ones.
We feasted on joy! Maybe he still rules that country now, if he is not dead.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru