There lived an old man with his old woman. They had no children.
One day the old man went into the forest to get firewood. He collected an armful of firewood and was very tired. He wanted to get drunk and wash his face and hands. He went up to a spring that flowed not far from the place where he was collecting firewood, put an armful of firewood on the ground, drank, washed his face and suddenly turned into a beautiful girl.
- What happened to me? — the old man was amazed, frozen in place.
At this very time, the prince’s son approached the spring. The prince's son wanted to get drunk, but, noticing a beautiful girl, he immediately decided to take her as his wife. That’s what he did: he brought him to his house and arranged a wedding.
A lot of time passed, the prince's wife gave birth to three sons, and she raised them.
One day, in the morning, the wife took a jug and went to the spring to draw water at the very place where she turned from an old man into a girl. She came, took a full jug of water and washed her face. But as soon as she washed herself, she became a beautiful mare. This mare was seen by the prince's son, the one who married her when she was a girl.
- Nice mare! - he said. - Let him walk in my herd! - and let him into his herd.
The mare gave birth to three foals and nursed them. After that, she again went to the spring, where at one time she turned from a woman into a mare, and again drank from the spring water. As soon as she drank the spring water, she immediately turned into a dog. The prince's son noticed her.
- What a good dog! - he said and brought the dog to his home.
The dog gave birth to three puppies. She fed them and one day she and the puppies went to the spring, drank water and suddenly turned back into the old man he was before. The puppies, seeing that their mother had become human, got scared and ran away. The old man marveled at everything that had happened to him, took an armful of firewood, it lay in the place where it had been left, and went home.
At the hour when the old man left home, his wife hung up a pot of water to cook hominy. Now the hominy was just ripe, and the old woman was waiting for the old man to sit down to dinner. The old man was very surprised that the hominy had not spoiled after such a long period of time.
And the wife was offended by her husband.
- Why did you disappear there for so long? - she grumbled. The old man didn’t answer anything, didn’t say anything, he just said after a pause:
- Take off the hominy, I’m hungry!
The wife removed the pot of hominy and they had lunch.
Three years have passed. One day the old man heard that one prince, who had a beautiful daughter, poured milk into a large cauldron, placed it in the middle of the courtyard and announced:
- I will give my daughter in marriage to the man who can boil this milk with his word!
When the young men heard about this, they gathered to the prince and, with his permission, began to compete in stories about this and that, but no matter how much they told, the milk did not boil.
“I’ll go and try,” the old man decided, “and see what happens.” Will the milk boil if I tell you everything that happened to me?” He got ready to set off and went, asking those he met how to get to the princely palace. A river crossed the road. It was impossible to ford across it, so the old man began to wait for some horseman to transport him to the other bank. He sees: three horsemen are approaching the river - three young men whom he gave birth to and nursed when he was a woman, on three horses that he gave birth to and nursed when he was a mare, with three dogs that he gave birth to and nursed when he himself turned into a dog. The old man was happy - he thought that his sons would help him cross the river, but they did not recognize him. The old man rose from the ground and said:
- Good afternoon!
The horsemen returned his greeting. Then the old man asked them:
- Dadraa, (Dadraa is a plural affectionate address for elders to younger ones.) take me across the river!
But the eldest and middle son answered:
“We’re in a hurry, we don’t have time to bother with you!” - and drove past.
Only the youngest son took pity on the old man and, riding up to him, put him on a horse behind him. So they crossed the river. Here the younger brother caught up with his brothers, and the old man followed and reached the princely court. Everyone there started laughing at him:
“And why did this old man trudge here?” What is he thinking about?
There were a lot of people standing around the cauldron with milk, everyone in turn said something, told stories, but the milk did not boil. It took a long time for the old man to be scrubbed away from the cauldron. Finally, in the evening they gave him the floor, laughing:
- Let's listen to what this crazy old man will talk about!
And the old man began a story about all his transformations and what happened to him. Before he had time to tell half of everything he had experienced, the milk in the cauldron suddenly began to boil. Everyone was amazed, they thought that the prince would now retract his words, but he, seeing that the milk had boiled, said:
“I am the owner of my word, and I will keep it at all costs.” I'm glad my daughter is happy. Tomorrow we will have a wedding, and I ask you all to stay.
After this, the old man asked the prince to speak. The prince allowed. Then the old man said, turning to the people:
“The prince kept his word, but, as you can see, I am an old man.” Therefore, I want the prince’s daughter to be not my wife, but my daughter-in-law, if the prince does not mind.
The old man called his three sons to him, pointed to the youngest and wished that the prince would marry his daughter to him. The prince agreed. People really liked it. Soon the prince arranged a big feast.
This is how the old man’s sons recognized their parent. They were very happy and held a feast at home in honor of their father. After this, the old man lived well.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru