A long time ago, in the deep mountain gorge of Kumgangsan of the Diamond Mountains, there lived a young man with an old woman. They were poor, couldn't be poorer. In the morning the young man will go to the mountains for brushwood, collect several fagots, sell them at the market, save some food, and bring them home.
And then one day the young man took a chige and went to the mountains. He collects bundles of brushwood. I got tired and leaned against the chiga to rest. Suddenly he sees a deer running towards him, falling on one leg.
[Chige is a device for carrying a load on the back.]
“Hide me quickly, young man,” the deer asks.
The young man took pity on the deer and covered it with brushwood. And he got down to business again.
There's a hunter out of nowhere. Out of breath, he ran quickly.
-Have you seen a lame deer? - asks.
- A lame deer? “He ran over there,” the young man answers and points to the path with his hand that leads to a distant road. The hunter believed it and ran on. As soon as he disappeared behind the mountain, the young man shouted:
- Deer, deer, come out, the hunter has left.
A deer came out and said:
“Thank you, kind young man, you saved my life, I don’t know how to thank you.” Maybe you have a cherished desire - tell me, I will do whatever you want.
The young man grinned and answered:
- Well, what can I wish for? Of course the bride!
- Okay, I'll teach you what to do.
The deer pointed his hoof at the mountain that was visible in the distance and said:
— You’ll go up that mountain and you’ll see a big lake. On the fifteenth day of every month, heavenly fairies descend from Heaven along a rainbow and swim in the lake. Tomorrow is just the fifteenth day. You will go there at noon, wait in a secluded place when the fairies begin to swim, take the dress of the one you like, and hide it. All the fairies will fly away, but she will remain, she cannot fly without a dress. You go to her, say: be my wife. She will become your wife. Just remember one thing: until the fairy gives you four sons, do not give up your dress.
The deer said so and went on his way.
And so the next day, exactly at noon, the young man went to the lake, hid in the dense thickets of sedge, and began to wait. Suddenly a five-color rainbow began to play over the lake, and eight fairies in blue dresses descended from the sky along the rainbow. They took off their dresses and began to swim.
A young man admires fairies. How good! But there was one he liked the most. He took her dress and hid it away. And the fairies joke, laugh, don’t know anything, jump and dive. They swam, put on dresses, grabbed the rainbow, and began to climb up.
Only the most beautiful one on earth is left, rushing about, unable to find her dress.
Her friends tell her:
“Listen, sister, it’s time to leave, the rainbow is just about to disappear.” You stay, find your dress, and tomorrow we will certainly lower the rainbow for you.
The fairies ascended to Heaven, but left their girlfriend behind. She cries, poor thing, and washes herself with her tears. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the young man took the fairy by the hands and said:
- Don't be sad! It was I who hid your dress. If you become my wife, I will give it to you.
The fairy had to agree, and she followed the young man. They became husband and wife and lived amicably and happily. Five years have already passed since then, and the fairy gave birth to the young man three sons, one more beautiful than the other.
And she once said to her husband:
- Give me my dress. I still won’t return to Heaven, I won’t abandon my children.
The young man could not resist, although he remembered the words of the deer, and gave the dress to his wife.
The wife was delighted, grabbed the dress and yearned for Heaven so much that she couldn’t bear it. She took the children, put one on her back, held two under her arms, flew away, and only she was seen.
The young man calls his wife and does not return; he waves his hand and does not respond.
The young man was sad.
And again he began to live with his mother in a poor hut, going to the mountains in the mornings to get firewood.
He somehow went to chop brushwood. He chops, and he laments his bitter fate, remembering how he and his wife lived for five happy years.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a lame deer appears. The deer saw the young man, he was happy, but he just looked - for some reason the young man became sad. The deer asks:
- Why are you sad, young man? Maybe some kind of trouble has happened?
The young man told everything as it happened. The deer consoles him:
- Don’t worry, I’ll help you. Just do everything as I say. From the very day when one fairy remained on earth, other fairies no longer go down to the lake, they only draw water from it in a large bucket. Go quickly to the lake, when you see a large tub, throw the water out of it, and climb in yourself. The tub will instantly take you to Heaven, and there you will meet your wife and children.
The young man thanked the deer and hurried to the lake. As soon as he came running, he looked - a tub had descended from Heaven on a long rope. Big, very big. The young man threw water out of it, climbed in, and ascended to Heaven. I saw my wife and children, and they lived happily again, no worries, no troubles. If you want, listen to music.
If you want, dance. No matter how sweetly the young man eats and drinks sweetly every day, one thing is bad: his mother cannot forget, she grieves. And one day he says to the fairy:
- Let me go, little wife! I’ll visit my mother and tell her how I live. And then he left and never came home again. Flew to you.
“I won’t let you go,” the wife answers. - What if you don’t come back? You never know what can happen!
The husband stands his ground - let him go!
Then the wife says:
- So be it, I’ll let you go. Take a magical dragon horse. He'll get you home in no time. Just remember: don’t get off your horse, but if you get off, you’ll remain on the ground.
Before the young man had time to jump on his horse, he immediately found himself at his house.
- Mother! - the young man shouted. - I came to visit you!
The mother ran out to meet her and couldn’t be happier.
- What happened, son? - asks. “I cried my eyes out, I thought you had fallen into the clutches of a tiger, you are no longer alive!” - He says, and tears are flowing from joy.
The young man told her how he met a lame deer, how the deer taught him to fly to Heaven, how he met his wife and children and how happily they live there. The young man also said that if he touched the ground with his feet, he would no longer fly to Heaven.
The mother says to the young man:
“You can’t go down to earth—no need.” This is the only way I can’t let you go. When will we meet again? Just wait, and I’ll bring you some porridge, your favorite bean porridge. Eat and fly wherever you want.
The mother brought out a bowl of bean porridge, very hot. The young man dropped it right on the horse’s back. The horse reared up in pain, threw the young man to the ground, and soared into the Sky. The young man cried loudly. And he was so sad without his wife and children that he soon died of grief.
They say that his soul entered the rooster. And now the rooster crows in the morning, so pitifully, as if he were crying: what! It is he who misses his wife and children.
No wonder the roosters strive to jump on the roof, then on the fence - everything is closer to Heaven!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru