One poor widow had five sons. She gave four of them away early, and left only the youngest at home. Even though they don’t have enough bread, the guy grows by leaps and bounds, and in the eighth year he throws up eight grains of grain like a feather.
And as he grew up, his strength became unprecedented. One day a young hero went into the forest to get firewood and, just for fun, brought home a thick spruce tree along with its roots. Another time, when he was tearing out the same spruce, he saw a hunter with a gun on his shoulder and asked affably:
- Well, did you shoot anyone?
- I’ll still have time! - the hunter answers. “This evening I want to take a walk a hundred miles away to an oak tree.” A small mosquito sits on the branch of that oak tree. I want to shoot out this mosquito’s left eye and return home before dark.
The youngest son heard this and went with the shooter. They walk, talk about this and that, and it turns out that they are brothers. They were so happy about the unexpected meeting that they did not notice how they had waved away thirty miles. Suddenly they see: a man is walking, whistling / his hat is tilted to one side - he’s about to fall off. He who is cheerful is not averse to talking. The brothers stopped the whistler and asked:
- Why is that hat hanging on one ear?
- If I put my hat on directly, icicles will freeze on the walls of the houses and along the edges of the hat.
Word for word, it turned out that he was also their brother. He did not hesitate and went with his brothers. They walked another thirty miles and saw a man pulling his shoe off his foot.
- Is it better to be barefoot? - the brothers asked.
“I can’t do otherwise,” answered the one who took off his shoes, “as soon as I take a step in my shoes, it takes me God knows how far.”
And this one went with his brothers. On the way they started talking, and it turned out that the fourth one was their brother. At the ninetieth mile they meet another young man, but he has plugged one of his nostrils. His brothers ask:
- Why did you plug your nostril?
“Yes, if I open both nostrils,” he answers, “the wind will rise enough for six mills.”
- No other than you are our brother. We're just missing the fifth one.
They started talking. That's right - brother! Five brothers walked, chatting, the remaining ten miles, shot a mosquito in the left eye and decided to visit their old mother before sunset.
They visited their mother to their hearts content and decided to go to the king to earn money.
In the royal palace they learned that the king had promised to marry his daughter to the one who would outrun her in the race.
– There’s nothing to think about here! - cried the brother, who was taking off his shoe, and volunteered to run a race with the princess.
The king gave both - the princess and the walker - a mug in their hands and ordered them to bring water from the spring, which is located where the sun rises. If the walker overtakes the princess, then tomorrow is the wedding!
The princess runs quickly, like a partridge. And the walker had long since scooped up water from the spring, and halfway there he lay down on old horse bones and fell asleep. And the princess, as she ran past, saw that he was sleeping, threw out the water from his mug and continued running. The shooter immediately fired and knocked the bone out from under his brother’s head. He woke up without a nap, ran to the spring for water for the second time and was the first to return to the king.
But the king does not give up the princess. He bargained and bargained and finally persuaded the walker to take a bag of gold instead of the princess, as large as only his strong brother could carry. While seven tailors were sewing a bag, the king lured the five brothers into the upper room, where there were stoves instead of walls, and ordered these stoves to be heated so that they would become red-hot.
The brother who wore his hat on one side just whistled:
- It’s okay, let them drown as much as they like! When I put my hat on straight, it will immediately get colder.
And so it was. The stoves were heated for three days and three nights. They were already cracked from the heat, but the room did not get any warmer.
On the third day, the king cannot be surprised: they are alive! But the money bag has already been sewn, and whether you like it or not, you have to pay. They raked money out of one pantry, raked it out of another, and the bag was half empty! All the storerooms were emptied clean, and only then was the bag filled. The strong man threw the huge bag onto his shoulder as easily as if it contained chaff, and walked off. And the walker and the rest of the brothers follow him.
The king regretted his money. He called to the soldiers and ordered them to take the bag. But then the wind blower opened the pinched nostril, and all the soldiers were blown back like smoke. Only one soldier became entangled in the roots of a tree. It is still visible there today, if you look at the upturned roots from a distance.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru