Once upon a time there lived a peasant, he had three sons: two smart, and the third - Zapechnik. They called him that because he, a slacker, lay on the stove all day long. The time has come for father to die. He called his sons and said to them:
“You will come to my grave three evenings in a row to collect your inheritance.” On the first evening the eldest will come, on the second - the middle one, on the third - the youngest!
An old man has died, and the older sons are afraid to go to the cemetery, lest something happen to them. They send the Baker. So Zapechnik went to the cemetery.
As soon as he arrived at the grave, his father suddenly stood up.
-Are you already here? - he asked and gave his son a nut and told him to take good care of the gift.
The next evening the youngest had to go again, and again his father gave him a nut and also told him to take care of it. Now it was the youngest’s turn to go to the cemetery. Fuck him.
-Are you already here? - asked the father.
“Yes,” the son answered and again received a nut with instructions to hide all three nuts in the cemetery wall. Zapechnik returned home, and the brothers came to him with questions - tell me, tell me what you saw for three nights in the cemetery.
Time has passed. One king’s daughter has grown up - it’s time to get married, and the king decided to organize a competition for the grooms. He ordered to build a long glass bridge; whoever rides across that bridge will become the king's son-in-law, and after the death of the king he himself will rule.
The older brothers bought fast horses - they wanted to try their luck - and went to the capital city. As soon as they left, the Baker went to the cemetery, took the nut that he received on the first night, cracked it - lo and behold! - and he has military armor and a good horse. He put on that armor, jumped on his horse and rushed to the bridge. Many noble gentlemen gathered before the city walls, and many brave young men had already taken part in the competition, but not one was lucky enough to become the king's son-in-law; All of their horses died on the bridge. And Zapechnik’s horse flew up, in the blink of an eye carried him to the other side and disappeared, like lightning, along with his rider. They only saw him.
The king never found out who won, and therefore decided to schedule the competition again. Again the youngest son went to the cemetery and cracked the second brother's nut. It contained the clothes of a knight and a silver horse. He galloped at full speed towards the bridge. And again he was the only one lucky. But this horse, like the first, disappeared instantly. The king never knew who won. Therefore, he appointed the competition for the third time. Now the Baker took his own nut, cracked it, and in it were the king’s robe and the golden horse. He quickly jumped on his horse and rushed to the bridge. There they were already waiting for the glorious knight, and everyone made way for him. But Zapechnik gave the following speech:
“I was the last to arrive, and I’ll be the last to try my luck.”
The competition began, but no one managed to jump across the bridge. The baker flew to the other side faster than lightning. He wanted to rush away immediately, but then the princess came up to him and put her royal seal on his forehead so that he could be found later. A year passed, but no winner was announced. And then the princess sent soldiers everywhere to look for a man with her seal on his forehead. The soldiers did not let a single young man through, but no one had a seal. Finally they came to the house where the brothers lived. The elders dressed up in festive clothes. The soldiers looked at them and, not finding the seal, asked if there was anyone else here.
“No,” the brothers answer, “except maybe the Baker, sitting behind the stove.”
The soldiers looked, and he had the royal seal on his forehead. They took him with them to the palace, and a few days later he became king.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru