One king had a very devoted servant.
One day the king bought an unbroken horse. And whoever tried to tame him was all in vain, the horse remained what it was. So the king says to the servant:
– Now try to control the villain! OK. The servant jumped deftly, jumped onto his horse and thought to himself, now I’ll show him how to go crazy! Where is it? - the horse flinched as if stung, and rushed away with the wind - only the dust began to swirl. He galloped for a long time through forests and swamps; they had long since entered foreign lands, where the servant had never set foot in his lifetime, but the horse kept galloping and galloping. Here, finally, by luck, two large trees come across, growing nearby, and between them the stallion took a running start and got stuck, as if caught in a vice. It would seem that it is good, but the joy is also not great - the servant dismounted, looked around, thought - it’s a foreign side, you won’t understand where the sun rises and where it sets. There is nothing to do - he will go at random - straight where his eyes look, will he really not meet people anywhere?
He walks and walks, he reaches the field, and there is a hut in the field. He enters the hut and finds a decrepit gray-haired old man in it. The old man greeted him affectionately and asked:
“Where are you going, son?”
So, they say, so, he’s lost, tired, and asks to show the way home.
- Eh, powder, I need to rest because I’m tired; what should you do at home? Stay with me for a while!
OK. The servant thanked him for his kindness and stayed. And next to the hut there was a large beautiful garden with many different gates. The servant wants to take a walk in the garden, but the old man says:
- Wait, wait, don’t go! Here's a bunch of keys, unlock any gate and walk wherever you want; just don’t open those gates that are tied with bast, and don’t go into them.
On the first day, the servant walked in the garden, but did not touch the gate tied with his bast, the next day he walked in the garden, did not touch the gate tied with his bast, and on the third day he thought: “What could be there, however? You can go everywhere, but you can’t go here! I’ll take it on purpose and have a look.”
Then he untied the bast. He opened the gate, saw a wide field, and in the middle of the field a quiet lake sparkled. He approaches the lake, admires it a little and is about to turn back, when he suddenly hears something rustling in the air, and looks: three white ducks have just landed on the shore of the lake and turned into three beauties, undressed and go into the water to swim. The servant thinks: “Oh, I wish they were empty! I’ve never seen such people before. Let’s go, for fun, take a closer look at their clothes.”
So a servant picked up one girl’s clothes, twirled them in his hands, looked at them, couldn’t get enough of them. And the girl whose clothes he lifted sees that her business is bad; swims to the shore and asks him plaintively:
- Good fellow! Don't make fun of me; put your clothes back.
How can we be here? I put it back in place. Yes, at that very moment the girls turned into ducks, and made him a dove; The ducks immediately flew away, and the dove only looked after them. Here you go!
An old man came in the evening, looked into the yard, and saw a dove sitting on a stake. He immediately realized what had happened. He scolded, scolded, and turned the dove back into a man.
The next day the old man leaves again and leaves the servant at home alone. So the servant walked around the garden, walked, finally could not resist, untied the bast on the gate and again goes to the shore of the lake. He came, looked and was about to go back, when there was a rustle in the air, and again the white ducks flew in, quickly turned into beauties and went into the water to swim. The servant thinks: “Oh, damn you! You don’t see people like that very often. Let’s go, for fun, take a closer look at their clothes.”
So a servant picked up one girl’s clothes, turned them over in his hands, looked at them, and couldn’t get enough of them. And the girl soon noticed that her situation was bad. She swam to the shore and asked plaintively:
- Good fellow! Don't make fun of me; put the clothes back where they were.
How can we be here? She asked and he put it in. Yes, at that very moment the girls turned into ducks and flew away, and the servant turned into a pig and only looked after them.
In the evening, the old man comes and sees a pig in the middle of the yard. Then he immediately realized what had happened. There is nothing to do, he made the pig a man again and says this:
“If you fell in love with that girl so much, then, God bless you, marry her.”
- Yes, go ahead and get married! She doesn’t stay with me; as soon as I give her the clothes, she immediately flies away.
- Doesn’t it stay? Why should she stay? Why do you give away your clothes, why do you give in to persuasion? Do not give up your clothes until you take an oath to stay with you.
OK. The next day the old man leaves again, leaving the servant alone. So he unties the bast on the gate, goes to the lake and waits for the white ducks on the shore. Soon the ducks arrive, turn into girls, undress and go swimming in the lake. Meanwhile, he takes the clothes of the one that caught his eye, turns them over in his hands, looks - he can’t get enough of them: “Here are the clothes, so are the clothes!”
And the girl swims to the shore and let’s beg him:
- Good fellow, don’t make fun of me, put the clothes in the place where they were!
- Ask as much as you like - I won’t give it to you; swear to become my bride and not fly away from me, then I’ll give you the clothes, otherwise I won’t do anything.
She’s been trying to persuade him this way and that, but he doesn’t give in to her in any way; in the end she still says “yes” and swears that she will not go anywhere, no matter how much her sisters persuade her.
Then the servant gave him the clothes. She dressed quickly, went with the servant to the old man’s yard, and there they got married; and both sisters turned into ducks and flew away.
A little time passed, and the servant said to the old man:
“I’ll go with my wife to the king, otherwise he doesn’t know where I went.”
The old man answers him:
- Go, son, go, live happily; just beware of praising your wife in front of the king. It’s better if the king doesn’t know that you got married here.
OK. The servant comes home and not a word to anyone about the fact that he took such a beauty as his wife on a foreign side; The wife also doesn’t appear to the king or anyone else. For the time being, everything was going well, but then the king began to notice that his servant seemed to have been replaced. Wherever he is, he just tries to hide in his little room and disappears there. One day the servant again sneaked away from the king. And the king, don’t be a fool, took a peek through the keyhole to see what he was doing there in his room. He looks - and the servant has a wife, like the sun, beautiful.
“Eh, this won’t work!” the king thought, “such beautiful wives are only suitable for kings. But how can you take her away from him? Let me call the sorcerer!”
The sorcerer comes:
-What good do you have to say, king? So and so - the servant’s wife is as good as your sunshine. How can the king get it?
- How to do it? Give the servant a job that he cannot do, then you will have a reason to kill him, and you will get the widow. And what kind of work it will be, I’ll tell you tomorrow; Here you need to think carefully, this is a very difficult matter.
OK. The next day the sorcerer hurries to the king with advice. On the way, he crosses the bridge, and a gray-haired old man crawls out from under the bridge and says to the sorcerer:
-Where are you going, villain? If the king does not leave the servant alone, it will be bad for both of you - both you and him!
But will the sorcerer listen to him? He just waved his hand: “Chat as much as you like!” - and went his way. Comes to the king:
- Order the servant to bring a large lion; There is such a lion beyond the thirtieth kingdom in the fortieth. The king calls his servant:
- Here's my order for you! Beyond the thirtieth kingdom in the fortieth there is a lion, bring him to me immediately; If you don’t bring it, head off your shoulders!
The servant listened to the order, came to his wife, told him about his grief, and the wife calmed him down:
- It's not a big problem! Go to bed, gain strength, and in the meantime I will weave a handkerchief with colorful patterns and collect some grub for the road. And here’s another order from me for you: take care of your handkerchief on the road more than your eyes; if you lose it, then all your work will be in vain.
OK. The servant stopped grieving and fell asleep in a sweet sleep, and the wife spent the whole night weaving and embroidering a beautiful, beautiful scarf, the likes of which had never been seen in the whole kingdom. At dawn the scarf was ready. So the wife wakes up her husband and sees him off to a distant foreign land.
Servant, poor thing, a day goes by, then another, a week goes by, then another, and it still doesn’t get there. On the third week, on a dark and rainy night, he noticed a tiny light. He goes towards him, comes to the hut, knocks on the door. As soon as he knocked, a girl came out and affectionately called him to come in. The girl fed the traveler, put him to bed, and in the morning, just before it was light, she brought him some water to wash, but she didn’t give him a towel. The servant washed up and looked around: there was no towel. I wiped myself with the handkerchief that my wife embroidered with patterns. And the girl noticed a beautiful scarf, rushed to him and asked to show her the scarf. because, they say, only her sister knows how to weave and embroider such scarves. Where did he get this?
“So, they say, so,” the servant tells her. “My wife wove it and embroidered it with patterns.”
“So your wife is my sister.” It's good that I found out about this! And that means, because of my sister, you must bring a big lion to the king!
Having said this, the girl snatched the handkerchief from him and ran out the door. And the servant is killed:
- My fathers! My wife told me to take care of my handkerchief better than my eyes. If only she didn't lose her handkerchief!
However, this time he was so scared in vain. Soon the girl comes running back cheerful:
- Here's your scarf! I found what you came for. There will be a large meadow nearby, and in it you will find the lion you are looking for. At the edge of the meadow you will see a thorn bush, behind that thorn bush a lion is sleeping, and in the bush itself small lion cubs are frolicking. As you walk from here, crawl up to the bush from this side and press one lion cub harder so that he squeaks, then the lion will rush at you, and you throw a scarf over his nose, the lion will immediately become submissive, like a puppy, and let you tie the scarf around his neck, and then lead him wherever you want.
OK. This is what the servant did - he caught the lion without difficulty.
He brought him to the king, the king orders the lion to be released into the garden, and he immediately calls the sorcerer: what should he force the servant to do now? He brought Leo and frustrated his plan. And the sorcerer answers:
“Wait until the morning, we need to think carefully about this, it’s a very difficult matter!”
OK. In the morning, just before light, the sorcerer hurries to the king with advice. On the way, he crosses the bridge, and from under the bridge a gray-haired old man comes out and says to the sorcerer:
-Where are you going, villain? If the king does not leave the servant alone, it will be bad for both of you - both you and him!
But will the sorcerer listen to him? He just waved his hand: “Chat as much as you like!” - and went his way. Comes to the king:
- Order the servant to bring a large apple tree in blossom; There is such an apple tree beyond the fortieth kingdom in the fiftieth. The king calls his servant:
- Here's my order for you! Behind the fortieth kingdom in the fiftieth there is an apple tree in bloom. Bring it to me immediately; If you don’t bring it, head off your shoulders!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru