There lived a grandfather and a woman. And they had daughters - a grandfather's daughter and a woman's daughter. The grandfather’s daughter’s name was Galya, and the old woman’s name was Yulia.
The woman loved and cared for her own daughter, but she kept her grandfather’s daughter in a black body, and kept trying to extricate her from the world.
Once my grandfather went to the fair and bought a third-grade bull. He brought it home and told his daughters:
- You will graze him in turns - one day and another day.
On the first day, my grandfather’s daughter drove the bull to pasture. The evil stepmother gave her a spindle and a bag of tow.
“Make sure,” he says, “that in one day you spin the whole tow, weave the canvases, bleach the linen, and bring it home in the evening.” If you don’t do it, you won’t live in the world.
Galya took the bull out of the barn, stroked his neck and drove him to the pasture. She drives her away, but she bursts into bitter tears.
Bull asks:
- Girl, girl, fair-haired braid, why are you crying?
- How can I, little bull, not cry? My stepmother told me to spin this bag of tow, weave canvases, bleach the linen and bring it home in the evening... Can I really handle such work in a day?
“Don’t cry,” says the bull, “drive me to the silken grass, to the fresh dew, there we’ll come up with something.”
Galya drove the bull to the silk grass, to the fresh dew. The bull ate, fed, and then said:
“Now put a tow and a spindle in my right ear.” Just breathe into your left ear and see what happens.
Galya put a tow and a spindle in her right ear, breathed into her left ear and looked. And there the tow is already being spun, and the canvas is being woven, and the linen is being whitened and rolled up...
When everything was done, Galya took out the finished piece of linen and cheerfully drove the bull home.
The evil stepmother meets her in the yard:
- Well, did you hide the tow?
“I spun it,” says Galya and shows the finished piece of canvas.
The stepmother grabbed her head: her stepdaughter did such a job! And then the neighbors came and looked at the fine fabric Galya had woven. Everyone praises her, she can’t praise her enough.
It was the turn of the woman’s daughter Yulia to drive the bull.
Her mother gave her a spindle and half a bag of tow.
“Spun this tow,” he says, “daughter, and weave even better linen than your stepsister wove.” I want people to praise you, not her.
Julia took a thick stick and drove the bull. He chases and keeps beating him with a stick. The bull began to rush from side to side, and Yulia ran after him, cursing him with all his might. She ran and ran and lost the spindle.
She somehow drove the bull onto a bare pasture, put down the tow, and fell asleep herself. The bull scattered the tow with his feet and trampled it into the mud.
Julia wakes up in the evening, looks - the tow has been trampled into the mud... She grabbed a stick and started hitting the bull. The bull ran home, and she followed him screaming.
At home, her mother asks her:
- Well, daughter, did you do your work?
“No,” he says.
- Why?
- The bull is to blame. Because of him, I lost my spindle, and then he trampled my tow into the mud.
The stepmother got angry at the bull. She went to her grandfather and said:
- Kill the bull, grandfather!
-Are you crazy, woman? - the grandfather was surprised. - Why do we need to cut it?
And the woman stamps her feet and attacks Grandfather with her fists:
“If you don’t kill me, I’ll kick you out along with your daughter!”
Nothing can be done - the grandfather agreed to slaughter the bull.
Galya heard this, ran to the bull in the barn, hugged his neck and burst into tears.
- Girl, girl, fair-haired braid, why are you crying? - asks the bull.
Galya told him what the evil stepmother was planning to do.
“Don’t cry, girl,” says the bull. - You better listen to what I tell you. When they kill me, take my liver and you will find a golden grain in it. Plant that seed in the garden near the hut. That's it.
Galya did as the bull told her.
And from the seed an apple tree with golden apples grew.
Whoever walks or drives past the garden everyone admires the golden apple tree.
Once upon a time a handsome young hussar was returning from the war. I saw an apple tree and stopped.
He extended his hand to her to pick the golden apple. And the apple tree - ding, ding! - and went up.
The hussar lowered his hand and the apple tree returned to its original place.
Galya saw this through the window and said to her stepmother:
“I’ll go pick this handsome hussar an apple.”
And the stepmother will stomp on her and scream:
- I'll rip your head off!
She grabbed Galya and put her under a trough, and sent Yulia into the garden: let her think that it would be better for her own daughter to pick this hussar an apple, maybe he will fall in love with her.
Julia approached the apple tree, and that one - ding, ding! - and went up.
Yulia got angry at the apple tree and began to scold her with bad words.
And just then a cockerel was walking around the yard. He jumped up onto the fence and crowed:
- Ku-ka-re-ku-u! The grandfather's daughter is hidden under a trough, and the old woman wants to pick her apples and marry the gentleman.
The hussar heard this, got off his horse and went into the hut. I found my grandfather's daughter under a trough there. The way he looked at her, he couldn’t take his eyes off her - he really liked her.
“Little girl,” the hussar called her, “pluck me a golden apple from your apple tree as a souvenir.”
Galya approached the apple tree - and all the apples fell at her feet.
She gathered them into a hem and presented them to the hussar. The hussar picked her up, put her on his horse next to him and took her to his relatives.
They played a wedding at home and began to live in peace and harmony. They had a son, and he was so handsome that his father and mother couldn’t stop looking at him.
Meanwhile, the evil stepmother does not sleep from envy that the hussar married not her daughter, but her grandfather’s. And he keeps thinking about how to get her out of the world.
One day she says to her daughter:
- Go, daughter, and visit your sister. Invite her to swim with you and drown her...
Julia obeyed and went to visit her sister. I persuaded her to go swimming. And on the river he says to her:
“Sit down, sister, on the bridge, I’ll wash your shoulders.”
Galya sat down on the bridge, and Yulia pushed her into the water and ran home.
They are waiting for Galya at home - no. The little son is crying, no one can console him. The nanny took him in her arms, walked along the river, calling:
- Galya, Galusya, your son is crying and wants to eat! The chickens are sleeping, the geese are sleeping, he’s the only one who doesn’t sleep, he can’t wait for his mother...
And she hears a voice from the water:
“Oh, it’s hard for me to go out to my son: the stone hits my feet, the water floods my eyes.” The son heard his mother’s voice and began to cry even more.
“Oh, I’m coming, son, oh, I’m running,” the mother responds. “I can’t hear you cry, son.”
The mother came out of the water, fed her son, and he fell asleep. And she went back.
The nanny returned home and told what happened near the river.
The next morning the father himself took the golden apple and his son and went to the river. He approached the shore and called:
- Galya, Galusya, your son is crying and wants to eat. The chickens are sleeping, the geese are sleeping, he won’t fall asleep alone, he won’t wait for you.
I heard my mother’s voice and answered:
- Oh, I’m coming, son, oh, I’m running; I can’t hear you cry, son.
She went ashore, fed her son, and he fell asleep.
Then the husband took a golden apple from his pocket and gave it to his wife. And as soon as she took a bite of the golden apple, she instantly woke up.
The husband was delighted and brought her home. And they began to live and live well and happily again.
And the evil stepmother and her daughter were no longer allowed on their doorstep.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru