-Where are you in such a hurry, our beauty?
“I’m going to the palace to marry the king.” We should give him a diamond for his wedding ring.
Everyone who heard this immediately bowed respectfully to the chicken. Everyone really wanted her to become queen, and only the evil wolf mistook this for ordinary chicken talk. He climbed into the dark, dark thicket right where the path to the palace passed, waited for the chicken and growled roughly:
“Where are you in a hurry, you shabby crow?”
To which the chicken politely replied:
“I want to give a wedding gift to my future husband, the king.”
“I wonder,” the wolf wheezed, “will this work out for you after I eat you?”
The poor frightened chicken immediately took her treasure out of the basket and showed it to the wolf. And this is what happened next: as soon as the wolf saw the diamond, it began to shrink, and so quickly that in a moment it became larger than a flea. The chicken caught the dwarf wolf with her beak and threw it into a basket next to the diamond, after which she continued on her way.
Soon she saw that the path rested on the trunk of a huge tree.
This was the real king of the oaks. Its top reached to the sky and was so immense that even a hundred men could not have grasped it. The hundred-year-old oak said in a rough voice:
-Where are you hurrying, plucked crow?
“I’m going to give a wedding gift to my husband, the king,” the little hen kindly answered.
“There’s no need for you to be in such a hurry, I’ll give the king the diamond myself.” And how will the king be able to marry you after I crush you? - the oak tree threatened.
The little hen again took out the precious stone, and its sparkling rays fell on the oak tree. The giant began to quickly shrink and turned into an ordinary blade of grass, which the chicken put in her basket.
Soon a wide river appeared on her way. The chicken looked for the bridge for a long time, but could not find it.
“River, little river,” asked the hen with the golden comb, “please, don’t rush, help me swim across you.”
- Well, I’ll stop for some wet chicken. “I’m flowing through the seas and oceans, so get out while I’m safe,” the river grumbled.
The chicken had no choice but to get her magic diamond. The river became narrower and narrower until it became a drop of dew.
The chicken took this dewdrop with her and again went towards her dream. She walked for seven long days and nights and finally appeared in front of the royal gates. The guards, of course, stopped her. The chicken explained to them that she was going with a gift to the king. The guards immediately escorted her to the palace and introduced her to the king's chief adviser, who, unfortunately, could not see either the beautiful feathers, or the snow-white breast, or the golden comb, but simply thought that the royal hen had escaped the hen house. He wanted to order the guards to return the fugitive to her place, but the chicken told about the diamond for the king’s wedding ring.
The chief adviser took the diamond and brought it to the king.
-Who sent me this treasure? – the king was surprised.
- Funny little chicken.
“That’s it,” the king laughed. - Thank her and return her to the smoking shed.
The servants immediately carried out the order, grabbed the chicken and threw it into the chicken coop, where it was almost pecked to death by the proud, well-fed royal chickens. Fortunately, she remembered the wolf in time:
– Save me, little wolf, and I will remove the spell from you.
At that same second, the wolf jumped out of the basket and began to grow. Soon he smashed the entire chicken coop to smithereens and dispersed the offenders.
The chicken, as if nothing had happened, went back to the palace. The king became angry and ordered the chicken to be thrown into a stone prison. A moment later the chicken was behind bars. The prison was so cramped that the hen could hardly move, and so dark that even the blackest night could not compare with it. The chicken became sad, but remembered the reduced oak tree:
- Grow, grow faster, free me, and I will remove the spell from you.
The pathetic blade of grass immediately turned into a tree, which rested against the ceiling of the dungeon and easily broke through the roof. A giant oak tree turned the prison into ruins.
After this, the king ordered to catch a chicken and cook soup from it. The royal cook lit a fire and threw the unfortunate woman into the pan. This is where the magic dewdrop came in handy for the hen:
- River, river, save me, and I will remove the spell from you.
The dewdrop turned into a river, flooded the fire and flowed down the steps of the royal palace. Royal furniture was already floating around the palace, and the water kept rising and rising. The king climbed the highest tower and fearfully awaited his fate. The little hen ended up on the same tower, and the king finally examined her beauty: her golden comb and snow-white feathers. What a pity that he was not able to meet her earlier! He immediately fell in love with the chicken.
They played a magnificent wedding and lived for a long, long time in a luxurious castle. They had many children, because every day the hen laid a golden egg, from which pretty princes and princesses were born.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru