Once upon a time there lived a poor man. He had no relatives except his daughter. They lived on alms. The daughter knew how to speak intelligently and taught her father how to ask and speak intelligently. Once a poor man came to the king for alms. The king asked where he was from and who taught him to speak so intelligently. The poor man replied that his daughter taught him.
- Who did she learn from? - asked the king.
“The Lord and our poverty made her wise.”
Then the king gave him three dozen eggs and said:
- Take them to your daughter and tell her to breed chickens from them for me. Will display
- I will reward her, but if not, I will torture you.
The poor man returned home, crying, and told his daughter about everything. She guessed that the eggs were boiled and sent her father to bed, telling him that she would take care of everything herself. The father obeyed, went to bed, and the daughter took the cauldron, filled it with water, put beans in it and boiled them.
The next morning she called her father and told him to take a plow, harness the oxen and plow along the road along which the king would travel.
“When you see the king,” she said to her father, “sow the beans and shout: “Hey, oxen, move! May God help the boiled beans to grow!” The king will ask: “How can boiled beans grow?” “Just like boiled eggs can hatch into chickens,” you will answer.
The poor man listened to his daughter, went to plow by the road, and when he saw the king, he began to shout:
- Hey, oxen, move! May God help the boiled beans!
The king stopped.
- Poor man, how can boiled beans spoil? - asked the king.
“In the same way, glorious king, chickens can hatch from boiled eggs,” he answered.
The king immediately realized that this was how his daughter taught him to answer. He ordered the servants to grab the poor man and bring him to him. The king gave him a bunch of flax and said:
“Take it and make it into a rope, sails and all the other gear that is needed for the ship, but if you don’t do it, your little head is gone!”
The poor man, in fear, took a bunch of flax, cried and went home to tell his daughter about everything. She sent him to bed, saying that she would take care of everything herself.
The next morning she took a piece of wood, woke up her father and said:
- Take this piece of wood and take it to the king: let him make me a tow, a spindle, a machine and everything else from it, then I will do what he orders.
The poor man obeyed his daughter and told the king as she had taught. Hearing the answer, the king was amazed and began to think what to do now. Then he took the cup and gave it to the poor man:
- Take the cup and bring it to your daughter: let her scoop up the sea with it, so that in its place there will be a dry field.
The poor man cried, took the cup home and told his daughter about everything. She told him to wait until the morning and promised to take care of everything herself. In the morning she called her father and gave him a bunch of tow:
- Take it to the king, let him dam all the lakes, rivers and streams with this tow, then I will bail out the sea for him.
The poor man went and gave everything to the king. The king, seeing that the girl was smarter than him, ordered her to be brought and, when she appeared before him with her father, he said:
- Guess, girl, what can be heard furthest away?
“Glorious king, the furthest thing you can hear is thunder and lies,” answered the girl.
Then the king took hold of his beard, turned to his entourage and asked:
— Guess how much my beard costs?
Some answered this way, others that way, but the girl said:
“The Tsar’s beard is worth three summer rains.”
“The girl is closest to the truth,” said the king and asked her if she wanted to marry him, because he had decided to take her as his wife. The girl bowed and said:
- Glorious king! It will be as you want. I just ask you, write in your own hand on paper that if you get angry with me and drive me out of the yard, I have the right to take with me what I like most.
The king agreed and wrote. Some time passed, and the king became angry with his wife.
“I don’t want you,” he says, “to be my wife.” Get out of my palace wherever you look!
- Okay, glorious king! I'll leave, just let me spend the night, I won't be here in the morning.
The king allowed it, and at dinner the queen mixed brandy and some fragrant herbs into the wine and, serving it to the king, said:
- Drink, king, have fun! Tomorrow morning we will part, and, believe me, I will be happier than on the day when we met.
The king became drunk and fell asleep, and the queen prepared a carriage and took him to a stone cave. The king woke up, saw where he was, and shouted:
- Who brought me here?
“I brought you here,” answered the queen.
- Why did you do this? I told you that you are no longer my wife.
Then she took out a paper:
“That’s right, glorious king, you told me so.” But look what is written on this paper: what I like most in your house is what I can take with me when I leave you.
The king kissed his wife and returned with her to the palace.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru