In ancient times, there lived a beautiful girl, and her name was Yonni. The face is a bright moon, the eyes are sparkling stars. One problem - Yonni was a stepdaughter. And her stepmother tormented her so much, tormented her so much that it’s hard to say.
She forced me to do the dirtiest chores around the house. Yenny’s beautiful, clean clothes were torn, her long braids were disheveled, like a magpie’s nest of steel.
One winter, in the bitter cold, Yonni’s stepmother told her to go to the mountains and collect edible plants. But can you find them in winter? Yonni walks in just a dress; his stepmother did not give him warm clothes. He looks for grass under the snow but can’t find anything. The snow piled up above my head. The winter day is short. Night has already come. Yonni began to look for a place to spend the night. Suddenly he looks at a big gate. The girl entered the gate. And there is a wide, wide field, with a house in the middle. Tall, handsome. The girl knocked. The young man came out when he knocked and asked tenderly:
- How did you end up here, beauty? Maybe you're in trouble and need help?
She told the young man Yonni about her grief. The young man took pity on her, ran into the field, and brought a whole armful of fresh rapeseed. The girl bowed to the young man, and didn’t even know how to thank him. She was about to leave, and the young man said to her:
- You still come here. When you come, stand in front of the gate and call: Willow, Willow, Willow leaf! It’s me, Yonnie, I’ve come, open the gate. I'll go out.
The young man said this, gave Yonni three bottles: one white, the other red, the third blue, and punished:
- Take care of them. Maybe they'll do. If you pour it from the white one, the meat will grow on the bones. If you pour red, blood will flow through your veins. If you pour from blue, you will bring the dead back to life.
Morning has come. Yonni returned home. The stepmother sees: Yonni brought rapeseed, but she doesn’t believe her eyes. Again he tells Yonni to go to the mountains. And the second time Yonni brought rapeseed. The stepmother sent Yonni to the mountains for the third time, and she followed behind. He sees: Yonni stopped at the gate, calling: Willow, Willow, Willow leaf! It’s me, Yonnie, I’ve come, open the gate. A young man came out and led Yenny out the gate. Yonni came out, carrying a whole armful of fresh rapeseed. She ran to her stepmother’s house, Yonni returned before.
Yonni came, and her stepmother attacked her:
– You’re secretly running to the guy! I know everything.
Yonni is silent. Will you make excuses to your stepmother? And you can’t complain to your father, I feel sorry for him.
In the morning, the stepmother decided to go to the mountains herself. She approached the gate and called:
- Willow, Willow, Willow leaf! It’s me, Yonnie, I’ve come, open the gate.
A young man came out and asked:
- Who are you?
The stepmother did not answer, she rushed at the young man and killed him. Afterwards she set fire to the house and the field, breaking everything around and crushing it.
The next day Yonni's stepmother sent for rapeseed. A girl approached the gate and uttered the cherished words. But no one answered her. The girl entered the gate and looked - only ruins remained of the house, the field was all burnt out, the bones of a young man were lying on the ground.
The girl could not stand it and cried bitterly. And suddenly she remembered about the bottles, the ones the young man gave her. Yonni collected the young man's bones, sprayed them from a white bottle - meat had grown on the bones. She splashed the red bottle and blood flowed through her veins. It splashed from a blue bottle - the young man came to life, opened his eyes and smiled.
“I am a servant of the Heavenly King,” he says. - I send rain to Earth.
My master commanded me to come down to Earth to save you. So he sowed rapeseed and watered the field with spring rains. I saved you, and now it’s time for me to return to Heaven. I will take you with me and you will become my bride. Let's fly!
With these words, the young man took Yonni by the hand, and they ascended to Heaven along the rainbow.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru