Don’t think that the princess was born hunchbacked, nothing like that: she was slender and beautiful. In addition, she was the only heir of the king, and her future husband was supposed to receive the kingdom.
The king was already old and was looking forward to the moment when the proud princess would finally choose a husband to pass on her throne to him. But the princess did not want to get married at all. She didn't like princes, counts, or marquises. She did not even deign to glance at the most noble caballeros.
And then one day, while walking in front of the palace, she met an old beggar. His face was ugly, his clothes were in tatters, and his back was adorned with a huge hump.
- Give it to poverty! – the beggar raised his hand and began to cry.
But the girl was so frightened by his ugliness that she immediately hurried to leave.
- Never show your face to me! - she shouted to the old man.
The beggar got angry. He caught up with the princess and threw a black spider at her.
The spider clung to the princess's train, and no matter how hard the girl tried, she could not shake the nasty insect off her dress. So she came to the palace with the spider.
The spider began to live in the palace.
He did not give the princess a moment of peace. He bit her day and night and grew so big and fat that even the courtiers began to fear him.
Then the princess called the soldiers and ordered them to shoot the spider and make a tambourine from its skin.
Time has passed. The king said to his daughter:
- You see, I'm old. I need an heir to pass on the kingdom to him. When will you choose your husband?
“At least tomorrow,” the princess laughed in response. “But I will only choose the one who can answer without error what my tambourine is made of.”
- Fine! - the king agreed. - But remember, whoever guesses right, we will celebrate the wedding right away. I give this my royal word!
And the king announced throughout the country that the princess would marry the one who could guess what her tambourine was made of.
Princes and counts rode on horses from all over. Marquises and dukes arrived in luxurious carriages. The noble caballeros arrived at the palace with swords at their sides. But none of them was able to guess what the princess’s tambourine was made of. The beauty only laughed at the suitors, until a slender prince in a golden cloak and with a feather in his hat rode from the most distant kingdom on a white horse.
Seeing the young man from the window, the princess immediately fell in love with him. She decided to help the unknown prince and, opening the window, shouted loudly:
- It's made of spider skin!
But the prince, tired of the long ride, did not hear the princess’s words, and even if he had, he would never have believed her: he would have thought that the princess was laughing at him. Are tambourines made from spider skin?!
But the princess’s cry was heard by a hunchbacked beggar. Just at this time he passed under the windows, begging for alms. And when the prince could not answer what the tambourine was made of, the hunchbacked beggar came to the king and said:
- I'll answer. Give me the beauty as my wife.
- From what? – asked the embarrassed king.
- It's made of spider skin! - the beggar answered with a laugh, and the king had to give the princess to the hunchbacked old man. What to do! She herself appointed such a condition, and the king confirmed it with his royal word.
Oh, how angry the king was! He called his daughter and said:
“This is what your whims have brought you to.” Leave the palace now with your old man, forget forever that I am your father, and never come back!
The princess cried bitterly. The hunchbacked beggar took her hand, and they immediately left the palace, and the princes and counts, marquises and noble caballeros went to their kingdoms, mourning the sad fate of the wayward princess. The prince also left in a golden cloak and a hat with a feather.
He left sadly for his most distant kingdom, because he had already fallen in love with the young princess.
The princess and the old beggar walked along the roads for a long time and finally came to the river.
“You are my wife and you must fulfill all my desires,” said the hunchback. - Take me on your back and carry me across the river.
The princess put the old man on her back and carried him. I reached the middle of the river and thought: “If I don’t get rid of my unloved husband now, I’ll have to drag him with me all my life. I’d rather shake it off into the water.”
She began to gallop and jump to throw the old man off her back. I jumped and jumped and finally shook him off: the old man was already decrepit and I couldn’t stay on the princess’s back. But the princess could not get rid of the hump - a huge ugly hump. It clung tightly to her back, and the princess became hunchbacked.
Oh, that hump! The princess hated him so much! Not only that, he sat astride her like a horseman. To the girl’s chagrin, the insidious little hump turned out to be extremely talkative. True, if the princess was silent, he was also silent. But as soon as the girl dropped a word, the humpback immediately repeated it, as if imitating the princess - well, just like an echo in the mountains.
“Give me a drink of water,” the girl asked, knocking on the door of some hut, and the hump immediately repeated: “Give me a drink of water!” - and in such a thin voice that everyone started laughing at the girl. Others were offended, believing that she was laughing at them, and drove the unfortunate woman away.
No matter how much the princess tried to persuade him to keep quiet for a little while, the stubborn little hump squeaked and squeaked as before. Then the girl pretended to be dumb. Out of habit, it was not easy, but the hump left her alone: he had to shut up, too.
Finally, the princess reached the farthest kingdom, where a slender prince in a golden cloak and a hat with a feather lived. The princess herself did not know why she ended up in this kingdom, but, probably, her heart showed her the way. She came to the palace and hired herself into service. She served at the royal table, but the prince did not even look at her once.
Would a handsome man, the heir to the throne, look at a maidservant, moreover, a hunchbacked and mute one! The young prince had nothing to do with it: by order of his parents, he had to marry a noble marquise. Of course, this marquise was not at all as beautiful as the princess with the tambourine, but she did not have a hump, and no one would dare to say that she was dumb: the marquise was straight as a stick, and all day long she chattered like a parrot. This is the kind of bride they found for the prince in a golden cloak and a hat with a feather!
So, the marquise-bride rode in a gilded carriage to the most distant kingdom, where the prince in a golden cloak lived, and on this occasion a large dinner was prepared in the palace, and the princess-maid was tasked with frying pies with apples for the royal table.
She fried the first pie and said to the hump:
- Humpback, humpback, would you like some pie?
- I want, I want! - the hump squeaked.
As you can see, if it came to something tasty, he forgot to imitate the princess, and immediately answered that he wanted it!
The princess treated him to a pie, put a second one on the frying pan and asked again:
“Humpback, humpback, would you like some more pie?”
- Oh, I want to! - the hump squeaked.
He had a big sweet tooth. And the princess again treated him to a pie.
- And what else? – she asked, frying the third, largest pie. – Would you like to taste it?
- I really, really want to! – the hump squeaked impatiently.
- So jump on my apron! - the princess ordered the hump.
The stupid humpback loved sweet pies so much that he didn’t force himself to ask again and jumped into the girl’s apron. The princess grabbed him with tongs and threw him into the stove.
- I'm burning, I'm burning! - the hump squeaked for the last time and fell silent forever.
So the princess got rid of the hated hump and became slender as before. Besides, now she no longer had to pretend to be dumb. She ran to her room, dressed up in a satin dress with lace and appeared in the main hall, where noble guests were gathering for dinner and the prince and marquise greeted everyone with a deep bow.
When the princess, elegant and majestic, appeared at the door, the prince exclaimed:
- Look, this is our dumb maid! How slim and beautiful she is!
And the marquise-bride jumped up from her seat and, blushing with annoyance, began to chatter like a magpie:
Wow, how elegant!
Go away!
Go away!
I recognize the cook
No matter how you dress her up!
She would have continued to chatter for a very long time, but the princess did not let her finish and answered with dignity:
“Your truth, Senora Marquise, I was a cook and served the lord prince, but I was not born a servant, but a princess, the daughter of a king.” And if you don’t know this, then you might as well remain silent, although, they say, this art is completely unfamiliar to you.
Hearing such a bold answer, the ratchet bit her tongue and ran away from the hall. She jumped into her gilded carriage and rode away forever from the most distant kingdom.
And the prince? He immediately recognized his beloved princess, whom he had been yearning for for so long. The prince was very happy that she was no longer mute, and in front of all the guests he invited her to become his wife.
They lived happily ever after. The prince soon became king and the princess queen. She was a kind queen, always helped the sick and poor and never turned away from the grief of others. She knew very well how hard it was to wander penniless along the roads and ask at strangers’ doors for a sip of water and a piece of bread to quench her hunger and thirst. And for this the young king loved her even more.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru