Whether it happened or not, there lived one hunter in the world. One day he went into the forest to hunt. I wandered around all day, didn’t see anything - neither animal nor game; so he returns home empty-handed. He sat down to rest and saw a young deer grazing. The hunter took aim, shot, killed the fawn, was about to skin it, and as soon as he stepped over the fawn’s head, he suddenly turned into a beautiful girl. The hunter was scared, but what could he do? - remained a girl.
The girl took off the weapon, hung it there under the tree and went - she doesn’t know where. Whether I walked a lot or a little, on the third day I reached one city. She wanders around an unfamiliar city, does not know where to stop, with whom to share her grief.
There lived an old woman in that city. In the evening she milked her cows and takes the milk home. I saw the girl and was surprised.
- Who are you and where are you from? Who are your relatives, and why did they let you wander alone at night? She said that she was an orphan and had no relatives. “Take me to you, do a good deed,” she asked. “You are a mother, and I am a daughter, and I have enough strength and skill, I will do whatever you order.”
The old lady was delighted and took her to her place. She turned out to be such a worker, such a smart girl, there is nothing to say about her beauty - rumors about her spread throughout the whole earth.
The suitors appeared - there was no peace for them. One day a prince was passing along that street, saw a beauty, and love for her sank into his heart. He returned home sad. No matter how hard they try, they cannot cheer up the prince. The king was upset and asked: “My son, what’s wrong with you, what melancholy is gnawing at you?” The prince confessed his love and said that he could not live without that beauty. The king immediately sent for her. They found that old woman, brought the girl to the palace and married the prince.
A year later their son was born. One day the beauty decided: “I’ll go and see if my weapon was preserved on that tree or who took it.”
She left the palace secretly and went. She walked and walked and reached that place. He sees that the fawn is lying there, and the weapon is hanging on that tree untouched. The woman said to herself: “If then I stepped over the fawn and turned into a girl, if I step over it now, maybe I’ll become a man again.” She stepped over the fawn's chest and turned into a beautiful mare. The mare gallops, neighs, and gallops to the palace. The mare has a human mind, but she cannot speak. They caught the mare, brought her into the stall, and fed her. They are looking for the Tsar's daughter-in-law, but cannot find her - either the sky has swallowed her up, or the earth.
Time passed, and the mare gave birth to a foal, such that there is no equal to it: sparks fly from the eyes, no one has seen anything like it. Once the royal groom wanted to ride, he jumped on the mare and hit her. The mare was frightened - she was not used to the whip. She threw off the groom and rushed off, not seeing the earth and the sky. She galloped to that forest, jumped over the legs of a fawn and turned into a huge angry dog. The dog ran back to the palace. And there they are looking for the mare - they searched and searched, but did not find it. The royal grandson fell in love with the dog and never parted with it. Time passed, the dog brought puppies.
One day the royal grandson sat on the foal, took the dog with him and went hunting. He tracked a hare in the forest, and a dog chased him. A hare runs and a dog catches up with him. They ran and ran and reached the dead fawn. The hare jumped over the fawn's tail, the dog jumped after him and turned into a hunter again. The hunter was delighted, took his weapon from the tree and went to look for his son. And the royal grandson waited, waited, didn’t wait and went to look for the trail - he didn’t want to lose his beloved dog. He searched, searched and saw a castle in the forest. The prince asked whose castle this was, who lived in it and why they placed it in this dense forest.
“In this castle lives a girl of unprecedented beauty,” they told him. - We must tell her three such fables that no one has ever said, no one has heard, and all three fables must turn out to be true. The girl has a golden cauldron with golden water and golden meat in it. If anyone tells those three fables, golden water will boil in a golden cauldron and golden meat will be cooked. And the girl will marry that man. And whoever does not know how to say it correctly will have his head taken off. The young man went to the castle, he knows that he cannot say anything that would be a fable and that no one has ever said and no one has ever heard, but that it still turns out to be true. He decided to at least see that beauty of unprecedented beauty under the sun.
“Let it be what happens, I’ll at least look at her,” he thinks.
He is driving, lost in thought, and a hunter meets him. The hunter's horse saw him, began to neigh, and did not go any further, but the puppies hovered around the hunter. The young man stands there, surprised and angry, chasing his horse, but the horse doesn’t move. The prince became angry and ordered the hunter to be killed. And the hunter says:
“Come on, I’ll take you to the beauty and say such words that they will make the water not only in the cauldron, but also in the stones, boil, and you will get a beauty unprecedented under the sun.”
The young man was delighted, took the hunter with him, and they went. They came and sent a man to the beauty to say: “The grandson of such and such a king has arrived from such and such a state, he wants to tell you three words, so that golden water will boil in your golden cauldron and golden meat will be cooked.”
The hunter said to his son (he gave birth to this young man when he was a woman): “When we arrive, stand aside, I will say: “My master is tired and tells me to speak for myself.” The young man agreed. They came. The girl ordered to bring guests. They led everyone into the castle, where a girl of unprecedented beauty was waiting for them with her father and all her relatives. The hunter bowed to everyone and said: “This young man is my master.” He was very tired and told me to report to you what was needed. If you allow me, I'll tell you. - Speak, speak! - was heard from all sides. The hunter took the young man by the hand and said: “Do you think I could be the mother of this man?” A flame was lit under the golden cauldron. The hunter said: “Or will you say that I didn’t give birth to this horse either?” Golden water began to boil in a golden cauldron. The hunter said: “Would you believe that these puppies were born by me?”
Golden meat was cooked in a golden cauldron. They gave the young man a girl of unprecedented beauty as his wife and celebrated a glorious wedding. The hunter disappeared. They looked for him for a long time, but did not find him.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru