Once upon a time there lived a poor woman. She huddled with her only son in a shack on the edge of the village. To feed herself and her child, the mother worked tirelessly. When the boy grew up, he realized that they had a difficult lot and decided to earn his own bread so as not to be a burden to his unfortunate mother.
The boy hired himself into service. So he earned his first three kreuzers, and he was drawn to travel, to wander around the world and look for happiness. He said goodbye to his mother, took three kreuzers with him and set off.
He walked and walked and finally found himself in an unfamiliar village. He was very hungry and was just about to buy bread with kreuzer, when he suddenly saw a crowd of mischievous boys throwing stones at the old mangy dog. The boy felt sorry for the dog, and he asked the tomboys to leave her alone. But the evil children only laughed at him, and, you know, they threw stones at the dog. Then the boy said:
“Give me the dog, I’ll pay him a kreuzer.”
The mischievous people happily agreed, took the kreuzer and gave the dog away.
The boy went further. It’s hot, the sun is scorching, and the dog doesn’t lag behind, trailing alongside. Suddenly she spoke in a human voice:
- You saved me from death! How can I repay you for this? I won’t leave you - maybe I’ll be useful too!
They walked for a long time until they reached another village. The boy was tired and hungry and was about to buy bread with kreuzer, when suddenly he saw a crowd of children with some kind of bag in the very middle of the bridge.
A boy approached them and asked what they had in the bag. The angry children answer that there is an old cat sitting in the bag and they are going to drown it. The boy took pity on the cat and asked to give it up for a kreuzer. The mischievous people untied the bag and released the cat, and the boy pulled out the kreuzer from his pocket.
And again the boy set off to wander around the world, and with him a dog and a cat. On the way, the cat says to its savior:
- You saved my life! How can I thank you? I’ll stay with you, maybe I’ll come in handy!
The boy walked for a long time with a dog and a cat, and they came to a green meadow. And near the road itself, a shepherd boy saw: the shepherd swung a long stick, aiming at a motley snake.
- What are you doing? - the boy exclaimed.
- I want to kill this creeping creature! - answered the shepherd.
And the boy felt sorry for the motley snake, and he asked the shepherd to spare it. He promised kreuzer for the snake. The shepherd took the coin, and the boy took the snake.
Now the four of them went - a boy, a dog, a cat and a snake. Suddenly the snake spoke:
“You saved me from certain death.” What could I do for you? I cannot walk around the world with you, because people hate me with fierce hatred. Better go to the city of my father, the king of all snakes! I will give you an iron ring, and as long as the ring is yours, any of your wishes will immediately come true. But remember well what I tell you! When we approach the city, stop in front of the outpost, and as soon as I hand the iron ring into your hands, throw yourself on the ground, because my father, the snake king, will become terribly angry and begin to beat his tail on the ground so that everything around will shake.
The boy told the snake that he understood everything and would do everything as she ordered.
They crossed a green meadow and found themselves at the foot of a high mountain. And following the motley snake, they climbed up the steep slope, climbed along ledges, and made their way through the bushes. Finally we reached the top. And at the top, under a high cliff, stood the city of the snake king. The snake took the boy all the way to the outpost and told him to wait. And she crawled into the city and soon returned with an iron ring. The boy took the ring and immediately threw himself on the ground, as he was told. At the same moment, a terrible roar arose, as if a whirlwind had swept over the city. Then the snake king hit his tail with such force that the earth shook. Then everything became quiet.
The boy got up and returned to the valley. He had not eaten for a long time and was very hungry. He sat down by the road and just thought about food, and lo and behold, by some miracle all sorts of dishes appeared in front of him. The boy ate his fill, fed both the dog and the cat and set off on the way back home. Well, he thinks, now we’ll live happily with our mother.
The mother was delighted, even though her son returned looking the same poor man as he had left. But the boy didn’t tell her anything about the ring.
Late in the evening, mother and son went to bed. Noticing that his mother had fallen asleep, the boy made a wish - that a fairy-tale palace with high windows and spacious chambers would grow in place of their shack. And those mansions would have beautiful decoration and expensive dishes. Yes, so that he and his mother could wake up on soft, luxurious beds. There would be elegant clothes in the chest, delicious dishes would be on the tables in the refectory, and beautiful gardens with strange flowers would be green around the palace.
As the boy planned, everything came true.
In the morning the mother opens her eyes and is amazed. She was transported from the old hut to a wonderful palace, fell asleep on a hard bed, and woke up on a soft snow-white bed in chambers of wondrous beauty. The mother got up and walked around the entire palace: no matter what room she entered, one was better than the other. I looked into the refectory, and there the table was bursting with strange dishes. She felt happy, but also scared. She finally reached her son’s bedchamber and asked him who performed these miracles. Then the boy told her everything in order - how he wandered around the world, what happened to him on the road and from whom he received the iron ring.
Since then, mother and son lived in prosperity and joy. Whatever they wished was immediately fulfilled.
Time passed. The boy grew up imperceptibly and became a young man, but his mother grew old and could no longer cope with housework. The young man decided to get married and said to his mother:
“I’ll go look for a bride and bring her to the house.” Everything will be easier for you: fewer worries and less hassle!
The young man got ready for the journey and went straight to the king to woo his daughter. The king was angry: some commoner dared to ask the princess to be his wife. But, having heard that the young man had a magic ring and a beautiful mansion, the king decided not to drive the groom away, but to give him such tasks that it was impossible to complete them, so the groom would return home empty-handed.
“I agree to give you my daughter as a wife if you transplant the most beautiful and tall spruce tree that grows in the forest into my garden,” the king said to the young man.
The king woke up the next morning and couldn’t believe his eyes: a tall spruce tree, a forest beauty, had risen in his garden. Yes, he is not in a particular hurry to give consent to the young man, but says to him:
“I’ll give you my daughter as a wife if you build a crystal palace.”
The next morning the king got out of bed early and saw that not far from his palace a castle, all made of crystal, was glistening in the sun.
Then the king says:
“You will get my daughter if you build a wide road from the crystal castle to my palace and line it with unprecedented trees.” Yes, let the strange birds sing on the branches and let there be no two identical trees and no two identical birds.
On the third morning, the king got up just before dawn and saw that a wide road stretched from his palace, all lined with trees, and strange birds were singing on them, and all the trees and birds were different.
The king could no longer back down, and he promised the young man to give his daughter as his wife.
But it must be said that the royal daughter loved the prince from a neighboring state and was expecting from day to day that he would come to woo her. Suddenly she finds out that her father promised to marry her to someone else. The princess did not dare to resist her father's will, but she plotted to take revenge on her unloved groom. The young man was married to the royal daughter, and the old king gave a feast in their honor. After the wedding, the young man took the newlywed to his mansion, and there their mother-in-law was waiting for them with great joy.
The royal daughter pretended to be kind and affectionate. And the fellow was happy, he thought that he had made three people happy at once: his wife, his mother, and himself. Meanwhile, the young woman, although she pleased her husband in everything, dreamed of getting rid of him as quickly as possible and harbored dark plans in her soul.
One day, left alone with her husband, the royal daughter asks him in a sweet, insinuating voice:
- Tell me, darling, why does everything you wish come true right away?
The young man hesitated, but his heart could not stand it, so he went ahead and revealed his secret to his wife.
- Where do you keep the iron ring? - she asked.
The good fellow admitted that he tied an iron ring to a cord and wears it on his chest.
As soon as the husband went to bed and fell asleep, the royal daughter unbuttoned his shirt, cut the lace with scissors and took possession of the iron ring.
The young man woke up in the morning and couldn’t believe his eyes - he and his mother found themselves in the same wretched hut. There is no trace of the palace, and the royal daughter has disappeared. The young man is spinning and sad, wandering around his hut with his head down, not knowing what to do. A dog and a cat come up to him and say:
- Let's go look for the ring. Maybe we'll find him. We will serve you faithfully and will do everything you order.
The young man perked up, and the three of them set off to look for the magic ring throughout the world.
They walked through cities and villages, through dense forests and vast plains, until they found themselves in the desert. There is no end to it, not a blade of grass can be found on it, not a tree, not a stream, not a human habitation. Finally they came to the shore of the wide sea. The young man became sadder than before. And the dog and cat console him:
- Stay on the shore and wait for us. We will cross the sea and if we find an iron ring beyond the sea, we will bring it.
The young man happily agreed, and the dog and cat rushed into the water.
They sailed day and night, and on the third morning the other shore appeared, and they got out onto land. We moved on and soon came to a wonderful city. They stopped in front of the fortress walls, but they could not enter the city - the gates were locked. A dog and a cat are wandering along the wall and suddenly they see a tree growing right next to the wall. The cat says to the dog:
- Wait for me here. I will climb the tree onto the wall, jump from the wall into the city and see if there is an iron ring there.
The cat climbed a tree, jumped from the tree to the wall, and from there jumped to the ground. She began to wander around the city and, according to cat custom, meow loudly. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a royal daughter comes, and she says to the prince from a neighboring state, with whom she settled in that city:
- Look, I used to have exactly the same cat. Let him live with us and catch mice.
The cat remained in the city and began to slowly rummage through all the rooms and nooks to see if there was an iron ring somewhere. But in vain! She climbed everywhere, searched everything, but couldn’t get into the royal daughter’s bedroom. One day the cat noticed that the door to the bedroom was open, she darted under the bed and hid. So she sat under the bed until the night.
In the evening the prince came with his wife, they went to bed and fell asleep, and the cat crawled out from under the bed and began to scour the room and look for the iron ring. Suddenly a little mouse jumped out of the hole. The cat jumped, hop! - and grabbed the mouse. And the mouse squeaked:
“Don’t destroy me, cat, I’ll bring you an iron ring as a reward.”
The cat let go of the mouse, he scurried under the stall and started gnawing on the tree. He gnawed and gnawed and finally gnawed a hole in that chest. He crawled into it and brought back an iron ring. He gave it to the cat, and he disappeared into his hole.
Now the cat is racking her brains to figure out how to escape from the room. She began to meow, and meowed until she woke up the royal daughter. She jumped out of bed and kicked the cat out.
The cat clutched an iron ring in its teeth and jumped onto the fortress wall, and from the wall it went down the tree to the ground. The dog was waiting for her there, and the cat told him how she managed to find the ring.
They set off on their way back. They went out to the sea, threw themselves into it and swam to the other shore. We swam to the middle of the sea, and then the dog began to ask the cat:
- Let me carry the ring. After all, I have not yet repaid my savior in any way for saving me from death.
The cat never wanted to give the ring to the dog, they argued, the ring fell into the water and drowned. They were saddened and silently swam on. Suddenly a goldfish flashed right in front of the dog’s nose. She grabbed the fish, and it begged:
- Spare me, dog! As a reward, I will get you an iron ring from the bottom of the sea.
The dog released the fish, it dived into the depths of the sea and swam out with an iron ring. The cat and dog were delighted and quickly swam to the shore.
On the third day, the dog and cat crawled out onto the shore, where the young man was waiting for them. The dog gave the iron ring to his deliverer, and the cat told how she found the missing one. The three of them returned home.
When the mother found out that her son had found the ring, she rejoiced and forgot her grief. And the fellow again threaded a cord through the iron ring and put it around his neck. Then he thought about it and exclaimed:
“Now let the king’s daughter and her husband live in a poor shack, and we will move to the rich mansions that rise beyond the sea.”
And so it happened.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru