Once upon a time there lived a king. He had an only son.
One day, while hunting, the king's son noticed a girl with skin black as pitch in the forest. He ordered the servants to capture her. They carried out his orders. The girl was brought home along with the killed game. The king did not like her, and he ordered the girl to be placed in one of the stables. They put the stable in order and installed the blackling there. The food was taken to her there. The servants mocked the captive.
One day a black girl asked the maids if there was a river nearby. Having learned where it was flowing, the little blackling, stealthily, headed towards it. The prince accidentally noticed this. He secretly followed the girl. Chernushka approached the shore and looked around; sees there is no one. Then she began to shake all over her body, and the shed black skin lay at her feet,
And the girl became slender and white; light radiated from her, like from the sun. Two gold rings sparkled on each of her slender fingers. She broke off a twig, peeled off the leaves and threaded the removed rings onto it. Then she entered the water and swam. The water that washed the girl’s beautiful body flowed from her like silver and gold. The prince admired the girl’s beauty, then crawled up to the rings, took one of them from the branch and disappeared unnoticed.
The girl, having swam to her heart's content, came ashore, put on dark skin and became black again. While putting on the rings, she noticed that one was missing. The girl guessed that someone had kidnapped him. Distressed, she returned to her home - the stable. And the prince returned home and went to bed. From then on, he was silent, sad, and entered into conversations with no one. This surprised and saddened the courtiers. The father and mother tried to entertain their son as best they could, promising to do whatever he asked if only he would tell him the reason for his grief. Then the son admitted that he wanted to marry Chernushka. This shocked the parents. They never expected their only son to make such a choice. But the king did not dare to break his word and allowed his son to marry the one he chose.
The prince settled with his wife in the stable. Every time they went to bed, the blackling shed its skin and the shine of its body illuminated their home; the light came through even through the cracks of the stable, as if it were full of sunlight. The servants did not notice this, because, tired from work, they went to bed early. But one night the king went out onto the balcony to get some fresh air, and his gaze was attracted by stripes of bright light that came from the cracks of the stable.
“Isn’t it a fire?” – he thought and hurriedly went down the stairs. Approaching the stable, he leaned his eye to the crack and saw that the light was coming from his daughter-in-law.
The amazed king went after his wife and led her to the stable. Just like the king, she was very embarrassed that they had placed such a beauty in the stable.
In the morning, the prince and the king's daughter-in-law were summoned to the king; they were offered to move into the palace, but they refused.
One night, when his wife fell asleep, the prince slowly got out of bed, took the black leather, threw it into the fire and burned it. In the morning, having learned that the skin was burned, the wife was very upset and began to reproach her husband:
“Black skin was my punishment,” she said. “You shouldn’t have burned it, you put me in a hopeless situation.”
After much persuasion, she calmed down and agreed to move to the royal palace.
The young husband repeatedly begged his wife to tell her who her parents were, but she refused. Finally, she called herself Kudapsh-pha - the daughter of Kudapsh. The prince had never heard such a name.
The prince's relatives and friends, having learned about this, began to reproach him for marrying the daughter of some unknown Kudapsh. The prince was saddened. His wife, having learned about this, advised him to find a more worthy wife, and to move her to another palace.
The prince agreed and soon married the daughter of a neighboring king.
Three days later, the new wife sent her maids to visit Kudapsh-phu. The maids went to her home and knocked on the door. The servants of Kudapsh-phi came out and asked what they needed. They replied that they had come to visit the prince’s ex-wife.
The servants laughed and then said:
“She’s bathing in the kitchen, but you’re welcome!”
When the maids sent there entered, they saw a huge cauldron full of boiling milk in the middle of the room. Kudapsh-pha herself stood in only a shirt. She seated the guests, and in front of them she took off her shirt and plunged into boiling milk, and then left the cauldron. The servants were surprised. They returned home and began vying with each other to tell the prince’s wife:
“You are beautiful, but we have seen an even more beautiful beauty.” She must be like this because she bathes in boiling milk.
And they told about everything they saw.
- Fools! – the prince’s new wife told them. - It's a simple matter. Do you think I can't do this?!
When her husband arrived, she demanded:
- Get me a big cauldron, I want to bathe in milk. The husband had to fulfill her request. They took out a large cauldron, filled it with milk, lit a fire and boiled the milk. Just on this day, the prince’s first wife sent her servants to visit his second wife. The door was opened for them and they were informed that the prince’s wife was going to bathe. Milk was boiling in a huge cauldron, and she stood near the cauldron and took off her shirt. Then she dipped in milk and... boiled. The maids screamed and pulled her out of the cauldron, already dead. People came running to the scream. Everyone was shocked by her death.
The first wife's servants returned and told everything to their mistress.
A year later, the prince married the daughter of another king. On the third day, the new wife sent her maids to visit her husband's first wife.
Kudapsh-pha sat on a pillow that lay on a golden hook driven into the wall, and spun a golden spindle with radiant trim. As soon as the maids entered, she jumped down to the floor, greeted them, and then jumped back to her original place and continued spinning. The amazed maids sat looking at her and soon left. Arriving home, they told the prince’s wife about everything they had seen.
- You fools, why are you surprised? What's special about this! - she said.
When her husband returned, she demanded that he order her a golden spindle and a golden hook. Her husband fulfilled her whim.
The prince's third wife ordered a golden hook to be driven into the wall and placed a pillow on it. Just at this time, the first wife sent her servants to visit the prince’s new wife. They were led into the room. The prince's new wife stood and straightened the yarn on the golden spindle. She nodded to them and jumped to sit on the pillow lying on top of the hook, but she did it so awkwardly that the hook dug deep into her body. They rushed to her and took her off the hook, but she was already dead.
The distressed servants of the first wife went back.
After this, the prince made a vow to himself not to return home until he found out who and where his first wife was from.
One day he drove up to some miserable hut. An old woman was sitting on her threshold. The gadfly bit his horse, the horse darted to the side and almost trampled the old woman. She got scared.
“I know what you want from me, now I’ll tell you everything, just don’t ruin me!” – she begged. “You want to know where your wife is from!” It's not that simple. Return home, rest, and then gather your relatives and servants and go hunting. Smear your relatives, servants and yourself with the blood of killed animals, and let them lay you, as if dead, with a saber on top of the pile, on a stretcher. Order them to take you home and place you at the entrance to the first wife’s chambers, and tell her that you were accidentally killed while hunting. Then a golden chain will descend from heaven, along which your wife must ascend to heaven. Don’t hesitate here, cut the chain. If you manage to cut it, your wife will remain with you and you will find out who she is and where she comes from. But in order for you to be able to cut the chain, you must shout: “Both steel and gold are in the power of man!” – the old woman finished.
The prince arrived home, rested for three days, then gathered his relatives, captured his servants and went hunting. After the hunt, his companions wrapped the prince in a cloak, laid him on a stretcher, smeared him with the blood of the killed animals, and brought him home; They laid him at the threshold of the palace where the prince’s first wife lived, and they themselves, beating their chests, began to mourn him. She was informed that he died while hunting. She ran out into the yard and raised her eyes to the sky.
“You, whom the stars serve, you, whose father and mother are the sun and the moon, hear my prayer; the punishment to which you condemned me has already become beyond measure; have pity on me and have mercy!
And then a golden chain descended from the sky. Kudapsh-pha wanted to grab her. But then the prince threw back his cloak, jumped up and shouted a spell:
– Both steel and gold are in the power of man! – cut the chain. She melted away like a ray of sunshine.
Then only Kudapsh-pha admitted that she was Aerg’s daughter. The delighted prince hugged Aerga's daughter, took her to the former palace, and they lived again in peace and harmony.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru