Once upon a time, there lived a master who had no children. The owner himself was not very sad about this, but the hostess sighed and complained day after day. And when, as luck would have it, seven years later the owner. died, so there was no end to the mistress’s grief at all.
- Well, my husband died, he died - what can you do... So at least there would be a child left after him, there would be someone to babysit.
Once a widow heard that one poor man in the city could not feed his children and therefore gave one of the nine to strangers to raise. The widow immediately ordered the horse to be locked up and rode into the city. But if you’re unlucky, you won’t be lucky: that person has already given the child to someone.
- Oh, let him be empty! - says the worker. “That’s a shame, mistress, let’s go.”
The hostess freaks out and doesn’t answer a word. They are driving back and not far from the house, when they were crossing the river, they suddenly see a huge fish jumping onto the shore. It flutters on land, as if it can’t get back into the water. The worker jumped from the cart and let’s catch a fish, and it dived into the water and said:
- No, let the hostess herself come, I’ll give in to her!.. The hostess came up. And indeed, a fish jumped out onto the shore and said:
“Listen, mistress, take me, slaughter me, cook me and eat me - and then Lima will send you a son.” Just make sure that no one gets a piece of me.
That's what the hostess did. So she punishes the worker so that she does not touch the broth or the meat of the fish. But of course she will listen! After all, you have to taste it, is it salted well?! And has the housewife ever come to lick the ladle herself?! What importance! I picked out a piece - it was nice, I took a sip from the ladle - even better. And the scales and offal are lying around the fireplace, they are of no use anyway - I threw them out the door in the trash.
And here, as luck would have it, a mare. She wandered around the yard all day, picked grass, wandered into the trash heap, and ate the scales and giblets. And what can I say: from hunger, even giblets will do for a sweet soul! The owner died, the worker was not seen at home all day - the poor mare had a ball in her belly.
And the next night this is what happened: the housewife had a son, the worker had a son, and the mare had a son! The people called the mare's son Kurbad.
All three boys grew up together. Only Kurbad was bolder and more clever. His favorite food is nuts, his drink is mare's milk, and his place to sleep is on a bed. By the fifth year, Kurbad, running through the forest, no longer retreated from small trees. By the sixth year, I could easily cope with large trees. And when he reached his seventh year, he was no longer afraid of either a wolf or a bear.
And over the years, Kurbad has become such a hero that all housework, even the hardest, is a breeze for him. We had never even seen sweat on his forehead. He wanted to take on such work to wipe the sweat off his forehead at least once.
So one day he tells his brothers - the owner’s son and the worker - that he has decided to survive the evil spirits from the new house. That house was built by the late owner, but bad luck - the owner had already decided to move into it, and the unclean one got there ahead of him in the evening. And there was no way to help, and there was no way to live there, and there was no way to smoke the unclean things.
The brothers are struggling - how can the three of us cope if the whole house couldn’t defeat the evil one? And Kurbad answers:
“Your mothers ate boiled and fried fish, but mine ate raw fish.” That's what made me smarter!
Finally the brothers gave up and went with him to the demonic den. As it got dark, the midges and bugs in the cracks began to talk to each other:
- Let's see how these three scatter like chaff! Just let our Three-Headed Master cross the bridge.
Kurbad hears these conversations, but the brothers do not. This is what Kurbad says to the worker’s son about midnight:
“You are the weakest, take your sword and go guard the bridge across the river.” The Three-Headed Giant will go there - don’t let him pass. He is the weakest of the three giants, you can handle him.
And the worker’s son responded:
- I don’t care about this! For me, let at least someone go there.
“You can’t let him cross the bridge, otherwise he’ll take over.” Well, if you're afraid, I'll have to go myself. And to be sure, I will place a ladle of water here on the window: if milk appears in it, then I will prevail in battle, and if there is blood, then run to my mother, let her hurry to help. Just don’t sleep, don’t forget my order!
Kurbad girded himself with a sword, went to the shore, sat down by the bridge and waited. It’s soon midnight, everything is quiet, only frogs in the river, wild geese in the air and swallows talking under the bridge. Some in the river shout: “Kurbad! Kurbad!”, others in the air: “He will defeat the enemy-ha! He will defeat the enemy-ha!”, and others under the bridge - “The giant has three heads, and all of them are teal!”
At midnight Kurbad hears giant heralds coming: a dog howls in the field, a falcon whistles in the air. Kurbad took out his sword, stood up and blocked the path to the bridge with his sword. The earth began to roar, the Three-Headed Giant fell, and when he came across Kurbad’s sword, he stopped as if in front of a wall.
The giant roared:
- Let me cross the bridge, Kurbad!
And Kurbad holds the sword as he held it and answers:
- I won’t let you in!
The giant roared at him three times for Kurbad to retreat, but to no avail. Then the giant got angry and shouted:
“Come on, blow it, I’ll see how much money you can blow out from under the bridge, from my purse!” Blow there, into the field! As Kurbad blew, he showered the whole siequiet with pure gold. The Three-Headed One began to blow - only half a siekviet, and even then in copper money. The Three-Headed Man saw this and tries to move back, but Kurbad doesn’t let him in, collect, he says, the money first. The giant does not agree. Well, if you don’t agree, let’s fight with swords. And the slaughter began: the bridge trembled, the earth hummed, swords rang, and finally the giant’s heads flew off the body.
To celebrate, Kurbad celebrated the victory with his brothers and had fun until the next evening. As it got dark, they hurried into the house again. And here in the cracks the midges and insects are talking again:
- Okay, you mastered the Three-Headed One, but how will you cope with the Six-Headed One?!
Kurbad hears these conversations, but the brothers do not. It’s getting close to midnight, Kurbad says to the owner’s son:
- Go guard the bridge today! Only this one is afraid, and he answers:
- What do I care! For me, let at least someone go!
“Well, if you’re both such cowards, I’ll have to go myself.” You can’t let him cross the bridge, otherwise you won’t be able to cope with him later. To be sure, I will put a ladle of water here: if milk appears in it, then everything is fine, but if there is blood, run to your mother.
Kurbad went to the shore. Everything is quiet, only the frogs croak: “Kurbad! Kurbad!”, the wild geese cackle: “He will defeat the enemy-ha! He will defeat the enemy-ha!”, and the swallows under the bridge chirp: “The giant has six heads and all - teal!”
At midnight Kurbad hears the giant heralds coming: a dog howls in the field, a falcon whistles in the air. Kurbad stood up and blocked the path to the bridge with his sword. A giant with six heads is walking, the earth is humming, but it’s impossible to pass: the sword is in front of him. The giant shouts:
- Let me go, Kurbad!
And Kurbad holds the sword as he held it and answers:
- But I won’t let you in!
The giant roared three times for Kurbad to retreat, but to no avail. Finally he shouts:
- Come on, blow into the open field, I’ll see how much money you can blow out from under the bridge, from my purse!
As Kurbad blew, he showered the whole purvieta with gold. The Six-Headed Man began to blow - only half a purveyet, and even then in copper money. The giant sees this and tries to move back, but Kurbad doesn’t let him. Let him collect the money first. The giant does not agree. Well, if you don’t agree, let’s fight with swords. And the slaughter began: the bridge trembles, the earth hums, swords ring, and finally the giants’ heads fly off their bodies.
Kurbad goes home happily. As soon as he arrived, he fell asleep to rest before tomorrow’s battle. On the third evening, the midges and bugs in the cracks began to worry:
- Let him be empty! I've already mastered two. Well, okay, okay! .. This kind of morel can’t compete with Nine-Headed!
Kurbad hears this conversation, but the brothers do not. He placed a ladle of water at the window, strictly ordered his brothers not to take their eyes off the ladle, and he hurried to the bridge. Everything is quiet, just like last night, only the frogs incessantly croak: “Kurbad! Kurbad!”, the wild geese cackle: “He will defeat the enemy-ha! He will defeat the enemy-ha!”, and the swallows chirp: “The giant has nine heads, and all of them this night are teal!”
Here Kurbad hears - at midnight the giant heralds are running: nine dogs are howling in the field, nine falcons are whistling in the air. Kurbad stood in the middle of the Bridge. The giant approaches and shouts:
- Let me go, Kurbad! And Kurbad answers:
- Why are you, grape-headed, going wild! Let's measure our strength!
OK. Kurbad slashes with his sword as hard as he can. One head fell off, only in its place three new ones grew. Kurbad sees that there will be no end, throws away the sword and grabs the giant by the scruff of the neck with his bare hands. Only the giant will have enough of Kurbad! Once! - he went into the ground up to his knees. How about the second one is enough! - I drove it right up to my armpits.
Kurbad sees that things are bad and says:
“All wrestlers take a breather at least for a minute, let’s take a break too.”
OK. The giant sat down and rested. But Kurbada is bothered by one thing - why doesn’t his mother run to help? And unknown to him, the brothers fell asleep, they didn’t look at the ladle, they didn’t let her know.
He tore the pastala from his leg and threw it right out the window, where the brothers were snoring. They jumped up and looked: the bucket was full of blood. They rushed like crazy to the mare, and once or twice she galloped up to help Kurbad.
And so it went: as the son knocked off the giant’s head, the mother kicked with all her might, only white sparks rained down, the cut-down area was burned - no new heads could grow. Soon the giant fell like a block.
After the battle, Kurbad went to sleep in the house from where the evil spirit survived. Yes, but sleep doesn’t come. Kurbad hears midges and insects talking in the cracks:
“You rascal beat our husbands!” But the only wives left by their husbands are witches. They will repay this morel. As soon as these three go along the road tomorrow, the widow of the Three-Headed One will turn into a bed. As soon as they see this bed, one of them will be so drawn to sleep that he will immediately collapse, and as soon as he collapses, it will be in our hands. And the widow of the Six-Headed One will turn into a spring. As soon as the second of them sees a spring, thirst will overcome him. And when he starts drinking, it’s in our hands. And the widow of the Nine-Headed One will turn into a snake, then into a dog-head, and will pester that rogue until she repays him fiercely.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru