Whether it happened or not, there lived one king in the world, he had an only son. This king grew old and decided to marry his son. And the son says:
- Let me go around our kingdom - I’ll choose my own bride! The king said:
- Go look!
The prince set off. He walks around all the cities and villages, looking, searching, but he can’t find a bride. Only in one poor village, on its very outskirts, in a very poor house, did he see a girl of unprecedented beauty under the sun and at first sight fell in love with her without memory. The prince tells her:
- Be my wife!
And the girl asks:
- Tell me, what craft do you know? He answers:
- I don’t know anyone, I’m a prince.
- If you don’t know, that’s your problem! - says the girl. - But being a Tsarevich is not yet a craft! Today you are a king, but tomorrow you are not - then how will you get bread? Go learn some craft and then I’ll marry you.
The prince is sad and doesn’t know what craft he can learn as quickly as possible. He came to his father and said:
- I chose the girl. There is no better one in the whole world. Only she did not agree to marry me. First, he says, learn a craft. I can't give up this girl. I can't look at others. She's the only one I need. Help me learn at least some craft.
The king called all the artisans. Craftsmen came: carpenters, shoemakers, tailors, masons, stove makers, the king asked the carpenter:
- How soon can you teach the prince your craft?
“At five years old,” answers the carpenter.
- ABOUT! “My bride will get married in five years, she won’t wait for me,” says the prince.
Asked others:
- Who will teach the prince his craft as quickly as possible? Shoemaker says:
- I’ll teach you in four years! Mason says:
- I’ll teach you in three years! Stovemaker says:
- I’ll teach you in two years!
Finally one old man came out and said:
— I felt felt and made burkas. In three days I will teach the prince his craft!
The prince was delighted, went to the burr and in three days learned to felt felt and make burkas: long, fleecy ones for horsemen, and short, smooth ones, without seams, for pedestrians.
After that he went to the girl.
- Why did you come again? - asks the girl.
- To match you.
—Have you studied the craft?
- I studied it: I know how to felt burkas.
- Well, this craft will come in handy! - says the girl. - I’ll marry you now!
They got married and lived happily.
Soon the old king died. Our prince began to reign. One day he wanted to see his kingdom: who lives how, who rejoices about what, who grieves about what, what they say about him. He dressed himself in the clothes of a poor man and went.
He walked and walked and came to some city, and he wanted to eat. He found the dukhan, entered it, greeted him and said:
- Feed me, good people!
The owners greeted him kindly and did not refuse him - they fed him.
Dukhan is a small tavern.
And these were cannibal robbers. They led the prince to the cellar and opened the door.
- What do you have in this cellar? - asks the king.
- Look for yourself! - said the robbers and pushed him into the cellar.
The king looked around and saw three more people sitting in the cellar.
- Why are you sitting here? - asks the king. - What will they do to you?
“These cannibal robbers will kill us and eat us,” the captives answer him. - Yes, you can’t avoid the same thing.
The king was frightened and did not know what to do. The robbers killed those three captives. It was the king's turn. The king said to the robbers:
- Don't kill me! I will make you such a cloak that they will give you a thousand tomans (a large gold coin) for it! Take it straight to the young queen - she will buy it without haggling.
The robbers rejoiced. They brought wool. The king began to make a burqa. He made it and decorated it with such patterns that you couldn’t take your eyes off it. And between the patterns I embroidered the words:
I am sitting captive among cannibalistic robbers in such and such a city, in such and such a house, in a cellar. If you don’t come to help in two days, they’ll kill me.
One robber took the cloak, put it on his head and carried it to the city.
He brought it to the queen’s palace and began selling it. The queen examined the burka and read the words that were embroidered among the patterns. She gave a thousand tomans for the burka and let the robber go. Then she called the soldiers and followed that robber to help her husband. The robber walks, suspects nothing, and the queen and her soldiers follow him. They came and surrounded the robber's house. No one can jump out of it!
The soldiers rushed into the house, grabbed all the robbers and killed them. They went down to the cellar, freed the king and brought him to his wife.
- See! - she says. “If you didn’t know the craft, it wouldn’t help you that you’re a king: they would slaughter you like a ram and eat you.”
“Your truth,” the king replies, “if only I weren’t alive!” Only my craft saved me!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru