There lived gypsies, and they had an only son. These gypsies were rich and did not need anything.
The son grew up and thought about life.
“Father, mother,” he asks his parents, “we live richly, we don’t know need and grief.” Tell me, what is need and grief?
- You don’t need to know this, son! - said the father and went about his gypsy business. The son sees that he can’t get anything from his parents, and he goes to his grandmother:
- Tell me, grandmother, what is need and grief? Because I’ve been living in this world for so many years and I don’t know what it is.
“Need and grief,” the grandmother answers him, “this is a gypsy thing.” For example, you went to steal and got caught, or you got sick while on a nomad trip, or you have nothing to eat...
This is need and grief.
The guy listened to her and said:
- That's good. While my father and mother are away, I’ll go around the world and experience for myself what need and grief are, otherwise I live in my father’s head and know nothing. I'll go steal.
He said and left. And one merchant had a good horse. And the guy decided to steal this horse. He walks and thinks: “If I steal this horse, then my hand is lucky, but if I’m unlucky, I’ll find out what grief is!” As soon as he broke the locks in the merchant's stable, the owner appeared with a gun and shot the gypsy. The merchant took the murdered gypsy, carried him into the forest and crucified him in chains.
One day a poor gypsy was passing through this forest. He stopped not far from the place where the crucified gypsy was, made a tent, lit a fire, and sat. It's midnight.
A poor gypsy sees a man walking through the forest, looking like a gypsy, and singing a song:
Like I lived with my father, I knew the sorrowful needs, And here I ended up - I learned the sorrowful need!
The poor gypsy took a closer look, listened to the voice and recognized the guy as the son of a rich gypsy. The poor gypsy began to call the guy, but he did not come to the fire. It’s a well-known fact that the dead are afraid of fire, but the poor gypsy didn’t know that that guy was killed.
“Maybe I made a mistake,” thought the poor gypsy.
The next morning the poor gypsy moved on. He stopped by the parents of the murdered guy and asked:
-Where is your son?
“We don’t know,” they answer, “it’s already been a month since he’s been gone.” We were leaving, and without us he went looking for grief and need and from that time on he disappeared.
“I saw a gypsy in the forest, he looks a lot like your son, but no matter how much I called him, he didn’t respond.”
- Where did you see him? - parents ask.
- In the forest, there and there...
The parents did not believe the poor gypsy, but he said: “If you don’t believe me, let’s go together and you’ll see for yourself.” The parents agreed. The three of us went: father, uncle and poor gypsy. We drove up to the place where the poor gypsy guy had seen the day before, lit a fire, and sat. At twelve o'clock a song is heard in the forest:
How I lived with my father, I didn’t know the need, I didn’t know the grief, But here I ended up - I learned the need, the grief!
The father recognized his son immediately, but no matter how much he screamed, no matter how much they tried to catch him, it was useless. The father realized that his son was dead and that he seemed to be invincible.
“We have to wait for the morning,” the father said to the other gypsies, “we won’t get him until the morning anyway, and when the third rooster crows, he will disappear.” We'll go and try to find his body then.
It's morning. The gypsies went in search. They wandered through the forest for a long time until they came across a guy crucified in chains. The gypsies put him on a cart and brought him home. The father and mother shed bitter tears over their murdered son and decided to at least leave his memory to people. They built a chapel of pure gold, and hung the coffin with the body of their son in it on gold chains. It was a pity for the father and mother to part with their son, so they did not perform the funeral service for his soul.
From then on, as soon as night fell, the son came home and talked with his parents, and with the third roosters he returned to the chapel.
The father found out that some gypsies had a very beautiful girlfriend, and he wanted to marry his son to her.
But how do you marry a dead person? During the day he lies in a coffin, and at night those gypsies sleep. The parents thought and thought and decided to go matchmaking at night. They dressed up like matchmakers, wove ribbons into the horses’ manes, took trees, attached hundred-dollar tickets to them, hung gold necklaces - all according to the ritual. Let's go.
I had to wake up those gypsies. The gypsies were surprised that the matchmakers arrived at night.
“What kind of fiancé do you have that he couldn’t come during the day?” - they ask.
“Our son is a big gentleman, he has almost hundreds of horses, he has enough worries and troubles: he has to look after the horses, and go to the fair to change them - in short, he has a lot to do.
So, whether you like it or not, if the groom is welcome, then the wedding will have to take place at night.
The girl liked the guy and she agreed to become his wife. There was nothing to do, the bride's parents had to play the wedding at night.
They celebrated the wedding, and the young people began to live. Only their life was strange: during the day the wife did not see her husband, before dawn he said goodbye to her, said that he was leaving on business, and when midnight came, he returned.
A year passes. One day, the guy’s parents gathered for merchant business. They called their daughter-in-law. Her mother says to her:
“Here are the keys to all the rooms, all the barns, all the storerooms and all the chests.” You never know what you need. Take what you want, open any door, any lock. But just see: here is a small key. Don't open anything with this key. Otherwise there will be trouble.
The parents said so and left.
Curiosity overcame the girl here.
“How can this be,” she thinks. “Why can all the locks be opened, but nothing can be opened with this key?” She began to look for what kind of door it was that opened with a small key. She went around all the barns, tried all the locks, and this little key did not fit into any of them.
Then she began to wander around the area, went into the forest and suddenly saw: a golden chapel was standing, and on the chapel there was a small lock hanging. The girl inserted the key into the lock - the chapel opened. The gypsy woman went inside and saw: a coffin was hanging from the ceiling on gold chains, and a ladder was attached to it. The gypsy woman climbed the stairs, looked into the coffin and was dumbfounded: in the coffin her husband lay deader than dead. Then the gypsy woman understood everything: why the matchmakers came at night, why the wedding was held at night, why her husband only came to her at night, and she did not see him during the day.
The gypsy woman came down the stairs, locked the chapel and came home. The father-in-law and mother-in-law are returning. The daughter-in-law did not tell them anything.
Night came and her husband came to her again.
– Why did you come to the chapel during the day? I know everything. I didn't want you to find out the truth. Now you will leave me, you will be afraid to live with the dead.
“I won’t leave you anywhere, I love you and will live with you forever, just fulfill one of my conditions.”
I have a godfather, and he can revive you. Don't resist it.
And he doesn’t say anything:
- The deceased should not come to life.
If you go to your godfather, then be afraid of me, I will strangle you.
The gypsy woman saw that she couldn’t persuade her husband, she decided not to reason, but to take him by cunning:
- Okay, let it be your way, I won’t go to my godfather, let everything remain as before.
And the next morning, when the husband disappeared with the third roosters, the gypsy woman ran to her godfather and told him everything.
- Help me, godfather, I love him and want to live with him.
“I’ll teach you,” the godfather answers, “I know what to do: when he appears at night, you need to grab him while he’s alive, tie him up tightly and bring him to church, and then you need to read prayers over him for forty days and forty nights, only then will he come to life.”
And then an opportunity presented itself: the father-in-law and mother-in-law left again to visit their distant relatives. The gypsy woman persuaded her father and mother, called her brothers for help, brought her husband to her house, and they set up an ambush.
At midnight, as soon as the dead gypsy appeared, everyone pounced on him, tied him up, threw him face down on a cart and took him to church, as the priest had taught them. They arrive at church, and the priest already meets them.
“Since you want him to come to life,” the priest says to the gypsy, “you yourself must read prayers over him.”
The gypsy woman began to read prayers over her husband. During the day everything was quiet and calm, but as soon as midnight came, an unimaginable noise arose in the church, evil spirits flew in and began to torment the gypsy: they grabbed her by the hair, and by the arms, and by the legs, and spit in her face, and threw all sorts of evil spirits. The gypsy woman barely waited until the third rooster crowed, and when the roosters crowed, the evil spirit was blown away by the wind.
“I can’t stand it, godfather,” the gypsy told the priest the next morning with tears in her eyes. – This is only the first day, what will happen next?
And she told him everything that happened to her that night.
“Don’t worry, honey, I’ll teach you what to do,” answered the priest. - Draw a circle in the place where you stand, sign it with the sign of the cross, so that there is no passage for evil spirits.
So she did. The next night it became easier. The evil spirits could not reach the gypsy, no matter how hard she tried, the circle got in the way. So she read day after day, night after night. However, she had less and less strength left. The last day has already arrived, and night is approaching. The gypsy's eyes are already closing completely. Then she took it and put her hand under the candle fire. The pain that came upon her was unbearable, but the sleep seemed to go away. She finished reading the prayer for the last time, and the next morning her husband came to life.
And they lived for a long time in love and harmony.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru