There lived a rich gypsy. This gypsy traded horses and made a large fortune. This gypsy's wife died and left her husband with a small son. What to do? How to raise a child?
The gypsy married another woman, but he was not happy with her.
The gypsy yearned for his first wife and transferred all his love to his little son - he looked too much like his mother. This did not help the stepmother, and she disliked her step-son. He walks and complains to his mother:
- What is it? When my husband arrives from the fair, he doesn’t run to me, but to the child, and it’s as if I don’t exist.
One day a gypsy was going to trade and said to his son on the road:
- Order, son, what gift to buy you. Whatever you ask, I will do. And the son answers him:
“I don’t need anything, father, I ask one thing: when you come into town, when the first thing that’s on sale catches your eye, buy it!”
- Okay, son! – the father grinned. - So be it, the first purchase is yours.
The gypsies harnessed the horses and rode off.
He drives into town and sees a little man riding a horse, and a little horse is tied to the horse’s tail. The gypsy remembered the words of his son, he approached the peasant and asked him:
- Master, how much are you asking for this little horse?
- Give me one and a half rubles and go with God.
- What are you talking about, dear.
– If it’s expensive, don’t take it.
- No, my son ordered me to buy the first purchase. Well, okay, one and a half or one and a half.
The gypsies traded at the market and returned home.
He comes into the house and says:
- Well, son, go look at your purchase.
As you ordered, so I did, at the very entrance to the city I bought this little horse.
The son looked at his father’s gift and was delighted.
He petted this little horse, fed him, gave him something to drink, and from then on it was impossible to drag him away from the little horse.
The gypsy boy grew up, and he became a beautiful and strong gypsy. And the more beautiful he became, the more his stepmother disliked him. One day, the father left home, and the stepmother went to her mother, who was a great master of divination, and said to her:
– What should I do with his son? Through him, my whole life was taken from me.
“Okay, I’ll teach you,” said the old woman.
She took the poison, kneaded the dough into donuts, baked them, put the poison inside and said:
“Give him these donuts, let him eat.” And as soon as he eats it, he immediately goes to the next world.
The stepmother returned home, called her step-son and said to him:
“Here’s some donuts, milk and a piece of bread for the road, get ready to go to the forest to get some firewood.”
The gypsy was gathering for firewood when he suddenly heard a little horse neighing in the stable. The gypsy comes into the stable, and the little horse says to him in a human voice:
- Eat milk and bread, and give the donuts to the dogs!
The gypsy horse obeyed and did as he said. Suddenly he sees: the dogs ate the crumpets and died.
I understood what was wrong, gypsy, but didn’t say anything to anyone, and from that time on I fell in love with the little horse more than ever. The stepmother saw dead dogs in the yard and ran to her mother again:
- So and so, so and so, I didn’t eat it myself, I gave it to the dogs. They died.
Then the witch says:
“No other way than evil spirits saves him.”
Well, let's try to come up with something smarter.
She gave the gypsy a shirt with the words:
“This is not a simple shirt; as soon as you put it on, you’ll burn in an instant.”
The stepmother returned home and called her step-son:
“Here I heated some water, go wash yourself, and here’s a clean shirt for you, after washing you can change into it.”
The gypsy just wanted to wash himself when the little horse neighed in the stable. The gypsy ran to the stable, and the little horse said to him in a human voice:
- Don’t put on a new shirt - throw it in the stove, put on the old one.
That's what the gypsy did. As soon as he threw the new shirt into the stove, the stove scattered in different directions from the unthinkable heat.
The stepmother saw this and ran for the third time to the old witch, her mother.
- Well, I’m dead now, this gypsy doesn’t care.
“Wait, I’ll find out now what kind of evil spirit is helping him,” the sorceress answered, lit a fire and began to cast a spell over him.
“Yeah, I see who’s bothering you,” the old witch finally shouted, “get the little horse out of the stable, and everything will be fine.”
The stepmother ran home, and then her husband returned.
“My beloved husband,” the gypsy pounced on him, “take away this little horse, there is no peace for him - he kicks and bites...
What should my husband do? He feels sorry for his son and doesn’t want to go against his wife. He says to his son:
- What should we do, she doesn’t want to keep the little horse in the yard?
The son went to the stable, and the little horse said to him:
- Everything will be fine. Tell your father that you agree to take me out of the yard, just ask him for permission to ride me one last time. All the same, you won’t have a life in your parents’ house, your stepmother strongly dislikes you, if not today, then tomorrow she will destroy you. And when you sit on my back, you and I will fly higher than the high mountains and rush off to seek happiness.
Both spoken and written. The father allowed his son to ride the horse goodbye. As soon as the guy sat down on his back, the horse soared higher than the high mountains, and only they were seen...
The gypsy and the little horse have seen a lot of different things in this world; they, poor people, have had a lot of grief.
So one day they stopped by in a distant kingdom.
They just stopped at the city walls when the little horse said to the gypsy:
- Listen to me. Catch a sheep, skin it, and put the sheep’s head on yourself so that no one recognizes you. And they will ask, who are you and where are you from, answer: “I don’t know!” They enter the city, and at the gates they are stopped by guards. The guards look: what a miracle? A little horse is walking, and next to him a man is not a man, an animal is not a beast: the head of a sheep, but the body of a man.
They reported this to the king. The king heard and asked:
- Who is this?
The king's servants answer:
“They asked, Your Majesty, but to all questions he answers that he knows nothing.” That’s what we called him among ourselves – Dunno.
- And send him to the kitchen to work! - the king commanded.
That's what they did.
Once they sent the cook Dunno to get firewood.
He took a rope and an ax and set off. He enters the forest and sees: there is a huge oak tree; a whole gypsy camp can fit under its branches. Without hesitation, Dunno grabbed an ax and chopped the oak into small chips. I chopped the wood and brought it to the kitchen. The cooks grabbed their heads:
-Where did you get so much firewood?
“That’s where the oak stood, and I cut it down.” The cooks were alarmed:
- How dare you cut down the king’s beloved oak tree?
- I don’t know! How should I know? - the gypsy answers.
The cooks ran to report to the king. The tsar realized that this was not a simple man - Dunno, but of untold strength. This king ordered not to touch the hero.
But it must be said that this curse was sent to the kingdom. Three Serpents lived in the seas washing this kingdom. And these monsters demanded from the king as a ransom his three daughters as wives. The time was already approaching for the first royal daughter to go to the seashore. The king walked around his palace in great grief, not knowing what to do, how to save his daughters from monsters.
He called out and sent messengers to all corners of the world so that a person could be found who could save him from this evil misfortune. Three heroes volunteered from all over the world. They agreed to help the royal grief.
One day a little horse flies to the gypsy and says:
“Tomorrow they will take the king’s eldest daughter to the Serpent.” You must go out and save her.
The next day they took the eldest royal daughter to the seashore, sat her in the chapel and left her. Three heroes hid behind the chapel. Everyone is waiting for the Serpent to come out of the water. The water in the sea began to boil, and a six-headed Serpent came ashore, smoke poured out of its nostrils, and the earth shook beneath it. When the heroes saw such a monster, they instantly fled, and the royal guard was blown away as if by the wind.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a horse falls straight from the sky, and the gypsy Dunno is riding on it. The Serpent laughed:
- Well, thank you, king, you showed me great mercy, I asked for a wife for myself, and you also granted me dinner for the wedding table. So I'll enjoy it.
- Wait, Snake, you’ll choke! - Dunno shouted. “That’s not why I came here, to get you in the teeth, and then to chop off all six of your heads, so that you stop torturing people.”
The Serpent cried:
- In the whole world there is only one person who can defeat me - this is the son of a rich gypsy who lives in such and such a kingdom, but he is still too young to fight me. He was recently born and is not yet fit to be a hero.
“It’s not the raven who brings the hero, but the fellow himself who comes,” Dunno shouted to the Snake, waved his club and cut off three of his heads.
The Snake hit the gypsy - he drove him chest-deep into the ground, and he swung his club again, and the last three heads of the Snake rolled on the ground.
The gypsy wrapped the Serpent's head, buried it in the ground and crushed it with a huge stone.
Dunno approaches the chapel and says to the Tsar’s eldest daughter as the little horse taught him:
- Go and tell your father that three overseas heroes who sit behind the mountain saved you.
The eldest royal daughter Dunno thanked her, took the precious ring from her hand and gave it to the gypsy. Dunno hid this ring in his hair under a sheep's skin, and sent the Tsar's daughter home.
He approaches the three heroes and says to them:
“I don’t need royal mercy, go to the palace and say that you defeated the Snake.”
The feast began in the palace. Three overseas heroes sit in the best places, the king shows them honor and respect. How? The king's eldest daughter was saved from harm.
Oh well, time has passed. The day has come when the middle daughter must marry another Snake. The little horse flew to Dunno and said:
- This Snake will be stronger than the first. Don't be afraid, you can handle it. Go fight bravely.
They took the middle daughter to the seashore, sat her in the chapel and left her there. Again the three heroes began to wait behind the Snake Mountain, and as soon as the nine-headed monster appeared on the shore, everyone ran away in fear in all directions. As soon as the Serpent began to approach the chapel, Dunno flew from the sky on his horse and jumped up to him.
- Why did you come here? – the Snake asks Dunno in a scary voice.
“Don’t scare me, Snake, ahead of time, when I chop you up, when I cut off all nine of your heads, then you’ll scream.”
A great battle began here. The gypsy swung his club and cut off three of the Snake’s heads. The Snake hit the gypsy and drove him into the ground up to his chest. The gypsy waved again - and three more snake heads rolled on the ground. The Snake hit the gypsy a second time - and he sank into the ground up to his neck.
“Hey, monster,” the gypsy shouts, “look, there are three heroes standing behind the mountain, now they will cut off the last of your heads.”
The Snake looked around, and while he was looking, while he was looking for the heroes, a gypsy jumped out and grabbed the last three heads of the Snake. Here the Serpent died. The gypsies collected all nine snake heads, buried them next to the heads of the first Snake and crushed them with a heavy stone. He approached the chapel, released the middle royal daughter into freedom and told her as the little horse taught him:
- You will go to the king, your father, and say that it was not me, but those three overseas heroes who freed you. And don't even mention me.
The tsar's middle daughter, Dunno, thanked him and gave him her pearl necklace. Dunno hid this necklace in his hair under a sheep's skin and approached the heroes:
“I didn’t fight the Snakes for gratitude, I don’t need the royal favor, go to the palace and say that you defeated the Snake, and don’t even mention me.”
Again there was a feast in the palace, and again everyone glorified the heroes. How? The middle royal daughter was saved from misfortune.
However, the time of feasts has flown by, and grief is already at the gates again: the youngest daughter of the king must be taken to wife by the most important and most terrible twelve-headed Serpent.
The little horse says to Dunno:
– Everything that has happened so far is not so bad.
It will be more difficult for you with the elder Serpent; you will not be able to cope without me. Wherever I hit with my hoof, hit there... Meanwhile, the heroes agreed among themselves to know nothing. They were afraid of him:
- How could he not tell the king about everything?!
“If the king finds out, he will take back the precious gifts.”
“Let’s give him some sleeping potion.” The Serpent will come out and kill him sleeping...
As said, so done. The heroes met Dunno as if by chance and gave him a foreign potion to drink.
They brought the youngest royal daughter to the seashore to the chapel. She sits and awaits her fate. And suddenly the tsar’s youngest daughter sees: Dunno appears on a horse. Dunno got off his horse, went up to the chapel and said to the Tsar’s daughter:
“Don’t worry, princess, you see: behind the mountain there are three heroes who saved your sisters.” They will save you too. Yes, and I will help them.
Dunno calms the princess as best he can, but his own eyes are already sticking together:
- I want to sleep. Wake me up as soon as you see the Snake.
Dunno said, put his head on the princess’s lap and fell into a deep sleep.
Dunno is sleeping, and the youngest royal daughter is stroking his head. Suddenly the princess sees: a sheep's skin is slipping off Dunno's head, and under it are black gypsy curls and in them is the ring of her older sister and the pearl necklace of her middle sister. Then the princess guessed who saved her sisters from death, understood everything, and again placed the sheep’s skin on Dunno’s head.
Sits, waits.
Suddenly the sea became agitated, the water began to boil, and a terrible twelve-headed Serpent appeared from the water. The princess began to wake up Dunno, but he did not wake up. She pushed him and pricked him with her pin, but he didn’t budge, the foreign potion had completely worn him out. The snake is getting closer and closer. Now he is very close to the chapel. Then the princess cried bitter tears, and as soon as the first tear fell on Dunno’s face, it burned him more powerfully than the flame. Dunno jumped up and saw that a little more and he would have been late.
- Oh, you unfortunate heroes, well, I’ll settle accounts with you later.
Dunno jumped out of the chapel, and a big battle began between him and the Serpent. They fought for an hour, then another - no one could win. Dunno will cut off the Serpent’s head, and in its place another will grow.
They would have fought like this until the Serpent had overcome the gypsy, but then a little horse flies up to the monster and begins to hit him on the tail with its hoof.
- Hit here, here, all his strength is here! - the little horse shouted.
Dunno jumped up to the Snake and cut off its tail in one fell swoop. Then the Snake stopped growing new heads in place of the cut ones, and Dunno chopped the Snake, cutting off all twelve of its heads, one by one.
Dunno approaches the chapel, releases the princess and tells her:
- You see, the snake heads are lying there. It was I who defeated the monster. But I ask you, if you go to your father, don’t say that this is my job. Say, three overseas heroes defeated the Serpent.
Dunno said this, collected the snake heads and put them under a heavy stone, where the heads of the first and second Snakes lay.
Dunno went to the heroes. The heroes were frightened and trembled with fear.
- Well, didn’t you think you’d see me alive?
Don't be afraid, I don't need you. Go and say that you defeated the Snake.
The heroes rejoiced and rushed to the palace as fast as they could.
The king arranged such a feast as the earth had never seen. Everyone was invited to this feast, only Dunno was forgotten.
And the youngest princess, who saw Dunno’s face, fell in love with the gypsy at first sight.
“Father,” asks the youngest princess, “why wasn’t the cook Dunno invited to the feast?”
“I’m afraid, daughter, that he will scare away the guests with his scary appearance.”
The youngest princess began to persuade her father, and he ordered him to find Dunno. They sat him in the worst place, put the worst treat in front of him.
And the feast was in full swing. The guests of the heroes began to ask how they managed to cope with the Snakes, and they, well, let one boast to the other, praise their strength and prowess. The youngest princess listened and listened and said:
“Won’t you show our guests and us where the snake heads lie?”
Let's all go to the seashore. The heroes saw Dunno laying his head under a stone, and immediately showed this place.
“Tell them, father,” the youngest king’s daughter says again, “to show the heads of the snakes, so that everyone can see what a fierce enemy they have defeated.”
The heroes approached the stone, but no matter how much they tried to move it, they could not. Then Dunno came forward, pushed the heroes away with his shoulder and with one hand pushed away this stone like a fur.
He dug up the snake heads and showed them to the king.
The king got angry and ordered that his precious gifts with which he had awarded them be taken away from the heroes.
- And I also wanted to give you my daughters as wives! Come on, guards, drive them headlong and get out of my palace.
The guards of the heroes drove them out of the palace, then the king said:
- Well, my beloved daughters, which of you will marry this young man?
The eldest tsar’s daughter looked at Dunno and turned her head away, what kind of girl would want to marry such a man whose head looked like a sheep’s. And the middle royal daughter also turned away.
- Forgive us, father, we won’t marry him!
- Why are you silent? - the king asks his youngest daughter.
The girl lowered her eyes.
“Even now I’m ready to walk down the aisle with him,” said the youngest Tsar’s daughter, walked up to Dunno and took off his sheep’s skin. Everyone gasped when they saw such a handsome gypsy that you can’t even describe in a fairy tale.
The king blessed them, and they began to live happily, but they never forgot about their little horse.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru