Once upon a time there lived a book-reading monk, he read during the day, did not sleep at night, just rummaged through books until he read that there was a high rock there and there, and in that rock great wealth was hidden. And a magic lamp. Only a boy of seven years old can take possession of all these riches.
The monk went to a neighboring village to look for a seven-year-old boy. He sees a shepherd tending sheep. A monk approached him and asked:
- Boy, boy, how old are you?
“I don’t know exactly, but my mother said it was seven years, seven months and seven weeks.”
- Eh, you’re great! - the monk praised him, - do you want to go with me to that rock to get the birds? There are a lot of birds there, but so what if I couldn’t climb up that rock? The monk promises the boy all sorts of things, and he himself leads him further into the forest. The boy suddenly realized that trouble awaited him.
“Where is this,” he says, “are you taking me?”
“Let’s go, let’s go, we’ll be there soon,” the monk answers.
The boy doesn’t know the way back, he trudges after the monk, trembling with fear. But they finally came to a huge rock. And it is open.
- Come here, boy! - the monk calls him. - Climb into this cave, you will find a rich treasure there, take as much as your heart desires, and just grab for me the lamp that hangs on a rusty nail! - and pushed him. “Look,” the monk added, “as soon as I call you, come out, otherwise you will remain there forever!”
Whether you like it or not, the boy climbed into the cave. He wanders in the dark, sees light, and the further he goes, it becomes lighter and more beautiful: silver trees, silver grass, golden flowers, and on the path there are gem stones. The boy was confused - he didn’t know what to take first! He began to collect pebbles and play with them. Here the monk shouts from above:
- Get out, boy, get out!
But he doesn’t hear, he keeps playing with pebbles. A minute later the monk shouts again:
- Get out!
The boy either didn’t hear or was faking it. The monk shouted for the third time:
- Come out!
But then everything around began to rumble, as if a hundred thunders had thundered at once, and the entrance to the rock closed with a terrible noise. The shepherd boy didn’t notice anything, didn’t even look back, he knew he was playing. He walked and walked and came to the palace.
So seven years passed, but it seemed to the shepherd that only seven hours had flown by. Finally, the boy collected a bag full of gemstones to play with at home, and wanted to get out of the cave. Suddenly he sees an old lamp hanging on a rusty nail!
“I’ll take you with me, old lady,” says the shepherd boy, “you’ll need to light the barn, anyway, we don’t have another lamp.”
I wanted to get out, but I couldn’t see a way out, it was pitch black, I couldn’t see anything. He was scared to death, rummaging around, grabbing at everything. I accidentally touched my jacket with a lamp and suddenly heard a voice:
- Anything, my lord? Frightened, the boy replied:
- So that the rock opens!
The rock immediately opened, the boy ran out, and the rock closed again with a terrible roar. The monk was no longer there. And how could he sit there for seven years?
Our little shepherd wandered and wandered through the mountains and forests until he met a man.
“Good man, do you happen to know where my father the swineherd lives?” – asked him nastushok.
“What are you talking about, son,” he replies, “after all, every village has its own swineherd.” Who knows which one is your father?
The shepherd wandered further and finally reached the place where he had once grazed his sheep, and from there it was not far from home.
He came home, and his father had died long ago, only his poor mother came to meet him, she hardly recognized her son, he had grown so tall in seven years. The son told her about everything that had happened to him, threw the lamp into the corner, took out pebbles from the bag, and got ready to play.
The merchant saw these stones, and the shepherdess hovered around him and hovered.
“Sell me those pebbles,” he pesters.
- How much will you give for a piece?
“Four pennies,” the merchant answers.
– If it’s four pennies, take it all!
The reseller gives the boy money, and he is glad that he received such money for no reason.
Another time the boy comes out to play with pebbles, and the merchant is right there again.
Just for fun, the boy asked for one hundred gold pieces for his stones! And he, without thinking, hands him money. Our boy was happy:
“Mom,” he says, “now I can get married.” There is money for farming! I have a hundred gold ringing in my pocket!
- Well, look, look for some girl! - his mother answers him. The shepherd boy went to one, went to another - either he was not nice to those girls, or they were to him.
And time goes by. The money ran out and the stones ran out, there was nothing left, only poverty and an old lamp in the corner.
“Oh, mom,” the guy says one day, “I completely forgot about that lamp, I’ll go clean it and sell it.” They'll probably give you more for a clean one.
He takes the lamp in his hands and lets rub it with a rag:
- What do you order, all-powerful king? – a voice was suddenly heard from the lamp.
- Am I the all-powerful king? “Look, you’ve decided to mock me,” the shepherd boy got angry and threw the lamp back into the corner.
Only the thought about that rest lamp keeps him from thinking. He took it and rubbed it again - again the voice was heard:
- What do you order, all-powerful king?
Our boy realized that the lamp was magic and said:
- Nothing, just a handful of such stones as I had. And then a pile of golden stones appeared in front of him.
- Eh, mom! Now I will definitely get married! - the shepherd boy says to his mother. - Take the stones, bring them as a gift to our king, marry me a princess.
Mother appeared at the royal castle.
“My son,” she says to the king, “blesses you and sends you stones as a gift.” And he also asks if you would give him your daughter as a wife?
The king was angry that this hillbilly dared to woo his daughter, but the king really liked the stones.
“Okay,” he replies, if your son is so rich, let him come for the bride himself tomorrow.
The mother returned home and told her son everything. The son rubbed the lamp.
- What do you order, all-powerful king? – a voice was heard.
- Tomorrow, by morning, while I’m sleeping, so that I have a copper dress, a horse and a copper army!
In the morning the son opens his eyes - and everything is ready!
He mounted a winged copper horse and flew with his army to fetch the bride. In the forest I met the king, and he was all in silver and had a silver army.
The king saw that the groom was only in copper, turned back, and did not even want to talk to him.
- Why would that be? - The shepherd boy was surprised and also returned home. He rubbed the lamp and asked:
“Why didn’t the king even talk to me?”
“And because, omnipotent king,” the lamp answers, “he was in silver clothes, and you were only in copper.”
“Well, if that’s the case, prepare me a silver dress, a horse and an army for tomorrow.” In the morning he jumped on a silver horse and flew to the king. The king came out to meet him, all gilded, and saw that the shepherd in silver turned home. At home, the shepherd rubbed the lamp and asked:
- For some reason the king did not allow me to see him again?
- Yes, because he does not want to give his daughter to someone who is poorer than him! You need to put on a golden dress, then you will get it!
- Let me have a golden dress by morning!
On the third day, the whole forest lit up when a shepherd boy in golden clothes and on a golden horse met that king. That king’s dress was only gilded, but our shepherdess’s was red gold! The shepherd king had to give his daughter as a wife.
Our shepherd disbanded his golden army and took the king's daughter to his home. Why deceive, because all he has is a wrecked hut! They began to approach the village, and the shepherd said to his wife:
- Look, wife! To this meadow you will carry a pot of grub for me when I begin to herd the sheep.
They came to the hut and lay down with the princess to sleep on the straw. The princess fell asleep, and the shepherd rubbed the lamp:
- What do you order, all-powerful king? – a voice was heard.
- Nothing special. Build me a castle so that it hangs from the sky on a silver chain, and take my wife to that castle on a silk bed.
What I commanded was fulfilled! The royal daughter's eyes widen in surprise; she doesn't understand whether she's asleep or awake. And her husband tells her that she is the complete mistress of this castle. And so they lived together on good terms and good terms.
Meanwhile, the bookish monk read everything and did not sleep at night, and finally read in his books that the shepherd boy took possession of a magic lamp and became a rich gentleman. The monk was overcome by evil, and he began to think about how he could get that lamp. Dressed as a ragpicker, he walks down the street and shouts:
– I buy old things and exchange them for new ones! He came to the castle and began asking for old lamps:
“There’s one here, it’s been lying around since when,” Pastukhov’s mother answered him, and replaced the old lamp with a new one.
The son returned home, and she boasted to him:
- Look, son, today I made a good fortune - I got a new one for the old lamp that was lying in the corner!
- Oh, mother, what have you done! That's all I needed! – he groaned. The son knew that that old lamp was magic.
And at that very moment they found themselves on a pile of garbage. Why? Yes, because the monk rubbed the lamp!
- What do you order, false king? – the lamp asked the monk.
“Take the castle with the princess over the Black Sea and hang it over the sea on a golden nail on a silver chain.” Let it hang.
As ordered, so it happened. The shepherd was left without a castle and without a wife. And then the king was angry that his daughter had disappeared and wanted to execute the shepherdess. The shepherd persuades him, promising to find both the castle and his wife even at the end of the world.
Our shepherd boy got ready and walked through the mountains and forests. He walked and walked until he reached some hut.
“That’s good,” he thought, “at least once again I’ll spend the night under a roof, maybe I’ll find out something about my wife.”
I entered and the hut was empty. Only a hunched old woman sits in the corner.
-What do you want, good man? - she asks the guest.
“I’m looking for a place to stay for the night,” the guy answers, “and I also want to know if you’ve heard about my missing castle and wife?”
“I’ve never heard of your castle and your wife,” said the old woman. The Wind, my son, may be the one who knows, it blows through all the forests and mountains, it happens that it uproots hundred-year-old trees in our hearts and gets into all the hiding places. But beware of him and run away, because as soon as he smells you, he will immediately eat you! ; - Whatever happens, cannot be avoided, grandma! Hide me somewhere, maybe your son will take pity on my misfortune.
- Okay, if you want to, stay!
The old woman hid it in a dark corner. And soon the forest wind arrived.
- Ugh, it smells like a man here! – he roared at the door. - Give him here, mother, where did you put him?
- Where, son, do we have a man? - his mother calms him down. - You yourself know that from your breath a worm in the ground dies, not like a person!
- Well, well, don’t hide it, he’s hiding in the corner. Come out, come out, boy, what do you want here?
The poor shepherd boy crawled out of the corner, stood in front of the giant, standing like a little boy.
“Oh,” he says, “I need advice in my trouble.” Where should I look for my castle?
– I haven’t met him. But you, apparently, are a brave man, I forgive you and will help you get to my brother the Steppe Wind, he blows in the deserts. You'll quickly find what you're looking for there.
Everything in the house became quiet, the shepherd fell asleep peacefully, and in the morning the Wind showed him how to get out of the dense forests onto the road.
The shepherd boy got out of the forest and found himself in a vast desert - no end, no edge. I wandered for a long time until I came across a house. An old woman, the Wind’s mother, meets him on the doorstep, but she doesn’t want to leave him overnight; she explains that her son is the Desert Wind, even more evil than the Forest Wind. He won't have mercy on the shepherdess!
But the shepherd boy persuaded her, and the old woman hid him in a corner and covered him with an apron.
Suddenly, someone whistles on the street, as if three hundred shepherds blew on their fingers at once. And this is the Wind approaching the house and shouting from afar:
“Mom, get this little man out of the corner, you’re hiding him in vain.” I smelled it when I was getting out of the forest and into the field.
“Well, well, don’t be angry,” the old woman calms him down, “after all, this man came from your brother to ask you for advice.”
- Okay, let me look at him! - answered the Wind and the shepherd boy, emboldened, got out of his corner and stood in front of the giant.
The shepherd boy told the Wind about his misfortune, but the Wind knows nothing about his castle and advises him to go to the third brother - the sea Wind.
In the morning the Wind showed the shepherdess where to go, and he himself went in the other direction, so as not to hit him at any time if he got angry.
Our shepherd has gone. Everything goes on and on, it doesn’t stop anywhere, and by evening he ended up on the seashore in a small hut. The mother of the Sea Wind greeted him kindly, because her son, although he was the most terrible among his brothers, showed his fierce temper only at sea. By nightfall he always calmed down, and he returned home calm and willingly helped everyone who needed his advice.
The shepherdess saw the Wind, greeted him warmly, and ordered him to tell him everything in order.
“Well, well,” said the Sea Wind, after listening to the shepherdess. “You’re not only looking for your castle, but also a magic lamp!” So know this: your castle hangs over the sea, and your wife is there, and the treacherous monk is forcing her to marry him. The magic lamp is in his hands. I don’t know, I don’t know how you’ll get her back. If the lamp itself doesn’t help you, nothing will work out for you. Walk along the seashore. You will see a well. The monk was resting near the toto well when he walked by. If the lamp loves you, then it will give you some sign.
The shepherd boy thanked the Wind and early in the morning went to look for a well.
He walks along the seashore and suddenly sees a girl dancing. He rushed after the girl, he wanted to catch her, but she - oops! And she jumped into the well. He catches her in the water, but in vain! He took his hand out of the water, and on his finger was a wedding ring. I turned the ring and it said:
- Why did you forget your lamp? A monk came, bought that lamp and now keeps it. Know that I am a small particle from that lamp.
The shepherd was delighted:
- My dear ring, how did you get here?
– The magic lamp does not want to serve the monk for anything. She still helps you. A monk walked past a well, bent down to drink water from the well, and the lamp was hanging on his neck, it caught on a stone, it came off and fell into the well. The monk looked and looked for me, but could not find me. Now don’t be afraid of anything, I will help you get to the lamp. Turn me around and wish I was in the castle.
The shepherd turned the ring and wished to be in the castle. And at that very moment I entered the castle.
He sees that the gardener is planting roses. The shepherd boy began to ask him to become his apprentice. The gardener took it willingly.
The shepherd works in the garden for several weeks, but no one recognizes him.
But then the first rose bloomed. The shepherd brings it to the princess. For the first time since she came to the monk, the princess smiled, but did not recognize her husband. The next day he brought her a second rose, she smiles again, but doesn’t recognize him. He brought the third one - she asks him:
-Who are you going to be?
“What, my dear, don’t you recognize me?” I am your husband. She took a closer look and threw herself on his neck.
- How did you get here? The shepherd boy told her everything.
The monk at that time, according to his custom, was hunting. The husband and wife consulted on how to take possession of the magic lamp, because the monk always wore it around his neck.
The monk came home, the princess pretended to be ill and asked that they prepare a bath for her. The monk did everything. The princess took a bath and the illness disappeared. She began to caress the monk and he fell asleep soundly, and the lamp, as always, hung on a cord around his neck. The princess crept up and wanted to grab the lamp, and the monk woke up and grabbed her hand. But he was overcome by sleep again. The princess slowly approached, cut the cord, took off the lamp and took it to her husband. He rubbed the lamp:
- Eh, all-powerful king, it’s been a long time since we met! What do you want? - says the lamp.
“And I will order, dear lamp, that my castle be in its original place!” I’ll order the scoundrel monk to be thrown into the sea!
No sooner said than done. The fish ate the monk, and lo and behold, the castle! – hangs in its place again and sparkles with gold.
The old king looked at that place every morning to see if the golden castle was hanging on a nail. Oh, and he was delighted when he saw the castle in the rays of the morning sun! But he was even more delighted when he saw that his children were coming to him in a golden carriage! He rushed to meet them, and there were kisses and hugs!
They gave a feast to the whole world! The party went on for three whole months.
The shepherd boy became a powerful king and lived happily with his little wife. If none of them died, that means they are still alive.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru