There lived one poor peasant, and he had one son.
The peasant's wife pestered him:
- Teach your son some craft. I don’t want you to remain ignorant like you.
The wife does not give him peace, the peasant had to obey. He took his son and went to look for some master.
On the way to the source, the peasant fell down to the water, drank, drank, and when he got drunk, he raised his head and exclaimed:
- Oh, how good!
Suddenly a devil in the form of a man jumped out of the water and said:
- Why did you call me? Ahkahar is me.
“I didn’t call you, I said: oh, what good water.”
- Anyway, tell me what your need is.
The peasant told him his need. The devil said:
- Give me your son as an apprentice. I will teach him for a year. Come back in a year, you’ll recognize him - good, no - it will remain mine, don’t touch him.
The devil had many such students. Within a year, he changed them so much that the parents did not recognize their children, and they remained forever in the service of the devil.
The peasant did not know this and agreed, left his son to the devil and returned home.
A year has passed. The father came for his son. But there is no devil at home. The peasant sees that there are many young men in the yard about the age of his son, but his son is not among them. The father became depressed: “I won’t recognize it, apparently,” he thought.
Then one young man comes up to him and says:
- It's me, father. Now our master will come and turn us all into pigeons. When we fly away, I will fly ahead of everyone, but when we fly back, I will fall behind. The owner, who is your son, will ask you, and point to me.
The father was delighted and was waiting for the master with hope.
The master appeared, turned all the students into pigeons, and they took off in front of the peasant’s eyes.
The pigeons flew back, but the peasant's son fell behind, flying behind everyone.
- Well, find out who your son is? - says the devil.
The peasant immediately pointed to the last pigeon.
The devil got angry and realized that the student himself had taught his father, but what could be done, he had to return his son to the peasant.
Father and son are walking.
- What did the master teach you? - asked the father.
As soon as he said this, the son jumped into a thorny bush, and a golden egg rolled out of it.
The old man chased after the egg, but it got caught in the thorns and he couldn’t get it out. The son jumped out of the bushes, and his father said to him:
- Apparently, you are not happy, there was a golden egg very close, but it rolled into thorns.
As soon as the father said this, the son jumped into the bushes, and a golden hen ran along the ground, waddling. The old man chased after her, did not catch up, but his son returned to him again.
“Oh, you have no happiness,” the old man sighed again.
And suddenly he sees a golden hare running. The hare chased after him, the hare also went into the bushes, and from there the son came out.
The old man got angry:
- What did the master teach you? Like happiness - you are not there, but happiness is gone - you are right there.
“Don’t be angry, father,” said the son. - And the golden hare, and the golden hen, and the egg - it was all me.
The old man was happy, and they moved on. We went out into the field. They see: the princes are hunting. They set a lot of hounds on one hare, but they can’t catch it.
The son says to his father:
- You go through the forest, drive out the hare, I will turn into a hound and catch him in front of the princes. The princes will pester you - they will ask you to sell me, you don’t agree for a long time, ask for more - they will give you any price. Then I will find time, run and catch up with you.
And so they did: the father went into the forest, drove out the hare, the son turned into a hound, chased the hare and, in front of the princes’ eyes, grabbed it so deftly that the princes almost went crazy. They rushed to their father, shouting: “Whether you like it or not, sell the dog!”
The peasant refused for a long time, but when the price was greatly raised, he agreed, took the money and gave the dog. The princes took her on a chain and led her away.
The princes scared another hare and sent a new hound at him, which chased the hare, ran away and, disappearing from the eyes of the new owners, turned into a young man again.
The son soon caught up with his father. Father and son are walking.
“We still have to get money somehow,” said the son.
They go and see another group of princes, these are busy with falconry. They let falcons loose on the pheasant, they fly around and never catch it.
The young man turned into a falcon, the falcon leaped in front of all the princes, and grabbed the pheasant. The princes went crazy, they liked the falcon so much. They shout to the peasant: “Whether you like it or not, give me the falcon!”
The peasant gave them a good squeeze here too, and when the princes increased the price, he gave the falcon back and went home.
On the way, the princes released the falcon on another pheasant. The falcon flew and flew, flew away, disappeared from the eyes of its new owners, sank to the ground, turned into a man and began to catch up with its father.
A father and son are walking, carrying money, but everything seems not enough to the son, so he says to his father:
“I’ll become a horse, mount me, go to the city and sell me, just remember, don’t give me to the motley-eyed man, and if you give me away, sell me without a bridle, otherwise you know, you’ll ruin me.”
No sooner said than done. The son turned into a beautiful horse, his father sat on him and drove him to the city.
Buyers pounced on the horse, and one motley-eyed one bargained most of all: he piled up so much gold that he completely covered the horse with gold.
The old man could not resist and sold the horse to the motley-eyed man. He took the reins, but his father did not give up.
Motley-eyed, and it was the devil, raised a cry: “How is it possible to give away a horse for such a price and without a bridle!”
What to do? I had to give up the bridle too. The devil mounted his horse and galloped him off: he didn’t ride, he flew with joy that he had returned his student so easily.
I arrived home, drove the horse into the stable and locked it tightly.
The student feels sad and sees that there is nowhere to wait for help. Time passes and he can't think of anything.
One day he noticed a ray of sun in the darkness, looked closer and saw a small gap in the wall.
He turned around as a mouse and climbed out. The owner saw this, turned into a cat, and chased the mouse. A mouse is running, a cat is chasing it, it’s about to catch up, and the mouse turns into a fish and dives into the water.
The owner rushed after her with a net. A fish swims and its net overtakes it; Then the fish turned into a pheasant and soared into the sky. The owner rushed after him like a kite.
A pheasant is flying, a kite is catching up with it, and is about to sink its claws into it. The student turned into a red apple and fell straight into the king’s basket. And the devil turned into a knife in the hands of the king.
Just as the king was about to cut the apple, the student scattered grain. The devil turned into a hen with chickens, and they began to peck the grain.
All the grain was pecked out, the hen was just about to peck the last grain when it rolled like a needle.
Immediately a thread was threaded through the ear; the thread wrapped around the needle, about to fasten it, and the needle jumped into the fire - and passed through it.
The thread burned, and the needle came out of the fire as it was.
This is how the student destroyed his master.
Having gotten rid of the devil, the young man went to his father, and they lived happily together.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru