Once upon a time there lived a widowed king; he had twelve daughters, each better than the other. Every night these princesses left, and no one knew where; Every day they wore out a new pair of shoes. The king did not have shoes ready for them, and he wanted to know where they go at night and what they do?
So he held a feast, summoned kings and princes, nobles and merchants and ordinary people from all lands and asked: can anyone solve this riddle for him? Whoever solves it will give his beloved daughter in marriage and half his kingdom as a dowry.
No one undertakes to find out where the princesses go at night; One poor nobleman volunteered.
- Your Royal Majesty! I'll find out.
- Okay, find out!
Afterwards the poor nobleman came to his senses and said to himself:
- What have I done? I set out to find out, but I don’t know anything! If I don’t find out now, the king will put me under guard.
He left the palace outside the city, walked - he was unwinding and sad; an old woman comes across him and asks:
- What are you thinking about, good fellow? He responded:
- How can I, grandma, not think about it? I asked the king to find out where his daughters go at night.
- Yes, this is a difficult matter! Only you can find out. Here's your invisibility hat, you won't be able to see anything with it! Yes, remember: when you go to bed, the princesses will give you sleepy drops to drink; and you turn to the wall and pour it into your bed, but you can’t drink!
The poor nobleman thanked the old woman and returned to the palace.
The time is approaching night; They gave him a room next to the one in which the princesses slept. He lay down on the bed, and is going to guard it himself. Then one princess brings sleepy drops in wine and asks him to drink to her health. I couldn’t refuse, I took the glass, turned to the wall and poured it into the bed.
At midnight the princesses came to see if he was sleeping? The poor nobleman pretended to be soundly, soundly asleep, and he himself was watching for every rustle.
- Well, sisters! Our guards fell asleep; It's time for us to go to the walkway.
- It's time! It's time!
So they dressed up in their best clothes; The elder sister went to her bed, pushed it aside - and suddenly a passage opened into the underworld to the sworn king. They began to go down the stairs; the poor nobleman quietly got out of bed, put on his invisibility cap and followed them. The youngest princess accidentally stepped on her dress, she got scared and said to her sisters:
- Oh, sisters, it’s like someone stepped on my dress; This sign prophesies trouble for us.
- And, that's enough! Nothing will happen.
We went down the stairs into the grove, in that grove golden flowers grow. The poor nobleman took and broke one branch - the whole grove began to rustle.
“Oh, sisters,” says the youngest princess, “something bad promises us!” Can you hear the grove rustling?
- Don’t be afraid, it’s the sworn king’s music that’s thundering!
They come to the palace, the king and his courtiers meet them; the music started playing and they started dancing; They danced until their shoes were torn.
The king ordered the wine to be poured and served to the guests. The poor nobleman took one glass from the tray, drank the wine, and put the glass in his pocket.
The party is over; The princesses said goodbye to the gentlemen and promised to come the next night; They returned home, undressed and went to bed.
In the morning the king calls the poor nobleman:
- What, did you keep watch for my daughters?
- On guard, Your Majesty!
-Where do they go?
- To the underworld to the sworn king, where they dance all night.
The king called his daughters and began to interrogate them:
-Where were you last night? The princesses are locked:
- We haven’t been anywhere!
“Didn’t you visit the sworn king?” Here is a poor nobleman pointing at you, trying to incriminate you.
- Where can he, father, convict us, when he slept like a dead sleep all night?
The poor nobleman took a golden flower and a glass from his pocket.
“Here,” he says, “the evidence is there!”
What to do here? The princesses confessed to their father; the king ordered the passage to the underworld to be filled up, and he married the poor nobleman to his youngest daughter, and they all began to live happily ever after.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru