Once upon a time, there lived a widow. And she had three daughters. One day the girls went into the forest. The sisters walk through the forest, pick berries and talk to each other.
“If the prince married me,” says the elder sister, “I would prepare food for a whole army from three barley grains.”
“And I would weave clothes for the whole army from three flax fibers,” says the middle one.
The younger one was silent, and then said:
“And if the prince took me as his wife, then I would give birth to three golden sons for him three times: golden hands from the wrist, silver legs from the knee, a month on the temples, the sun on the top of the head, a heavenly star on each hair.”
And just at this time the prince was hunting in those places. He overheard the girls' conversation and decided to marry his younger sister. I came home and asked my father for his blessing to get married. The father did not argue and blessed his son. The prince married his younger sister, and took the eldest and middle ones into the palace as well.
They lived for some time, the queen gave birth to three wonderful sons: golden arms from the wrist, silver legs to the knees, a month on the temples, the sun on the top of the head, a celestial star on each hair. As promised. And the prince was away at that time. The Tsar Father went to look for the midwife. He walks along the road, meets him Suoyatar, bows to the king:
-Where are you going, king-breadwinner?
- I went to look for the midwife.
- Take me!
He took it. And Suoyatar knew what kind of children were born to the queen. She ran home, as if for a broom, and grabbed three little mice. She came to the queen, took her wonderful sons, and replaced them with three little mice. And she took the children to a green field, to a yellow field, under a white stone. She herself went to the king and said sarcastically:
- Go look who the queen gave birth to: there are three lousy mice there.
The prince arrives home. He was saddened when he learned what kind of children his wife gave birth to, but there was nothing to do. Some time passes, the prince leaves again on his royal business, but his wife remains at home. Again at this time, three sons were born to her, such handsome men: golden arms from the wrist, silver legs to the knees, a month on their temples, the sun on the top of their heads, a celestial star on each hair.
Again the king went to look for the midwife. The daughter-in-law tells him:
- Don’t take, father, the one you come across first, take the second one.
The king is walking along a forest path, and Suoyatar meets him:
- Hello, king-breadwinner, where are you going?
- I’m going to look for the midwife.
- Take me!
- I won’t take it. The daughter-in-law did not order to take the one that came first.
Suoyatar quickly ran through the forest and again came out onto the road, walking towards the king, asking to be a midwife. The king did not recognize her. Brings you home. And she has already saved three crows.
Suoyatar placed the crows on the queen, took the wonderful sons and carried them, as the first time, to a green field, to a yellow field, under a white stone.
The prince returned home, became even more saddened, and decided to see what would happen the third time. Again he leaves on his own business, his wife is left alone. A little time passed, she gave birth to three sons, as beautiful as before. For the third time the king goes for the midwife.
The prince's wife says to him:
- Do not take, Father Tsar, the grandmother of either the first or second person you meet, take the third.
And Syoyatar is right there:
- Hello, king-breadwinner, where are you going?
- I’m going to look for the midwife.
- Take me!
“My daughter-in-law didn’t tell me to take the first person I met.” I won't take you!
Suoyatar ran through the forest, again came out to meet the king, but this time he did not take her as a midwife. Suoyatar walked forward, made a circle again, and for the third time came across the king. The king did not even know that this was the same woman, so he took her. This time Suoyatar captured three puppies, comes with them to the bathhouse, and there are only two sons there. The prince’s wife knew that Suoyatar would not give up on her, that she would come and take away her sons, so she hid one son under her braids.
Suoyatar shouts at her:
- Where is the third son, where did she hide it?
- There is no third, there were only two.
Suoyatar took these sons to the same place: into a green field, onto a yellow field, under a white stone.
The prince returned from his trip and was angry with his wife. And Suoyatar tells him:
- This is how your wife cleverly deceived you, promised golden sons, but gave birth to little mice, crows and puppies. We must kill her!
And the prince ordered to make a barrel with iron hoops, put his wife in it and throw it into the sea. And so they did. And the insidious Suoyatar rejoices. He says to the prince:
“If you took me as your wife, I would bring you eight golden sons: golden hands from the wrist, silver legs to the knees, a month on the temples, the sun on the top of the head, a celestial star on each hair.”
But the prince does not want to marry Suoyatar - he is sick of looking at her. And yet he did not send her away. So Suoyatar remained at the royal court to wait in the wings.
A mother and son swim on the sea, carrying them along the waves. The son is growing in a barrel by leaps and bounds. How much or how little time has passed, they themselves don’t know. Then one day they hear that a barrel seems to be hitting the shore, hitting pebbles. Son says:
- Let me break the barrel, mother, I want to look at the sun and breathe some fresh air!
“No need, son, we’ll drown.”
“We won’t drown—the shore is close.”
He asked and asked, and his mother allowed it. The son straightened up, rested his feet on the bottom - it flew out. They came ashore and saw a deserted island. The son took a silk scarf from his mother, struck it crosswise three times and said:
“Let a palace stand in this place no worse than the royal one!”
And a palace grew up on a deserted island, they have plenty of everything, they live and know no need. The son notices that his mother is sad, sad about something, and cries often. He began to ask what was wrong with her. The queen told her son:
-You have eight brothers just like you. Suoyatar took them from me when they were very young, and I haven’t seen them since.
Son says:
- Don't worry, mom. Bake me nine koloboks using breast milk and sew nine shirts. I'll go look for my brothers.
- Don’t go, son, Suoyatar will destroy you too!
“Now it won’t destroy me, since I couldn’t do it before.” The mother baked nine koloboks and sewed nine shirts.
The son put on one shirt, threw the bun on the ground and hit the road. Wherever the bun rolls, there it goes. The bun rolled onto the seashore. The son struck the silk handkerchief three times in a criss-cross manner - a silver bridge with copper railings appeared. He walked across this bridge, and the bun rolled further, across a green field, through a yellow cornfield and rolled into a rock crevice. The fellow looks - and there is a house there. He went into the house - eight young men were sleeping on the floor - all exactly the same as him: golden arms from the wrist, silver legs to the knees, a month on the temples, the sun on the top of the head, a celestial star on each hair. He put a kolobok and a shirt at the head of each person, and he hid behind the stove. In the morning the brothers wake up and wonder where the koloboks and shirts came from. Try the koloboks - delicious:
– It seems as if these koloboks were baked in mother’s milk!
We tried on the shirts and they fit everyone:
“It seems as if my own mother sewed these shirts.” Then the ninth brother comes out from behind the stove and says:
- I am your brother, I have come for you! Eat these koloboks, put on your shirts, I will take you home to your mother.
The brothers were delighted, got ready for the journey and all went together to their mother. Where they pass, the dark forest brightens. And the mother, when she saw them, began to cry and wail with joy.
They lived a glorious life, without sadness and grief.
Beggars walked there and collected alms. They saw a bridge and walked along it. They look - there is a rich palace on the island. They approached the palace and marveled. Here nine wonderful fellows, unprecedented handsome men, come out of the palace. They took the beggars into the house, received them as guests, fed them, and gave them something to drink. The beggars stayed for a while and got ready to go back. And the queen gave them all sorts of good things with her. It happened that beggars were passing by the royal palace. The king saw them and called them to him:
- Come in, good people, tell us what you saw and heard.
- We have something to tell. We walked and walked around the world, got tired, came to the seashore to rest, and saw a silver bridge with copper railings. We walked across the bridge and ended up on the island. It used to be a deserted island. And now on that island the palace is better than the royal one! Nine young men came out of the palace, all handsome, one to one: hands golden from the wrist, legs silver to the knees, a month on each temple, the sun shining on the top of the head, a heavenly star on each hair! And their mother is pretty and affectionate. Birds sing in their garden and strange trees grow. They treated us wonderfully there and gave us some extra to take with us!
The Tsarevich thought about it, he was overcome by melancholy, it turns out that this is his wife and sons. He asks the beggars to take him to the island to that palace. They set off on their journey. They approach the palace and are met by nine wonderful brothers. And immediately everything around me began to shine, sparkle, it even hurt my eyes. And after the young men the mother comes out. The prince recognized his wife here, fell on his knees in front of her, asks for forgiveness, and calls him home. His wife answers him:
“You and I won’t go, Suoyatar will destroy us!”
– Don’t worry about this! - says the prince.
And everyone leaves with the prince. The son takes a silk scarf from his mother, strikes her three times crosswise - the palace is gone. They cross the bridge, the son hits again - and the bridge disappears.
As Suoyatar saw the wonderful young men and their mother and father with them, she cannot even say a word. She quickly disappeared out of sight, through backyards, backyards - and reached the forest. By the time they realized it, there was no trace of her.
And the prince arranged such a feast as had never been seen in this kingdom. And I was there. They gave me patterned mittens, a pea whip, and a wax horse. I drove past the priest's threshing floor - the threshing floor caught fire. My horse melted from the heat, my patterned mittens burned, and the chickens pecked off my pea whip. So my property was lost, and that’s the end of my fairy tale.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru