The father had three sons - two smart, the third a fool. One day their father called them and said:
- Such a thing. What should we all do at home? Maybe one of you will go around the world to look for happiness?
OK. The eldest went. His father walked him to the road and wished him good luck. And what happiness befell him, we will see now. The first day passed safely, the second day nothing happened either, on the third day, as luck would have it, he drives up to a crossroads with the inscription: “If you take the first road, the horse will feel good.” If you go the other way, it’s fine. If you take the third one, it’s good for both of you.” The elder brother read this and thought: “Now find out which is the first road, which is the third! I’d better get back home.”
The middle brother went. And when I reached the crossroads, I also thought: “Go and find out which is the first road here, which is the third!” I’d better get back home.”
The fool went. I reached a crossroads, thought, and then decided this: “What is on the right is always right, correct. And what is right is good. So it turns out that the road where both me and the horse will be happy is the right one. I’ll follow it.”
Let's go. I drove a little, casually glanced at the ground and saw an old, torn wallet.
- It doesn’t matter if you’re old! - the fool decided. - Even though it’s old, you can lift it! Once I get some money, you’ll see - there’ll be somewhere to put it.
He got off his horse and picked up his wallet. And the wallet became warped in the sun, became stiff, and wrinkled like a morel. Well, it’s easy to fix a warped thing. I crushed it and rubbed it well. But as soon as the fool crushed his wallet, what a miracle: three dwarfs appeared and asked what he wanted, what he would order?
- What do I want? I want money! Who ties an empty wallet to a belt? Again, who will feed me for nothing on the road? I won’t die of hunger with money, so give me a purse of gold!
One-two – dwarfs with money are right there. What else?
– What else? Show me the way to such a gentleman” where a person will not only earn enough bread, but also get money!
- Okay, okay. Take this road. If you drive for three days, you will see an intersection. Turn to the right and you will get where you need to go.
That's what the fool did. And on the third day, already at sunset, he reached the palace of one king. I hired myself into his service. And the king had a beautiful daughter, his only child. She liked the fool, but will you marry him? Father won't allow it. And the fool fell in love with the king’s daughter - but how could he marry her? The king will send him to hell, but he won’t give up his daughter. So time passed. Well, one day a good idea came to the fool’s head. He crushed the purse, called the dwarfs and ordered the king's daughter to be brought to him. In an instant, the dwarfs and the girl are right there.
“Listen, dear,” says the fool, “won’t you marry me?” I know that my father will not give his consent, but I have to persuade the old man. It’s not for him to live with me all his life, but for you. So why should he resist?
“Okay, okay, boy,” the princess answers, “let’s try to persuade my father.” Here is my ring as a sign that I agree. Perhaps we will manage to get married. And now I have to hurry, the hour is uneven, my father will miss it.
- Hurry, hurry, honey. Just need to give you something for the sake of the conspiracy. Tell you what, take this wallet. Just remember: don’t think too much of him, or three dwarfs will appear and ask for work.
The royal daughter thought of sneaking in unnoticed, but that was not the case! The king noticed that the fool had a daughter. And off we go! . .
-Where were you? What kind of wallet is this? Where did you get it?
“Dear father, good father, you can’t joke with this wallet: if you crush it, dwarfs will appear!”
- Come here, I want to see for myself! There is nothing to do, my daughter handed me the wallet. The king crushed it and the dwarfs appeared. What do you say you order?
“I order you to take the fool to the middle of the sea and put him in a tower without windows, without doors!”
In an instant the wooden tower is ready, and the fool sits in it. The royal daughter is crying and bursting into tears, but there is nothing to do.
The fool got into such trouble. But if you don’t lose your head, use your brain, you can get out of any trouble. That's what happened to the fool. He thought this way, thought it that way, finally took out his little knife and started picking at the wall. He picked and picked, and lo and behold, on the third day he made such a hole that you could stick your little finger through. I spent three more days fiddling around and my head was already coming through. Finally, on the ninth day, the huge hole is ready. He made a rope out of sheets and a blanket and went down to the water itself. But now where to go? Nowhere. Yes, at dawn the fishermen swam up to choose their nets. The fool saw them and screamed at the top of his lungs so that they would take pity on him. The fishermen are kind people, they took the fool and took him to the shore. And although that land was foreign, unfamiliar, it was okay that it was on land.
“Why trample the sand here in vain,” the fool thinks, “I’d rather go into the forest, at least pick some berries.”
Into the forest, so into the forest. Goes there - what miracles! -Who is that quarreling there? He bent down one bush, pushed aside another, came closer, and saw: four friends - a bear, a dog, a bird and an ant - were fighting over the prey.
“Is this really what happens between good friends?!” - shouts the fool.
“But what can we do,” they answer, “if there is no one to divide the spoils between us?”
- What a miracle, let me share it!
The fool began to divide the spoils. He gave the bear the largest bones, the dog - legs, the bird - meat, and the ant - a skull, so that there would be somewhere to hide in bad weather.
The friends liked this division. They each ate their share and said:
“We want to repay you, boy, for such a fair division.” So, if you ever need to become a bear in your life, just shout: “Bear, here!” – and then you’ll turn into a bear. If you need to become a dog, shout: “Dog, here!” – and then you’ll turn into a dog. If you need to become a bird, shout: “Bird, here!” - and then you turn into a bird. If you need to become an ant, shout: “Ant, here!” - and you will immediately turn into an ant.
And that’s all the fool needed. He immediately shouted:
“Dog, here!” – and turned into a dog. The dog ran to the sea and shouted: “Bird, here!” Immediately the dog turned into a bird; A bird flew across the sea, sat under the window of the king's daughter and sang and sang, so sweetly that she involuntarily opened the window. And as soon as she opened the window, the bird flew into the room and turned into a man. Then the fool told everything that happened to him, how he escaped from captivity. When the princess heard about this, she was so overjoyed. It didn’t take them long to rejoice. One vile royal servant overheard at the door and told the king that the fool had flown in like a bird. The king turned green with anger, called people and ordered them to catch the bird, and even began to help. Well, the fool had to show his strength. He shouted: “Bear, here!” – and began to finish off everyone one by one. In the end, he grabbed the king himself and tortured him:
– Will you give your daughter to a fool or not?
- I’ll give it, I’ll give it, just let me go alive! The fool turned into a man again and demanded that the wedding be celebrated tomorrow.
There was nothing to do, the king had to agree.
But as soon as the wedding took place, the king began to plot new intrigues. He contacted the devil and began to incite him to kill his son-in-law. The devil always likes such things, don’t feed him bread, but let him do something like this. Not a day goes by without the devil annoying the royal son-in-law. Finally the fool could not stand it any longer and said to his wife:
“If the devil comes dragging his way again today, then you should get along with him, talk more kindly, and find out where his strength is stored.” And I’ll bring three sticks into the room and hide behind them, turning into an ant, and eavesdrop on everything.
OK. At noon the devil came along. Where is the husband?
- He's not at home today.
The devil didn’t believe it, but then, as he looked around, he believed it. The princess began to talk about this and that in order to find out where the devil had his strength. It's all in vain. Finally she says:
“They told me that you hide your strength in your bosom.” And if someone pulls this power out of his bosom, that’s the end for you. Is this true? A? Is that so?
“No,” the devil answers, “my strength is not in my bosom, but in my bones.” And only a bear can crush my bones. No one else has it.
“Bear, here!” - shouted the ant in the corner. Immediately the ant turned into a bear and killed the devil.
“Didn’t I say that everything will work out for us,” the fool says to his wife. “But there’s still one more thing that needs to be settled: I’ll sneak like an ant again to your father and take my wallet.” He’s mine, why would I give him away?
So I did. And then he took his wife, went to his own father, told him about everything that he had experienced, how he got married. Then he crushed the wallet and ordered the dwarfs:
“Build me a beautiful palace and save me money for the rest of my life!”
The dwarfs did their job and disappeared. And the fool lived happily with his wife.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru