There was, and there was nothing - two brothers lived in the world. Both were married, but one had children and the other did not. So they lived together well and amicably. But now the younger brother’s children have grown up, and his wife says to him: “We need to separate from our brother, he and his wife are already old, what’s the use of them!” The husband got angry:
- What are you doing, wife, how can you! Where should they go, old people? While they were young, they toiled like oxen, worked for us and for our children, and now, when they are old and sick, should we drive them away? - No and no! - says the wife. - If you don’t break up with your brother, I’ll go and throw myself into the river and kill myself. What should I do? The husband went and told his brother everything.
The childless brother became sad, they said: “Why do you want to drive me away in my old age?” I'm already on the verge of death. I am your brother, it will be considered a sin to you. We won’t devour you, my share is not like the old woman and I, it will feed the whole family, and I don’t have children, I won’t take what’s mine to the grave, everything will remain for your children!.. “What should I do,” says the brother. “I myself don’t want to part with you, but my wife is completely fed up, she’s threatening to kill herself. What’s left for a childless brother?” He went, told his wife everything, and the next day they set off on their journey. They didn’t take anything with them, so they left empty-handed.
They walked and walked and came to a forest. They began to look for shelter in this forest.
We wandered around like this for two days, and on the third we found an old abandoned house. They entered, the owners were nowhere to be seen, but there was enough bread and wine to last for many years. The old man and the old woman say: “Well, apparently, this is the deva’s goodness. He will come, eat us, at least save us from torment.” They began to live. They lived like this for a month or two. Time passes. Many months have passed without seeing the owner. The old man and the old woman live quietly and calmly in a new place, only sometimes they get bored: “We’ll die, who will close our eyes, who will bury us?” More time passed, and the old woman sensed that her child was moving in her womb. They were happy and waiting.
The time has come, and the old woman has a daughter, and what a daughter she is: she laughs - roses and violets bloom around her, so much so that even a dying person will be healed from their charm and aroma; When she cries, tears fall like pearls. That’s how they live. As soon as the child cries, pearls will fall, the old man will pick it up, sell it, buy everything he needs. The old man and his daughter lived happily and comfortably. The old man built the castle for his daughter.
Time passes. My daughter has grown up and become a beautiful girl, such that if you just look at her, you will forget everything in the world.
One day the son of the king of that country went hunting. The king's son hunted all day long, along with all his advisers and hunters, and killed only one pheasant.
In the evening the king’s son says: “Go and fry this pheasant anywhere.” We'll spend the night here and hunt some more tomorrow. Don't return to the palace with just a pheasant!
One hunter took a pheasant and went to look for where to fry it. He reached the old man’s home. Entered. The old man received him properly and treated him to food. The guest said: “I am a servant of the king’s son, so I must roast this pheasant for him.” The old man wanted to take the pheasant to fry, but the hunter did not let him: “I must cook it for the master myself.” They lit a fire, the hunter put the pheasant on a spit and began to fry it. Then the old man’s daughter came in. The hunter looked at her and was lost in wonder. The girl is standing there, and he is looking, he can’t take his eyes off it, and the bird is burnt on the coals.
What to do? The hunter stood up and carried the burnt bird. The king’s son looked and said: “Why is your pheasant so burnt?” “It’s my fault, sir,” says the hunter, “there the old man greeted me so well, he asked you to visit him too.” I wanted to give the pheasant to the family to fry, but I didn’t give it, I decided that I would cook it for you myself. And while he was roasting, the old man’s daughter came in, such a beauty, I couldn’t take my eyes off her - I stared at it, and my bird burned.
The king's son went with all his advisers to visit the old man. The old man was delighted with the guests and greeted them with all honor. Everything that was in the house was served on the table. And as they began to sit down at the table, the old man took a jug of water, began to go around the guests to pour it on their hands. He approached the king’s son, but he refused: “I won’t let the old man pour water on me.” Surely you have someone younger, let them pour. Then the old man’s wife took the water, walked around the guests, and the king’s son did not allow her to pour it for himself. The king's son wanted the old man's daughter to give him water.
The old men called their daughter. A girl came in carrying a jug of water, and the king’s son, as soon as he looked at her, froze and lost consciousness. The girl laughed, looking at him, and roses and violets were sent around. These roses and violets brought the young man to his senses, and they all sat down at the table.
They had dinner, and the young man began to ask the old man to give him his daughter as a wife. The old man said: “My lord, we are not worth it, but if it is your will, who is it better for us to wish for?” The king’s son rejoiced. That same night he got engaged to the beauty, and the next morning he went to his family with the good news. And the parents agree: “If it’s according to your heart, then we won’t go against it.” This king had one evil guy. And the guy had a bad daughter - Chernavka. So the evil guy decided to give this daughter of his in marriage to the king’s son.
The guy volunteered to go for the bride, and as soon as he got into the carriage, he hid his grimy girl in the back, and the raven, the dark-haired girl, took it with him. They arrived, took the bride, and they were taking her. The guy took two jugs of water with him. He asked his dear bride to eat salty food - the girl was dying of thirst. She asks: “Give me at least a drop of water.” And the guy: “Where can I get water here in the deep forest?” “Give me water, take whatever you want in return,” the girl begs. “If you just give me your eye, I’ll get you water,” says the guy. “Take the eye, just let me drink,” says the girl. The man gave her a jug of water, tore out her eye and hid it.
The girl drank the entire jug to the bottom, but still did not quench her thirst. He asks for water again. The man gave her another jug of water and tore out the other eye. Then the man said to the servants: “The bride is tired, we need to give her rest, but you go, don’t stop.” The servants left, and the man stopped the stroller, took the blind girl out, led her to a tree, took off all her clothes, dressed up his dark-haired daughter as a bride, put her in the stroller and drove off. We arrived at the palace.
And the king’s son started a rich wedding, named the guests, he’s waiting for his beautiful bride, he can’t wait. Instead of his beauty, they brought him a dark girl, an unwritten freak. And no roses, and no pearls, and no violets.
The king's son was angry - what kind of freak is this, who replaced my beauty with this dark-haired girl, like a raven?! - Where is my beautiful bride, what have you done to her?! - he shouts at the guy. “My lord,” says the guy, “that’s who she is.” Only she cried a lot, saying goodbye to her family, and it was because of the tears that her face changed. If she goes away, she will still be the same. The king’s son doesn’t believe it. He doesn’t let the little devil near him. That’s how they live - the wife on her own, the husband on his own.
And the blind girl was left alone in the forest. She stands by the tree where her uncle kicked her out of the stroller, crying, crying, and dying. Tears flow like pearls, pearls rain down, they cover the girl. They covered her with pearls right up to her chest, covering the naked girl.
Near the forest where the girl was crying and dying, there was a city. There lived one poor old man in the city. The old man has only the property of a donkey.
An old man will go into the forest with his donkey, pick up dry branches and brushwood there, load the donkey, bring it to the city, sell it, and distribute the money to the poor; he will go at noon, bring more brushwood, sell it, and bring it to the temple for the poor; he will go in the evening, collect the branches again, bring them, sell them, and spend the money on himself and his old wife. This is how good old people live.
One day he went into the forest, let the donkey go to graze, and he cut dry branches. He collected it, tied it up, looked for the donkey, but it wasn’t there.
An old man went, walked through the forest, looking. He saw a donkey standing, staring at a mountain of pearls, and a girl was buried in pearls up to her chest. The old man got angry at the donkey, began to drive him away, and the girl said: “Who are you, man?” Be my brother or father, save me, dig up pearls from this mountain. The old man dug it, took it home, then collected the pearls, and took them into the house.
The old man got rich. He dressed and shod the girl, built a rich mansion and gave her a separate room. One day a girl was sitting in her room and heard: a hen in the yard was angry with a chicken for some reason and pecked it with her beak. The chicken squealed, the rooster came running and began to scold the hen: “Why are you hurting my child?!” The girl heard it and laughed. Roses and violets fell, and everything around began to bloom. An old man came in and was surprised: where did these wonderful flowers come from, as if the garden had suddenly blossomed. The girl said: “Father, take these roses and violets to the city where the king lives.” Wear it, just don’t sell it, no matter how much you give. Find the king's uncle. He will want to buy these roses and violets, and you say: I’m not selling, I’m just exchanging them for his eyes. If he gives you eyes, give the flowers, and bring the eyes to me.
The old man took flowers to the city. He walks around, wears them, but doesn’t sell them to anyone, although many people bargain. Finally he came across that guy. The man said: “Sell the roses and violets, old man!” The man decided to buy flowers, scatter them next to his daughter and say: here again roses and violets are blooming around the bride. And the old man says: “I’m not selling, I’m just exchanging for eyes.” The uncle gave the old man one eye, took the flowers, brought them, scattered them around his dark-haired daughter, but that didn’t help either - the king’s son doesn’t even come close to the ugly girl. And the old man brought the eye to the beauty, she inserted the eye, rubbed pearls in the juice of her roses and violets, washed it, and revived the eye.
The girl received sight in one eye, but was still blind in the other. How to get it? The girl prepared a coffin for herself and said to the old man: “Here is a necklace on my neck, take it off me, know that I will die as soon as you take it off, and you take it to that guy and exchange this necklace for the other eye.” Implant it on me, and then put me in a coffin, take me to the same place where you found me, and leave me there.
The old man went, exchanged the necklace with the uncle for the girl’s eye, brought it, inserted it into the dying woman and, crying, carried her to the place where he saw him for the first time in the pearl mountain. A son was born to the beauty there. The boy lies in a coffin next to his mother, gets up, sucks milk and lies down again.
But the prince yearns for her and doesn’t come close to his uncle’s daughter. So he went hunting one day to get away a little. Entered the forest. The doe was scared and she ran. The king's son shot an arrow and the doe ran away. The king's son chased after her. The doe ran, ran, and the young man ran after her.
Suddenly a doe jumped, jumped over the coffin and disappeared. The prince came up, looked, and saw that his beauty was lying in a coffin; he recognized his beloved.
And she lies there as if sleeping. The prince hugged her, crying, shedding tears, but how can you help with tears? He cried, walked away a little, took his son, who was lying in a coffin next to his mother, and took him with him to the palace.
He brought the boy, the uncle’s daughter took the boy, took him to her place, caresses him, plays with him, trying to appease the prince.
She took him in her arms, and the boy grabbed the necklace and pulled him towards him, tearing, crying himself. The king’s son got angry and said to the little devil: “Give him what he asks for, don’t tease the child.” She took off the necklace and gave it to the child. And as soon as the boy received what he asked for, he cried even more, reaching out to his mother in the forest. The king’s son took the child, put him on his horse and rushed into the forest. The child saw his mother, calmed down, smiled, and waved his arms.
The prince put the child with his mother and watched to see if he would do something. And the boy crawled, wrapped his arms around his mother’s neck and threw a necklace around her neck. The beauty came to life, opened her eyes, stood up, looked, The king’s son was delighted, he did not know what to do with joy. He put both his wife and son on his horse and rushed home.
He drove up to the palace and shouted: “Here is my wife, and here is my son!” The king and queen came out to meet her, hugging and kissing her daughter-in-law. She entered the palace, remembered everything she had suffered, burst into tears - tears flowed, and the floor was covered with pearls.
The beauty saw the uncle's black daughter, took her laughter - roses and violets bloomed around. The evil man and his daughter were tied to horse tails and torn to pieces, and the prince married his betrothed.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru