In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a soldier; He served for a long time and impeccably, he knew the service well, he came to inspections and training clean and in good order. He began to serve for the last year, but as luck would have it, his superiors, not only the big ones, but also the small ones, did not like him: every now and then he took the rap under sticks.
It became difficult for the soldier, and he decided to run away; a satchel over his shoulder, a gun on his shoulder and began to say goodbye to his comrades, and they asked him:
-Where are you going? Al battalion demands?
- Don't ask, brothers! Pull your backpack tighter and don’t worry about it!
And he, a good fellow, went wherever his eyes looked.
Whether he walked a lot or a little, he found himself in another state, saw a sentry and asked:
— Is it possible to stop and rest somewhere? The sentry told the corporal, the corporal told the officer, the officer told the general, the general reported to the king himself.
The king ordered the servant to be called before his bright eyes.
Here a soldier appeared - properly, in uniform, he put his gun on guard and stood rooted to the spot. The king tells him:
- Tell me honestly, where are you coming from and where are you going?
- Your Royal Majesty, do not order the execution, order the word to be spoken.
He confessed everything to the king in good conscience and began to ask for service.
“Okay,” said the king, “take care of my garden.” Now my garden is in trouble - someone is breaking my favorite trees - so try, take care of it, and for your work I will give you a considerable payment. The soldier agreed and began to keep guard in the garden.
It has been in service for a year or two - everything is in good order; Now that the third year is coming to an end, one day I went to look at the garden and saw: half of the best trees were broken.
“My God!” he thinks, “What a disaster has happened! When the king notices this, he will now order me to be seized and hanged.”
He took the gun in his hands, leaned against a tree and thought deeply.
Suddenly a crash and noise was heard; the good fellow woke up, lo and behold, a huge, scary bird flew into the garden and felled the trees! The soldier shot her with a gun, did not kill her, but only wounded her in the right wing; Three feathers fell out of that wing, and the bird itself took off running along the ground. The soldier is behind her. The bird's legs are fast, it quickly ran to the hole and disappeared from sight.
The soldier was not afraid and after her rushed into that hole: he fell into a deep, deep abyss, knocked off all his livers and lay unconscious for a whole day.
Then I came to my senses, stood up, and looked around. What then? - and underground there is the same light.
“So,” he thinks, “there are people here too!”
- He walked and walked - in front of him was a large city, at the gate there was a guardhouse, with a sentry; began to ask him - the sentry was silent and did not move; I took him by the hand - and he was completely stone!
The soldier entered the guardhouse. There are a lot of people standing and sitting, but everyone is petrified; I started wandering the streets - everywhere it’s the same: there’s not a single living human soul, everything is like stone! Here is the palace - painted, carved. March there, look - the rooms are rich, there are all sorts of snacks and drinks on the tables, and all around is quiet and empty.
The soldier ate, drank, sat down to rest, and he heard as if someone had driven up to the porch; he grabbed the gun and stood at the door.
A beautiful princess enters the room with her mothers and nannies. The soldier saluted her, and she bowed to him affectionately.
- Hello, serviceman! Tell me,” he says, “by what destinies did you get here?”
The soldier began to talk:
“I was hired to guard the royal garden, and a big bird got into the habit of flying there and breaking trees.” So I waylaid her, fired a gun and knocked three feathers out of her wing; I rushed after her and ended up here.
- This bird is my sister; She does a lot of all kinds of evil and has sent misfortune to my kingdom - she has petrified all my people. Listen: here’s a book for you, stand here and read it in the evening until the roosters crow. Whatever passions seem to you, you know yours - read the book and hold it tightly so that they don’t tear it out, otherwise you won’t live! If you stay for three nights, I will marry you.
- OK! - answered the soldier.
As soon as it got dark, he took the book and began to read.
Suddenly there was a knocking and thundering - a whole army came to the palace, his former commanders approached the soldier and scolded him and threatened him with death for escaping; Now they are loading the guns and taking aim. But the soldier doesn’t look at it, doesn’t let go of the book, just keeps reading.
The roosters have crowed! - and everything disappeared at once!
The next night it was worse, and on the third it was even worse: the executioners came running with saws, axes, hammers, they wanted to crush his bones, pull his veins, burn him on the fire, but they themselves were only thinking about how to snatch the book from his hands. There were such passions that the soldier could hardly stand it.
The roosters crowed - the obsession has disappeared!
At that very hour the whole kingdom came to life, people bustled about in the streets and in the houses, the princess appeared in the palace with her generals and her retinue, and everyone began to thank the soldier and call him their sovereign.
The next day he married a beautiful princess and lived with her in love and joy.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru