Whether it happened or not, there lived one poor man. The poor man has a wife and son. It’s very hard for a poor person - he has nothing to eat and nothing to feed his family. So he decided to die.
One day he left the house, told his wife and son not to wait for him, and went. He walked and walked, whether he walked for a long time or not for long, he met one person.
He asks him:
-Where are you going?
“Leave me,” the poor man replies. - I want to kill myself.
The traveler began to ask him:
- No, don’t kill yourself. Here I have a pipe, I’ll give it to you,” and I gave him the pipe.
The poor man nevertheless went to seek death.
Whether he walked for a long time or not for long, he still meets a traveler.
The traveler asks him where he is going.
“To die,” answers the poor man.
“No, don’t kill yourself,” says the traveler. “Here I have a hat, I’ll give it to you, just don’t kill yourself,” and gave him the hat.
Still, he went to seek death. Whether he walked for a long time or not for long, he meets the traveler again.
He asks:
-Where are you going and why?
“I want to die, I’m looking for death,” says the poor man.
“Don’t do this, man,” says this traveler. “Here’s my bag, take it—just stop looking for death.”
The poor man took the bag, thought and returned home.
Time passed, but this poor man died.
His wife and son were left alone. They live in great need. All they have is one chicken. The mother will pick up eggs, give them to her son, he will carry them, sell them, buy bread - that’s how they live.
So one day the son says to his mother:
- Mother, I need to buy a bag, otherwise I’m losing money.
“Here, son,” says the mother, “take your father’s bag, so you can transfer the money to a new one.”
The boy took the bag, sold the eggs, poured the money into the bag, and when he took it out to count it, he saw that there was twice as much money.
The boy was surprised. He took this money, poured it back into his bag, poured it out, and saw that the money had tripled.
The boy realized what kind of bag it was. He hid it better, doesn’t tell anyone what power it has, he takes it, pours money in it, and takes it out twice. The son and mother live like this without need.
So one day the boy says:
- Mother, I’ll go buy myself a hat.
“No,” says the mother, “here’s your father’s hat, wear it, why transfer money to a new one.”
The boy took the hat, put it on and became invisible.
He was surprised, delighted, hid his hat, and did not tell anyone what power it contained.
He wanted to buy a pipe, and his mother gave him his father’s pipe.
He took it and went out into the field to play.
As soon as he blew on this pipe, troops poured out around him, standing, waiting for an order.
The boy was surprised, he realized what kind of pipe it was, and he was delighted. He dismissed the troops and hid the pipe, and did not tell anyone what power it contained.
So he decided to collect more money, sat down, and took his father’s bag. If he pours in the money, he gets it twice, he pours it in again and he gets three times as much, if he puts it in, he gets four times as much.
He collected so much money and said to his mother:
“Mother, I’m leaving, I don’t know when I’ll be back.” Here's your money, that's enough for now.
He asks his mother not to leave, but he doesn’t listen, he got ready, said goodbye to his mother, and went.
He walked, walked, walked for a long time, not for long, came to one kingdom. He found an old woman there and asked her to give him shelter for the night. She took him into the house. They started talking, and the young man asked:
— What interesting things do you have here, how do you live?
“Eh, son,” says the old woman. - What good things can I say to you? We have a king, and he has a daughter - a beauty unseen under the sun, and the king will give her as a wife only to the one who fills his entire palace with gold.
The young man was happy when he heard this.
The next day he went to the court and ordered to report himself to the king.
The king received him.
“Give me your daughter as a wife,” says the young man.
The king said:
“Well, if you fill this entire hall with gold, I’ll give you my daughter.”
The young man agreed and asked only for a week.
He took his bag, put money in it and took it out. In a week, I filled the entire hall with gold, so you couldn’t lift a finger.
A beauty unprecedented under the sun came and said to him:
“By agreement, I’m already yours, and no force will separate us, just tell me, if you love me, where and how did you get so much gold?” After all, we saw - you didn’t drive either on oxen or on mules, where did it come from?
The young man doesn’t want to talk, he refuses, but the beauty begs him. He couldn’t resist and told about his bag. The beauty stole his bag from the poor man and drove him away.
He became sad. He goes and thinks about how to take revenge on the beauty for deceiving him. He went into the field, took out his pipe, blew on it, and troops began to pour out. He gathered troops, seemingly invisibly, and led them to the palace.
The beauty, unprecedented under the sun, saw the army, was frightened, came out to him, and laughed herself:
- Why do you need troops? After all, I’m yours, I just wanted to torment you a little.
He believed, released the troops and went to the palace.
The beauty sat down next to him, caressed him, had mercy on him.
“You know, I’m yours and yours, I won’t marry anyone but you, just tell me, where did you get so many troops from?”
He doesn't want to talk. And she:
- Well, what should we hide from each other, after all, we’re together forever, tell me. He couldn't stand it, he said.
She took away the pipe and kicked him out. He got angry. He thinks about how to take revenge for the deception.
He put on his invisible cap, took an awl in his hands, crept into her bedchamber and began to stab and torment her. She asks:
“Don’t torment me, I know who you are.” I joked, who should I look for better than you, don’t torment me, show yourself.
No, he doesn't show up.
“My dear, my life,” she asks, “take pity on me, show yourself, you know it.”
He gave up and took off his hat. She smiled at him and said:
- Tell me, if you love me, how did you get here?
He refuses, doesn’t want to talk, she just caressed him, persuaded him, forced him to say.
She also took the poor man’s hat and sent him away.
He felt sad. He doesn’t know what to think of, how to repay for the deception. He walks, he doesn’t know where he’s going.
Whether he walked for a long time or not, he finally reached one field. He sees three people fighting, they won’t share something.
He came up and asked:
- Why are you fighting, what won’t you share?
- The three of us found this carpet, And this is the kind of carpet: if you sit on it, you’ll be lucky where you want it. So we fought about what we should do, how we should divide the carpet.
The young man said:
- Here I have an awl. I’ll throw it away, and you run, whoever brings it first wins, let him get the carpet.
He abandoned the awl. All three ran for an awl, and he sat down on the carpet and said:
- Fly, carpet, to the royal palace!
The carpet rose, flew and brought him straight to the terrace of the royal palace. The beauty saw him, rushed to him, laughed, caressed him.
- Oh, my dear! How I missed you! It's so good to have you back.
And he grabbed her by the dress, dragged her onto the carpet and said:
- Take me to the very depths of the forest!
The carpet rose and in an instant transported them to the very thicket of an impenetrable forest.
She began to caress him and give him wine. He got drunk, fell asleep, and she threw him to the ground and ordered the carpet to be transported to the palace.
The carpet rose and carried her into the palace.
The young man woke up and saw that there was no carpet, no beauty unseen under the sun, and he was lying alone in a dense forest.
What to do? He got up and went - where, he doesn’t know.
He walked a little and saw a garden. I walked in and there were grapes in the garden.
He began to eat these grapes, ate the white ones, picked the red ones, but only ate a few berries of these red grapes, when suddenly he became a donkey. He got scared, didn’t know what to do, grabbed the white grapes again, ate, and became a man again.
He understood what was going on. He thinks these grapes will be useful for me to take revenge on the insidious one.
He picked more of these red grapes, took some white ones, and went to the palace.
He came up, walked around the door, shouting:
- The grapes are good, the grapes!
A beauty unprecedented under the sun heard it and sent a maid to buy grapes.
The maid came out and asked:
- How much are grapes?
And he says: “Try first, what the grapes are like, we’ll make a deal.”
He gave the maid red grapes, she ate it and turned into a donkey, he threw a bridle on her and tied her to the fence, he walked around and called out:
- Grapes, good grapes!
The beautiful maid did not wait, she sent a second one. And the same thing happened to her. The beauty sent the third, fourth, fifth, so all nine. None of them returned, so they went on their own.
She came out and asked:
- How much are your grapes?
“Try what the grapes are like,” he says, “we’ll make a deal.”
He gave her the grapes and quickly threw on the bridle so that she wouldn’t run away. He tied her at the fence, went to the king and said:
“I heard that you are building a new palace, I have ten donkeys, hire them to carry bricks.”
The king agreed. The guy carries bricks on these donkeys, drives them, most of all, loads them onto that beauty unseen under the sun, beats her, and rides on her himself.
The donkeys are tortured, they can barely stand on their feet, and that beauty gets the worst of it all. Her skin is all cracked, her fur is all coming out, the guy won’t let her down.
He finished his work, received the money, entered the palace, took his bag, his hat, and his pipe, went out and drove his donkeys to the house.
On the way, he gives each donkey a white grape, they turn into girls again, lets them go, but does not free the beauty, so he drags them home.
The beauty asks him:
- Turn me into a man, I will serve you all my life!
He doesn't listen to her, doesn't believe her.
She has become weak and can barely drag her feet.
Then he gave her white grapes, and she became a woman again.
The guy let her go home, he just said goodbye:
- This is a lesson for you, so that you don’t mock people!
Pestilence there, feast here, screening there, torment here. Elasa, melasa, the jug hung on me, To the storyteller, to the listener A sweet feast, to you and me.at 18:06 Send by email Write about this on your blog Post to Twitter Post to Facebook Post to Google Live Feed
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru