Once upon a time there lived a king, his name was Dangober. He had a golden-haired daughter, such a beauty that suitors from all countries came to woo her. But she remained indifferent to their advances, and many of them, having lost hope of pleasing her, took their own lives.
One of the suitors turned out to be a wizard. He turned the princess into a scorpion and carried her to his castle, hanging on golden chains between the sky and the sea. This castle was located a hundred miles from the North Pole, its walls were lined with silver six-francs, and the corners were trimmed with pure gold. The approaches to the castle were vigilantly guarded.
King Dangober, who dearly loved his daughter and was very sad after her disappearance, ordered it to be announced everywhere: whoever manages to free the princess will receive her as a wife and inherit the royal crown.
By his order, the most skilled carpenters in the country built a ship to take daredevils to the enchanted castle who would try to free the princess. Many people appeared from different places and of different ranks: sailors and plowmen, princes, coal miners, a general and even one rag picker.
At that moment, when the ship was weighing anchor, the king said to those on board:
— The castle has four doors, and you need to go through all four to see the princess turned into a scorpion. The first door is iron and is guarded by a winged serpent, the second by a roaring lion, at the third door there is a monster with seven heads, the last door is guarded by a giant day and night. You now see for yourself that you have taken on a difficult task, and if you want to finish it safely, do not act at random.
The ship went to sea, taking the adventurers with it. They were very cheerful on the way, because there was plenty of everything on the ship, there were even three iron boats with oars made of pure silver - in these boats those who would free the princess were supposed to moor at the castle.
The weather was good and the wind was fair. The travelers sailed and sailed, but nowhere did they see the castle hanging in the air. Having finally reached the North Pole, the captain went ashore and learned from local residents that he had gone too far. The ship turned and went in search.
Three days passed, and the coal miner, along with others carefully looking around, called the captain.
“Captain,” he said, “I myself don’t really know what’s sparkling in the distance so hard that it hurts my eyes to look at it?” Do you think this is the castle we are looking for, or just a glowing cloud?
The sailors climbed onto the yards, and the captain took a telescope and saw a castle hanging on golden chains between the sky and the sea. The ship headed towards the castle and an hour later dropped anchor within a cannon shot of it. They lowered one of the iron boats with silver oars, several people got into it and drove under the sparkling building, not noticing at first any iron door. Finally, the coal miner saw her and was the first to climb up to try his luck.
He saw a winged serpent, which, like a fast seagull, circled over the castle. The adventurers tried to throw fish and meat at him, hoping to kill him while he was grabbing food. But the snake did not even touch her and relentlessly guarded the door.
The next day they put a barrel of vodka in front of him, in which pieces of bread were floating, and he tasted them. The next day they brought the second barrel. For two days, the winged serpent drank to his heart's content, but drunk he became even angrier and, probably, would have devoured all the sailors if they had not covered themselves with an iron grate for safety. Finally the snake fell asleep, and the charcoal miner, with the help of two sailors, killed him with a spear.
The first door was free.
The second door was guarded by a roaring lion with flames escaping from its nostrils. They began throwing pieces of meat dipped in wine at him, and he swallowed them greedily. But the more he ate, the angrier and more terrible he became, so that on the first day the adventurers tried in vain to approach him. The next day, the captain, two sailors, the prince and the rag picker boarded the boat. They brought the lion a bull and a ram soaked in liqueur. He swallowed everything and finally fell asleep. Covering themselves with an iron grate, like a shield, the daredevils seriously wounded the lion, but could not finish him off, and he, becoming even more enraged and growling in pain, did not leave the door for five days. Through his roar came the singing of a siren from the castle.
On the fifth day, the captain managed to kill him with a spear.
Then they came to the third door. She was guarded by a monster with seven heads. It hid in the depths of a dark cave, but when it came into the light, it caused such horror with its terrible appearance that everyone rushed to run headlong.
Finally, the adventurers gathered their courage and, hiding behind the iron bars, broke through the door. The monster growled terribly, but one of the sailors hit him in the chest, and the coal miner cut off his head with an ax.
On this day, the monster lost three heads and hid deep in its cave. Since the brave men could not see him in the darkness, they had to return to the ship.
The next day they approached the castle again, and as soon as the beast appeared, the captain cut off two more heads one after another.
“Well,” said the coal miner, “now he only has two heads left!” I will cut them off, because I cut off the first head.
“No,” the captain objected, “I must finish him off.”
He cut off another head of the beast and ordered his companions to remove the grate and release the monster that was left with one head; he wanted to kill him without outside help. But when the captain approached, the monster grabbed him across the body and chewed him in half. Hiding behind the iron bars, the adventurers again attacked the beast, and finally its last head fell. After this they returned to the ship, very saddened by the death of their captain.
All that remained was to free the fourth door, which was guarded by a giant. The rag picker said to his companions:
- Follow my orders and do not interfere with me, I will help you finish off the giant.
On the advice of the rag picker, his companions put him in a bag of rags and threw him at the feet of the giant guarding the door. The giant, thinking that this bag contained dirty laundry, did not pay any attention to it and began to defend himself from the attackers. They had a bad time because the fierce guard scattered everyone. But when he tried to snatch the lattice door from the attackers, which served as their shield, the rag picker cut a hole in the bag with a knife and killed the giant with a pistol shot.
Then the rag picker quickly jumped out of the bag, opened the fourth door and, passing a long row of chambers, entered a room where a huge scorpion lay on the table. As soon as the rag picker touched him with his hand, the scorpion turned into a beautiful girl with golden hair right down to her toes.
And the siren was right there and sang in such a pleasant voice that everyone listened to her with admiration. Together with her, the princess boarded the boat to her liberators and boarded the ship. The captain's mate took command, and the castle, hanging between sky and sea, was tied to the stern with thick ropes, and the ship sailed to the North Pole, where King Dangober eagerly awaited the end of the dangerous enterprise. Seeing that the spell had been lifted from his daughter, he was very happy, and when they told him how it all happened, he said to the princess:
- The rag picker deserves your hand. I, of course, would prefer to have a prince as a son-in-law, but in fairness I must keep my word.
The rag picker was pleased and flattered to become the king's son-in-law, and the princess, who was now inseparable from the siren, also liked him.
They played a noble wedding and invited all the villagers and those who traveled on the ship to it.
The king gave the rag picker his crown and all his possessions. However, there was nothing better than a siren in the new king's castle. I think she lives and sings there to this day.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru