Listen, everyone who wants to, I’ll tell you a nice fairy tale. There are no lies in this fairy tale, and if there are, there are only two words.
Once upon a time there lived a French king. He lived to an old age, but he had no children, and he was very sad about it.
Finally, when the king and queen had given up hope, the queen gave birth to a daughter, and on the occasion of the princess's birth there was much feasting and merrymaking at court.
But one old sorceress who lived in a nearby forest was not invited to the holiday, and out of revenge she decided to turn the princess into a mouse. The princess had to remain a mouse until someone made the sorceress's sister, whom no one had ever seen laugh, laugh.
One day, when the nurse was feeding the child in the palace, everyone suddenly heard her cry:
- Oh God! The princess turned into a mouse and slipped out of my hands!
- What a misfortune! - exclaimed the king. - But this, apparently, is the will of God, and we must submit to it.
A little time passed, and a war began between the king of France and the king of Spain. The French king was already sitting on a horse in the courtyard of his castle and was preparing to set out on a campaign, when he suddenly saw his mouse daughter - they were looking after her in the palace and surrounded her with cares. She ran up to him and said:
“I want to go to war with you, father.”
“But what are you going to do there like that, my poor child?”
“Don’t be afraid of anything and take me with you.” Put me in your horse's ear and let's go.
The king put the mouse in his horse's ear, and they set off.
When the French were already on the battlefield and preparing to fight the enemy, suddenly a wonderful singing was heard, and both armies stopped to listen to it.
- What a wonderful song! - exclaimed the son of the Spanish king. - But where is it heard from? I definitely want to find out.
The sound of this song made the soldiers of both armies want to hug each other instead of fight.
The son of the Spanish king rode up to the French king and asked him:
- Sir, what kind of singing is this and where is it heard from?
“It’s my daughter singing,” answered the king.
- Your daughter? But where is she?
- Here, next to me, in the left ear of my horse.
-Are you laughing at me?
- Not at all. I told you the truth.
- OK then. If you agree to give her to me as a wife, the war between us is over.
- What, do you want to marry a mouse?
- Your daughter is a mouse?! All the same, I’ll marry if she agrees.
“I agree, father,” the mouse hastened to answer.
And so the war stopped, the wedding was celebrated, and both armies, instead of rushing at each other, feasted and had fun for a whole week and fraternized over a glass of wine.
The king of Spain had two more sons, already married: one was married to the daughter of the Turkish emperor, the other to the daughter of the Portuguese king. One day the father calls all three and says that he has decided to give the crown to his eldest son and retire.
“I think, father,” said the middle son, “that it would be fairer to give the crown to the one of the three of us who accomplishes the most valiant feat.” We are all your children and have the same rights to the throne.
“Well, okay,” said the old king. “I’ll give you a task.” The crown will go to the one who brings me the best piece of linen.
“So be it,” all three brothers agreed.
They each returned to their homes to inform their wives of their father's will.
When the youngest prince, the husband of the mouse, arrived home, his wife was waiting for him, basking in the sun on one of the windows of the palace, and at the same time she sang as sweetly as she had never sung before.
“Enough singing,” her husband told her. “I would prefer that you were a skilled weaver.”
- Why? What's happened? - asked the mouse princess.
“Father promised to give the crown to the one of the three of us who brings him the best piece of linen.”
- What a problem! My father's crown is a hundred times more valuable than yours. Do not be upset and leave the brothers to argue over the Spanish crown and get it with the help of linen.
- No! No matter how tempting your father's crown may be, I do not want to give up our Spanish crown.
On the eve of the day when it was necessary to deliver the canvas to the old king, our prince complained to his wife:
“Tomorrow I need to present the canvas to my father, but I have nothing.” What should I do?
“Don’t worry about such trifles, prince, take this box,” answered the mouse and gave him a beautiful, tightly closed box. “Let your brothers show their pieces of linen.” When you open this drawer, it will contain something to put them to shame.
“Do you want to assure me that this small box can contain a piece of linen that my father will like more than others?”
The prince left, taking the box with him, although his wife’s words did little to calm him down.
He drove up to his father's castle, entered the courtyard and saw mules loaded with bales of linen that his older brothers had brought from distant countries.
The king was shown the painting. He examined it carefully and highly praised some of the pieces for their beauty, thinness and softness.
- What did you bring, my son? - he asked the younger one when it was his turn.
Instead of answering, the prince handed the box to his father and said:
- Open it, father.
The older brothers laughed loudly. But the king opened the box, and out of it immediately pulled out a piece of linen, thin and shiny like silk. Compared to it, the canvas brought by the brothers seemed like a rough canvas. And the most amazing thing was that no matter how much they pulled him out of the box, there was no end in sight.
The elder princes were no longer laughing.
“The crown will go to my youngest son,” said the delighted king.
- Wait, father! - both elders shouted with annoyance. “You shouldn’t judge so hastily, based on the first test.” Come up with a second one, sir, and then we’ll see.
“Okay, I agree,” said the king. “But what should I ask of you this time?”
“Promise the crown to the one of us who brings you the most beautiful daughter-in-law,” said the eldest, married to the daughter of the Turkish emperor, a princess of amazing beauty.
“So be it,” said the old king. “The crown will go to the one who brings the most beautiful wife.”
And the three brothers dispersed, each in his own direction.
The younger one returned home in complete despondency. He was sure that this time he would not be able to compete with his brothers, because his wife was a simple mouse.
- Why are you so sad, prince? - asked his wife, noticing his sad appearance. “Didn’t my box do what was required of it?”
— The box behaved perfectly.
- So the crown of Spain is yours?
- Crown of Spain? Oh no! She is far from mine yet.
- Why?
- Yes, because my father ordered a second test.
- Which? Tell.
- Why?
- But tell me anyway.
- Okay, listen: on the advice of my elder brother, who was married to the daughter of the Turkish emperor, my father announced that the crown would go to the one of the three of us who brings the most beautiful wife. And you yourself understand that...
- And that's the whole point? Well, calm down and rely on me.
The day came when the brothers were to present their wives to the king, and the mouse said to her husband:
- I will go with you to my father.
“To go to my father, I don’t need a mouse, but a woman, a beautiful woman.”
“Don’t worry about anything, I tell you, and take me with you.”
- For what? To disgrace yourself?
And he got into his carriage and drove away, leaving the mouse at home. Then she said to the shepherd, who was about to drive the sheep into the field:
“Shepherd, catch me that big red rooster that walks among the chickens, and bridle him with a bridle made of willow bark, so that I can ride on him after my husband to my father-in-law the king.”
The shepherd did as she ordered, and the mouse sat on the rooster’s back, took the willow bark bridle in her front paws and rode off to the court of the King of Spain. She had to drive past the castle of the sorceress who turned her into a mouse. At this point there was a puddle on the road, and the rooster never wanted to cross it. No matter how much the mouse shouted: “Gop! Hop! Forward!" - He took one step forward and two back. The sorceress's sister was sitting by the window and, seeing this picture, burst into loud laughter, so that an echo echoed throughout the castle.
The sorceress came running and, seeing who made her sister laugh, said to the mouse:
- The spell is broken! I turned you into a mouse, but you had to remain one only until I heard my sister laugh. She laughed - and you are freed. From now on, you will be the most beautiful princess of all living under the sun, your bridle will turn into a beautiful golden carriage, and the red rooster will turn into a beautiful horse.
And in fact, in the blink of an eye everything was transformed as the sorceress said.
“Now go to your father-in-law’s court,” she added, “and I’m sure there won’t be a woman more beautiful than you.”
The princess continued her journey, but in a sparkling golden carriage, and soon caught up with her husband, who was in no hurry to get to the court.
- How, are you just here yet? - she said.
The surprised prince was silent because he did not recognize his wife in this beauty.
“Get into my carriage and leave your crappy cart and nag here.”
“Don’t mock me, princess, although your carriage is more beautiful, and your horse is better than mine.”
- Take a good look at me! You don't recognize your own wife?
- No, you are not my wife. My wife is the daughter of a French king, and an evil witch turned her into a mouse. But still, I love her for who she is.
Then the princess told him what had happened, and in the end, although with difficulty, she convinced him that she was his wife, the daughter of the French king.
Then they rode on in a golden carriage, which was all sparkling, and soon arrived at the court of the Spanish king. Their appearance caused a stir; everyone could not get enough of the princess, her carriage and horse. The princess illuminated the entire courtyard with the brilliance of her beauty. The wives of the older princes were undoubtedly beautiful, but next to the wife of the younger prince they were worthless. The old king, cheerful and delighted at the sight of such wondrous beauty, offered the princess his hand to help her get out of the carriage, and said:
“You are the most beautiful woman my eyes have ever seen, and you are the most worthy to sit on the Spanish throne, next to my youngest son.”
In the evening there was a great feast, and the king wished the princess to sit at the table next to him. And she hid a piece from every dish that was served to her, from every drink that was poured for her, and poured a drop into her bodice, which greatly surprised all the guests.
After dinner the dancing began, and as the princess danced, pearls and flowers fell endlessly from the folds of her dress. Both elder daughters-in-law turned green with envy.
The next day they feasted again at court, and the wives of the older brothers began to hide pieces from each dish that was served to them in their bodices, and pour out a drop from each glass, in the hope that all this would turn into pearls and flowers for them. But alas! When the dancing began, as they danced, they sowed around them not pearls or flowers, like the younger daughter-in-law, but various scraps and gravy, from which their elegant dresses became so dirty and wet that the gentlemen disdained them and left. But dogs and cats from all over the palace ran into the ballroom and followed the princesses on their heels, causing chaos.
Because of this, the old king became very angry and drove his eldest sons and their wives out of the palace. And then he gave up the throne to his youngest son.
I know everything that happened to them until then, and I told you the whole truth. I don’t know what happened to them later, and I don’t want to lie. So this is the end of the fairy tale.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru