Once upon a time there lived a king who had three sons and one daughter.
“Listen, wife,” he says to the queen one day, “there are too many of us, we need to come up with something, otherwise we won’t be able to feed ourselves.” Let's send one of our sons to look for service, let him live as he knows.
“Well,” agreed the queen. - I don't mind. Perhaps we should send Raduz.
“The truth is yours,” the king replied, “and I marked it out.” Start collecting. Maybe it won't go to waste!
And they gathered Raduz.
Raduz said goodbye to his father and mother and hit the road. He walked for a long time until he reached the dense forest. He sees a lonely house standing in a clearing.
“Come on, I’ll go into this house, maybe there’ll be some work!”
And in that house there lived three: a witch, her witcher husband and a beautiful maiden Lyudmila.
- God bless you, good people! - Raduz bowed to them.
“And the same to you,” answered the witch, “where did you come from?”
- Yes, I’m looking for a service, maybe you’ll take me?
“Eh, son,” the witch grinned, “Everyone wants some bread, but not everyone knows how to earn money.” What kind of thing are you an expert at?
“I won’t boast, but I will work not out of fear, but out of conscience!”
The witch didn’t want to take him on as a worker, but the witcher put in a good word for him, and she agreed. Raduz rested that night from the road, and in the morning he woke up and went to the witch:
- What do you tell me to do today, mistress?
The witch looked him up and down and led him to the window.
“Look,” he says, “out the window, what do you see there?”
- Nothing like that! Wasteland in the middle of the forest.
That's just the point, it's a wasteland. Get a wooden hoe and go to that wasteland, dig it up and plant trees, so that by morning they will grow, bloom and produce fruits, and in the morning bring me those fruits. Well, go ahead.
Raduz walks along and doesn’t think twice about it: “Where have you heard of this, to dig up such wasteland with a wooden hoe, and even by morning!”
I started digging the ground, dug three times, and the hoe fell apart! Raduz realized that such work would be of no use. He threw the piece of debris, sat down under a tree, and sat there grieving.
And the witch cooked frogs and ordered Lyudmila to bring lunch to the farmhand. Lyudmila understood everything, seized the moment when the witch came out, grabbed the witch’s wand,
The one that was lying on the table, she noticed where she took it, and she herself thinks: “How can he, poor thing, eat frogs? I’d better take him my lunch.” She came to Raduz and saw him sitting, thinking bitter thoughts.
- Don't push! - says Lyudmila Raduzu. “The owner sent you boiled frogs here, but I threw them away.” Here's my lunch! And don’t worry about work, look: here’s a wand - it will help us. Let's hit the ground, by morning everything will grow, bloom, give birth, as the mistress ordered.
Raduz doesn’t know how to thank Lyudmila.
And Lyudmila hit the ground with her stick and fruit trees immediately began to grow. They grew, blossomed and became covered with fruits. Meanwhile, Raduz ate his fill and became cheerful. She and Lyudmila sat down, started a friendly conversation, and would have sat there until the evening, but they were waiting for her at home.
In the morning Raduz brought a full basket of fruits and gave them to the witch.
The witch was surprised and just shook her head.
- What do you tell me to do today? - asks Raduz. The witch takes him to another window and asks what he sees.
“I see a rocky slope with thorny thorns growing on it.
- That's it! Take the hoe outside the door and go to the slope! Uproot the thorns, plant a vine, and so that by morning I will have grapes.
Raduz went and began to uproot the thorns. He hit it once with a wooden hoe, hit it with another, and it shattered into three pieces.
“What should I do now, poor man?” - he thinks.
He threw away the handle of the hoe and sat down on a stone. He sits and grieves. Can you do all this by morning? Waiting to see what happens next. At this time the witch cooked a pot full of snakes. Lunch time came and she said:
- Bring some grub to the worker, Lyudmila!
Lyudmila obeyed, began to get ready, and took her wand and her lunch with her.
And Raduz sits waiting for her, he can’t wait. I saw it and my heart jumped with joy in my chest.
- I’ve finally arrived! I’ve been toiling here since the morning, I can’t do anything, I broke my hoe, it looks like I’ll be completely lost if you don’t help!
“Don’t torture yourself in vain,” Lyudmila reassures him. “The hostess made you some snakes, but I threw them away and brought you my lunch.” And she grabbed the wand; The vineyard will be ready now, and tomorrow you will pick the grapes and take them to her.
She served him lunch, tapped the stick on the ground, and immediately a vine stretched upward. It bloomed, faded, and now the grapes are filling with juice!
Raduz and Lyudmila sat next to each other and talked, then Lyudmila took the pot and stick, got up and ran home. And in the morning Raduz appeared and brought grapes.
The witch doesn’t believe her eyes, and Raduz asks for work again.
The witch takes him to the third window, tells him to look and asks what he sees.
- I see big stones!
- That's it! Make me flour and bake bread from them! If you don’t do it, your head won’t be blown off!
Raduz got cold feet, but there was nothing to do. I went to work. But the witch cannot calm down! How did Raduz manage to carry out two of her orders?
“Hey, old man,” she says to the witcher, “something is wrong here.” Surely our girl and the employee conspired! How can he cope with such work himself! They’re just rejoicing in vain, I’ll bring them out into the open, then it won’t be good for them, my darlings! Today I’ll carry lunch myself.
“Come on,” the witcher replies, “Lyudmila is a good girl, devoted.” Leave them alone! Don't touch it!
- No, old man, I smell something wrong here! No wonder everything inside me is seething with anger!
- Stop being angry, old woman! There's no point in fooling around! The witch calmed down.
cooked lizards for lunch and sent Lyudmila to Raduz. But Lyudmila heard what the witch and the witcher were arguing about, grabbed a wand from the table, hid it under her apron, took the pot of lizards and went.
Raduz had crushed the stones by that time, but what was the point? What a flour stone! And there’s nothing to say about bread. Raduz is waiting for his Lyudmila, he can’t wait. And she’s already here, right there!
“The old woman told me,” she says, “to treat you to lizards, but is it possible to feed a person such rubbish?” I brought you my lunch! But the hostess sensed that I was helping you. She was just about to come to you, but the owner dissuaded her. If it comes to this, you and I are finished!
“You are my darling, my dear, I know that you saved my life,” Raduz answers her. - How can I thank you?
They sat and talked intimately, then Lyudmila remembered about work.
She hit the stones with a stick, and the mill appeared, and now the millstones were rumbling, flour was pouring into the log, the dough was rising and the oven was heating up.
Lyudmila got ready and ran home.
At the thunder Raduz brought bread to the old woman. The witch saw it and almost burst with anger. But she remained silent and only squeezed out these words:
“I see that you are diligent in your work, you did everything I told you to do.” Now go and rest.
Evening came. The witch whispered with her husband and told Raduz to carry water into a large cauldron. Raduz brought water, and the witch put water to boil at the old man’s cauldron, and when it boiled, she ordered him to wake her up.
Lyudmila immediately understood everything. She ran and brought some drunken wine to the old man. He drank the wine and fell asleep.
And Lyudmila came to Raduz and said:
“If you don’t leave here before morning, she’ll boil you in boiling water.” I'll help you, let's hide together. Just swear that you will never forget me! - Raduz swore. But he wouldn’t give his Lyudmila to anyone in the world even without an oath!
Then Lyudmila spat on the firebrand, grabbed a magic wand, and they ran away from the witch’s house. Soon the witcher woke up.
“Worker,” he asks. -Are you still sleeping?
“I’m not sleeping,” the saliva on the firebrand answers, “I’m just stretching!” The Witcher is at it again:
- Worker, get up, give me the boots!
“I’m running, I’m running,” the saliva on the firebrand answers. - I’ll just put on my shoes! Then the witch woke up.
- Lyudmila, get up, bring me a skirt and an apron!
- I’ll go now, just clean up! - the saliva on the firebrand answers.
- Why are you taking so long to get dressed? - the witch is surprised.
- Now, now! - saliva answers.
The witch couldn’t wait, she raised her head and lo and behold, the bed was empty.
- Oh, you old brat, they ran away! The beds are empty! - the witch shouts to her husband.
- Thunder strike them! — the witcher assents. The witch and the witcher jumped up, the witch scolded:
- All yours Lyudmilka! Well, she led us through! Another time you will rely on the young, you old boot!
The Witcher has nothing to say.
- Run after them immediately, grab them and drag them here! - the witch screams. The old man got ready and set off after the fugitives.
Lyudmila Raduzu says:
- My left cheek is burning, look around, my dear, what do you see there?
“I don’t see anything,” answers Raduz, “only a black cloud is flying!”
- No, this is an old man on a black winged horse. “We have to save ourselves,” Lyudmila shouted, “as soon as she hits the ground with her stick. The earth became arable land, Lyudmila became wheat, and Raduz became a reaper.
Lyudmila tells Raduza to wait for the witcher and answer his questions wisely. Then the old man rushed in with a storm and hail on a black cloud, fortunately he had not yet beaten all the wheat.
“Hey, grandfather,” the reaper tells him, “you still can’t supply all the wheat, I’ll have some left.”
“But I won’t touch her at all,” the witcher answers, and goes downstairs, “if you tell me if a couple ran through here?”
“While I was reaping wheat, there wasn’t a single living soul here.” They say that at the time when they were sowing, some two people seemed to slip through!
The witcher shook his head, disappeared into a cloud and flew home. Raduz and Lyudmila ran further.
- Why are you back so soon, master? What did you manage to do? - asks the witch.
And he answered: “Who knows where they went!” I didn’t see a living soul there, only a reaper reaping wheat.
- That's what they were! Oh, and they deceived you, you old fool! At least take one spikelet with you! Go get them immediately!
The old man obeyed and flew away.
- My left cheek is burning for some reason! - says Lyudmila. - Turn around, Raduz, see what’s going on there?
“Nothing,” Raduz replies, “only a gray cloud is flying.”
- No, not a cloud - it’s a witcher on a gray winged horse. Wait for him and don’t be afraid! Answer questions wisely.
She hit her cap with a wand and the cap turned into a chapel, she - into a fly among a cloud of flies, and Raduz into a hermit.
A gray cloud with snow flew in and caught up with such a cold that the roof of the chapel began to crack.
The Witcher dismounted from his winged horse and went straight to the hermit:
“Did you see,” he asks, “two passers-by—a guy and a girl?”
-Where do they come from here? - the hermit answers. “I’ve been living here with my flies since time immemorial.” I heard that when the chapel was being built, a couple passed by. You've let the cold in, you'll freeze my entire flock!
- Don’t be afraid, I’ll return home, it’s obvious that I was in a hurry and trying so hard! - said the witcher and turned back.
And the old witch is waiting for him in the yard. I saw him returning alone and scolding:
- Oh, you old klutz, you’re walking alone again, leading no one, where did you leave them?
- I didn’t leave it anywhere, there’s no one there! Just a chapel and a hermit with flies. I let them get so cold that I almost froze them all!
- And you are a fool! After all, that's what they were. At least bring some shingles from the roof! Well, just wait, I’ll take care of them myself!
She gathered herself and rushed after the fugitives.
- My left cheek is burning for some reason! - said Lyudmila. - Turn around, Raduz, look, no one is catching up with us?
“It’s catching up,” answers Raduz, “a red cloud is moving towards us.”
- This is not a cloud, but an old witch on a red winged horse; gather all your strength, this witch is not so easy to deceive. I will turn into a golden duck and swim across the sea, and you go under the water, otherwise it will burn you with fire. As soon as the witch starts to catch me, you run and grab the horse by the bridle, I’ll do the rest myself and everything will turn out well!
Then the witch swooped in and burned everything in her path with fire. Near the sea, she jumped off her horse and rushed to catch a duck. And the duck takes her to the side, away from the horse.
Raduz jumped out of the sea and grabbed the winged horse by the bridle. The duck flew up to him, turned into a girl, they both jumped on a horse and rushed far across the sea.
The witch saw them and sent curses after them: so that Raduz would forget Lyudmila if anyone kissed him, and Lyudmila should not see her beloved for seven years!
The old hag was already walking back - all her magic was gone! And the witcher made fun of her: wow, such a cunning witch was tricked!
Finally, Raduz and Lyudmila reached the city where Radu’s parents lived.
— What news do you have? - Raduz asks a citizen he meets.
— News, you say? - Yes, here they are: the king, and his sons and daughters - all died, only the old queen remained, and she still cries for her missing son. So it's not much fun. But there are more than enough quarrels and abuse: everyone is aiming for the royal throne!
- They died! - Raduz gasped. - It's bad. He left the townsman and took Lyudmila aside.
“Come on, Lyudmila, let’s do this: you sit here near the well so that you don’t show up to my mother in a torn dress.” Hide behind that thick tree and wait for me to return. And I'll go to the castle. If they recognize me and make me a king, I will come back for you and bring you a beautiful dress.
Lyudmila agreed, and Raduz left for the castle. His mother recognized him and rushed towards him! He hugs and wants to kiss, but Raduz doesn’t give in.
Everyone recognized him, declared him king and had a merry feast.
Raduz was tired from the road, lay down to rest, and while he was sleeping, the Queen Mother came and warmly kissed her son on both cheeks. At that very moment he forgot about Lyudmila, as if she had never existed at all. And soon he married someone else.
Lyudmila cried for a long time alone, poor thing, she didn’t know what to do, where to go. And then she went to a peasant’s house, stood up not far from the castle and turned into a slender poplar. Everyone admired the beautiful tree, only it bothered the king, he said, it didn’t allow him to look out of the window!
And the king ordered the poplar to be cut down. No matter how the man begged or persuaded, nothing helped. The poplar was cut down.
Soon, right next to the castle, a curly pear grew, and golden fruits appeared on it. In the evening the fruits will be collected, and by morning the tree will again be covered with golden pears. The king really liked this tree. But the queen could not see him.
If only this pear,” she repeated, “would disappear quickly, I hate it so much!”
The king persuades her this way and that, asking her not to touch the tree, but she pestered her until he did it and ordered the pear to be cut down.
Seven years have already come to an end. Lyudmila turned into a golden duck. Swims around the lake under the royal window and keeps screaming and screaming. The king saw her, began to think, remember where he had seen the same duck? He ordered the duck to be caught. But no one can. They have gathered bird catchers and fishermen from all over the country, and they are not getting their hands on it. The king completely lost patience.
“If no one can fulfill my will, I’ll go and try my luck myself.” He went to the lake and began to catch a duck. The duck rushes from side to side, the king
after her, grabbed her in the end. As soon as he took it in her hand, she turned into the beautiful Lyudmila and said:
Well, Raduz, you thanked me for my loyalty! But I forgive you!
Raduz was delighted, took his Lyudmila to the castle, to the old queen and said:
“She saved my life, she will be my wife!”
He asked for that wife from the castle and married Lyudmila. They played a cheerful wedding and lived happily. And now they live, if they did not die.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru