There was once a man, green as grass and with only one eye in his forehead. This green man lived in an old house, on the edge of the Ramier forest, with three daughters: the eldest was as beautiful as day, the second even more beautiful, and the youngest, who was only ten years old, was more beautiful than both of them.
One winter evening the green man was sitting by the open window. Night fell and fog rose from the river. Suddenly, powerful wings rustled in the air, and a bird the size of a bull, black as coal, landed on the windowsill.
- Kra! Kra! Kra! I am the king of the ravens.
“Raven King, what do you want from me?”
- Kra! Kra! Kra! Green man, I want to marry one of your daughters.
“Raven King, wait here for me.”
And the green man went to his three daughters.
- Listen, daughters. The Raven King has arrived. He wants one of you as his wife.
“Father,” said the eldest, “it’s been almost a year since I’ve been engaged to the son of the Spanish king, who came to Lectoure on St. Martin’s Day to buy mules at the fair.” And yesterday my fiancé sent word through a pilgrim that he would soon come and take me to his kingdom. You see, father, I cannot become the wife of the king of ravens.
“Father,” said the second daughter, “I have been engaged for a year now to the son of the king of the Sea Islands.” And yesterday my dear sent me news with a sailor from Bordeaux that he would soon arrive and take me to his place. You see, father, that I cannot become the wife of the Raven King.
Here the green man looked at his third daughter. But she was so young that he felt sorry for her, and he thought:
“I will be damned forever, like those who die without repentance, if I give this child as a wife to the king of ravens.”
And the green man, without asking anything from his youngest daughter, returned to the Raven King, who was still sitting on the windowsill.
“The Raven King, none of my daughters want you.”
The Raven King became very angry. With a strong blow of his beak, he gouged out the green man's only eye, which was located right in the middle of his forehead. Then he flew off into the fog.
The green man screamed as if he had been possessed by a demon. Three daughters came running to the screams.
- Father, what’s wrong with you? Who gouged out your eye?
“He was pecked out by the Raven King because you all refused to marry him.”
“Father,” said the youngest daughter. - It’s not right for me to argue with you! But I didn't refuse to marry the Raven King.
- Fine. Take me to bed, and let no one come into my room until I call.
The third daughter did as her father ordered. The next day, in the evening, the green man called his youngest daughter and said to her:
“Take me to the room where I sat yesterday when the Raven King pecked out my eye.” Open the window and leave me alone.
— The youngest daughter did as her father ordered. And the green man sat down by the window. Night was falling and fog was rising from the river. Suddenly, powerful wings rustled in the air. And a bird the size of a bull, black as coal, sat on the windowsill.
- Kra! Kra! Kra! I am the king of the ravens.
- Raven King, what do you want?
- Kra! Kra! Kra! Green man, I want one of your daughters as my wife.
“Raven King, you will have my youngest daughter.” Then the Raven King returned the eye to the green man and croaked:
- Kra! Kra! Kra! Tell my bride to be ready at dawn tomorrow morning and put on a white dress and a wedding crown.
At dawn the sky turned black from the ravens that had flown in during the night. They set up an altar in front of the green man's house so that the marriage ceremony could be performed. At the foot of the altar stood the king of the ravens, all wrapped in a large veil, white as snow. When everything was ready and the wedding candles were lit, a priest appeared from nowhere in full vestments and an attendant with him to perform the marriage ceremony. After the wedding, the priest and the celebrant disappeared just as they had appeared. And the king of ravens was still hiding under a blanket as white as snow.
- Kra! Kra! Kra! Take my wife to her father. The newlywed was taken to her father's house. Then the raven king appeared from under his veil, white as snow.
- Kra! Kra! Kra! Green man, let your daughter stay with you until noon. And at noon, on my orders, the crows will take her to my kingdom.
And he flew north.
At noon, the raven's wife was already standing on the threshold of her father's house.
- Farewell, my father! Farewell, sisters! I am leaving my native country and our home. They will take me to a foreign land, and I will never return, never!
The ravens picked up their queen and carried her on their wings through the air into the kingdom of cold, into the kingdom of ice, where there are no trees or grass. Before sunset they flew three thousand miles. The Queen was lowered to the ground in front of the main gate of the castle.
- Thank you, crows. I will not forget your faithful service. Now have dinner and go to bed. It's time for you to rest.
The crows flew away and the queen entered the castle. It was seven times larger than the church of St. Gervais in Lectoure. Candles were burning everywhere, fires were blazing in the fireplaces, as hot as in kilns in which bricks are fired. But there was not a soul to be seen anywhere.
The queen wandered around the castle for a long time and finally came to a large hall, where there was a table laden with all sorts of foods and wines. There was only one cutlery on the table. The Queen sat down. But she didn’t want to eat or drink, because she couldn’t stop thinking about her family and missing home.
An hour later, the queen went to bed, closed the gold-woven curtain and, without falling asleep, without extinguishing the candles, began to wait.
As soon as midnight struck, the sound of mighty wings was heard. It was the raven king who flew home to spend the night. He stopped outside the door of the room where the queen lay.
- Kra! Kra! Kra! Wife, turn off the light. The queen blew out the candles and the king entered in the dark.
- Kra! Kra! Kra! Listen, wife, and remember, because we don’t waste words here. I was once a king over the people. Now I am the king of ravens: an evil sorcerer turned me and all my people into birds. But it is predicted that our trial will come to an end, and you can help it. I hope you will do your duty. Every night, like today, I will fly in and sleep next to you. But you're only ten years old. And you will become my real wife no earlier than in seven years. Until then, don't ever try to see me. If you disobey, you will bring great disaster upon yourself, upon me, and upon my people.
- King, I will fulfill your will.
And then the queen heard in the darkness how the king of the ravens took off his wings. Having done this, he walked to the bed and lay down. The queen became scared. She reached out her hand and felt the coldness of the naked sword that her husband placed between them.
The next morning, before dawn, the king of the ravens rose in the darkness, took a naked sword from the bed, put on feathers and wings again, and flew away without saying where.
From then on, this happened every morning and every evening. The queen, although she was afraid of her raven husband, fell in love with him because she saw that he was powerful and brave.
However, the poor thing is tired of such a life. She was bored - after all, she had no one to exchange a word with! And, in order to have a little fun, she often began to leave the castle early in the morning, taking with her a basket full of all sorts of food. Before nightfall she wandered across the plains, among the snow and ice. And I have never met a single living soul.
One morning the queen, while walking, went far from the castle and saw a high mountain not covered with snow.
And so the queen set off. She walked uphill for seven hours until she came to a wretched hut on the bank of a stream.
A washerwoman, all wrinkled like old leather and ancient as a roadside stone, was washing by the stream.
As she wrung out the soot-black laundry, the washerwoman sang:
Fairy, fairy, There is still no end to your washing. The long-awaited maiden wife Still hasn't come.
“Hello, washerwoman,” said the queen. “I’ll help you wash your laundry, it’s black as soot.”
- Thank you, my child.
Before the queen had time to dip the linen into the water, it became whiter than milk. Then the old washerwoman began to sing:
Fairy, fairy, the laundry is over! The virgin wife has arrived.
Then she said to the queen:
- I've been waiting for you for a long time. Now my trials are over, and I owe this to you. And your suffering, poor thing, is not over yet! Your husband gave you good advice. No advice leads anywhere. What is destined will come true. Now go home and don't come back here until the day comes when you really need help.
The queen returned to the castle. Her life continued as before, day after day. So exactly seven years have passed without one day since the Raven King married her in front of the green man’s house on the edge of the Ramier Forest. And so the queen thought:
“The period appointed by the husband is ending. A day later or a day earlier, does it matter? Tonight I will find out what my husband is like.”
When evening came, the queen lit a candle in the bedroom and hid it so skillfully that the room was as dark as a stove. Then she went to bed and waited. As soon as midnight struck, wings began to rustle in the air. It was the raven king who flew home to spend the night. The Queen heard him take off his wings. After that, he, as always, went to bed, putting his naked sword between himself and his wife, and fell asleep.
Then the queen stood up, took the candle from its secret place, and by its light looked at the sleeping man. Before her lay not a raven, but a man, as beautiful as day.
- God, how good my husband is!
She, with a candle in her hand, went up to the bed to get a better look at him, and a drop of melted wax fell from the candle onto the sleeping man. The Raven King woke up.
- Wife! - he exclaimed. “You have brought great misfortune on me, on yourself, on my people.” Tomorrow our ordeal was supposed to end. I would become your real husband, in the image in which you see me now... And now we will have to part! The evil sorcerer who holds me in his power will do with me as he pleases. But you can’t undo what’s been done, you can’t help your grief with tears. I forgive you for the harm you caused.
Leave this castle, something that you should not see will soon happen here. Go, and may God's mercy be with you wherever you go.
The queen left, sobbing. And the villain, who held the king in his power, bound him with an iron chain weighing forty pounds and carried him through the clouds to the top of a high cliff. This cliff stood on an island in the sea. Here the sorcerer stuck the end of the chain into the rock and soldered it with lead and sulfur, and so skillfully that the best mechanic could not do it. Then he whistled - and immediately two wolves, huge as bulls, came running to his whistle, one blacker than soot, the other white as snow. The white wolf guarded the king during the day and slept at night. The black wolf guarded the king at night and slept during the day.
- Wolves, keep a vigilant watch over the Raven King!
The villain left, and the raven king was left alone with the wolves, chained to the top of a high rock on an island in the sea.
Meanwhile, the queen, having left the palace, kept walking and walking and crying as if she wanted to cry her eyes out. Bursting with tears, she reached the top of a high mountain without snow, where the squalid hut of an old washerwoman stood by a stream.
“Poor thing,” said the old woman, “the grief has come, as I predicted for you.” What will happen cannot be avoided. But you once did me a favor, and I will repay kindness for kindness. Put on this pair of iron shoes and go in search of your husband. He is captured by a sorcerer, on top of a high cliff, on an island in the sea. Here's another knapsack that never runs out of bread, no matter how much you eat. Here is a hollowed out gourd, there will always be wine in it, no matter how much you drink from it. Here is the golden knife that you will need for protection and to cut the blue grass, the grass that sings night and day, the grass that crushes iron. When your iron shoes burst, the hour of liberation will come for the Raven King.
- Thank you, laundress!
And the queen moved on.
Three days later she came to a country where there is neither night nor moon, where the sun always shines. She wandered here for a whole year. When she was hungry and thirsty, there was always bread in her knapsack and wine in her pumpkin. When she felt sleepy, she lay down on the ground and dozed. Towards the end of the year she found grass, blue from top to root, blue like flowering flax.
The queen immediately took out her golden knife.
“Queen,” said the blue grass, “don’t cut me with your golden knife.” I am the blue grass, but I am not the grass that sings night and day, not the grass that crushes iron.
The queen hid the golden knife and moved on.
Three days later she came to a country where there is no day, where the moon always shines. She wandered here for a whole year. When she wanted to eat and drink, she always had bread in her knapsack and wine in her pumpkin. When she felt sleepy, she lay down on the ground and dozed. Towards the end of the year she found blue grass, blue from top to root, blue like flowering flax.
The blue grass sang:
“I am the blue grass and I sing night and day.” I am the blue grass and I sing night and day.
The queen immediately took out a golden knife.
“Queen,” said the blue grass, do not cut me with your golden knife. I am the blue grass, I sing night and day. But I am not the grass that crushes iron.
And the queen again hid the golden knife and wandered on.
Three days later she came to a country where neither the sun nor the moon shines and black night always reigns. She walked here for a whole year. When she was hungry and thirsty, she always found bread in her knapsack and wine in her pumpkin. When she felt sleepy, she lay down on the ground and dozed. Towards the end of the year she heard singing in the darkness:
“I am the blue grass, the one that sings night and day, the one that crushes iron. I am the blue grass, the one that sings night and day, the one that crushes iron.”
The queen instantly took out her golden knife and walked in the darkness to the place from where the singing was heard. And suddenly her iron shoes burst: she stepped on the blue grass, the same one that sings night and day, the same grass that crushes iron.
The queen cut the grass with her golden knife, and she continued to sing:
“I am the blue grass, the grass that sings night and day, the grass that crushes iron.”
The queen hid the knife
She walked on in the darkness of the night, barefoot among the thorny bushes. She walked for a long, long time. Finally the night ended and the sun rose.
The queen found herself on the shore of a large sea, and a boat was rocking very close to her.
The queen entered the boat and set off into the open sea. For seven days and seven nights she saw nothing but sky and water. On the morning of the eighth day, she sailed to the island and saw the raven king chained to the top of a high rock.
Seeing the queen, a huge white wolf rushed towards her with his mouth open.
The queen immediately took out a golden knife and waved a bunch of grass, which did not stop singing:
“I am the blue grass, the one that sings night and day, the one that crushes iron. I am the blue grass, the one that sings night and day, the one that crushes iron.”
Under this singing, the white wolf lay down and fell fast asleep.
Then the queen stabbed the great white wolf with a golden knife. After that, she touched the singing grass to the chain weighing forty pounds, with which the king of ravens was chained. The chain broke.
And at that very moment the grass withered and stopped singing. And the king of the ravens stood up, straight and proud like Caesar.
- Kra! Kra! Kra! Thank you, wife! Then he shouted in all four directions:
- Kra! Kra! Kra!
And from all four corners of the world flocks of ravens reached out to him. They flew up to the king and immediately took on their former human form. When everyone had gathered, the king said:
“My faithful people, our suffering is over. Look there, into the distance. This is the king, my faithful friend, coming for us with seven thousand ships. In a month we will all be in our home country.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru