Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen, and they had one and only daughter, and the daughter was so besieged by suitors that the father and mother did not know where to go from them. It will seem strange to you, but they didn’t want to give her away in marriage, but wanted to keep her with them. And so the king issued a decree that the one who grazes three hundred royal hares for three days and protects everyone will receive a princess as a reward. But whoever doesn’t protect them will have the straps cut out of his back and chest.
And there lived in that country one man, and he had three sons. The eldest sons turned up their noses and did not consider anyone as people, especially their younger brother. They heard the royal decree, and the eldest son immediately got ready to graze the hares to get the princess. His father let him go willingly; he thought that it would be easy for such a smart young man to become the king’s son-in-law. They equipped him as best they could, and he went to the palace.
He walked through the forest and in that forest he met an old beggar woman. The old woman greeted him kindly and asked where he was going.
“It’s none of your business,” he replied.
“Who knows,” said the old woman. “I would give you good advice and show you the way if you were a little more polite.”
But he decided that he himself knew the way and did not need advice, and moved on.
He reached the courtyard, saw the princess and reported why he had come. And, without hesitation, he decided to try his luck. If, then, he brings all the hares to the palace in the evening, and so on for three days in a row, he will receive the princess, but if not, he himself knows what awaits him.
The king ordered to release all the hares, and before they had time to run out onto the grass, they set off in different directions. The eldest son wandered through the forest all day, but did not find a single hare. And the king ordered the belts to be cut from his back and chest and driven from the courtyard.
He returned to his father, and his father decided that God was with her, with the princess, apparently she was not talking about them.
But he was mistaken, because the second son thought that if his brother had been smarter, he would have walked around with intact skin on his back and chest, and even been a royal son-in-law. And he decided to try his luck too, and no matter how his father begged, no matter how he asked him, he stood his ground. Well, there is nothing to do, his father equipped him for the road, and he went to the palace. But nothing worked out for him either, he treated the poor old woman unkindly, the hares ran away, and he returned to his father just as crippled as his older brother, and also with nothing.
And then the younger brother climbed down from the stove, where he lay in the ashes, and said that now it was his turn to try his luck. The father was angry; he did not want to let him go until the elders’ wounds had healed. All sorts of help in the house. But the younger one stood his ground. His father did not equip him, so he took some food for the road and went.
He walked through the forest and met the same old beggar woman as the brothers.
- Hello, mother! - he told her.
“Thank you, son, for greeting the poor old lady, for saying hello,” she answered.
“And I say hello to everyone I meet,” he said, “but since you’re not used to greetings, you’re obviously hungry.” Let's find a place where there are no ants, sit down and have a snack.
The old woman agreed, they sat down, and then he saw that he had little food, he couldn’t feed the old woman, and he promised to give her food when he entered the royal service. She asked what service he was going to, and he answered that he wanted to herd the royal hares.
“Then you’ll need a good pipe,” said the old woman. She gave it to him
the pipe and explained that if you blow the pipe, all three hundred birds with one stone will come running, and even one extra will come running every day. Her youngest son thanked her for the pipe, promised not to forget about food for her, and with that they parted.
He came to the palace. And they told him to graze the hares. But first he looked at the princess, and she looked at him, the princess thought that this one would probably protect the hares better than the brothers.
They fed him, he ate, and hid the rest for the old woman. And then the king released the hares, and they all ran away in different directions.
“Run to your heart’s content,” thought the youngest son, “you’ll still dance to my tune anyway.”
He went little by little into the forest and found an old woman, gave her something to eat, and she taught him what to do if he met someone.
Noon came, and the young man rode up on a donkey. He held the donkey and asked the shepherd if he would sell him the hare. But he won’t stand for the price, they say.
- I have one price. If you want a hare, hug me twice,” answered the shepherd. Because he saw that the little one was a princess in disguise. She replied that there was no point in hugging each other; it would be better if she paid with money. But the shepherd stood his ground, and she gave in - and took the hare for herself. But before she had time to go far, the shepherd blew his pipe, well, a hare and jumped out of her basket. She came to the palace and wanted to show the hare to her father, but there was no hare. Only for some reason she wasn’t very sad.
Evening came, the shepherd blew his pipe, all the hares came running, and he took them to the palace. The king counted them and saw that there was one extra hare, and the shepherd said:
- Well, the herd is growing!
The next day, the princess again changed into men's clothes and went into the forest. And the shepherd recognized her again, and again they made the same deal. And again the hare she bought ran away from her, and in the evening the shepherd already had two extra hares. The princess grinned, but the king got angry and decided to go into the forest himself and sell at least two birds with one stone.
So on the third day, the king changed into an ugly old woman, sat on a white nag, went into the forest and asked the shepherd to sell two hares. Well, the shepherd recognized him and replied that he would sell the hares only for this price: let the old woman kiss the mare under the tail three times.
“It’s a pity,” thought the king. “He didn’t recognize me, and no one else will see me.” He kissed the mare where he should have, bought some hares and went home. He returned to the palace, but there were no hares, and in the evening the shepherd already had three extra hares.
And the shepherd began to demand his own, but the king still would not give him his daughter and appointed another test - so that he would fill the barrel with the truth.
“This task is not difficult,” answered the shepherd.
They placed the barrel in the largest hall. The king, queen, princess and all the courtiers sat around the barrel and began to watch as he filled it with the truth.
“On the first day,” said the shepherd, “when I was tending the royal hares, a fellow came to me on a donkey.” He bought a hare from me, and I hugged him twice for it. But it was just a princess. Well, what is not true?
- Is it true! - answered the princess.
- Throw it into a barrel! - said the shepherd. “The next day this fellow came again and bought a hare for the same price.” What is not true?
- Is it true! - answered the princess.
- So, let’s throw it into the barrel, it’s almost full! - said the shepherd. - Well, on the third day an ugly old woman arrived on a white nag...
- No, no, no more! - the king shouted here. - The barrel is already full!
It’s clear that he didn’t want all the courtiers to know where he kissed his old mare. That's how the princess married the peasant's son.
And since then they have lived, prospered and made good.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru