Once upon a time there lived a farmer, he had two sons and one daughter. His daughter Mairambi was extremely beautiful.
A rich bai lived next door to him. One day the bai was getting ready to get married and
told his associates:
- Go and find me a bride who would be as beautiful as Mairambi!
The matchmakers put on wooden galoshes, took iron staffs in their hands and went to look for such a bride. They searched and searched and nowhere did they find such a beauty as Mairambi. They returned and told the bai:
- Oh dear sir! Our galoshes were full of holes and became like a sieve, our worn staves became thin as needles, but nowhere did we see a beauty like Mairambi.
Bai thought for a while and said:
- Go to Father Mairambi and woo her for me. Say that I will give a lot of cattle, a lot of money, just let him give his daughter for me!
The bai's matchmakers came to Mairambi's father and, wooing his daughter, said:
- Bai will give you a lot of cattle, a lot of money, give him your daughter!
Mairambi's father consulted with his wife and sons and decided to give his daughter to the bai.
They began to prepare for the wedding. They brought the sheep, ground the wheat, poured oil, and brought rice.
Mairambi's father scattered a bag of rice in the sun, called his daughter and said:
- Daughter, guard the rice so that the birds don’t peck it!
Mairambi agreed to guard the rice, sat down next to him and began to embroider a skullcap. She was sitting and embroidering, and a magpie flew up to her and chirped. Mairambi saw her but said nothing. The magpie chirped again, then the girl said:
- Shoo! Why are you chattering?!
- Let me eat some rice! When we're full, I'll tell you some good news.
- Okay, eat! — Mairambi agreed. When the magpie ate and ate and was full, it said:
- This rice is for a wedding, you are being married to your neighbor, the bai.
Mairambi became sad and said:
- Shoo!
The magpie flew away. Some bird with chicks flew in and began to peck at the rice.
- Shoo! - said Mairambi. - Why do you bite without asking?
“Let me peck,” said the bird, “I’ll peck and tell you some news!”
- OK! — Mairambi agreed.
When the bird and its chicks were satisfied, she said:
- Oh girl, whether you are sad or happy, I will tell you that this rice is for a wedding, you are being married off to your neighbor - bai!
Mairambi became even more sad and said:
- Shoo! - and thought: “If the birds say so, it’s clear there’s something behind it!” Do my father and mother and my brothers really agree to marry me off to this old boy, after all, they are not my enemies?”
So she thought, became very sad, took the needle out of the sewing and stuck it in the ground. And she cried bitterly. Her needle became a plane tree, a tall, very tall plane tree that grew to the sky.
Mairambi pressed herself against the plane tree and said:
- O sandalwood tree,
Make me a chair, raise it higher! Raise it higher, raise it higher! She repeated this, and the plane tree began to lift her up. People saw this and went and told her mother:
- Your daughter flew away, she broke up with you! The mother got scared, ran to the tree and said:
- Oh my daughter, Mairambi, come back, come back! Get down quickly, don't believe it! If anyone tells you anything, don't believe it! Get off!
Mairambi responded with tears and said: “O sandalwood tree, Make me a chair, Raise it higher, raise it higher!”
You were my mother, you became my enemy!
sandalwood tree,
Make me a chair
Raise it higher, raise it higher!
People went and told their father about this. The frightened father came running and saw that his daughter had already risen very high, to the very top of the plane tree. The father began to beg and beg her:
- My daughter, Mairambi, come back. If anyone tells you anything, don't believe it! We won't give you up to the boss!
Mairambi cried even more and said:
- O sandalwood tree, make me a chair,
Lift me higher, lift me higher!
You were my father, now you have become my enemy!
sandalwood tree,
Make me a chair
Lift me higher, lift me higher!
Then the elder brother, having learned about his sister, came running in fear and shouted:
- Hey, my sister, Mairambi, come back, get down quickly, don’t leave us alone, we won’t give you up for a boy!
Crying and sobbing, Mairambi said:
- O sandalwood tree, make me a chair,
Lift me higher, lift me higher!
You were my brother, now you have become my enemy!
sandalwood tree,
Make me a chair
Lift me higher, lift me higher!
The parents brought Mairambi’s younger brother and said:
- Your sister is leaving us, cry and beg her to stay! The little brother began to cry. Mairambi loved him very much. She felt sorry
him and she said:
- Sandalwood tree, Make a chair for me!
Take me down, take me down!
She began to say this, and the plane tree lowered her down. She lowered one of her braids even lower and said to her little brother:
- Grab the end of my braid, I will lift you up!
The little brother grabbed her braid, Mairambi began to lift him, picked him up and put him on her shoulders. Then she said again:
- O sandalwood tree, make me a chair,
Lift me higher, lift me higher!
So she spoke and climbed with her brother to the top of the plane tree. Then suddenly they found themselves in an immense desert. “What will be will be!” - said Mairambi and walked with her brother through the desert.
They walked for a long time and became hungry. Mairambi stopped, looked in one direction and saw that the farmers were plowing with oxen. She grabbed her brother, went to one of them and said:
- Grandfather, my brother is very hungry, he asks for bread, do you have any?
“There is,” said the old man, “over there, on the boundary, under my robe, there is bread, and there is water.” Go and eat with your brother, my daughter.
Mairambi went, gave her brother bread and water, then returned to the old man, thanked him and said:
- Grandfather, we are wanderers, we don’t know where to go, show us the way.
“Dear children, go this way,” said the old man, pointing towards the sunrise. “You will come to a lake full of frogs.” Don’t let your brother drink from it and don’t drink it yourself, otherwise you’ll become frogs. Go further, you will reach a river, don’t drink water from it either, otherwise you will become lambs. Then you go further, you will come across a big river, you can drink from it.
Mairambi thanked the caring old man, put her little brother on her back and moved on.
She walked and walked and came to a lake full of frogs. Little brother saw the water and said:
“Sister, my throat is dry, I’m very thirsty, let me drink this water!”
“No, no,” said the sister, “don’t drink this water, otherwise you will become a frog!” The little brother got scared and stopped asking for water. They moved on. weather
It was hot, and they were thirsty again. So they walked and came to a river. The water in the river was clean, and stones were visible at the bottom.
Tired Mairambi put her little brother down on the bank of the river and washed herself. My brother took it and drank water from this river without asking. And immediately he turned into a lamb and in despair did not know what to do.
- Oh, misfortune! You drank this water, what are we going to do? - exclaimed Mairambi and, crying, she went further with her brother lamb.
They walked and walked and came to the bank of a large river. We drank from the water and rested.
- Oh, how will we cross such a river? - said Mairambi. At this time a mountain goat appeared near her and asked:
-What are you crying about, girl?
“I’m crying because we can’t cross such a river,” said Mairambi, sighing deeply.
“Get on me, I’ll transport you,” said the mountain goat. Mairambi and his brother crossed the river on a goat.
- Well, now go wherever you want! - said the goat.
Mairambi thanked the goat and went on with her brother. She walked and walked and came to a spacious meadow. Here Mairambi made a hut out of branches, and placed a snare near it. One partridge flew in and was caught in a snare; Mairambi fried it and ate it.
On this day, the padishah was hunting on the lawn. The padishah's hunting falcon chased two partridges in front of him and flew into Mairambi's hut. The padishah's servant ran into the hut after the falcon and, having caught partridges in it, saw that a beautiful girl was sitting in the hut, and a lamb was standing next to her. The padishah's servant was surprised. He stood, looked at the girl and said:
- Tell me, are you a real girl or a fairy? And what are you doing in this deserted meadow?
- Oh uncle, I am not a fairy, but a man. And out of necessity, she made this hut her home.
“There’s a ready-made fire in front of you, won’t you fry these partridges, I would take them to the padishah.”
Mairambi agreed, took the partridges, plucked them, cleaned them, gave one partridge to the servant, and began to fry the other over the fire. The girl captivated the servant, and he kept looking at her, not taking his eyes off her face, and suddenly, losing consciousness, he dropped the partridge into the fire and stained it in the ash.
The girl roasted the partridge very well. The servant took the partridges and carried them to the padishah. The padishah saw that one partridge was very well roasted, while the other was smeared with ashes, and asked the servant why this happened.
The servant told the padishah about a beauty in a hut who was roasting a partridge. He also said that the girl wanders alone around the world and doesn’t know where to go.
- Go and bring her here! - said the padishah and ordered to give the servant a horse.
The servant went to Mairambi, told her that the padishah was calling her, and brought her to the palace.
As soon as the padishah saw Mairambi, he immediately brought her and her brother to his chambers and ordered the courtiers to prepare for the wedding. They celebrated the wedding for several days, and then Mairambi became the beloved wife of the padishah.
And he had two more wives. They began to treat the padishah’s beloved wife with hatred.
One day the padishah went hunting and ordered the two older wives to take care of the youngest. But as soon as the padishah left the city, out of jealousy they decided to drive away the padishah’s beloved wife from the world.
A river flowed through the padishah’s garden, and a tall plane tree grew on its bank. They tied a swing to a plane tree branch and forced Mairambi onto it. They shook the swing violently and cut the ropes. Mairambi fell into the river and drowned. But during the fall, one lock of Mairambi caught on a branch and remained on it.
The two older wives rejoiced at getting rid of Mairambi, but her brother began to cry so much for his sister that tears flowed from his eyes like spring rain from a cloud.
When the padishah arrived home, his wives baked a lot of flat cakes, dried them in the sun and placed them untouched in a niche. The eldest wife lay down on a blanket against the wall and did not get up. Only the middle wife met the padishah.
-Where is my youngest wife? - the padishah immediately asked.
- Oh, may this demon-possessed wife of yours perish! What kind of creature is she? Either the devil or the peri, but only after you she disappeared. Better go look at the eldest wife, she is already close to death!
The padishah went to his eldest wife and saw that she was very ill. When she turns around, there is a wheeze in her lungs.
-What kind of illness does she have? Quickly call the mullah and the healer: the mullah will say prayers, the healer will treat her.
“Don’t call either the mullah or the healer—they won’t help me.” Order the lamb to be slaughtered, its meat will make me healthy! - said the sick wife.
The padishah ordered two butchers to slaughter the lamb. The butchers came, tied the lamb’s legs and, throwing him to the ground, wanted to cut his throat, and at that time the lamb spoke:
“Don’t cut me, I’m thirsty, let me go to the river, take a sip of water, and then you’ll cut me.”
The butchers let the lamb drink water. He approached the river and spoke:
“My sister, the butchers are going to kill me!” The sister heard his voice across the water and said:
- I'm lying at the bottom of the river! My curl remained on the plane tree branch! The one who cuts you will have a knife as dull as its back!
The lamb ran to the butchers and said:
- Now cut me!
The butchers tied the lamb again and, putting a knife to its throat, began to cut it, but their knife was so dull that it could not kill the lamb.
- Since you can’t stab me, let me go, I’ll run and take another sip of water! - the lamb said to the butchers.
The butchers let him go, and they followed him and saw that the lamb approached the river and said:
- My sister, they want to kill me! A voice was heard from the water:
- I'm lying at the bottom of the river! My curl remained on the plane tree branch! Whoever cuts you, his knife will become as dull as its other side!
The butchers heard this, quickly ran to the padishah and said:
- O mighty lord! We saw a miracle! They wanted to slaughter the lamb, but they couldn’t do it: he asked in a human voice for a drink, we followed him, and he was talking to his sister by the river, and she answered him from the water.
The butchers took the padishah to the river under the plane tree, and there on its branch the padishah saw a lock of hair from his youngest wife. He ordered the hero-water-farmer to be brought and the river drained.
The bogatyr-water-farmer came, drew in the water of the river, and everyone saw a small cell on its drained bottom, in this cell there were two gahvor cradles, and Mairambi was sitting between them and embroidering a skullcap. There were two very beautiful boys lying in their cradles.
As soon as the lamb saw his sister, he joyfully rushed to her, put his two front legs on her shoulders and immediately turned into the same boy.
The padishah was surprised by everything he saw and began to ask how it all happened.
Mairambi told how the two older wives put her on a swing, rocked it strongly under the plane tree and cut the ropes. She fell to the bottom of the river, and two sons were born to her there. She made a small cell for them from sea stones and shells and raised them, feeding them with her milk.
The padishah became angry with the older wives and ordered them to be tied by their braids to the tails of forty mares, to let the mares gallop, and to drive the stallions after them.
Mairambi took the padishah with his children and brother to his home. Previously, the padishah had no children, and now, to celebrate, he threw a big feast. You were here, and we were there, eating fatty pilaf and sultanas with sugar.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru