Once upon a time there lived a king; he ruled the coastal people. This king had a lot of treasures, but had no children.
So the king lived more than half his life and lost hope of being a father. This made him very sad. The most delicious dishes seemed bitter to him, and the best wine gave him a headache. One day, the king, sad, was sitting on the balcony of his palace and saw that a man had driven up to the porch. Before the king had time to look back, the stranger was already standing in front of him.
- Good afternoon, king! Why are you so gloomy? - the unexpected guest turned to him - are you in some kind of grief or is my arrival not to your heart?
“Why not to my heart,” answered the king. - Yes, and I don’t have any grief. Of course, there are concerns. But who doesn't have them?..
However, the stranger continued to achieve, which upset the king.
“Okay,” said the king, “since you insist so much, I will share my misfortune with you.” But you still can't help me.
“We’ll listen, we’ll see, we’ll think... And maybe we’ll be able to help,” said the stranger.
The king told him about his grief - that he was childless and even his cattle did not produce offspring.
“And if I make you have children and your cattle give birth, what will you reward me with then?”
- I'll give you half the kingdom! - answered the king.
“I don’t want half a kingdom or even a whole kingdom.” If you manage it well, it is a troublesome task, but if you manage it poorly, it is dangerous. But here is my condition: when your three sons are born and when they grow up, you call them to you and ask each of them who wants to come and visit me. That's it.
The king happily agreed. Then the stranger took an apple from his pocket and said:
After I leave, remove the skin from this apple, cut it in half, eat one half yourself, give the other half to your wife, and give the skin from the apple to the cattle.
“All this is not difficult to do,” said the king. “But how can I find you if I really have sons?”
– I live on the other side of the sea. There will be traces of my horse on the shore. “You can follow these tracks to me,” answered the stranger.
After that, he said goodbye to the king and left. The king did everything as he was told. A little time passed, and the cattle began to give birth. A year passed and the queen gave birth to a son. Three years later the king already had three sons.
Time passed, the king's sons grew up. And then one day the father called them to his place, sat them down and told them everything: how he had no children for a long time, who made him happy and what promise he made to the stranger. Then the king turned to his eldest son and said:
“You, as the eldest, should go to this man to greet and thank him.”
But the eldest son replied:
- Why should I embark on such a journey, I don’t know where! And the traces you are talking about were probably washed away by the sea.
“If the eldest brother does not dare to set off on a journey, then I certainly have no desire,” said the middle son.
Then the father turned to his youngest son:
– You are my last hope, Safa Saaja! Help me keep my word! Safa Saaja answered the king:
- Father, your will is law for me! Equip me as needed, and I will carry out your instructions.
The next day the young man went to the sea and saw deep traces of horse hooves on the sand and even on the stones. The younger prince followed these tracks for a long time. But the tracks broke off and disappeared. The young man took a closer look and saw that the hoof marks were barely visible in the sea water. Then the young man boldly drove his horse into the sea, but the horse resisted and did not go into the water. What was left to do? The prince turned his horse towards the shore, got off it, sat down on a stone and thought. He was tormented by disappointment that he had failed to fulfill his father's instructions.
While he was pondering what he should do, a man came alongside him riding a mule, white as sea foam.
- Good afternoon! - the traveler told him and drove further along the sea, as if across a field.
The young man, deep in thought, did not have time to answer his greeting. But when he saw that he was riding on the sea as if on land, he woke up and shouted:
- Stay, good man, listen to my request!
- What do you need? - he responded.
“I, too, would like to cross the sea, but my horse is not suitable for this.” Carry me on your horse.
“Okay,” answered the rider. “You may be young, but you are brave, and I will fulfill your request.”
He put the young man on a mule behind him, and they crossed the sea. After this, the rider turned to the side, and the young man found the tracks he needed and followed them. On the way, he got hungry, and when he saw a hut to the side, he turned towards it. A lonely old woman lived in this hut. Seeing the young man, she asked:
“Nan, the radiant one, what brought you to me?”
“My mother,” answered the young man, “I have come from across the sea and am going to the man who made my father happy.”
- Don't go there, son! - exclaimed the old woman. “The one you are going to is an evil man, he will not spare you!”
“No, my mother,” said the young man, “even if I don’t return alive from him, but once I’ve taken on something, I won’t back down from my decision!”
The old woman cooked abysta and fed it to the young man.
When the young man had eaten, he said:
“You already know where I’m going.” Please explain how best I can get there.
“The tracks you followed will soon disappear,” answered the old woman. “That’s where the possessions of the one you’re going to begin, but he leaves no traces on his land.” And there you will see an old hut. In this hut, an ancient old woman sits by the fireplace. You dig under the hut so that when you come out, you find yourself right in front of the old woman. Don’t let her come to her senses, kiss the old woman and say:
“From this day on, I am your son, you are my mother and you must help me in everything.” She will give you advice on what to do next. Here's a spade for you as a gift - it can sometimes turn out to be more necessary than a sword.
The young man thanked the old woman and moved on.
He walked for a long time until he finally saw an old hut. The young man crept up to her and looked through the crack. An ancient old woman sat bent over by the fireplace and muttered something.
He quickly dug down, found himself in the hut and kissed the old woman. But at that moment the old woman sighed and almost swallowed the young man.
- May my grief fall on your head! - she cried. – Now I can’t eat you! Well, what can you do, not everyone is lucky. Tell me who you are and what do you want from me?
The prince told her everything: how his father had no children, how a stranger came to him and brought happiness to the king, and added that he was going to that man.
The old woman replied:
“You shouldn’t go to him... But once you go, you don’t dare come back, like a pathetic loser.” I liked you with your courage, and I will tell you how to get out of the network that you can get into. Know that this man is ajnysh. He lures people to him and, if they do not please him, devours them. He has seven daughters, but not a single son. Walk further until you reach the river; hide in the bushes on the shore. Six daughters of ajnysh will fly there. They will shed their pigeon feathers and swim. Then they will become doves again and fly away. Just be careful, don't look too closely at the girls! Otherwise your eyes will darken, and you will lose sight of the eldest. Her name is Santa Saaja. She will arrive later in the form of an eagle. When she turns into a girl and enters the water, manage to grab her eagle feathers. If you succeed, the girl will be in your hands and will help you with everything. But don't give her the eagle feathers until she swears to do everything you ask of her.
The prince thanked the old woman for her advice, said goodbye to her and went to the river. Here he hid in the reeds and waited.
Soon six doves arrived. They shed their feathers and turned into beautiful girls. But the prince remembered the old woman’s warning and closed his eyes tightly. The girls took a bath, turned into doves and flew away.
Soon the prince heard the sound of wings, and an eagle landed on the shore, so close that its wings touched the tops of the reeds in which the young man was hiding.
The eagle shed her feathers, became a beautiful girl and entered the water. At that very moment the prince, without hesitation, grabbed her eagle feathers. The girl took a bath, went ashore and began to look for eagle feathers, but did not find them. She sat down, covered herself with her loose hair, and sat there silently for a long time. And suddenly she shouted, first angrily, and then pitifully:
-Where are you hiding, kidnapper? Give me my eagle feathers! I overlooked it and now I’m ready to pay for my mistake!..
The prince, without leaving the reeds, said:
- Swear to help me with whatever I ask you to do!
When the girl swore, the prince returned the eagle feathers to her and told her about how and why he came here.
“You really are a brave and agile person if you managed to cross the sea and earned the trust of two old women,” said the girl. “Now I’m not offended that you waylaid me.” I'll teach you what to do. The man you are looking for is my father. He has a very tough temper, and you need to be able to adapt to him. Come to our home when it gets dark. First, the candles in the windows of father and mother will go out, then in the sisters’ rooms. The candle in my room will burn the longest. You knock on the window. I'll let you in and we'll decide what to do next. And during this time I will find out something...
The girl turned into an eagle and flew away. When night fell, the prince went to the ajnysh’s dwelling and began to watch the illuminated windows. Gradually the candles began to go out. Finally, only one window remained illuminated. The young man knocked on the window. The girl let him in and said:
– Listen to what awaits you tomorrow. In the morning you will come to us as a guest. Your father will ask you how your parents are, what you did on the road, and after the conversation he will order the servants to slaughter the bull and roast it. He will offer you to eat this bull carcass. And if you decide to refuse, he will say that you are mocking his hospitality, and he can deal cruelly with you.
“But I still won’t be able to eat a bull carcass,” said the young man. “With all my desire, with great difficulty, through strength, I will, perhaps, eat half an ox leg on an empty stomach, no more.” What should I do?
- Don't be afraid! – the girl answered. - Here's a scarf for you. When you feel that you can no longer eat, wipe your lips with this handkerchief, and you will want to eat again. Now lie down and sleep peacefully. When it starts to dawn, I'll let you out. You wander somewhere away from our house, and then go to your father as if nothing had happened.
In the morning the prince came to the ajnysh, and they greeted each other. Ajnysh asked him about everything, and then called the servants and ordered:
- Prepare breakfast for the guest, and choose a fatter bull! He got hungry from the road.
When the servants had roasted the bull, Ajnysh seated the young man at the table and began to treat him. The prince ate until he was full, but when he ran a handkerchief over his lips, he felt hungry again. And he did this every time he was full: he would run a handkerchief over his lips and he would be hungry again. So he ate everything that was on the table.
“Now rest after the journey,” said Ajnysh and led him into the bedroom.
“Well, a guest has come to me! - thought Ajnysh. “You have to keep your eyes open with someone like that.” Apparently we’ll have to kill him in another way.”
And he went to consult with his wife. His wife told him:
– We don’t have a single tree in our yard. Let your guest grow such a plane tree in the middle of the yard so that our whole family can relax in its shade. And if he fails to do this, then he is an ordinary person and we have nothing to fear from him. Then deal with him.
When the young man woke up, Ajnysh told him:
- I ask you for one favor. I have a completely empty yard, and I really want a shady plane tree to grow in the middle of it, so that my whole family can hide under it in the heat. Surely you can do this for me?
The young man thought and said:
- Okay, I’ll grow a plane tree. But first I will need to look for seeds. I’ll do this today, and tomorrow a shady plane tree will appear in the middle of your yard,
Ajnysh released the young man.
The young man went out and thought: “In the evening I will see a girl and ask her what I should do. Maybe she will help me out this time too.”
Late in the evening, when all the lights in the ajnysh’s house went out, the prince came to the girl and told her about her father’s invention.
- Well, how can I grow a shady plane tree in one night? – he asked, lowering his head.
“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you what to do,” said the girl. “Take this stick, and tomorrow morning go and stick it into the ground in the middle of the yard, then water it with three jugs of water.” When you start watering, your father will come and tell you: “I wish you good luck in your work!” But don’t answer until you’ve poured all three jugs onto the stick. When you do this, then just answer the greeting. Father will be angry, but you tell him this: “If I had answered before finishing the work, it would not have been a success.” Here the plane tree will begin to grow quickly, and its trunk will cover you. The father will turn and leave. And you run to me now, I’ll hide you behind the curtain. At night we will both run away, because father will come up with something else that I cannot cope with, and then he will certainly destroy you. But I don’t want you to die: I fell in love with you and want to be your wife. At night, you sneak into the stable and take out two horses: a white one and a black one. No one will overtake the white one during the day, and the black one at night. When these horses are paired, they keep up with each other.
The prince did everything as the girl told him. Before setting off, the girl took a flask of water, a bag of nuts and a bunch of corn cobs for the journey.
That night, her mother saw in a dream that a misfortune had happened in the house. She woke up, woke up her husband and said to him:
– I had a bad dream. Something must be wrong in our house. Get up and go around all the rooms!
Ajnysh got up, walked around the house and discovered that his eldest daughter had disappeared. He went to his wife and told her about it.
- Ait, you old bastard! - the wife screamed. - It's all your fault! After all, it was you who spoiled this scoundrel for our shame... Now jump in pursuit and bring her back! And kill the trashy tramp with whom she ran away, otherwise I will kill you from the world!
Ajnysh immediately jumped on his fiery horse and set off in pursuit.
While Ajnysh was wandering around the house and talking with his wife, the fugitives managed to gallop far away.
They rushed with all their might, but when they looked back, they saw that Ajnysh was catching up with them on a fiery horse.
- Ah! – the girl exclaimed. - What a mistake I made! After all, I forgot to tell you to hide the bridle of the fiery horse. I'm afraid that my father will catch up with us. But nothing... maybe my father doesn’t have enough guesses for everything!
With these words, the girl jumped off her horse and turned it into a chapel, and the prince’s horse into a stone fence. She herself turned into a priest and turned the young man into a deacon. They closed the door of the chapel tightly and began to sing psalms in old voices. Ajnysh rode up to the chapel fence, dismounted from his fiery horse, but did not dare enter the chapel. He stood until the priest and deacon stopped singing, and then asked them:
“Didn’t a young man and a girl ride past you on black and white horses?”
“Why,” the priest answered in a nasal voice, “we passed by, only it was a long time ago - at the time when I was still learning the alphabet.”
- Ait, that's how they jumped me! - Ajnysh exclaimed with annoyance. – Chasing them further is just a waste of time!
With these words, Ajnysh jumped onto his fiery horse and galloped back.
As soon as the ajnysh disappeared from sight, the girl returned her former appearance to herself, the prince and the horses, and they set off again.
Meanwhile, Ajnysh returned home empty-handed.
- Why don’t you drag your daughter by the hair? Where is she? - his wife attacked him.
Ajnysh was even confused by such a loud cry and told his wife about his failure. - Oh, oh! - she screamed. “You have to bang your head against the wall so that you can guess anything!” After all, they were in the chapel! Now I’ll go in pursuit myself!
The fiery horse had barely caught its breath when the ajnysh’s wife jumped on it and set off after the fugitives.
How long or how little time has passed, she began to overtake them.
The girl looked around and saw: her mother was catching up with them.
Then she quickly threw out the water from the flask. And at that same moment a wide, stormy river overflowed, through which the fiery horse swam with great difficulty.
Meanwhile, the fugitives sped off further.
But after some time, Ajnysh’s wife again began to catch up with them. Then the girl threw the ears of corn behind her back. And immediately the corn grew so thick and tall that the fiery horse barely made its way through it and again began to overtake the fugitives. Then the girl scattered the roasted nuts. And immediately such high and slippery mountains rose that the tired fiery horse could not jump over them. Smoke came out of his nostrils, he began to stumble, and the ajnysh’s wife fell off his back. She realized that she could no longer capture her daughter, and shouted after her:
- I curse you! As soon as you see your new home, you will turn into a frog!..
Another young man and girl galloped for a long time, saddened by their mother’s curse.
When they were at the grove, already close to the royal palace, the prince said:
This is my father's house where we will live!
The girl raised her head, saw the high roof of the palace and at the same moment turned into a frog. She barely had time to say to the young man:
- Wait for me for three years! - and disappeared into the grass. The Tsarevich was very sad, having lost the girl, but what can you do... He returned home, and the Tsar threw a feast to celebrate.
The prince lived in anguish, waiting for about three years. He impatiently counted the days and at the same time missed the count by three days. And so, when what he thought was the end of the third year, Santa Saaja did not appear. The prince fell into complete despair. His parents did not know how to console him and said:
– If you get married, you will forget about your grief and become joyful and cheerful again! We have been looking for a beautiful girl for you for a long time.
The prince did not argue. He allowed his parents to marry him just on the third day with the girl they chose for him.
On this very day, the daughter of ajnysh Santa Saadzha shed her frog skin and hurried to meet her lover. But as soon as she left the grove, she saw from afar a wedding procession and the groom - Safa Saaja. She began to sunbathe and thought: “He didn’t wait for me as he promised. Apparently he’s fallen out of love and doesn’t want to know me...”
But the girl still could not bring herself to leave these places. She again turned into a frog and went to the old woman who lived not far from the royal palace. The old woman was sitting by the fire when a frog appeared. Seeing her, the old woman shouted:
-What do you want here? “She picked up the frog with a broom and carried it out the door.
But the frog returned. The old woman carried her out again, but the frog came again and sat down by the fireplace, croaked, and a golden one jumped out of her mouth. The delighted old woman picked it up, no way, gold? “We’ll find out now,” said the old woman and ran into the shop. She bought everything she wanted at the store and returned home with her hands full. Then she began to look after the frog as if she were her own granddaughter. A little time passed, and the old woman, who lived on scraps from the royal kitchen, began to live in such prosperity that everyone began to envy her.
The old woman did not hide where her happiness came from. The neighbors found out about this, and the rumor about the wonderful frog reached the prince. He immediately guessed what kind of frog it was. In despair and grief, the prince cursed himself for his rashness. But who could help him forget his grief?..
He stopped talking to his wife, avoided his family and went to the garden for whole days. There he lay down under a tree and yearned for his lost happiness.
The frog girl Santa Saaja learned about this from the old woman and asked her to get two blackbirds. She trained these blackbirds to carry out her orders and said to them:
- Fly now to the royal garden, sit on the tree under which the prince will lie, and start a fight among yourself. And the one who turns out to be weaker, let him say to the winner: “Just as Santa Saaja did not forgive the betrayal of Safa Saaja, so I will not forgive you for my defeat!”
The blackbirds flew into the garden and sat on a tree. When the Tsarevich came and lay down under this tree, the blackbirds started a fight and began to peck each other mercilessly, so that the feathers flew to the sides. Soon one of them fell to the ground near the prince. Having managed, he shouted to the winner:
“Just as Santa Saaja did not forgive Safa Saaja’s betrayal, so I will not forgive you for my defeat.
And, limping, he disappeared into the bushes.
When the prince heard what the blackbird said, he was overcome with even greater despair. But the blackbirds had already disappeared, and he could find out nothing.
Meanwhile, his wife also learned that Santa Saadzha, the prince’s former bride turned into a frog, was living with the old woman, and that that was why her husband was grieving so much. She pretended to be seriously ill and took to her bed. The concerned king began to ask her:
– How can I help you, dear daughter-in-law?
“But here’s what,” she answered. – Our old neighbor has a frog. Catch her and throw her into the fire. It was she who sent the disease to me.
The old king ordered his men to seize the frog. She was grabbed, thrown into the fire and burned, only one bone fell out of the fire onto the floor. When they swept the floor, this bone along with the rubbish was swept out of the threshold. It started to rain, the bone was washed away by water, it ended up in the river and turned into a goldfish.
The old woman with whom the frog lived was very sad when she lost her nurse. One day she went to the river to get water. And then a goldfish swam up to her and said:
- Don't be sad about your frog! I was a frog, and now I'm a goldfish!
The old woman could not hide her joy and immediately told everyone about it. Soon the prince’s evil wife found out that the frog had become a goldfish. She again pretended to be seriously ill and said to the concerned old king:
- If they don’t catch the goldfish that appeared in the river, and I don’t eat it, then know that I will die!
The king sent fishermen to the river. The fishermen cast a net, caught a fish and brought it to the palace. But is it possible to eat fish so that nothing remains of it? When they were cleaning it, one fin got under the table. They swept it into the yard - and suddenly a large beautiful tree grew in the yard. The Tsar's daughter-in-law immediately realized that she had failed to destroy her rival. She again pretended to be sick and demanded that the tree that was blocking her window be cut down and burned. The tree was cut down and burned. When they cut it down, one sliver flew far to the side. Just then an old woman passed by. She saw a good piece of wood, picked it up and brought it home. A little time passed - the sliver turned into a girl.
The old woman was very happy with her, and the girl remained to live in her house. She told the old woman everything that had happened to her and the prince.
– Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier! - exclaimed the kind old woman.
She immediately ran to the palace and began to track down the prince.
When he was left alone, the old woman came up to him and told him that Santa Saaja, his beloved, had returned, that she was alive and well.
The delighted prince immediately went to his father and revealed everything to him: how he got to the ajnysh, how Santa Saadzha saved him from certain death.
“I missed this girl so much,” he said, that he miscalculated by three days. She didn’t show up, and out of despair and frustration I agreed to marry someone else. The frog that was burned at the instigation of my wife, the fish that she ate, the tree that she ordered to be cut down - all this was my former beloved Santa Saaja!
- Oh, that's how it is! - the king cried. - Well, let the evil daughter-in-law get out of our house! I don't want to know her anymore!
And the prince’s wife was driven away.
After this, the king arranged the wedding of his son with Santa Saaj.
Having endured so many trials, having known so much grief, they lived amicably and happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru