The merchant’s wife died, and before her death she bequeathed:
- If you get married, don’t give my dresses to your new wife, leave them to our daughter.
The merchant buried his wife and took the young woman into the house. The stepmother began to manage the house, she does everything she wants, but she doesn’t have the key to the chest with dresses.
“I won’t live with you,” she says to the merchant. - You love your daughter more than me. If she doesn't give me the key to the chest, I'll leave you.
“Okay,” says the merchant. - There will be your dresses. Just in return, buy your daughter one dress.
The stepmother bought her stepdaughter a dress made of feathers, put it on her and began to laugh and point with her finger:
“This stuffed animal,” he says, “is not a chicken, not a bird, but a laughing girl!” Well, give me the key to the chest.
“If you order a mass for my mother, I’ll give it to you,” says the girl.
The merchant and stepmother went to order mass, and the girl opened the chest, tied her mother’s dress in a bundle and ran away into the forest. A day or two goes by... It spends the night under the bushes, feeding on wild berries. And in that forest the royal heir was hunting with his boyars and servants. They see a strange bird hiding in the bushes; no one has ever seen one like it before. They decided to catch her alive. They rushed into the bushes - it turned out it was not a bird, but a girl.
The heir looked at her and laughed. The boyars and the servants laughed.
- Who are you? - asks the heir.
“I’m a stuffed animal with feathers,” says the girl. - Take me to the palace, you will show me to the guests.
The heir agreed and brought her to the palace. When he feasts with guests, he orders a girl in a dress made of bird feathers to be invited to amuse the guests.
One day the heir was getting ready to go to a gathering, he was washing himself in the kitchen, and the merchant’s daughter asked him:
- Why do you wash yourself so clean?
The heir got angry, threw a bar of soap at the girl and said:
- None of your business, stuffed animal!
The heir has left. And the merchant’s daughter took off her feather dress and put on another one, made from a knot, and went to the gathering. There were a lot of beautiful girls there, but she turned out to be the best. The heir approaches her and asks:
- I've never seen you here. Where are you from, beauty?
“From where they throw soap,” the girl answered and ran away.
The heir returned to the palace and told his father and mother what a beautiful girl he had met - he had never seen her more beautiful anywhere. But I didn’t have time to find out who she was and where she came from: she ran away.
“I’ll definitely find out tomorrow,” says the heir. And the merchant’s daughter has long returned, changed into a dress made of bird feathers and listens to them talk.
The next evening, the heir gathers again for gatherings and puts on stockings with a gold pattern. The merchant's daughter asks him:
- Why do you dress so smartly?
“Oh, a stuffed animal with feathers,” says the heir. - Well, I’m tired of you!.. And he whipped the girl with a stocking.
As soon as the heir left for a gathering, the merchant’s daughter took an even more elegant dress from her bundle, changed into it and followed.
At gatherings, the heir is looking for yesterday's beauty among the girls, but cannot find it... He began to ask if anyone knew this girl, where she was from. Suddenly he sees a girl enter, even more beautiful than yesterday. The heir goes to her. He treats you to sweets and roasted nuts.
Asks:
-Who are you? Where did it come from?
“From there,” the merchant’s daughter answers him, “where they fight with stockings!” And she ran away from the gathering. In the kitchen she changed into a dress made of bird feathers and waited. The heir returns and tells his father and mother:
“I met a girl even more beautiful than yesterday, but she ran away.” If I find her, then I don’t need another wife.
The next day the heir gets ready for a gathering again, puts on a gilded caftan, and the girl asks:
-Who do you want to marry?
- Not you, stuffed animal with feathers! - the heir shouted and pushed the girl out of the palace by the neck.
As soon as the heir left for the gathering, the merchant’s daughter returned to the kitchen, took out the best, most elegant dress from the bundle and put it on. And she became such a beauty - I can’t say it in a fairy tale, I can’t describe it with a pen.
Meanwhile, at the gatherings, the heir asks if anyone has seen the girl who came yesterday, if anyone knows where she lives. Then the merchant’s daughter appeared in her best dress, which her mother left her. The heir rushed to her. I forgot about yesterday’s beauty and the day before yesterday. He doesn’t know where to plant or what to treat.
- I have never met a more beautiful girl than you. Where are you from? - asks.
“From where they kick you out of the house,” answers the merchant’s daughter.
The heir was afraid that this girl would run away from him. He grabbed her hand and held it tightly.
“I want to marry you,” he says. “Let’s go to the palace, I’ll show you to your father and mother, let them bless you.”
He brought the girl to the palace, the young people bowed to the king and queen.
- Who are you? - the king asks. - What is your name?
“I’m a stuffed animal with feathers,” answers the merchant’s daughter. “They threw soap at me, beat me with stockings, kicked me out of the palace in the neck.” And my name is Marusya.
The heir guessed why the three beauties at the gatherings answered his questions this way and that they were not different girls, but one and the same.
“Ask me whatever you want,” he says, “just be my wife.”
Soon the wedding took place. And I was there. I wanted to eat pies and porridge, but they said they weren’t yours. I wanted to have some cabbage soup, but they kicked me out.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru