In the old days there was a village at the foot of high mountains on the shore of the endless sea. There lived an old man with seven sons. The sons were born stately and strong and tall. The eldest was called Zhuang-shi - Remarkable Strength, the second Gua-feng - Blow the Wind, the third Te-han - Iron Man, the fourth Bu Pa-zhe - Never mind the Heat, the fifth Gao-tui - Long Leg, the sixth Da-jiao - Big
Foot, seventh Da-kou - Big Mouth.
One day an old man says to his sons:
“Our village is located in an inconvenient place. If you go west - high mountains, turn east - an endless sea. At least don't leave the gate! If only you could move the mountains and the sea a little further.
The sons agreed and went in different directions: some to the west, others to the east. The old man waited a little, went out the gate, looked: no mountains, no sea, the plain stretches on all four sides, the black earth shines - not loose, not sticky, not wet, not dry.
Then the old man says to his sons:
“It’s no good to leave such good land empty; you need to sow various grains on it.”
The sons agreed and began to plow and sow. Soon the bread grew on that plain - you can’t even glance at it. Wheat - yellow gold - is about to ripen, millet reaches to the sky, sparkling with gold. The old man and his sons are watching and they couldn’t be happier. They have no idea that this good will turn into evil for them.
The news about this fertile land reached the emperor himself in the capital. He sent dignitaries with a decree to take all the grain clean to the treasury.
The old man became sad, sighed and said to his sons:
“We won’t see any good days now, kids, the sovereign has a belly like a bottomless well, no matter how much earth you pour in, you won’t be able to fill it up.” Just submit, and all your life you will work for him like an ox, carry him like a nag.
All seven sons got angry and said at once:
“Don’t be afraid, father, we will find the truth, we will go to the sovereign himself in the capital city.”
As soon as the brothers began to approach the city wall, the generals who were guarding the gates saw them. They got scared, let's quickly lock the gates tightly, push the iron bolts, close the huge locks with a creak and a clang, and hide in the towers.
The brothers approached the gate, then the eldest, Remarkable Sida, shouted:
- Open the gates, we are going to the capital to seek the truth for the sovereign!
The commanders shook with fear, looked out and said:
“Where have you seen this before, for simple men to reason with the sovereign!”
The elder brother got angry when he pushed the gate, only a roar was heard, gates and towers hit, dust rose into the sky in a column, bricks and stones fell - one rolled in one direction, the other in the other, crushing all the commanders.
The seven brothers entered the city and approached the palace gates. And they are also tightly locked: not a crack, not a crack. Here the second brother, Blow the Wind, says to the eldest:
- Rest a little, and I’ll scream.
He stretched out his neck and shouted:
- Open the gate! We came to the capital to the sovereign to seek the truth!
He shouted and shouted, Blow the Wind, but no one answered. He got angry, took in more air into his mouth and how it blew! Well, a hurricane just hit; the gates did not sway, the stone pillars with the dragons did not sway—in an instant they all fell to the ground. The courtiers and military leaders were frightened and did not dare to look out. Seven brothers approached the sovereign's chambers - no one stopped them. Here the third brother, the Iron Kid, says to the second:
“Rest, brother, and I’ll go talk to the emperor.”
He said and headed to the sovereign’s chambers. And the sovereign turned yellow with fright and quickly said:
“Where have you ever seen a man talk to the sovereign, drive him away as quickly as possible and cut off his head.”
The Iron Man heard his words, laughed and answered:
- You, sir, first look at what kind of hands I have!
He wanted to show his hand to one of the military leaders, but he came straight into a sparkling sword, at the very edge. There was a ringing sound, sparks rained down in all directions, the sword shattered, as they say, into four parts, into five pieces. The Emperor rolled off his throne out of fear. The dignitaries rushed to pick him up and forcibly took him into the inner chambers. The emperor saw that he couldn’t kill his brothers, so he then ordered them to be burned with fire.
Instantly the fireballs burst into flames. There are so many of them that you can’t even count them. The smoke is thick and getting closer to the brothers.
The fourth brother says here, I don’t care about the heat:
- Step aside, take a break, I can handle it alone!
He stepped on the fireball, grinned and said:
- It’s kind of cold, maybe we should turn up the heat!
The emperor jumped up in fear and immediately ordered a huge army to be gathered and all seven brothers to be pushed into the sea at once.
The fifth brother, Long Leg, speaks here:
“Don’t worry, it’s high time I took a swim in the sea!”
He took a step, took another, and walked straight into the blue sea. And the water didn’t even reach his ankles.
The young man shook his head and said:
- It’s so shallow, you won’t be able to swim! Should I catch some fish?
He bent over, began to grab fish from the sea with both hands, grabs them and throws them ashore. Black fish, white fish, a zhang long, ten zhangs, huge fish a hundred zhangs long - he pulled them all out. A whole bunch of fish on the shore have grown, as big as a small mountain.
The brothers are waiting for Long Leg, they just can’t wait. Here the sixth brother, Big Foot, says:
- I’ll go and call him.
He took a step and found himself on the seashore. He says to the fifth brother:
- Apparently, you forgot why we came to the sovereign, since you started fishing!
The seventh brother, Big Mouth, did not allow the sixth to say everything to the end and said:
- The sovereign will not interpret the truth. And if he becomes, he will cease to be a sovereign.
Big Mouth did not ask the brothers for advice; he drank all the sea water in one breath. He turned around, his mouth gaping, like water pouring out of his mouth, it was gushing. The waves of the sea rushed towards the palace, rumbled menacingly, overturned the high walls, and the emperor and his dignitaries and generals drowned in the waves.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru