On the edge of a dense forest, near a spring with clean water, there lived one poor old man, and he had a daughter. Every evening the girl walked with a jug of water to the spring. The frog noticed her and said in a human voice:
- You are clever and beautiful! But you will marry a sleeping horseman. The girl didn't believe it. “Are there such horsemen? It’s in vain that the frog scares me,” she reassured herself, filled a jug with water and went home.
The next day she came again with a jug to the spring. And again the frog croaked:
- You are clever and beautiful! But you are destined to marry a sleeping horseman.
The girl didn't believe it. “The frog comes up with something. Yesterday I spoke about the sleeping horseman, today about the sleeping one. Apparently, he’s teasing me because he has nothing to do,” the girl calmed herself, filled a jug with water and went home.
On the third day she again hurries to the spring. Before she had time to scoop up the water, the frog was right there. She looked at the girl with bulging eyes and croaked:
- You are clever and beautiful! But still you will marry a horseman, enchanted by evil witches.
This time the girl was scared. She ran home and told her father that the frog had croaked for her.
“This cannot be,” answered the father. “If there is an enchanted horseman somewhere, then why would you marry him?” Let's leave here - we need to stay away from trouble.
And so they did. We collected our belongings and went to look for a quieter place. They walked and walked and in a dense forest they came across a castle surrounded by a high wall. The father approached the gate and wanted to open it. But the gates were locked. I leaned on my shoulder and pressed as hard as I could, but it didn’t help. And his daughter came up, pushed him lightly - the gate swung wide open. She walked into the yard, but her father didn’t have time: the gate immediately slammed shut. The girl was scared and wanted to open the gate to let her father in, but she couldn’t.
I looked around - not a soul anywhere. I decided to go to the castle. She went up the steps, went into one room - empty, went into another - also empty, went into a third - empty again. I looked around the entire castle. And only in the last room I finally saw a man. It was a young horseman. He was lying on the bed, and the girl thought he was sleeping. She called out to him, then again, louder, but the horseman did not move. The girl sat down on a chair nearby, took the fan that was lying there, and began to wave it so that the horseman could breathe easier.
Day after day passed. The girl did not leave the castle, she looked after the sleeping horseman. Two years have passed since the day she entered the castle. It's the third year. And then one day, when the third year was coming to an end, an unfamiliar woman came into the room where the girl was sitting. It was the maid of the castle owner.
The girl asked:
- Be kind, sit next to the sleeping horseman, and I’ll run and see what happened to my father.
The maid silently took the fan and sat down on a chair. And the girl left the castle and found her father in the forest. He made himself a saklya by the road, cut out all sorts of trinkets for passers-by and waited for his daughter to return. They were happy with each other, talked a lot, and the girl went back to the castle. Her father told her goodbye:
- If you feel sad, send someone, I will give you a talking doll and a jumping man. And if you need help, you will receive a wonderful flying knife from me.
While the girl went to see her father, the third year of her stay in the castle expired. The motionless horseman woke up and opened his eyes. The evil witches put him to sleep for exactly three years, but as soon as the fourth year began, their witchcraft disappeared.
The horseman stood up and saw a maid next to him with a fan in her hand. And the maid came that day because the last year was coming to an end. “I’ll stand by his bedside for an hour, he’ll wake up and decide that I’ve been watching him for three years,” she rejoiced when the girl left to check on her father. Everything turned out as she planned. The owner of the castle was touched by the maid's loyalty.
“Now everything here is yours,” he told the maid and announced that he intended to marry her. And they made the girl who returned from the forest a servant.
Life was not easy for the new maid: she was overwhelmed with troubles, melancholy and resentment. But then the owner of the castle went to town for wedding shopping. He came to the new maid and asked:
- What should I bring from the city? She replied:
“I don’t need anything from the city.” But near the castle, right next to the road, you will see a hut. An old man lives in it and makes various trinkets. Bring me a talking doll, a jumping man and a flying knife from him.
Dzhigit did not forget her request. He arrives in the evening and brings everything that the maid asked for: a talking doll, a jumping man and a flying knife.
The girl thanked him and went to her room. Soon crying was heard from there.
The owner quietly walked to the door and listened.
And the girl sat the doll and the man in front of her and began to tell her what the frog croaked to her, how she later got into the castle, what happened to her here, how she became a maid. She says she bursts into tears. And when she finished telling the story, she exclaimed, looking at the living doll:
- Doll, doll, why don’t you cry with grief, don’t you feel sorry for me? The doll cried loudly.
- Don’t you feel sorry for me? — the girl asked, turning to the little man. “Why don’t you jump, fall on the stone floor and break into small pieces from grief?”
The jumping man flew into the air, fell to the floor and broke into small pieces.
- Aren’t you upset for me? — the girl turned to the flying knife. “Why don’t you fly up from grief, hit the ceiling, fall on me and pierce my heart?”
The knife flew into the air, hit the ceiling and flew back. But the horseman pulled open the door, ran into the room and managed to push the girl aside. The flying knife fell onto the stone floor.
“I stood outside the door and heard everything.” Now I know who looked after me for three years,” the horseman announced. “Be my wife.”
The girl ran after her father and brought him to the castle. They arranged a wedding. At the table they remembered their misadventures and rejoiced that all the bad things were behind them. To celebrate, the treacherous servant was forgiven.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru