Once upon a time there lived a poor widow and she had a son, Janik. He went to school, studied well and behaved exemplary. There was a king in the same city. Every day after school, Janik ran into the royal courtyard and rummaged through the garbage there. Once he was lucky: he found a penny. Janik was delighted and hurried to his mother to show off his find. Mother and son began to think about what to do with this penny. Finally the son says:
“Mother, I’ll exchange this penny for three kreuzers, they’ll be good for something.”
So they did.
The next day Yanik went to school, suddenly he heard someone howling loudly. He comes closer - and these are the boys beating a small dog. Yannick felt sorry for the little dog, and he said:
- Don't hit the dog, guys! I'll give you a kreuzer for it.
“Okay,” the boys answer, “give me the money, take the dog!” Yannick brought the little dog home, and his mother scolded him:
- Oh, you foolish child, what have you done? What will you feed the dog? After all, we ourselves have nothing to eat!
- Don't scold me, mother! I’ll start collecting dry crusts on the street, so we’ll feed her, and the little dog will repay us with kindness!
And so it happened: Janik finds a dry crust and takes it to his dog.
Some time passed. Again Yanik goes to school, and suddenly he hears a scream. He rushed - and there the mischievous boys were torturing the cat. Janik felt sorry for the poor thing, and he said:
“Give me the cat, and I’ll give you the Kreuzer!” The boys agreed.
Yannick brought the cat home. Again his mother scolds:
“If,” he says, “you drag anyone else in, I’ll throw you out of the house along with them.” Just look what he does!
Yanik remains silent, afraid to say a word, lest his mother kick him out of the house. Now he had two animals, and only one kreuzer remained from the penny.
One Sunday he returns from church and sees the same urchins whipping a snake with belts. Janik came closer and said:
- Don’t kill the snake, guys, give it to me!
“We’ll give it back,” the boys answer, “if you give us the kreuzer!”
It was a pity to give Yannick his last money, but he still decided. He gave the last one and took the snake for himself.
“How can I get home now,” Yanik thinks, “my mother will beat me! Well, oh well, come what may!”
I entered the house, but my mother was not there. He put the snake near the hearth and began to wait. He waits, but he himself thinks, maybe he should lie to his mother? Yes, I changed my mind.
His mother returned and he told her everything as it happened. And mother is angry, and she is glad that her Yannick has such a kind heart.
So they kept all the animals.
The snake grew and turned into a big snake. One day the snake says to Janik:
- Sit down, Yanik, ride me, let's go to my father.
Yannick didn’t take long to beg, he sat on the snake’s back and rode off.
They rode for a long time through the mountains, through the valleys, through green fields, until they reached the right place.
And wherever they came across snakes, they all crawled out onto the road and bowed to the young snake, because he was the son of the King of all snakes.
On the way, the snake says to Janik:
– Listen to me, Yanik, carefully! You saved me from death, and my father will offer you whatever you want for this, but you don’t take anything, just ask for a small ring. It has magical power. As soon as you turn it three times on your finger, twelve giants will appear and ask: “What do you order, young master?
Yannick remembered his words well.
They crawled to the hole where the Snake King lives. All the snakes hiss and wriggle with great joy, because the young prince has returned home! The father is the son, and the son is asking the father about life.
“I had a bad life,” the father-king finally said, “I missed you very much.”
“You would never have seen me at all if it weren’t for this brave young man.” He bought me from death. Thank him, father!
“I will thank you, I will thank you,” agreed the old man. – Take everything you see here!
“I don’t need anything,” exclaimed Yannick, “just your ring, if you give it to me.”
- Eh, no, I won’t give you the ring! But take as much gold and silver as you want!
- Well, if that’s the case, goodbye! – Yanik said and walked away.
- Wait! - shouted the old snake. - You're a wonderful guy! Here, get a ring! Look, take good care of him! Take some more gold and go! Yannick hurried home. On the way, he wanted to try the magical power of the ring, so he twirled it three times on his finger. Twelve giants immediately appeared in front of him and asked:
– What do you order, young master?
“Take six chests of flour and a tub of cheese to mother’s hut, and hang six large pieces of lard in the attic!”
- Okay, okay! - answered the giants, disappearing.
As soon as Yanik reached the city, he immediately bought a loaf of white bread. He enters his home and sees: mother is lying unconscious on her bed from hunger, and the cat and dog are just about to stretch out their legs.
- Mother, my dear! Wake up, wake up! I brought you a loaf of white bread, hurry up and eat!
The mother came to her senses, Yannick gives her bread. Cat and dog too. They ate and were merry:
- Well, my son, where have you been and disappeared without asking me? - says the mother.
“Don’t be angry, mother, I was with the snake at his father the king’s, and left him there.”
“And he did the right thing,” answered the mother. And Yannick asks:
- Oh, mother, I’m hungry. Make me some dumplings.
- My dear son, isn’t it made of ash? I don’t even have enough flour to fill a thimble.
- Look in the closet, maybe you’ll find something.
- Why look where you didn’t put it?
- Well, well, go and have a look, maybe there’s something there!
The mother went to the closet, and just died: there were six chests of excellent flour and a decent barrel of feta cheese. Mother took some flour, made dumplings, and then flavored them with cheese.
“We just don’t have anything to put on it, we’ve run out of lard,” she complains.
“And you, mother, climb into the attic,” says Yanik, “maybe there’s some bacon there.”
The mother did not become stubborn, climbed into the attic and found lard there. She cut off a piece, melted it, and generously coated the dumplings. Everyone ate to their fill and rejoiced, and it was good for them. The time has come, Yanik has become a grown-up guy.
“Mother,” he says one day. - I want to get married. Our king has a beautiful daughter, go marry her to me!
- What are you doing, son, in your mind? - the mother was scared.
– Go ahead, don’t be afraid, maybe it will work out! – Yannick is not far behind. The mother was a simple woman, she obeyed her son and went to the palace.
“My son wishes you good days and good health and asks if you would give your daughter to him,” she said to the king.
- And who are you? – the king asked.
“Yes, from that little house, owners,” the woman answers him. The king grinned.
“Well, good,” he said. “Say hello to your son and tell him that I will give him my daughter if by morning he builds me a palace no worse than mine.” Otherwise there is nothing to talk about.
The mother came home empty-handed.
“What a fool you are,” she reproaches her son, “the king is mocking you!”
- And what?
- And that he will give you his daughter if by morning you build the same palace as his.
“Well, if that’s the only problem, then I can handle it,” Yanik rejoiced. They went to bed in the evening. Janik turned the ring and twelve giants immediately stood in front of him:
– What do you order, young master?
“And I will order that by morning they build me the same palace as the king’s, only better.”
“To have it your way,” answered the giants and disappeared.
Yannick jumped up at first light. He sees that the palace is already standing, and how beautiful it is! He woke up his mother and sent her to the king.
“My Janik wishes you good days and good health,” says the mother, “and tells you to tell me that the palace is ready, now give up your daughter.”
The king looked out the window, and there the palace was better than his palace!
“Tell your Yannick that I won’t give up my daughter until he breaks out a vineyard on that stone rock, grows grapes, and by morning sends me wine from those grapes!”
The mother returned home and conveyed the royal order to Yanika.
Janik turned the ring, gave the order, and the next morning everything was ready: the vineyard, grapes and wine.
The king tasted the wine and liked it, but he still doesn’t give his daughter to Yanika.
- Why don’t you give it back? After all, they promised! - asks the mother.
“And I want,” said the king, “that there would be a drawbridge from my palace to your palace, so that trees would grow along it, some in bloom, on others ripening fruit, and on others, ripe fruits hanging.” So that when my daughter leaves the wedding, she will cut them off. If your son does this too, then I’ll definitely give it to him!
Janik fulfilled this royal wish, and the princess became his wife. The first day they walked with the king, and on the next they gathered at Janik’s. In the morning the king looks out the window and wonders: why is there no smoke coming from the chimneys in that palace? Guests have been invited to dinner, but the stoves are not lit!
The king sent a servant to find out what was going on there. He comes back and says that in their kitchen they only cook porridge for the dog and the cat.
And then Yannick himself appears and invites everyone to dinner. Guests will have no idea what this is all about! They go to Yannick’s palace, pick fruit and feast on it along the way. But the king doesn’t know where to go, a chill creeps through his skin, what a shame!
It's time to sit down at the table. Janik went out into the courtyard, turned the ring and ordered the giants to bring the most excellent dishes to the table.
Yannick calls the guests into the hall, and there the tables are already set. What is there on those tables - both food and drink - you can’t eat forever! The king is surprised, he cannot be surprised!
The festivities ended, and Janik and his wife began to live in peace and harmony. But the young wife only pretended to love Yanika, but in fact she wanted to find out at all costs what his strength was. And Yanik, like a good husband, did not hide anything from her, he told everything. And that’s all she needs! She gave him some wine, and Yannick fell into a deep sleep. Then she took the ring off his little finger, put it on hers and turned it three times. The giants are right there.
- What do you order, madam?
“I order you to move this castle to the Black Sea and hang it on a golden hair, and leave your husband and mother, dog and cat here!”
The giants nodded their heads and disappeared, and the castle disappeared with them. Yanik woke up, and above him was not a ceiling, but a clear sky! He looked at his little finger, and the ring was gone!
“Well,” he said to his mother, “where we started is where we’ll end!”
“What can you do,” mother answered him, “there was no need to fly high!” With a poor wife, I suppose he would be happy.
- It’s okay, mother, we’ll live like this!
And they began to live on, subsisting on bread and water. It’s hard to wean yourself off good food, and it’s hard for cats and dogs, too. It's a pity for the magic ring. One evening the cat and the dog said to their owner:
“Let’s go look for the ring, will you let us in?”
“I’ll let you in,” answers Yanik, “but you’ll only break your legs in vain.” The cat and dog listened to him, but still went. They wander through the mountains and valleys, asking everyone they meet if they know about such and such a castle. But no one can really answer. They finally come to the Black Sea and suddenly see that their castle is hanging above the sea by a golden hair.
“Well, good,” the kitty was delighted, “here is the castle.” But how to get into it?
“I swim well,” the dog answers, “sit on me, we’ll swim together.” The cat agreed.
They sailed and sailed and in the evening, when the sun had already set, they reached the castle. And there the maids are just collecting water with buckets. The cat and dog jumped into the bucket. They were pulled up. The dog hid in the kitchen, the cat darted to the door. And in the chambers at this time they hold advice on where to hide the ring for the night. Finally the princess decided to put it under her tongue. As she said, she did so.
Around midnight, when sleep was at its deepest, the cat snuck into the princess’s chambers, dipped her tail in water, then dipped it in pepper and stuck it under the lady’s nose. It started to tingle in her nose, she sneezed, the ring - ding! - and rolled on the floor. Then the cat grabbed him and rushed into the kitchen to the dog.
The princess got up, lit a candle, began to look for the ring, did not find it, and decided to do it in the morning. As soon as it began to get light, the cat and the dog climbed into the bucket, the maid walked into the water, and they went down together with the bucket.
In the middle of the sea the dog began to ask the cat:
“Let me hold the ring so that I, too, can say that I was carrying it.”
- What else! After all, you will lose it inadvertently!
And the dog is not far behind. He pestered me until the cat agreed. Suddenly, right at the shore - a gurgle! - the ring fell into the sea!
The cat scolds the dog, scratches, beats. But will this fix the matter? Suddenly a fish jumped out of the sea and the cat grabbed it! And this fish has a ring in its stomach!
Let the cat and dog go on their way. The dog again asks the cat to give him the ring to carry.
“After all, we’re already on land,” he says, “here I won’t drop him in the sea!” The cat gave him a ring.
And now they are already home. The cat jumps for joy, and the dog has his tail tucked and his eyes averted to the side.
- Well, where is the ring? – asks Janik.
“Here,” the cat answers, “the dog is carrying him!” And the dog lowered his head and was silent.
-Have you lost it, or what?
- Lost! – the dog confessed.
The cat pounced on him, ready to tear him into pieces. And then he says:
- Yanik, bend a nail and tie it to my tail, I’ll go in search, and you, dog, come with me!
They set off along the same road back. The cat orders the dog:
– When the nail catches on something, shout: “Here.
“Okay,” the dog answers.
A cat is walking, tail down, scratching the path with a nail. Suddenly the dog shouts:
- Here!
And that’s right: the ring lies there. They returned with the ring to Yannick’s house.
The ring was again in Janik's possession, and along with the ring wealth and power returned. Only for the second time did Yannick take the poor girl as his wife, and they lived amicably and happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru