One peasant's wife died, leaving his only daughter. A year after the mourning, he married a widow, who also had a daughter.
The stepmother disliked her stepdaughter and forced her to work around the house and herd the cow. And she cared for her own daughter, cherished her, gave her cream to drink.
The stepdaughter was agile, beautiful, with braids like a raven's wing, with eyes shining like blackberries. No matter how many tasks her stepmother piled on her, she dealt with them quickly and easily. To make her work again, the stepmother mixed millet with millet and ordered:
- Take it apart, quickly!
But birds flew to the girl and helped her because she was kind and always poured crumbs out the window for them.
The stepdaughter walked barefoot: she had nothing to put on.
One day, having driven a cow from the pasture, she went to the neighbor's | dyam and asked:
– Do you have any scraps of leather?
Neighbors gave her pieces of leather, matching them by color; The stepdaughter made beautiful dudes. But she only had to wear them for one day. While driving the cows out of the forest, she lost her dude somewhere in the bushes. The girl returned home in tears.
The dude lost by his stepdaughter was found by the king's son, who was hunting in the forest. He liked the simple dude, skillfully sewn and trimmed with a subtle pattern. He guessed that it was worn by a beautiful girl, apparently with a small foot.
“I will only marry the one who wore this dude, whoever she is!” - the young man decided and went to look for the girl who had lost her shoes. He also went to the house where his stepdaughter lived. She saw the dude and, of course, recognized him. She was just about to shout: “I lost it!” - how the stepmother, guessing that the noble guest had come for a reason, hit her stepdaughter on the lips, not allowing her to utter a word, and she herself turned to the young man:
– This is my handicraft daughter’s dude. She lost him and searched for a long time, but could not find him.
Then the prince said that he had sworn not to marry anyone except the one who had a foot in his step. He made an agreement with the Czech mother, betrothed her daughter, and they set a wedding day.
And the stepmother, just in case, took the second dude from her stepdaughter.
The wedding day has arrived. They began to put on the bride's boots, but in vain - they were too small for her. Still, with great difficulty they put her shoes on, and to cover her short-fingered hands, her mother threw a long shawl over her.
The groom arrived with his groomsmen. After the refreshment, the bride was taken out into the courtyard. There stood a horse with a gilded saddle, on which the bride was seated.
The stepmother drove her stepdaughter into the garden so that she would not catch the eye of the prince. The poor thing sat down on a vine swing and, shedding tears, sang:
With a short-fingered hand,
With open feet
He sits dashingly on a horse.
And the one whose fingers are thin
And small feet
Swaying, swaying
And tears are shed in secret.
The prince, hearing this song, approached the bride, threw back the shawl and saw her ugly hands. Pulling off his boots, he saw her thick legs. Then the prince realized that he had been deceived. He went into the garden and asked the girl who was swinging on the vine to try on the dudes. They turned out to be just right for her. Then the prince sang:
Let that short-fingered one
With clawed feet
Doesn't leave the house
And the one whose fingers are thin
...And small feet,
He will leave with me
On a dashing horse.
Then he unseated his stepmother’s daughter from the horse, put his stepdaughter in her place and brought her to the palace.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru