In distant, distant times, a husband and wife lived in the same village, and they had a son whose name was Bernardinet. A beautiful name for a peasant son, isn't it? They lived comfortably and happily, but then such a disaster had to happen: Bernardinet’s mother died. The father grieved and soon married again. This is how Bernardinet got a stepmother.
As soon as she crossed the threshold of the house, she began to hate Bernardinet without any reason. Day and night she kept repeating to her husband: they say, your son doesn’t love you and doesn’t obey you, he’s gotten completely out of hand, it’s time to teach him a lesson, otherwise he’ll grow into a real robber. She's talking about a little boy, she has no conscience!
Her father didn’t listen to her for a long time, but she still pestered him. One evening they agreed that in the morning his father would take Bernardinet into the forest and leave him there to scare him a little. And in a day he will return for him. However, Bernardinet did not sleep and heard everything that his father and stepmother were talking about. He slowly got out of the room, poured wheat grains into his pockets, and then went to bed again.
In the morning his father woke him up and said:
- Get up, son! Will you go with me to the forest to get firewood?
Bernardinet jumped up, immediately got dressed, and he and his father went into the forest. Bernardinet followed his father and slowly threw grains of wheat onto the road, so that he could later find the way back. When they climbed into the very depths of the forest, the father said to his son:
“For now, you’re here to collect dead wood, and I’ll go mark the trees we’ll be cutting down.”
“I’m afraid to stay without you,” says the boy.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, I’ll turn around in an instant.”
Father left. I waited for him, waited for Bernardinet, but never came. When he realized that his father would not come to him, he decided to return himself, because he had marked the road with wheat grains. He turned back and looked, but not a single grain was visible on the road: all the birds had pecked it. Bernardinet sat down on the ground and wept bitterly.
But don’t cry, you have to do something. Bernardinet wiped away his tears, got up from the ground and walked wherever he could. He was lost for a long time. The day was already over when he saw a light in the distance. He went to the light and found himself in front of a big, big house. He had never seen such houses in his life.
Bernardinet knocked on the door. The giantess came out to the door, and Bernardinet asked her:
-Won't you shelter me for the night?
- Come in, come in! My husband, the good giant Drac, will be glad to meet you. He loves to eat little boys, especially for dinner.
- Oh! - Bernardinet was afraid, but then he thought that he would disappear in the forest at night anyway, and said: “And you will teach me where to hide, and the giant Drac will not notice me.”
The giantess let Bernardinet into the house and told him to hide under the bed.
But I must tell you that Drac had a daughter, kind, unlike her father, and pretty - apparently she didn’t take after her mother. And her name was so nice - Sunshine. She felt sorry for the boy and decided to help him. While her mother was cooking in the kitchen, Sunny crept up to the bed and whispered to Bernardinet:
- Here, take the rat's tail. When your father tells you to show him your little finger, you show that ponytail.
At night the cannibal Drac himself burst into the house and roared:
- I smell the human spirit!
And his wife says to him:
- Shh... There’s a boy sitting here under the bed, but he’s too skinny. Let him live with us for now and get a little fatter.
“We should take a look at him,” Drac muttered. - Hey, stick your little finger out at me!
And Bernardinet showed him the rat's tail, as Sunny had punished him. Drac mistook his tail for his little finger, and no wonder: there was only one small lamp burning in the room, and even then it was dim. In addition, Drac was blind and not very smart.
- Ugh! He really is a little idiot! - Drac agreed.
Let him feed a little.
At dawn, when Drac left home, Bernardinet began to secretly get ready for the journey. But Sunny dissuaded him:
- Well, where will you go if you don’t know the way? You'll just get lost in the dense forest. It's better to stay with us. And it will be more fun for me too. I will teach you to play different games, show you all the secret places in our forest, and tell you fairy tales. Stay! Well, don’t be afraid of your father, I’ll help you, if anything happens...
And after all, she persuaded Bernardinet, he stayed in Drac’s house. He stayed, but he was uneasy in his soul: what if he caught the eye of the cannibal?
And so the days flew by: day after day, week after week...
And then one day Drak returned home before dark and saw Bernardinet in the garden, and next to him his daughter.
- Is this really the same runt? — amazed
Drak. - Well, the boy has grown up quickly! Listen, wife, fry it for me for breakfast. After all, he ate his fill.
Here she rushed to Father Sunny and said:
- Spare Bernardinet, father! He is my friend, I will be bored without him.
Drac glanced sideways at his daughter, but did not scold him, only said this:
- Okay, I won’t touch him, but on one condition: if he follows my order.
They called Bernardinet, and Drac said to him:
- Take my big shovel, dig a deep well, and by evening I will have a jug of clear water from this well on my table.
Bernardinet received a large shovel from Drak, barely lifted it and went to dig a well. But as soon as you get to work, take a shovel and break! Drac deliberately slipped him a rusty one.
At noon, the Sun says to his mother:
“I want to take a pot of soup to Bernardinet.”
- And this boy was given to you! — the giantess grumbled displeasedly, but gave her a pot of soup.
Sunny grabbed the pot and ran to Bernardinet. She sees him sitting under a tree, saddened.
- Why are you sad, Bernardinet? - asks Sunny. “Maybe the work isn’t going well?”
- Why should I have fun? - Answers Bernardi-no. “I started to dig a well, and the shovel was gone!” - and broke down.
“Don’t be upset about this, Bernardinet, I’ll help you.” Now you better eat your soup and don’t think about anything.
When Bernardinet ate the soup, Sunny took a wooden stick out of her pocket and, tapping it on her knee, said:
“Wand, wand, my lifesaver, let a well with clear water appear here!”
And at that same moment a well with clean, clear water appeared in front of Bernardinet.
- Wow! — the boy rejoiced. “This is a miracle of miracles!”
They walked through the forest all day, collecting nuts, and in the evening Bernardinet scooped cold water from the well into a jug and put it on the table. Drak saw the jug, grinned and, turning to his daughter, shook his finger:
- Oh, Sunny, Sunny, it couldn’t have happened here without you!
- What are you talking about, father! I have nothing to do with this.
After dinner Drac said to his wife:
— Put the boy to sleep in a small room. On that same bed...
. And this bed was not a simple one, but a brazier bed! Somebody, let alone Sunny, knew this well and, slowly slipping into the room, whispered to Bernardinet:
- Lie down in my place, and I will sleep on this bed.
She's not scary to me!
And so they did. And the next morning, seeing the boy alive and well, Drac was surprised, but did not show it and said to him:
“Today you will take the grape vines from the barn, plant them on that slope over there, and in the evening you will put a full dish of ripe grapes on the table.”
Bernardinet took a new shovel and vines from the barn and went to the mountainside. But, just like the day before, the shovel broke again.
“Oh so! - Bernardinet got angry at Drac. “He’s deliberately slipping in a bad shovel!” So be it. Anyway, I won’t be able to complete this work in a day, unless Sunny can help me?”
He threw the fragments of the shovel into the bushes and began to wait and wait for Sunny. She came to him at noon and said:
- Good afternoon, Bernardinet!
- Good afternoon, Sunny!
“Are things not going well for you again?”
— The shovel broke. And anyway, how can I finish this kind of work before the evening?
- Don’t worry, I’ll help you out of trouble. In the meantime, you’d better eat some soup—see what I brought for you?
And while Bernardinet was eating soup, Sunny took her magic wand, tapped it on her knee and said:
- Stick, stick, my lifesaver, let a vineyard grow on the mountainside!
Before Bernardinet could blink an eye, a vineyard grew on the mountainside, strewn with large, ripe bunches of grapes. Well, the job was done, and in the evening Bernardinet placed a dish of golden grapes on Drak’s table.
“I see, I see, Sunny, you helped the boy this time too,” Drac shook his head, looking at his daughter.
- What are you talking about, father! I don’t even know about this.
After dinner, Drac beckoned Bernardinet with his finger and said:
“Go to sleep now, and when I call you in the morning, get up right away.” Understood?
Bernardinet nodded his head and went to bed, and the cannibal approached his daughter and said angrily:
- I don’t like your tricks! They won't bring you any good. If you don’t want things to get worse, go to sleep now, and when I call you in the morning, get up immediately. Understood?
The giant Drak must have planned something. When Bernardinet and Sunny left, he ordered his wife:
“In the morning, you’ll light a fire and put a cauldron on the hearth.” In my opinion, the time has come to break off my daughter’s friendship with this Bernardinet. I don't like her! It's time to eat it!
“What’s true is true,” the wife agreed.
So Bernardinet would have died if Sunny had not heard her parents’ conversation. She crept on tiptoe to her friend's bed and whispered in his ear:
“Now, Bernardinet, we must run!” Your father decided to completely ruin you this morning. Here the magic wand will not help - after all, it has no magical power in this house.
Let's run away together! At dawn your father will ask you:
“Which rooster is crowing?”, and you will answer: “Red!” An hour later he will ask you the same question, and you will answer: “Black!”
Then you can run.
Bernardinet remembered everything and began to wait for the appointed hour. He was so scared in that big dark house that he didn’t sleep a wink all night. And what a dream if his life hangs by a thread! And so, when the pale dawn peeked through the windows, a rooster crowed in the distance. Drac shouted to the whole house:
- Bernardinet, what rooster is crowing?
- Red!
And again silence reigned in the house. An hour passed, and Bernardinet heard the same question:
- Bernardinet, what rooster is crowing?
- Black! - the boy responded, got up and slowly got dressed.
And the Sun is already here, nearby.
- Now let's go! - Bernardinet whispered, but Sunny put her finger to her lips and shook her head: it’s not time yet. She took the spinning wheel and put it on her bed, and the spindle on Bernardinet’s bed.
- By my will, they will answer as they should! - she explained to Bernardinet.
Then they climbed out of the window and, without looking back, ran into the forest, away from the terrible cannibal.
And Drac, not guessing anything, shouted again an hour later:
- Hey, Sunny, get up!
“I’ll get up now,” answered the spinning wheel.
- Hey Bernardinet, get up!
“I’ll get up now,” responded the spindle.
Drac waited a little and, without waiting for them, shouted even louder:
- Get up, you nasty girl!
- I get up, I get up!
- Get up immediately, Bernardinet!
- I get up, I get up!
“That’s it,” Drac muttered dissatisfiedly and yawned sweetly.
Another quarter of an hour passed, and still no sign of Sunny and Bernardineta. Drac got angry, jumped out of bed and rushed to his daughter’s room. And the bed is empty, there is a spinning wheel on it instead of the daughter! Drak froze in place with indignation, his mouth opened, he could not utter a word. When he came to his senses, he rushed to Bernardinet. And there, instead of a boy, an old spindle lies on the bed.
Stupid Drak grabbed his head, tore out a clump of hair in rage, shook his fists and screamed throughout the area.
The wife came running, saw the empty beds and clasped her hands:
- What a cunning Bernardinet! However, our daughter is no better. Why are you standing like a pillar? Catch up with them quickly and bring them home!
Drak grabbed the club and rushed after the fugitives.
Meanwhile, the fugitives were already far away. You understand that they were in a hurry. Only at some lake they decided to take a break. Sunny began to collect daisies, and Bernardinet lay down on the grass. After a while he looked at the road and suddenly jumped up:
- Look, Sunny! Your father has appeared! We're lost!
And Sunny answered him:
“With my wand, we have nothing to fear... Wand, wand, my lifesaver, turn Bernardinet into a drake, and me into a duck.”
Drak ran up to the lake and saw a drake and a duck gliding across the greenish water.
-Where did they disappear to? “I saw them myself from afar,” muttered Drac and, turning to the drake and duck, asked: “Hey, have you seen two guys here?”
And they answered him:
- Quack! Quack! Quack!
- Ugh, they've done their stupid "quack-quack" thing. You won't get any sense! - Drac waved his hand and returned home.
His wife saw him and was surprised:
- Where are Sunny and Bernardinet? Haven't you found them?
- I didn’t find it. From a distance I seemed to see them, but by the time I got there they had disappeared into the water. I already asked the drake and the duck, but got nothing from them.
- Oh, your stupid head! After all, that was them. Run back and don't come back without them!
Drak rushed to the lake, but in vain - there was no longer a drake or a duck in that place. Drak boiled over with anger, threw his club to the ground and went on to look for the fugitives.
Will you really find them? Meanwhile, Sunny turned into a titmouse, and Bernardineta turned into a goldfinch. They flew further into the forest, sat down on the branches and began to sing and talk to each other.
And Drac also walked through this forest. He was tired and was about to turn home when he suddenly heard bird trills. He stopped and asked:
- Hey, forest birds, have you seen the two guys?
- Chiu-chiu-san! Chiu-chiu-san! - the birds began to trill.
- Oh, stupid! They only know their “chiu-chiu-san”...
He returned home, told his wife about the birds, and she attacked him:
- You're a fool, you're a fool! After all, that’s what they were! Run back!
But Drac became stubborn and refused to do anything: I won’t go anymore, let them do what they want.
The husband argued for a long time; with his wife, but Drac still gave in and reluctantly trudged back. This time he walked slowly and, of course, did not know that Sunny and Bernardinet had noticed him from afar. Here Sunny turned into a bridge spanning a stream, and Bernardinet turned into a railing near the bridge.
Drak approached the stream, raised his head and was surprised: after all, he knew these places well, and for the first time he saw a bridge with railings. He looked at it for a long time and finally realized that this was his own daughter’s new trick.
So I overtook you, fugitive deceivers! - Drac laughed evilly. - Now pay! This time you won't get away from me.
But just as Drak wanted to grab the railing, the railing and the bridge suddenly disappeared, and in the meadow, out of nowhere, there appeared a bull with a white spot on his forehead and a green, bug-eyed frog. Maybe everything would have turned out better if Sunny had not dropped her magic wand into the stream. Drak noticed the wand, snatched it out of the water and laughed more than ever:
- Here it is, the wand! Now I’ll do whatever I want with you! No, I will not put you to death, but I will punish you more severely.
You, Bernardinet, will walk in bulls for ten whole years, and then you will forget your bright Sun, as if she never existed in the world. You, daughter, for your disobedience, will spend ten years and another year jumping among frogs. That's it!
He put the magic wand in his pocket and was gone.
Bernardinet and Sunny were grieving here, but there was nothing to do - they were not able to remove Drak’s spell from themselves. They spent almost ten years together in this meadow and were never separated during this time. Only once, towards the end of the tenth year, did the bull decide to wander through the surrounding dense forests. He wandered and wandered and got lost. What’s surprising here, this happens to anyone.
For a long time he looked for a familiar meadow, but he never found it. And then the tenth year passed, and the bull turned into a slender, handsome young man. Bernardinet was delighted that he had finally found human form, instantly forgot his faithful friend and went alone to distant, unknown lands.
The frog was very sad when Bernardinet disappeared into the forests. But another year passed, and Sunny turned from a green, bug-eyed frog into a young beauty. Everything would be fine, but Sunny could not forget her Bernardinet. It was then that she went to those distant lands where her friend was lost. To know, her heart told her where to go.
She traveled many roads, visited many cities and villages, but never found Bernardineta. Sunny was completely desperate, and then one day she stopped near the baker’s house to rest and saw a wedding procession coming. She looked at the groom and froze: the groom was none other than her Bernardinet.
As soon as the procession passed by, Sunny came to her senses, ran up to the baker and asked her for a piece of dough. The baker refused her: she didn’t have any dough, and only after tearful requests she finally found a small lump of dough in the kneading bowl.
Sunny grabbed the dough, molded it into two tiny doves - a dove and a dove - and whispered something over them.
And suddenly the doves came to life and flew straight to the bride and groom. They fly over their heads, circle... So the dove says to the dove:
- Gur-gur-gur--- Kiss me, my dear.
“Gur-gur-gur... I won’t kiss you,” the dove answers. “You’ll still forget about me, like Bernardinet about her Sunshine.” There is his Sunny standing by the fence, but he doesn’t seem to see her. I completely forgot about her!
Bernardinet heard them cooing and immediately remembered everything. This means that love turned out to be stronger than witchcraft! Bernardinet left his bride and ran up to his beloved friend, hugged her tightly, put her on a horse and they rushed away, no one knows where.
And it doesn’t matter where they rushed off, where they lived and what they did. It is only known that from then on1 they were never separated and were happy until the end of their days.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru