There was, and there was nothing - there lived one poor peasant. The peasant had a wife and a little daughter. He was such a poor man, and his daughter’s dress was so tattered that they called her Raggedy.
This poor man's wife died. Life has become completely unbearable, the peasant thought, thought and decided: “I’ll go get married, bring a woman into the house, at least she’ll look after the house and look after her orphan daughter.”
He went and got married, and his wife has her own daughter. The stepmother came and brought her daughter. Yes, she doesn’t like her stepdaughter, all she can think about is how to torment her and pamper her daughter.
The stepmother will send her stepdaughter to graze the cow, throw a crust of bread into her lap and say: “Feed the one you meet, and feed the one who crosses, and eat it yourself, and bring it home, as it is, whole.”
One day a poor girl sits in a field and cries bitterly. The cow listened to her, listened and spoke: “Why are you crying?” What is your grief? The girl told her everything. The cow said: “And this is all your grief?” Don’t be sad, look at my horns: I have oil in one, and honey in the other. Eat as much as you like.
The girl eats honey and butter. She gained weight and became prettier. The stepmother noticed this and did not know what to do out of frustration. She began to give her stepdaughter another whole basket of wool: “Pull all this wool in one day and bring it on a spindle in the evening.” She herself thinks that her stepdaughter will get tired and stop getting fat and prettier.
One day Ragged was chasing his cow, and it ran across the roof of one house. Ragged ran after her to take her to the road, and dropped a spindle into the crack. I looked down, and there was an old woman sitting there; Tattered one shouted to her: “Grandma, grandma, for the sake of all children and mothers, give me the spindle.” And the old woman says: “My daughter is sick, go and take it yourself.” This old woman was the mother of the deva.
Tattered came down, wanted to take her spindle, and the old woman said: “Come, daughter, for a minute, look if there is something in my head, as if something is biting.” The girl came up, as if thunder had struck her: all kinds of worms and reptiles in the world, they were all curling and crawling there. She scraped and cleaned Ragged, and said to the old woman: “What is there to look for and clean, grandma, your head is very clean.” The old woman liked this, and she said: “When you go from here along such and such a road, you will see three keys: white, black and yellow.” Skip the white and black ones, but go to the yellow one and put your head up and wash your hands.
That’s what Tattered Girl did: she went that way, found three keys, didn’t go up to the black and white one, but put her head in front of the yellow one, and washed her hands in it.
Then she looked at herself - golden hair curled on her head, and her hands glowed like gold. Ragged came home, saw her stepmother, and almost went crazy with frustration.
The stepmother decided to send her daughter to graze the cow, she thinks maybe she will have the same happiness. The stepmother’s daughter grazes the cow, and Ragged sits at home. The cow ran across the roof again, and the stepmother’s daughter ran after her, and dropped it into the crack in the wind. She looked down, saw an old woman and shouted, “Hey, witch, get up quickly, give me the spindle!” And the deva’s mother says: “I’m sick, daughter, come down and take it yourself.” The stepmother’s daughter entered the house, and the old woman said to her: “Come, daughter, for a minute, see what’s in my head.” As she came closer, she screamed: “Ugh, what disgusting, you rotted alive, you dog!” The old woman said: “Thank you, daughter, as you walk along the road, you will see three keys: yellow, white and black.” Skip the yellow one, but turn your head to the black and white ones.
That's what the stepmother's daughter did. She didn’t go near the yellow one, she stuck her head out to the white and black ones. Then she looked at herself and saw that she had turned as black as a blackamoor, and a huge white horn had grown on her head. She cuts this horn, cuts, and it grows and grows.
I came home and complained to my mother. The stepmother got angry, but what can we do! She decided that the cow was to blame for everything, and ordered her to be slaughtered.
And this cow was a witch, she found out that they would slaughter her, came and said to Tattered: “If they kill me, collect my bones and bury them in the ground all together, and when the need comes to you, come up and shout: “Come out, my horse and my royal outfit.”
That’s what Tattered Girl did: she collected the bones of that cow and buried them in the ground all together. Time passed. One day on a holiday, the stepmother scattered a whole pound of grain around the yard, gave Ragged a trough in his hands and said: “Collect all the grain so that not a single grain remains, and fill this trough with tears.”
And she dressed herself in everything new, dressed up her daughter and took her to church. Everyone went to church, and Ragged sat and cried. An old woman came to her cry and asked: “Why are you crying, what is this grief over your head?”
Tattered girl told her everything. The old woman released all the hens and chickens in the house and forced them to collect all the grain. Then she threw a pinch of salt into the trough, filled it with water and said: “And here are your tears.” Now go and take a walk. Ragged girl remembered her cow. She ran up to her grave and shouted: “Come on, come out, my horse and my royal outfit!” As soon as she said, both a beautiful horse and a wonderful outfit appeared.
Tattered dressed in her new dress. She jumped on her horse and rushed to the church. Then all the people looked at her, everyone was amazed at her beauty and outfit.
The stepmother’s daughter also saw her and whispered to her mother: “Look, mother, how much she looks like our Tattered Girl.” The stepmother laughed: “Who will give her such an outfit, our Tattered Girl?” Tattered girl returned home first. She came and dressed again in her rags.
She was in such a hurry to get home, so in a hurry that on the way, when the horse was jumping over the river, she dropped the golden slipper from her foot and did not pick it up.
Once they watered the royal horses on this river. The horses noticed a shiny shoe in the water, they didn’t drink the water. They reported to the king: “Something is shiny in the water, the horses are afraid, they don’t drink.” The king sent swimmers to find out what was the matter. The swimmers took out this golden slipper and gave it to the king. When the king saw the shoe, he called all his servants and said: “Go, look for someone who will fit this shoe, and she will be my wife.” The servants are looking, looking, but this shoe doesn’t fit anyone.
The stepmother found out about this, dressed up her daughter, sat her down on the ottoman and sent her to tell the king: “I have a daughter who will like this shoe.” And she grabbed Ragged, threw her into a corner and covered her head with a basket. The king has arrived. They try on a shoe for the stepmother's daughter, and the king sits on the basket and watches. Tattered took a needle and pricked the king! The king jumped up and shouted: “What is this in your basket?” And the stepmother says: “There’s nothing there, just a turkey.” Ragged pricked the king even more strongly.
The king jumped up and shouted: “Take the basket away, we’ll see what kind of turkey it is!” The stepmother begged: “Don’t destroy me, don’t open the door, my turkey will run away.” The king doesn’t listen to her. They opened the basket, Tattered Girl came out and said: “This is my shoe, only it will fit me.” They tried the shoe on for Tattered, and it really fit. The king took Tattered as his wife, and the stepmother was left with nothing.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru