There was a man, he had three sons: two smart, the third a fool.
That’s good, a man started to sow peas, and we don’t know who got into the habit of helping him with peas. The father saw that everything was beaten, knocked down, trampled, and began to say to his children:
- My dear children! We need to keep watch, who is trampling on our peas?
Now big brother has gone on guard. Midnight came, sleep struck him - the peas were trampled, but he saw nothing.
Afterwards the middle brother got to keep watch - and the middle one didn’t see anything.
“I’ll go now,” says the fool, “I won’t miss it!”
- You eat well! What will happen? - the brothers answer him. And so the fool went on guard and took with him a cartload of bast and a pound of tobacco. As sleep began to strike him, he began to sniff tobacco more.
Nikanor the hero comes to the peas, lets his horse go, and he goes to sleep like a hero, lies down and falls asleep. Now the fool took it and began to confuse him with sleepy basts. He confused him with his basts and came to his father.
“Well,” he says, “I caught the thief!” Father comes and looks:
- How could you, fool, knock down such a force? So they reported to the king that such a hero had been caught. The king now sends:
- Who caught him?
They report to him that he was caught by such and such a fool. Here the king now orders:
- Bring me a fool! Brought; the king asks:
- How is it possible, fool, how to transport him here? He tells him:
- But here’s how to rule: you need twelve horses, sixty people, and cast-iron drogs - then you can put Nikanor the hero on the drogs and bring him here.
They brought the hero to the king.
“Well, fool,” asks the king, “where should I put him and what should I use to secure him so that he doesn’t leave?” Fool says:
“They ordered twenty arshins of earth to be dug up, they filled up the cast-iron walls with that earth and rolled out the knurlings; it will be strong!
They filled up the cast-iron walls, rolled up the rollers, put Nikanor the hero there and placed a regiment of guard soldiers over him. The fool hooked him with a hook, tore the basts and untied the hero. The Tsar rewarded the fool and sent him home.
Once the royal children were walking in the garden and shooting golden arrows, and the arrow of their younger brother, Ivan Tsarevich, hit the window of Nikanor the hero.
- Oh, Nikanor the hero, give me back my arrow.
“Help me,” says Nikanor the hero, “order me to roll at least one roll, and I’ll give your arrow back; I’ll probably give away three more of mine!
Ivan Tsarevich strained and removed one of the rolls himself; Nikanor the hero gave him the golden arrow and said:
- Well, Ivan Tsarevich, you will be a footman, a shepherd and a cook, and again you will be Ivan Tsarevich.
Now Nikanor the hero broke his prison, got out of there and beat the entire regiment. The king came, saw and was horrified:
- Who released the hero?
Here lay the beaten and wounded: one soldier’s arm was torn off, that one’s leg was broken; They say to the king:
- So and so, Ivan Tsarevich released. The king became angry and sent to collect kings and princes from different lands. Kings and princes assembled; The king treated them and began to think and guess with them.
“What should I do,” he says to his son, Ivan Tsarevich? After all, royal children are neither executed nor hanged.
They advised him: give the prince one servant, and let him go where he knows!
Ivan Tsarevich left his father; He walked neither more nor less, and he felt thirsty. He comes to the well, looks - the water is far away, you can’t get it, there’s nothing to drink. He says to his servant:
- Oh, Vanka, what can I do?
“Well, Ivan Tsarevich,” says Vanka, “hold my legs, I’ll get drunk, and then I’ll get you drunk too; otherwise you can’t reach it - the water is far away.
Now it was Vanka who started drinking, got drunk, and started keeping the prince there. Ivan Tsarevich got drunk:
- Well, Vanka, get me out! He answers him:
- No! Be you Vanka, and I will be Ivan Tsarevich.
- What are you, fool, talking empty talk!
- You're talking yourself! If you don’t want to, I’ll drown you in a well!
- No! Better not drown; be you Ivan Tsarevich, and I will be Vanka. That's how we got along; they come to the great capital city, straight to the royal chambers; the named prince walks ahead, places crosses not in the written way, bows in an unlearned way, but the real prince steps behind, places crosses in the written way, bows in a learned way. The king accepts them willingly.
“Live with me,” he says.
Now Vanka the name began to slander:
- Oh, what a lackey I have! How well he guards the cattle! If he drives the horses, then every horse will have a golden tail, a golden mane, and stars on its sides; And when he drives the cows, every cow will have golden horns, a golden tail, and stars on its sides.
The king gave him horses to guard. Ivan Tsarevich drove the herd into an open field; all the horses ran away from him. He sat down and cried bitterly.
- Oh, Nikanor the hero, what have you done to me! What should I do now?
Out of nowhere, Nikanor the hero appears in front of him.
“What,” he says, “do you need, Ivan Tsarevich?” He told him about his grief.
- Nothing! Let's go with you, collect all the horses and drive them to my little sister. The younger sister will do everything that the king ordered you.
They drove the herd to the little sister; She really did everything, fed and watered the guests and escorted them home. Tsarevich Ivan drives the horses to the royal palace; Every horse has a golden mane, a golden tail, and stars on each side. The named Vanka is sitting under the window.
- Oh, rascal, he did it, he did it! Heather, he says, is a muder! Well, now the king orders him to drive the cows:
- So that the same thing is done, and if you don’t do it, I’ll shoot you at the gate!
Ivan Tsarevich cried bitterly and drove the cows; guarded it all day.
- Ah, friend Nikanor, appear before me!
Nikanor the hero is; they drove him to his middle sister; she gave all the cows golden horns, golden tails, and stars on their sides;
I fed the guests, gave them something to drink and took them home.
Tsarevich Ivan is chasing the cows, and Vanka the named is sitting under the window.
“Oh,” he says, “I wanted to destroy, but no: and I did it!” The king saw:
- That's it, shepherd! Look, what horses and cows he set up - it’s so nice to see! Vanka tells him:
“He cooks good food for me too!” The king now sent him to the cook's room; Ivan Tsarevich went to the cooks and began to cry bitterly.
- God! I can't do anything; It’s all wrong for everyone to tell me lies.
So the king decided to give his daughter to the named; and then the three-headed snake writes to him: “If you do not give your daughter to me, then I will chop all your strength and take you in full.”
The king says to his betrothed son-in-law:
——What should I do? Vanka answers:
- My friend, we’ll show our strength; maybe ours will take it too! They deployed force and began to fight. And Ivan Tsarevich asks the cooks:
- Let me in, uncles, to watch the battle; I haven't seen it for a long time. They say:
- Go and look!
Now he comes to an open field and says:
- Friend Nikanor, appear before me. Nikanor the hero appears in front of him.
“Whatever you want, Ivan Tsarevich, I will do.” He asks:
- How can we disperse this whole battle and beat the enemies? Do me this service.
- This is a service, not a service!
Nikanor the hero rode and dispersed the enemy force, beat and chopped everyone.
- Well, now we have to celebrate the wedding! - says the king.
Suddenly the six-headed snake writes: “If you don’t give your daughter for me, then I will chop all your strength and take you completely!”
- Oh, what should we do? - asks the king. Vanka says:
- There is nothing to do - you need to show strength; maybe God will help us!
They set up their army against the serpentine force. Ivan Tsarevich began to ask the cooks:
- Guys, let me go look.
- Go and come back quickly. He went to an open field:
- Ah, friend Nikanor, appear before me! Nikanor the hero is:
- Whatever you want, I will do everything for you.
- How can we cut this power? Nikanor the hero answers:
- I’ll go and work for you!
He launched himself at the serpentine army and beat it all clean.
“Well,” says the king, “now we can have a wedding: there won’t be any interference!”
They took up the wedding, and then the twelve-headed serpent writes: “If you don’t give your daughter for me, then I will beat you with all your strength, I will take you completely, and I will burn out your kingdom with a firebrand!” We need to field an army again. “If he starts to beat the snake,” the king thinks, “at that very moment I will give him my daughter in good hands, so that he doesn’t touch the kingdom.”
Ivan Tsarevich asks the cooks:
Guys, let me go and have a look.
- Go, and come back quickly!
Here he comes to an open field, whistled and barked in his loud voice:
- Friend Nikanor, appear before me! Nikanor the hero is:
- Well, brother Ivan Tsarevich, that’s when the service came to us! Get on the horse, and we’ll ride: I’m in front, riding the twelve-headed serpent, and you’re behind, riding all his heroes.
And that serpent had twelve warriors at his side. Ivan Tsarevich mounted his horse and, following Nikanor the hero, rode towards the enemy; They began to fight, chop, and wear out the snake’s strength.
During that battle, Tsarevich Ivan was wounded in the arm; he turned his horse and ran straight into the royal carriage. The princess took off her shawl, tore it in half and tied the half around his hand. Ivan Tsarevich again attacked the snake and killed his entire army; then he arrived at his place, went to bed and fell into a deep, heroic sleep.
The wedding is being prepared in the palace; his cooks missed him:
“Where,” they say, “has our young cook gone?”
They ran to look and found him sleepy; They started to wake me up, but they wouldn’t wake me up; they started to push me, but they wouldn’t wake me up. One cook took a mallet:
- Now I’ll kill him, let him disappear! He hit him once, twice; Ivan Tsarevich woke up.
- Oh, brothers, I overslept! - And asks: - Uncles, don’t say that I slept for so long. They say:
- Let's go, fool, quickly, so that we don't get scolded for you! They brought him into the cook's room and forced him to clean the pots. Ivan Tsarevich rolled up his sleeves and got to work. The princess saw half of her shawl with him:
- Show me, Vanka! Where did you get this scarf? Here he admitted:
“Not the one,” he says, “the named prince, but me!” - and told her everything as it happened.
Now the princess took him by the hand and led him to his father:
- This is my betrothed groom, not that lackey! The king began to ask him:
- How was it going with you?
“So and so,” he says.
The Tsar married his daughter to Ivan Tsarevich, and executed the bridegroom.
And I was there, drinking honey and wine, it was running down my mustache, it wasn’t in my mouth; Beluzhins were served, but I didn’t have dinner.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru