Once upon a time there lived a king, and he had two children: a son and a beautiful daughter.
The king's wife died, and soon he himself fell ill and died. Now only the son and daughter remain.
The prince began to rule the kingdom, and so he decided to get married. He sent messengers to all corners of the world and ordered them to find him a bride, as beautiful as his sister, or even better.
After some time, the messengers returned and announced to the prince that they had traveled the length and breadth of the whole earth, seen many beautiful girls, but could not find such a beauty as his sister.
And then the prince decided to marry his own sister and he declared his will to her. No matter how much the princess cried, nothing helped. The prince strictly ordered her to prepare for the wedding.
The princess began to tan: how can she marry her own brother? She cried for three days, three nights, and on the fourth day she began to prepare for the wedding.
On the appointed day, the prince got dressed and began to wait for the bride. She's waiting, but she's still not there. So he asks:
-Are you ready, sister?
“I’m putting on my shoes,” answered the sister, and her feet sank into the ground up to her knees.
The prince waited some more, and when he didn’t wait, he asked again:
-Are you ready, sister?
“I’m putting on a dress,” the sister answered and went into the ground up to her neck.
The prince waited some more, and when he didn’t wait, he asked again:
-Are you ready, sister?
“I’m putting on a wreath,” answered the princess, and the earth closed over her head.
The prince waited a little and again called out to his sister, but this time no one responded. He entered the bedchamber, and there was not a soul there. He searched everywhere, looked everywhere, but did not find his sister.
This is how the royal wedding ended.
And the princess, finding herself underground, opened her eyes and saw that she was lying on a green meadow. There are flowers all around, the sun is shining above. She went for a walk in the meadow, picked strawberries and ate them.
In the evening fear attacked the princess. She walks alone, alone, not a living soul around. The princess looked around and went straight through the forest. It was already getting dark. The princess walks along and looks around fearfully. Suddenly she sees a light shining through the trees. The princess went to the light, saw a hut and entered it, and there a beautiful maiden was sitting at the table, sewing and embroidering. They greeted each other and started talking.
“I have neither father nor mother left,” said the princess, “only one brother.” After the death of his father, he began to rule the kingdom and decided to get married. He just couldn’t find a suitable bride and ordered me to marry him. When I was getting away to the crown, the ground suddenly gave way under me, and I found myself on the lawn, and then I came here.
“And I am called the daughter of the Sun,” said the beauty. “It’s your misfortune that you wandered here.” An evil witch lives in this hut, she keeps me locked up, and she will bewitch you when she returns.
“And you run away from her,” says the princess.
“I would run away, but I don’t know where.” The witch stole me from my mother when I was little, and no one knows where I am. I’m yearning here, but I don’t know what to do.
While they were talking, a cold wind blew, the trees crackled, and the earth shook. The daughter of the Sun immediately sensed that the witch was flying home. She told the princess to stand by the wall, and stuck a needle and thread into the wall. And that needle was magical: the princess became invisible.
As soon as the witch entered the hut, she began to shout:
- Why does it smell like humans in here?
“It doesn’t smell at all,” answered the daughter of the Sun. “That’s right, you tasted human flesh yourself.”
The witch looked around, saw nothing, became out of breath and sat down on the bench. I rested a little and flew away again.
Then the daughter of the Sun took a needle out of the wall.
- How did the witch not notice me? - the princess marvels.
And the daughter of the Sun answers:
- But this needle is magical. Some old man brought it to me and also a ball of yarn, a brush and a towel. He said then, you see, these gifts will soon be useful to me. The needle now helped save you.
The princess thanked the daughter of the Sun and began to persuade her to run away.
“With these magical gifts,” she said, “you will easily escape from the witch, and you will also help me.” But in my country I know the roads. Let's run!
The daughter of the Sun obeyed the princess, took the magic gifts, and they ran away.
The witch flew home, didn’t find the daughter of the Sun, she got furious and started snooping around and snooping around until she picked up the trail and realized that the daughter of the Sun had run away, and not alone. The witch grabbed the stupa, saddled it and set off in pursuit.
The daughter of the Sun heard the earth trembling, she realized that it was the witch who was catching up.
The girls got scared, threw the ball to the ground, and mountains grew out of it - high, steep, stretched out like a chain.
The witch ran up to them, she wanted to climb over, but she didn’t get over, she wanted to fly over, but it was painfully high, she thought about running around - it was too far. There was nothing to do, she flew home, grabbed a shovel, returned and let’s dig. Leveled the mountains to the ground. Again she set off in pursuit, so that the whirlwind rose and the trees bent.
And the fugitives were already far away. But then they sensed that the earth was trembling, and therefore the witch was close. Then the daughter of the Sun threw a brush, and immediately such a dense and high forest rose up that the witch could not get through it, nor run around it, nor fly over it. The witch returned home, grabbed an ax, cut a path in the forest and again followed the trail.
The fugitives hear the earth trembling, and the witch catches up with them again. The daughter of the Sun immediately threw in a towel, and a lake stretched out in that place, so wide and deep that the witch could neither swim nor fly across it. The witch lay down on the ground and began to lap up the water. Lapping and saying:
- And I lap, and you, stupa, lap! And I lap, and you, stupa, lap! - Why do you need to lap the mortar? And there is no such thing in sight! The witch lapped and lapped, she hurried and hurried, she was already swollen like a mountain, and there was only a little water left in the lake. The witch wanted to finish it, but burst.
But the daughter of the Sun and the princess see that the witch is no longer chasing them, and they continue on their way without fear. Soon they approached the magnificent chambers, and the princess recognized her brother’s palace.
The prince was incredibly happy with them, and was also saddened because he could not guess who his sister was: the beauties looked alike. And he will look at them this way and that way - he won’t recognize his sister, and that’s all. Then the prince resorted to a trick: he gave a feast, he himself ordered the cooks to slaughter the calf, fill a bladder with blood and serve it to him unnoticed. The cooks did so, and the prince hid the vial under his shirt on his chest.
The guests feasted and had fun, and the prince had more fun than anyone else. He kept talking with the beauties, not knowing who his sister was. And they deliberately agreed not to reveal the truth. No matter how much the prince probed, no matter how he begged, they didn’t say anything, and that’s all. Then he took the sword out of its sheath, hit himself in the chest and began to bleed.
The guests got scared and rushed to save the prince. And one of the beauties cried out sadly and, with tears in her eyes, began to bandage his wound. The prince pretended to be dead, he was lying there and wouldn’t move. The beauty grieves more and more, strokes his head and cries and laments:
- Oh, my brother, brother, what have I done! What have I done, unfortunate thing!
And another beauty felt sorry for the prince, but everything was wrong.
When the prince found out who his sister was, he immediately jumped up as if nothing had happened, laughed, and kissed his sister. The princess immediately led him to the daughter of the Sun. And he wooed her. The daughter of the Sun agreed to marry him, only she wanted to meet her brother first. The prince agreed to find him. And suddenly everyone saw a handsome young man in royal robes galloping towards the palace on a horse. The daughter of the Sun immediately recognized her brother.
That was joy! Both princes immediately decided to marry the beauties and become related to each other. And they played such a wedding that neither could be said in a fairy tale nor described with a pen!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru