Once upon a time there lived a rich and strong king, and his only daughter, Kvetusha, grew up. She began to reach that age when it was time to think about marriage. Kvetusha was so beautiful that royal sons from all over the world gathered to marry her. She liked some of them, she could have played a wedding, but the mother-queen doesn’t matter. She won’t give up her one separated daughter so easily, they say, and only the one who can guard Kvetusha for three nights will become her husband, otherwise, off his head.
The princes came and went to ask for her hand, they say, it’s an eco-deal, I can’t sleep for three nights! But no one could spot Kvetusha like that. And they all lost their heads.
The neighboring king had three sons. All three are not averse to taking Kvetusha as a wife, but who should go first? The brothers argued day and night, but they never decided.
– The eldest will go first to get married, as expected! - the father-king finally could not stand it, and that was the end of the argument.
The eldest royal son went to woo Kvetusha. He is greeted warmly at the castle. The queen says that she would not mind giving her daughter for him, if only he would watch over Kvetusha for three nights and make sure she doesn’t disappear anywhere.
The prince was delighted and called Kvetusha for a walk. They walk around the royal garden, admiring the beautiful flowers. Kvetusha picked several flowers and gave them to the prince. He was so happy that he himself turned as red as a poppy! Then they went to the pond, Kvetusha fed the fish with bread crumbs, and the fish stuck their heads out of the water and opened their mouths.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, an old beggar approaches the prince and asks for alms. The prince got angry and attacked him:
– Are you poking your nose in at the wrong time, crossing the road? Get away! The beggar looked at the prince reproachfully and left.
The prince and princess went to dinner, and another traveler wanders towards them, asking the prince for alms. And the prince drove him away without any compassion.
We dined cheerfully in the royal palace, drank and ate sweetly. After lunch, the prince jumped on his horse and went for a ride. On the way, a third poor traveler meets him and asks him to take pity on his poverty. But the prince doesn’t want to listen, he shouts at the poor guy in anger:
- You are not my brother, not a matchmaker, why on earth would I help you? Don't you see, I'm a prince. Get out of my sight!
He spurred his horse and rushed through the mountains, through the valleys, only dust in a column. And the poor beggar looked after him sadly for a long time.
Late in the evening the prince returned to the city. He entered the chambers where Kvetusha was sleeping, and, tired from the long ride, also fell fast asleep. Midnight struck, the prince woke up and saw that the princess was not there! I searched and searched, but never found it. He is at the door, and the doors are tightly locked.
- Didn’t she fly away through the keyhole? – thought the prince and let’s rummage around in all corners again. But Princess Kvetushi is nowhere to be found.
At dawn the Queen Mother appeared and asked where the princess was? The prince is silent and does not answer. The queen grinned evilly and left. And then Kvetusha appeared. The prince began to find out where she was at night, and she replied that she herself had no idea where she went every night.
The next night the prince decided not to close his eyes. But as soon as he lay down, he immediately fell asleep, and the princess disappeared again. In the morning the queen appeared and asked where Kvetusha was? The prince froze and began to make excuses:
“Apparently,” he says, “the matter here is not clean!” After all, she can’t escape through the locked doors herself!
The queen grinned, but so viciously that the prince's hair stood on end. He walks around all day not being himself, he knows what this threatens him with. Evening came, Prince Kvetusha took him by the hand, held him tightly, and decided not to go to bed that night. He struggled and struggled, but in the end he couldn’t stand it and fell asleep.
I woke up in the morning and the princess was gone. He wants to escape from the castle, but the doors are all locked. He began to break, but became exhausted and collapsed on the floor. Suddenly the doors opened on their own and the queen entered the chambers. She didn’t even ask where Kvetusha was, she just laughed terribly. In despair, the prince fell to his knees in front of her, asking for mercy, but the queen pushed him away and locked the doors behind her.
And then the executioners arrived, tied up the prince, took him out into the courtyard and tore his head off his shoulders.
The sad news reached the king-father. The king began to cry and did not order his middle son to go to Princess Kvetusha. But after many of his requests, the king agreed and the middle son, like the wind, rushed on his horse to Kvetushin castle.
But the average person was not lucky either. He couldn’t keep Kvetusha safe. And the matter ended with him, as with his elder brother.
The news reached the father about this, he became excited and strictly ordered his youngest son to go and match Kvetush. Yes, only the father is his, and the son is his.
One day the youngest son and his father went for a walk in the garden.
The prince sees that his father has cheered up a little and he began to ask him for permission to go after Kvetusha. He asked for a long time, and finally the king agreed. The prince began to get ready for the journey. I was just about to get ready, when suddenly someone knocks on the door. The prince opened the door, and there was a beggar standing there, asking for alms.
The prince took a penny out of his pocket and gave it to the poor man. The traveler thanked him, began to ask for the prince’s service, and began to persuade him that although he looked unpretentious, he was not afraid of any work. And the prince answers him:
- Well, then show me what you can do.
“People call me Long,” says the traveler, “if I want, I can reach the very clouds!”
And it’s true: it stretched, stretched, grew, grew, until it reached the very sky, you couldn’t even see your head, it hid in the clouds. And then he sank down and became the same as before. After that, he announced that he was tired from the road and went to bed.
The prince left and left the Long House.
Whether for a long time or for a short time, Long woke up, saw that the prince was gone, he had left a long time ago. He jumped out into the yard, stretched out to the very clouds and rushed forward. One step will take you ten miles away. The sun bakes his head, because his head reaches the sun itself! The Long Cloud grabbed his head, shielded himself from the sun, took another step and caught up with the prince. The prince is surprised - where did he come from? Why did you come? And Long says: I’ll go with you, I’ll be useful to you.
They walk along the road, and a tramp trudges towards them, asking for alms. The prince gives him a penny and is going to go further, but the tramp doesn’t even think of falling behind, he gets into the service. He also knows his business, he’s not only a master of bread!
- What can you do? - the prince asks him.
“But I can see everything a hundred miles away,” he answers, “so people call me Big-Eyed.”
- Well! This will suit me,” the prince was delighted. - Tell me, what is my uncle doing now in his state, beyond the glass sea?
Then the Long One picked up Big-Eyed, hoisted him onto his shoulders and stretched out to the very clouds.
Big-eyed tells Long that the clouds are bothering him, Long blew on the clouds so hard that the trees fell as if they had been knocked down by a dragon with his tail. The clouds parted and Big-Eyed saw what was happening in the country beyond the glass sea.
“Hey,” the prince shouts, “what kind of wind have you raised, it will carry me and my horse away!”
“I parted the clouds a little,” answers Long, “so that Big-Eyed wouldn’t be disturbed from looking.”
- Well, Big-Eyed, tell me, what did you see?
“There, beyond the glass sea, gentlemen are preparing for war, sharpening their swords, and the king walks with his two sons.
“You’re right,” the prince smiled, “you will come with us, but I only have one horse for everyone.”
“It’s not a big deal,” said Long, “sit Big-Eyed on my shoulders!” Long Eyed picked him up, put him on his shoulders, and took the prince and his horse in his arms. Before we knew it, we reached the neighboring state and Princess Kvetusha.
The old queen promises to immediately give her daughter to the prince if the prince saves her. And Kvetusha is in tears - she feels sorry for the prince! The princess fell in love with the handsome prince at first sight. He consoles her and promises to take her as his wife. They went for a walk in the garden and around the lake. They didn’t notice how the day passed.
In the evening, the prince is sitting in his chambers, suddenly someone knocks on the door.
-Who's there?
A tramp comes in and asks for alms. The prince put his hand in his pocket, took out a ducat and gave it to the tramp.
- Thank you. Maybe you can take me into your service?
- What can you do? - asks the prince.
“I,” he answers, “eat and drink a lot, and people call me Broad.”
“Well, you can be useful to me,” the prince agreed.
In the evening, Big-Eyed tells the prince to sleep peacefully. He will keep watch.
Our prince fell asleep in a sweet dream, and Big-Eyed sat on guard.
Exactly at midnight he sees a golden rose come off the princess’s bed, fly across the room and disappear behind the door.
Big-Eyed woke Long-Eyed and they ran into the yard. In the yard Big-Eyed says:
“Well, brother, go east and walk wider, the princess is a hundred miles away from us.”
The long one didn’t think for long, he walked as quickly as if his heels were greased with lard. They walked a hundred miles and saw a rose bush. In the middle of the bush, a golden rose bloomed. This is Princess Kvetusha. The big-eyed one tore off the rose, sat down on Long’s shoulders, and before they had time to look back, they were already in the castle. The prince woke up, they gave him the rose. Just before dawn the queen appears, wishes the prince good morning, asks if he slept well and where Princess Kvetusha is. The prince bowed and gave her a rose. The queen saw it and almost burst out of anger, but didn’t say anything, grabbed the rose and walked away.
And soon Kvetusha returned. In the evening everyone went to bed and the prince fell asleep sweetly.
Only Big-Eyed is awake, waiting for what will happen next. At midnight he sees a golden bird fly out of the chambers through the keyhole. Big-Eyed woke Long-Eyed and they went out into the yard together. Big-Eyed perched himself on Long’s shoulders, and he stretched out to the clouds. Big-Eyed looked around and told Long to hurry, because the princess had flown away two hundred miles. The Long One set off after her, if he takes a step, he will leave a mile behind him.
Less than half an hour has passed, and they are already in the forest, and there a golden bird flutters from tree to tree. It took a lot of effort to catch her. But now Big-Eyed has the bird in his fist. And it’s about time, it will soon begin to get light. The long one is in a hurry to return, and now they are already at the prince’s castle.
Big-Eyed gives the prince a bird, and the queen bursts into the chambers and asks:
– Where is my Kvetusha?
The prince handed her the bird, the queen only gritted her teeth in anger. She turned Kvetusha into a princess and sent her to go for a walk with the prince.
Kvetusha began to ask how he managed to keep her safe, but he didn’t tell her anything.
In the evening everyone went to bed, but Big-Eyed didn’t close his eyes. At exactly midnight there was suddenly a noise, and then everything became quiet at once. Big-Eyed and Long-Eyed jumped out into the yard, Long-Eyed stretched out right up to the clouds, Big-Eyed looked around and said:
“Let’s quickly run after Shirokiy, it’s his turn to help: the princess is hiding on the lake three hundred miles from here.”
Long hurried after Shiroky, put Big-Eyed on his shoulders, tucked Broad under his arm and walked towards the lake.
An hour and a half passed before we got to the lake. They looked, and a white swan was swimming on the lake and singing so tenderly that all three forgot why they came! Long woke up first and rushed into the water to catch the swan, and the water is deep, even with such a big guy only the top of his head sticks out.
What to do? Shiroky lay down on the shore and let him drink water. I drank and drank until the bottom appeared. The big-eyed swan grabbed the wing and held it tightly. And Long-Eyed put Big-Eyed and Swan on his shoulders, put Wide-Headed under his arm, and they walked through the mountains, through the valleys straight to the castle.
They walked a hundred miles, then Long suddenly said to Broad:
- Well, brother, however, you are heavy!
And he answers:
- Wait, I’ll spit out the water, you’ll feel better right away!
Broad spat out water - oh, and there was a lot of it! All the surrounding fields and villages were flooded.
They returned to the castle. And it's about time! The queen is already standing at the door, asking about Kvetusha. The prince gave her a white swan. The queen was angry that all her intrigues had gone to waste and burst with anger.
The white swan immediately turned into a beautiful princess. She threw herself on the prince’s neck, thanking him for liberation from the evil spell.
Kvetush’s father, overjoyed, doesn’t know what to do! He orders the guests to be summoned to a cheerful wedding as soon as possible.
The prince did not agree and began to ask that they wait a little, otherwise his father and mother would not be in time for the wedding. The prince began to complain to Long, and he answered:
- Don't worry, I'll do everything.
Before you even had time to blink an eye in the palace, the king and queen were already here! Kvetushin’s father received them like a king, and like a family. There was a lot of joy and the wedding was a great success!
Many rich princes and nobles attended that wedding. The music played tirelessly for fourteen days!
After the wedding, the prince and Kvetusha went for a walk in the garden. Tall and Wide and Big-Eyed come up to them and want to say goodbye. The prince does not let them go, he says, if they have suffered grief together, why leave with joy? But they don’t stay, they are going to move on. After all, we need to help other good people too.
They shook hands and went in different directions.
And the prince lived and lived with his Kvetusha and told his grandchildren in his old age about three faithful friends who saved his life and united him with his good wife.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru