There once lived a king who claimed that he had never lied in his life; but he often heard courtiers say to each other: “This is not true! You are a liar! - and he always got very angry.
Finally he said to the courtiers:
- You surprise and upset me. If a stranger heard you, he might think that I reign over only liars. I wish this would stop. You will never hear such words from me, and I will willingly give my daughter in marriage to any person who catches me in saying to someone: “This is not true!” or “You are lying!”
One young shepherd, who also heard this speech, said to himself:
“Okay! If the king is a man of his word, his daughter will go to me!”
The old king loved ancient songs, magical and funny tales. Often, after the evening meal, he sat down in the kitchen near the huge fireplace and listened with pleasure as his servants talked, sang and told all sorts of things. Each of them took turns singing or telling something.
“But you, boy, apparently don’t know anything,” the king said one evening to the young shepherd, whom we have already discussed.
“How can you not know, Your Majesty,” answered the shepherd.
- Let's hear what you know.
The shepherd began:
“One day, walking through the forest, I saw a fat hare. He ran straight towards me, as if he couldn't see anything. I had a pellet of resin in my hand. I threw it at the hare, the pellet hit him right on the forehead and stuck there. And the hare rushed further and, at full speed, collided with another hare rushing towards him; so they stuck their foreheads to each other; There was no way they could be separated, and I caught them both without any difficulty. How do you like it, Your Majesty?
“I don’t believe it,” answered the king, “but in the end it is possible.” What else can you tell us?
“Before I hired myself as a shepherd at your court, I worked as an assistant at my father’s mill. Once I loaded my donkey so heavily that his spine was broken.
- Poor donkey! - cried the king.
And the shepherd continued:
“I went to the nearest hedge—it was made of hazel—I cut out a stick from there with a pocket knife and inserted it into the donkey instead of the spine. He immediately jumped up and, as if nothing had happened, headed with his burden to the mill.
“It’s an amazing thing,” said the king. “Well, what next?”
“The next morning I was greatly amazed (it was in December) when I saw that during the night branches, leaves and even nuts had appeared on the end of the stick that stuck out; I took the donkey out of the stable, and the branches grew and grew and rose high, high, right up to the sky.
“An interesting thing,” said the king. “What next?”
- Well, when I saw this, I began to climb the branches and climbed higher and higher until I reached the moon.
“It’s a wonderful thing,” said the king. “What next?”
“When I got to the moon, I saw old women there reaping oats, and I watched for a long time as they worked. When I decided to go down to the ground again, I no longer found my stick - the donkey had disappeared somewhere. What was to be done? I began to twist the ears; I ended up with a rope along which I began to descend.
“It’s hard to believe this,” said the king. “What next?”
“Alas, the rope was not long enough, and when I got to the end I had to jump to the ground. I fell headfirst onto a rock and got stuck in it up to my shoulders.
“I don’t know whether to believe or not,” said the king. “And then what?”
“I spent so much effort trying to free myself that my body was torn away from my head, which remained in the rock; and I ran for an iron crowbar to pull out my head.
- Well, how can you believe it? - said the king. - And then what?
“When I returned with the crowbar, I saw a huge wolf gnawing on my head. I hit him on the back so hard with my iron stick that he was completely flattened, and some paper fell out of his backside.
- Miracles, and that’s all! - said the king. - What did it say?
“It said there that Your Majesty’s father was once an assistant to my grandfather, a miller.”
“I swear on my honor, you’re lying, you filthy brat!” - shouted the king, jumping to his feet.
- Hurray, Your Majesty! I won: your daughter will go to me! - said the shepherd.
- How so? What do you mean by this? - asked the king.
“Didn’t you, Your Majesty, promise to give your daughter’s hand to anyone who caught you saying to someone: “You’re lying”?
- Right. A king must always keep his word and never break it. My daughter will be your wife. Tomorrow is the engagement, and in a week the wedding.
That's how it happened that the shepherd got the king's daughter for one word!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru