Once upon a time there lived a hunter named Marcos. One day he went hunting and saw: under a stone a black snake was strangling a motley snake. The hunter Markos took aim at the black snake, fired, and how it happened is unknown, only he didn’t hit the black one, but hit the motley snake and killed it.
Hunter Markos was upset.
“Wow, wow, what have I done! - thinks. “Since I can no longer hit the person I’m aiming at, I’m not a hunter at all.” And I’ll be damned if I ever pick up a gun again.”
And think what happened! It so happened that the mottled snake was the wife of the snake king. The snake king became furious with the hunter Markos, sent two of his subjects and ordered to sting the hunter Markos on the heel so that the poison would drip from his nose. The snakes crawled, hid near the erdik - a hole in the roof - and began to wait for Marcos to go to bed.
And at this time guests came to Marcos. They see that the hunter Markos is somehow different from usual, and they say:
- Hey, Marcos, what happened? Do you seem to be feeling unwell? Or something else?
And Marcos answers:
- No, I’m not sick, but a misfortune happened to me, worse than any illness. Today I wanted to kill a black snake and save a motley one, but it turned out the other way around. So I vowed from now on not to pick up a gun: what kind of hunter am I if I kill the wrong person?
The snakes heard what Marcos was saying to his friends and quickly returned to their king. They told everything they overheard. The king did not order them to sting Marcos, but ordered them to bring him to him.
The snakes crawled into the house of the hunter Marcos and said:
- Get ready, our king is calling you to his place. The hunter Markos went after the snakes to the snake king.
On the way, one of them says to him:
- The black snake is a mortal enemy to our king. Because you didn’t kill the queen on purpose, the king will forgive you, and because you tracked down his enemy, he will give you a reward. Just don’t take anything from him, but ask him to lick you with his snake tongue. This will make you wiser than all the people in the world.
They came to the snake king. The king asks Marcos:
-Have you killed my queen? The hunter told everything as it happened. The king asks him:
- If you see that black snake, will you recognize it?
- Long live you, king, if I see you, I will know.
The king ordered all the snakes from all over the world to be summoned, and they all crawled in front of the hunter Markos.
- Well, what do you say? - says the king. -Have you seen a snake?
“No,” Marcos replies. — among all these snakes there was no one.
The king says:
- See if there are any other snakes somewhere.
- The servants answer:
- There is one snake - the son of the oldest snake woman.
- Deliver it! - the king orders.
They brought this snake.
“Long live to you for many years, king,” says Marcos, “this is the same one.”
By order of the king, the black snake was torn into such small pieces that the pieces could not be collected.
The snake king turned to the hunter Markos:
“You have served me well, and I want to reward you for it.” Ask for what you need.
“You don’t need anything,” the hunter answers. - Just lick me with your snake tongue.
“Let the one who advised you break his neck,” says the king. “I will do it if you ask, but it will bring misfortune to both you and me.”
The snake king licked the hunter Markos and warned him:
“Don’t tell anyone about this, not even your wife.” And do not show your body naked under any form to any living creature.
The hunter Markos said goodbye to the snake king and left. Suddenly he hears - the stones speak, the grass speaks, the trees speak. He reached his village. He hears one dog say to another:
“Tonight the wolves will come to carry the sheep, maybe we’ll get some meat too.”
And the little red dog objects to her:
- Don't be ashamed! We will tell the owner when the wolves come, he will shoot them.
The hunter Markos was amazed and realized: it was from the snake king that wisdom came to him. He went to the owner of the sheep and said to him:
“Don’t sleep today, the wolves will come at night.” And don’t lock up the red little dog, let him stay in the yard, she’ll warn you.
The owner laughs:
- How do you know this, hunter Markos? If what you said turns out to be true, I will give you two of the fattest sheep.
As soon as night fell, a small red dog began to bark. The owner rushed out of the house and saw that the wolves were approaching the herd. He shot the wolves, and in the morning he took Marcos to the herd so that he could choose the two fattest sheep for himself. They came to the sheep, Marcos heard one lamb say:
“Whoever I belong to will have a herd of a thousand heads and I will become the leader.”
Hunter Markos says to the owner:
“I don’t need fat sheep, I didn’t do you such a great service.” Give me this little lamb and that's enough for me.
Since then, wealth somehow fell into the hands of the hunter Marcos; and very soon he already had a thousand-headed sheep flock.
One day, the neighbors gathered at the hunter Marcos’s wife and began to tease her:
- And what kind of wife are you? You don’t even know how your husband got rich.
“I really don’t know,” Marcos’s wife answers.
- So he has secrets from you. Have you ever heard of this? You approach him, he will tell you everything.
In the evening, the hunter's wife pestered her husband: tell me, tell me your secret.
“Oh, wife,” Markos replies, “is your life bad?” Why did you decide to pry out my secrets? As soon as I tell them, I’ll die that very hour.
“No, tell me anyway,” the wife pesters. “Otherwise, I’m not your wife anymore.”
“Well,” Marcos sighed. - I'll tell you. Just take him to the cemetery to dig a grave and prepare a shroud. If you find out my secret, you will bury me right there.
And the wife agrees: her curiosity is so intense that even her husband is not afraid of death, just to find out his secret.
“I’ll go,” says Markos, “I’ll look at my herd for the last time, and then I’ll come, tell you everything, and die.”
He came to the herd. He sees: one sheep is running away, and the ram is chasing it. The sheep says to the ram:
- Jump off this hill. If you don't break, I'll marry you.
And the ram answers:
“I’m not such a fool as the hunter Marcos that I would die because of my wife.” If you don’t want to, don’t, I’ll marry someone else, and I’m not going to break up because of you.
“The ram is even smarter than me!” - Marcos thought. He came and kicked his wife out of the house, who put her curiosity above his life.
Marcos lived alone for a long time and acquired great wealth. One day news came that the king who ruled the country where Marcos lived was dangerously ill. Wise men and healers gathered from all over the world. They treated and treated him, but they did not cure him. Finally, a wise man read somewhere that this disease can be cured with a decoction from the head of the snake king. And only one person whose body is covered with snake skin can reach it. The king ordered all his subjects to find such a person. And then one day, when the hunter Marcos was bathing, two shepherds looked and saw that his body seemed to be covered with snake skin.
They went to the king and said:
- Long live you, king! What will you give us if we tell you who has the skin on his body like a snake?
The king says:
“I’ll give you as much gold as you all weigh together, just tell me.”
- Hunter Marcos has a body like a snake.
At that very moment the king sent for the hunter Markos and ordered him to be stripped naked by force.
“Go to the snake king,” he ordered Marcos. “Either you bring me his head, or I will cut off your own.”
There is nothing to do, the hunter Markos went to the snake king. And he was so wise that he didn’t even ask why Marcos came to him, he understood everything himself.
“You see,” he says to Marcos, “I warned you that your request would lead to trouble.”
“It’s not my fault,” answers Marcos. “I hid from people for thirty years, and the shepherds saw me by accident.” Now the king ordered either your head to be brought to him, or he threatened to cut off mine.
“Well,” says the snake king. “Once he has found out what his salvation is, he will get to me one way or another.” Chop my head. When you bring it home, pour water into the vat and boil the head in it until only a seventh of the water remains. Fill two cups. Drink one yourself, and give the other to the king. Don’t forget, do everything as I say.
The hunter Markos cut off the head of the snake king, came home and did everything as he was told.
As soon as he drank the cup, he became only eighteen years old. And the king, as soon as he drank, was immediately healed and also became exactly twenty years younger. The king sat on the throne, and appointed the hunter Marcos as his first vizier and said to him:
“I am a king, but I will obey you in everything, because there is no man in the world wiser than you.”
And the hunter Marcos replied:
“The snake king was wiser than me, he was also kinder than me, and you and I owe everything to him.”
Just as their wishes came true, so may yours come true.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru