There lived a king. And this king had three sons. One day, all three of them were walking and met three sisters who were walking with jugs to fetch water. The brothers followed the girls and heard what they were talking about among themselves.
One says:
“When I get married, I will bake bread for my husband that the king himself has never tasted.” Another says:
“When I get married, I will weave a carpet such as the king himself has never sat on.”
And the youngest says:
“And I will give my husband a son with a golden little finger and a daughter with golden hair.”
The princes looked at each other and decided to woo these girls.
Senior says:
“I’ll woo the one who promised to bake extraordinary bread.”
Middle says:
“I’ll woo the one who wanted to weave an extraordinary carpet.”
And the youngest said that he liked the youngest of the sisters the most.
They went to their father, the king, and persuaded him to woo these girls.
“Well,” said the king, “it would be better, of course, for you to marry the king’s daughters, but since you fell in love with these girls so much, let it be your way.”
And three weddings took place in the palace at once.
Time has passed. The older sisters never kept their word. And the younger sister, as promised, gave birth to a boy with a golden little finger and a girl with golden hair. Her husband, the younger prince, was away at that time. The older sisters got angry that the younger sister turned out to be more faithful and better than them, they stole her children at night and gave her two puppies.
The youngest prince receives the news: “Your wife gave birth to puppies instead of children. What should we do with them? The prince got angry and wrote: “Drown the puppies, and wrap my wife, who deceived me so much, in an oxhide, place her in the middle of the square and put a hammer next to her. Let whoever passes by hit her on the head with a hammer.”
This is what the sisters did, and they put a piece of sugar in the children’s mouths, locked them in a chest and threw them into the sea. This chest got entangled in the nets of one fisherman, and he pulled the chest ashore; I thought that he had inherited untold wealth, and when he opened the lid, he saw children there.
“Well,” said the fisherman, “and this is a gift.” I don’t have children, I will raise them as my own.
The fisherman's wife took care of the children, fed them, washed them, dressed them, and the brother and sister grew and grew. They were fifteen years old.
Somehow their comrades laughed at them: that, they say, you are not related to your father and mother at all, and they fished you out of the sea.
Then they went to the fisherman and his wife and said:
“Thank you very much for saving us from death and raising us like family.” We will be grateful to you for this all our lives. And now we will go look for our real parents.
No matter how hard their adoptive parents tried to persuade them to stay, it was all in vain. They walked and walked from country to country, but they did not find their parents. Then the brother and sister swam across the sea and built themselves a small house on the shore.
All the animals and birds became friends with them, loved them for their kindness and helped them in any way they could. The brother went fishing in the morning, and the sister cleaned the house, washed, sewed, and cooked dinner.
One day a king and his retinue were driving along the shore. But it must be said that by this time the younger prince, the father of these children, had become king.
My brother was fishing just at that hour. He looked at the king and did not bow to him.
“Who are you that you don’t bow to the king?” - the king was angry with him. - Here I will show you!
Riders from the royal guard attacked the boy. And the fox ran into the forest, called all the animals, and they fought off the boy and beat the royal guards properly.
The king was surprised and said:
- Why do animals love you so much? Come to my palace, let's talk.
“I can’t come to you until I ask my sister’s permission.”
One day my brother caught small, small fish and brought them to his sister to fry for lunch.
“Brother,” says the sister, “let’s eat better dry bread today, and you release these fish back, because they are still small, they have a mother, and her heart will ache for her children.”
The brother agreed, took the fish and released them back into the sea. The sea became agitated, high waves rolled onto the shore, and the king of all fish came out of the water.
“How many thousands of people caught fish in the sea, no one ever released them back,” he said. “You are a kind person, and I must reward you for that.” Know that I am the king of all fish and my name is King Jin.
He put his brother on his back and swam with him into the sea. They sailed to the underwater palace.
- Tell me, what do you want as a reward? - asks the king.
“I don’t need anything,” the brother answers. “I just want to marry your daughter, and I also want you to teach me to understand fish language; because I already know the language of animals.
King Jin agreed to this and said:
“I will gladly give my daughter for such a kind man.” Because she is very touchy, and she would not be able to get along with anyone who would offend her.
The king richly gifted his son-in-law and equipped his daughter for the journey.
The brother brought his wife to his sister’s house. The sister really liked the sea princess, and they began to live amicably and happily.
But suddenly disaster struck. The news reached their evil aunts that their nephews were alive, did not drown, locked in a chest, but survived and grew up and live happily in a house on the seashore. They were afraid that everything would come out, they bribed an evil witch, and she went to her brother and sister to hire them as a servant. Without knowing anything, they took her into their house and gave her a job.
And the old witch slowly began to turn his brother against his wife.
“What,” he says, “do you want a sea princess?” You'd better get yourself a beautiful Guri-Peri wife.
At first the brother turned a deaf ear to everything, but then he began to listen to the old woman’s words and one fine day he got ready and went in search of guri-peri.
He drove, drove along the road, you never know, he knows better; sees an old man sitting near the road, holding two large balls of wool in his hands. He rewinds the wool: he gets more from one ball, more from another, and weighs the balls in his palms.
- What are you doing, papi? - the brother asks the old man.
“I balance good and evil,” says the old man, “so that there would be equal amounts of both in the world.” Where are you coming from?
“I’m going to get myself a beautiful guri-peri.”
“I feel sorry for you,” says the old man. “Many drove past me, but no one came back.”
“I’m not afraid of anything,” says the brother. — Tell me better, how can I find guri-peri
The old man saw that he couldn’t dissuade him, so he began to tell him:
- If you go straight, you will stop your horse on the very shore of the sea. Guri-Peri girls will come to the shore to swim. As soon as they swim a little away from the shore, grab the clothes of one of them and get on your horse and save yourself. The forest will start shouting after you: “They took it away, they took away the dress!”; the stones will also scream, but don’t turn around. When the guri-peri catches up with you, try not to let it splash you with water, otherwise you will immediately turn into stone.
The old man's brother thanked him, spurred his horse and soon reached the seashore. He waited a little and saw: the Guri-Peri beauties came ashore, undressed and swam across the waves. He jumped out of the ambush, grabbed one of the dresses lying on the shore, and immediately galloped away.
The forest began to shout: “They took it away, they took away the dress!”; the stones began to shout: “They took it away, they took away the dress!”, and one of the Guri-Peri rushed to catch up with him.
The brother could not stand it, looked around and froze, amazed by her beauty. And she flew up to him, splashed water on him, and at that very moment he turned into a black stone.
Guri-Peri tied his sword to the saddle and let the horse go the way he had come.
The sister saw that the horse came alone, without his brother, and realized that something was wrong. She dressed as a man, tied her brother’s sword, mounted her horse and rode in his wake.
She saw that old man with balls of hair. Он ей всё рассказал, велел быть осторожной и приказал поймать гури-пери и заставить её снова облить брата водой, чтобы он ожил.
Доехала сестра до морского берега, схватила одежду одной из гури-пери и поскакала прочь.
And one guri-peri rushed after her. Когда она поравнялась с сестрой, та схватила её и стала бить и била до тех пор, пока та не облила камень водой и не оживила брата. And she also made water pour over all the stones, and all these stones turned into young men.
The brother and sister returned to their home. Только дом был пустой: дочь царя Джина убежала — обиделась она, что муж променял её на гури-пери. Грустный бродил брат по берегу и вдруг слышит, как одна маленькая рыбка рассказывает другой:
“Our king’s daughter ran away from her husband. He offended her, neglected her beauty and chased after guri-peri. She built herself a castle among the Blue Mountains and lives there.
Отправился брат за своей женой в Синие горы, попросил у неё прощения за то, что послушался злой колдуньи, и она вернулась с ним домой.
Как-то царь проезжал мимо их домика, заглянул к ним, и дочь царя Джина сразу поняла, что это отец её мужа.
— Возьми букет роз,— сказала она мужу,— положи возле той женщины, что стоит на площади выставленная на позор, и скажи царю: «Даже мул не может родить щенят, как же ты, царь, поверил, что твоя жена родила собак?» Know that this woman is your mother, and the king of this country is your father.
The brother did as his wife taught him.
The king looked at his golden little finger and his sister’s golden hair and understood everything. He threw himself on his knees in front of his wife and began to ask for forgiveness. She was a kind woman and forgave him.
Just as they achieved their happiness, so you will achieve yours.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru