Once upon a time there lived a gardener. And one day an unprecedented cucumber grew in his garden - as huge as a barrel. Whoever asked the gardener to sell a cucumber did not sell it to anyone, he admired this cucumber himself.
The royal son heard about the unusual cucumber. “Give me,” he thinks, “I’ll go and try, this man probably won’t dare refuse me, the king’s son.”
He came to the gardener and demanded a cucumber from him, and he poured him a bag of gold coins. “Well,” says the gardener, “you are the king’s son, it’s hard to refuse you, and you paid like a king.” Take the cucumber, just watch how you leave the garden, don’t look back, go straight until you reach that tall plane tree over there. Then you can take a break.
The king's son took the cucumber and left. Suddenly he hears: following him are the sounds of a zurna and the clatter of several tambourines - dobles. And someone shouts: “Hey, look around, look around!” But the king's son walked away without looking back. Only near a tall plane tree did he stop to rest. “Let me,” he thinks, “cut the cucumber. After all, the whole world was hunting for him, and I was the only one who got him, I’ll see what’s inside him.” He took out a knife and just started cutting the cucumber, but it broke into two halves. And a girl came out of it: slender, beautiful, with golden hair. “Who are you, beauty?” - exclaimed the king's son. - Be my bride! The girl says: - Well, I agree. - But how can I just bring my bride to the royal palace? - says the king's son. - No, this is not customary. You climb onto the plane tree, no one will touch you there, wait for me, and I will come back for you and with honor, with zurna and dool, I will take you to your father.
The girl agreed. The king's son helped her climb the plane tree, she hid in its dense foliage and waited for the herd. How much or how much time has passed, an old woman approaches the plane tree. She saw a shadow in the spring under the plane tree, raised her head and began to call the girl: “Ay, balik-jan, come down to me, show yourself who you are!” “No,” the girl answers, “I won’t come down, nani-jan, I’m afraid of you.” I'm sitting, waiting for the groom. He's coming for me now.
And the old woman says to her: “Move over, and I’ll climb in and sit with you.” We’ll wait for him together.” “No,” the girl answers, “there’s no need.” “Well,” the old woman grinned sarcastically.
And I thought: “It’s better if I put a spell on her, and I’ll make myself look like her, and I’ll marry her instead.” She began to cast a spell, and say sentences, and wave her arms, bewitched the girl and turned her into a bird. And she herself looked like a girl, climbed onto a branch and began to wait.
The king's son came with friends and musicians to fetch his bride and took down a witch who looked like a girl from a tree. And a little bird flutters and flutters around him and all the time sits on his shoulder. He took it and gave it to his friend. And the bird escaped and sat on his shoulder again. Again he caught it and gave it to another friend. And the bird again - once again! - and onto his shoulder. The king's son got tired of this, he grabbed the bird, unscrewed its head and threw it into someone's garden. Where the head touched the ground, a mulberry tree grew, tall and spreading. “What do I need this tree for?” - said the owner of the garden. “It only blocks the light.” And he began to cut down this tree. When he was cutting down a mulberry tree, a spoon-sized chip from it flew into the yard of one poor old woman, turned into a beautiful spoon and lay in a spoon.
The next morning, when the poor old woman left the house, the spoon fell out of the box and, hitting the ground, turned into a golden-haired girl. This girl cleaned the old lady’s room, swept the courtyard clean, put everything in its place, prepared the tanabur and again turned into a spoon and hid in the spoon.
An old woman came home and couldn’t understand: what is this? Who removed it? Who swept it? Who cooked the tanabur? She went to her neighbors and said: “Listen, women, what kind of things are going on at my house.” Everything has been cleaned, everything has been swept, and dinner is ready, but I can’t even understand who did this for me! The neighbor advises her: “You hide and watch, then maybe you’ll find out everything.” The next day, the old woman hid behind the rug and saw: a spoon fell out of the spoon, turned into a girl, began to tidy everything up, put it in its place, light the toner, bake bread, lavash.
And when the girl had done everything and wanted to slip back into the spoon, the old woman grabbed her by the hem and wouldn’t let her in. The girl began to beg: “Let me go, Nani-jan, let me go, I don’t want to be a human all the time, let me go.” And the old woman said: “No, I won’t let go.” I have a son, he will come and marry you. “I can’t, Nani-jan, marry your son, I am the bride of another person.” “Well, then be my daughter, and my son’s sister,” says the old woman. “Okay,” says the girl. “I’ll live with you for now, just don’t ask me anything.” And the golden-haired girl began to live with the old woman.
What about the king's son? He lives with his wife, a witch, and he is unhappy, sad. How much time has passed, you never know, the king issues a decree: to supply each house with a horse from the royal stable for food and care. They brought the horse to the poor old woman's yard. She says to the king’s servants: “How can I follow the king’s horse?” I don’t have the strength, and I have nothing to feed him. “We don’t know anything.” Feed it as you want. “The royal order,” the servants answer.
The girl found out that the horse of the king’s son had come into their yard. “Don’t worry, Nani-jan,” she says to the old woman, “I’ll look after the horse.” She tied the horse in the yard and whispered to him: “You are my dear horse, I’ll rinse my hair with spring water, pour the water on your feet, the ground will grow with grass, you eat this grass, eat and get better.”
That's how it was. The horse began to get better, its fur began to shine, its mane began to curl. The day came when the royal horses began to be taken back to the stable. A girl came to the horse and said: “You are my dear horse, as soon as they take you out of the yard, you lie down on the ground and lie down.” No matter how they beat you, don’t get up.
The king's servants arrive, and with them the king's son takes his horse. They beat him, urge him on, but he lies there and doesn’t move. “How much have you fattened the horse!” - they say to the old woman. “You can’t move him from his place.” “It’s not me, it’s my daughter who looked after him,” the old woman answers. “So call her, let her handle him herself.” A girl came and shouted at the horse: “Why don’t you get up?” Do you want to become a traitor to your master? Apparently, your master is also a traitor, he doesn’t know how to keep his word.
As soon as she said so, the horse stood up and walked away. And the king’s son looks at her and sees: this beauty looks like that girl, much more of a cucumber than his wife. The king's son lost sleep, peace, and appetite. The next day he issues the following decree: from every house someone must come to the royal court to comb wool.
The carders gathered, and the golden-haired girl also came. The women did a good job and completed all the work on time. The king's son approached them and said: “Well, now let each one say what she wants to receive from me as a gift.” One asked for a shawl. The other is beads. The third is a bracelet. And when it was the golden-haired girl’s turn, she said: “Give me a ripe pomegranate, a small doll and a sharp razor.” The king’s son was surprised at such a request. But he bought everything the girl asked him for.
Having received the gift, she walked alone along a deserted mountain road and, turning off it, hid behind a rosehip bush. And the king’s son tracked down the girl and hid on the other side of the bush. She sat down under a bush and said: “Ay, pomegranate, pomegranate, listen, I’ll tell you my grief, and you break into pieces, and you break into pieces.”
Listen, doll, I’ll tell you my grief, and you dance, dance for me. Listen, razor, I will tell you my grief, and you sharpen, sharpen even more, razor! “And she began to tell: “I was bewitched and planted in a cucumber.” The king's son freed me from it and left me on a tree. An evil witch found me, turned me into a bird, and my fiancé tore off my head. I became a shady tree, but they cut me down. I turned into a spoon, came out of it, but they didn’t let me back. As she spoke, the pomegranate split and broke into pieces, the doll danced, and the razor became sharper and sharper.
She finished telling the story and wanted to cut herself with a razor. Then the king's son ran up to her, hugged her and took her to his palace. The king ordered the execution of the evil witch, and arranged a magnificent wedding for his son and golden-haired daughter-in-law. Thus their wishes came true. And may your wishes also come true.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru