Once upon a time, and no one remembers when, there lived a sorceress. And she was so beautiful and rich that you couldn’t find another like her in the whole world. Both kings and distinguished gentlemen wooed her, but she did not want to marry anyone.
When she was tired of all the suitors, the beauty ordered to announce that she would marry the one who would hide from her three times so that she would not be able to find him. Let there be at least the last beggar.
Young gentlemen came in droves! They hid in secluded corners, but in vain - she found everyone. The guys got tired of it and stopped playing hide and seek with her. But then one day a good fellow comes, wearing an old caftan.
Because of these clothes, he also had a nickname - Kaftanchik. The caftan called himself a beauty and asked if she was true to her word.
The proud sorceress didn’t like the guy’s clothes. “He’s pretending,” she thinks, “but there’s nothing to do, you have to keep your word. I suppose I’m a real sorceress, but who he is is still unknown!
But Kaftanchik is not so simple either, a real master! First of all, he turned into a fish and went to the bottom of the sea.
The sorceress, as usual, solved riddles at dawn. So now I got some sleep, left my castle, stood in the middle of the garden, looked around and began to wonder: “You’re not on earth, you’re not in heaven, where are you? Yeah, you're in the sea, at the very bottom, you've turned into a fish, come on, get out!
There was nothing to be done, I had to get out.
“Okay,” Kaftanchik thinks, “it’s a misfire the first time!”
And the sorceress has already realized that this guy Kaftan is no mistake, and the wizard is no worse than her.
On the second day, Kaftan turned into a bird and flew above the clouds.
The sorceress comes out into the garden and begins to guess:
“You’re not on earth, you’re not in the water. Where are you? Yeah, you’re in the sky, you’re a bird, come down!”
Like it or not, he had to go down, he couldn’t hide.
Until the very night, Kaftanchik thought and wondered where he could hide more reliably, but he couldn’t come up with anything! On the third day, in the morning at dawn, he began to walk around the garden, and became so lost in thought that he completely forgot where he was and why. Suddenly he sees the sorceress going to the garden gate, getting ready to look for him. He came to his senses and, turning into a carnation flower, stood up in the garden bed. A sorceress walks along the path and sees a beautiful flower blooming.
“Oh,” he says, “where did I get this beautiful carnation?” It must have grown overnight?
With these words, she picks a flower and brings it to her face. And then he stands in the middle of the garden and begins to wonder:
“You are not on earth, you are not in heaven, you are not in water - I don’t know where you are! Answer me!
- Here I am, my dear! - Kaftanchik shouted - and turned into a good fellow, only he became even more handsome. - Well, now will you marry me?
- No, I won’t go if you don’t bring flour from the distant kingdom for wedding cakes by tomorrow morning! - exclaimed the sorceress - and rushed to run to her castle. She ran in and locked herself with iron bars.
Now I can't get to her. Kaftanchik needs to think about how to get flour. It was a difficult task. After all, in the distant kingdom, grain was still standing!
Somewhere our young man had an uncle who was a great sorcerer, and his uncle had a car, you sit in it and you immediately find yourself wherever you want. Kaftanchik went to his uncle, got into his car and in the blink of an eye found himself in a distant kingdom. He ordered the wheat to be reaped, bound into sheaves, and threshed. He ran to the mill, ground the grain and early in the morning stood in front of the castle with the finished flour.
- I brought flour! Now will you marry me? - he shouted to the sorceress.
- I’ll go, if you bring wine from the grapes that grow beyond the Black Sea! - she answered him - and locked herself even tighter.
It’s not an easy task to move overseas! But the car helped Kaftanchik now, and a minute later he was already where he had planned. The caftan boy collected the grapes, pressed them, decant them into barrels, and in the morning, when the sorceress was still sleeping, he knocked on the gate.
- Well, will you marry me? The wine is here!
“I’m crazy, why should I go for a ragamuffin!” – the beauty answered. “I won’t go until you, from the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state, bring me three golden pears and become as rich as me!”
And she locked herself even tighter.
Kaftanchik knew that this time the wheelbarrow would not help. He set off on foot through the mountains, through the valleys to the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state. He’s walking through the mountains, he sees a man running around a tree, but he can’t stop. Looks like he's been running for a long time. For many years.
- God help you, good man, what are you doing here? - Kaftanchik asks him.
“Can’t you see I’m running?” Nobody hires me for such a service, where I could run around enough,” he answers.
- Come with me to distant lands, and there you will run into trouble. Swift-footed agreed, and the two of them moved on.
As they walked and walked, they saw a man sitting, nine loaves of bread lying in a mountain in front of him, and he shouted at the top of his lungs:
- Oh, I’m hungry!
- Why don’t you eat? - they tell him. - After all, there is a mountain of bread in front of you!
- But this is only one tooth for me!
- Come with us to distant lands, you will eat there!
There were now three of them and they walked on. They walk and walk and see a man sitting in front of a large fire. He is wearing nine fur coats, and he is shouting:
– Help, people, I’m cold!
- What are you talking about! After all, you’re sitting by the fire all bundled up! – the friends were surprised. And he chatters his teeth, trembles all over, freezes.
- Come with us to distant lands, you will warm up there! There were four of them and they moved on.
As they walked and walked, they saw a man sitting near the well, a large river flowing behind him, and he kept shouting:
- Oh, I’m thirsty! I'm thirsty!
“Get drunk,” they say. - There's plenty of water!
I can't get enough of this! It’s good that real thirst didn’t attack me!
“Come with us to the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state, you’ll get drunk there!” - his friends tell him.
There were five of them and soon they reached the distant kingdom, the thirtieth state. There are high mountains around, and among the mountains there is a royal castle.
All five of them, uninvited guests, appeared to the king and began to demand three golden pears from him.
-Who are you that you ask for golden pears out of the blue?
“So-and-so sorceress sent me,” says Kaftanchik, “for them... and these are my friends!” - and told the king what kind of people his friends were.
“Aha,” the king decided, “if you are such friends, then first serve me, and if you deserve it, then you will receive pears!” I’m just about to celebrate my son’s wedding! My bakers and cooks have been baking and cooking for a whole week and have prepared plenty of all sorts of treats, but the guests are still not coming! If you call guests from nine countries by morning, you will receive pears. And if not, woe to you!
Well, our friends were scared! Running around nine countries in one night is not like visiting your neighbor!
Only Swiftfoot, who was running around the tree, was not afraid and ordered the king to write invitations for guests.
- Already written! - the king answers and hands him a thick pack. Count not count.
Until the evening, our Swift One stomped around the castle. The other four are trembling with fear and scolding him for why he’s delaying, but he replies that there’s enough time!
With the evening breeze he set off, and at dawn with the morning breeze he returned and brought an answer to each invitation.
In the morning, friends went to the king to ask for golden pears.
- I'll give you, I'll give you! There’s just a catch: guests write to me that they won’t make it to the wedding tomorrow. If you want to get pears, you need to eat everything that my cooks have prepared by morning! Otherwise I will order you to be executed!
And in the castle they were fed as if for slaughter! Is it conceivable to eat all the bread, pies and meat that was prepared for the wedding? And our friends were seized with such fear as if they were already being dragged to execution.
Only Insatiable was not afraid. While the others were toiling, he gobbled until he was satisfied.
The next day they come to the king, demanding golden pears.
“You keep talking about pears,” the king mocks, “but I ordered the iron stove to be heated with oak logs.” Let's see, if you spend the night in it, then so be it, go and pick some pears! - He said and kicked them out of his chambers.
Oh, and they were scared! - “Well, now our little heads are probably gone! We’ll fry in this oven like chickens!”
And the fire is blazing in the stove, making it impossible to get close. They began to quarrel and curse among themselves, each reproaching the other for why he had invited him here to certain death. They even grabbed my hair.
Suddenly, Trembling in nine clothes pushes them aside and says:
- Instead of scolding, let’s go into the yard to pinch a splinter, otherwise we’ll freeze at night!
But they don’t listen to him, they scold him.
Evening came, they led them to the stove and began to push them inside.
- Climb faster! - they say.
And they resist, back away from the unbearable heat.
Then Drozhun jumped into the oven, shook his clothes, collected all the heat, and immediately there was a whiff of cold, and it didn’t hit the tooth.
The fire died down, they stopped resisting, and climbed into the oven themselves. They are sitting there freezing. And Drozhun lit a fire in the corner, warmed himself, and didn’t let anyone get close. They made such a scream and noise that the king could not sleep in his chambers until the morning. In the morning, the king asks what the noise was, what the scream was at night. They answer him that it was five friends who were chattering in the oven. But the king does not believe:
“No,” he shouts, “they should only be coals!”
Then all five were brought to him, the king looked - four were shaking from the cold.
“Well,” the king is surprised, “now I see that I can’t get along with you.” Go pick the golden pears.
He led them through the high mountains. They walked for a long, long time until they reached a huge lake.
“Look,” says the king, “over there, in the middle of the lake, there is a meadow, in the meadow there is a tree growing, - on the tree, at the very top of the head, there are three golden pears.” If you drink the lake, I don’t mind, you can pick the pears. Otherwise you won't get there. Water won't hold anyone back.
- Go and have a drink! - the four sighed - and said goodbye to the pears forever: the lake is endless, without edge, you can’t even see a tree!
“Come on, drink,” suddenly says the one who was found near the river.
“You drink,” the others answer, “if it’s written in your destiny.”
- Well, finally, I will quench my thirst! - he cried joyfully, - he lay down on the shore and blew out the entire lake, like a mug of wine, and then got up, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and smiled:
- Now I'm drunk! - speaks.
Our friends walked along the dry bottom to the meadow, to three golden pears, and they themselves asked for Kaftanchik’s hands. He put his hat down, and the pears were already there. And suddenly everything disappeared: the tree, the mountains, and the king, and a disenchanted, revived land appeared before them. Our friends went home. Wherever they passed, everywhere people thanked Kaftanchik - their liberator king! And the beautiful sorceress was no longer stubborn and gave him her hand. And everyone lived happily: the one who ran, and the one who ate, and the one who warmed up, and the one who got drunk, and Kaftanchik himself with his young wife.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru