One man, dying, called his only son to him and said:
- I'm dying, son. Take my place in the shop, trade and remember my three commandments: firstly, wherever you are, no matter what you are doing, if you hear a child crying, go find out why the child is crying, secondly, never cross the river if you do not know the ford, and finally, do not travel at night. Spend the night where darkness finds you. Having said this, the father died.
The son buried his honor with honor and began to trade in the shop instead. A week passed, two, three weeks, a month, two, three months. One day the friends of this young merchant say to him:
- Get ready, let's go to Tiflis to buy goods.
OK. We got ready and went. They go a day, two, three days, a week, two, three weeks, they reach Tiflis. The young merchant stayed in Tiflis longer than others, bought goods, loaded mules, hired assistants and set off on the return journey. They walked for a day, two, three days, a week, and reached a stormy river.
Helpers say:
- Let's ford the river. And the merchant says: “No, we’ll find someone who will transfer us, because we don’t know this river.”
Here one of the assistants says:
- You are all cowards! Now I will show you where the ford is.
He and his horse entered the river, the water swirled around him, and he drowned.
My father was right, thought the young merchant. He found a local peasant, promised him payment and a good gift, and he moved his caravan to where there was a ford. They moved on.
On the way, they met a rich merchant who was heading to Ganja. He liked the young merchant, and he said to him: “Will you come with me to Ganja if I take you as a shareholder in my trade?” “Why not go,” says the young merchant. They began to count the goods. The young man had fewer goods. “Well,” says the rich merchant, “you will be my junior partner.” Go ahead, go to my wife, give her my ring. She will recognize him and will shelter you. Prepare the shop, arrange everything as it should, and I’ll come with a caravan and let’s start trading.
The young merchant went to Ganja, found his partner’s house, came to his wife and gave her the ring. His wife took him into the house, and she liked him so much that she began to slowly persuade him to kill his old husband and marry her.
- What are you, what are you, woman! - the young merchant says to her. “Are you out of your mind?” I became friends with your husband, he took me as his partner. How can I go against him for an evil deed?
The woman remained silent, but harbored a grudge. Wait,” she thinks, “my husband will return, I already know how to take revenge on you.”
A day passed, two, three days, the merchant arrived with goods. He sees: his young partner has prepared the shop, washed everything, cleaned it, tidied it up. They laid out the goods and began to trade. The trade went well: every day there was a profit.
A month, two, three months passed like this. One day the wife of an old merchant says to him:
- Drive this guy away so that I don’t see him again. - Why is this, wife, what did he do to you? - When he came here without you, he persuaded me to kill you and marry him myself.
The merchant believed the insidious woman and planned to take revenge on the young man. This merchant had a bakery. He went to the baker and said:
“Baker, I have to tell you one thing, listen to me.” “Please speak, master,” the baker answers. “Tomorrow morning a man will come to you and ask: Did you do what the master told you?” As soon as he says this, push him into the oven and let him burn. “Okay,” says the baker. “If you tell me, I’ll do it.”
In the evening, the younger merchant came from the shop, and they sat down to dinner as if nothing had happened. We got ready to go to bed. The old merchant says to the young:
“Tomorrow morning you will go to our baker and ask him if he did as the owner ordered.” “Okay,” says the guy, “I’ll go and ask.” The next morning the young merchant got up and, knowing nothing, headed to the bakery. Suddenly he hears: somewhere nearby a child is crying bitterly. He turned the corner. He sees a baby lying down, he hurt his knee and can’t get up. “Don’t cry,” he says, “it’s not a big deal, the knee will heal.”
He picked up the child in his arms and carried him to his mother.
Meanwhile, the merchant's wife got up, dressed up and went to the baker to find out if he had already finished with the young merchant. She left the house, walked to the bakery and knocked.
-Who's there? - asks the baker. “It’s me, mistress.” Open the door.
The baker opened the door, and the owner’s wife came in and asked:
“Have you already done what your master told you to do?” And the baker, without hesitation, grabbed it and put it in the oven.
The young merchant took the baby and went to the baker.
“Did you do what your master ordered you to do?” - he asks the baker. “Yes,” says the baker, “I did.” The young merchant went to his older companion and said: “The baker did what you told him.” The merchant, seeing the young man alive and healthy, almost bit off his own tongue. He went to the baker and asked him: “Who did you throw into the oven?” “Master,” says the baker, “didn’t you tell me to throw into the oven the one who comes in the morning and asks if I fulfilled your order?” “Yes,” says the merchant. “Well, your wife came in the morning and asked me.” I burned it in the oven.
The merchant began to cry and tear out his hair. But nothing can be done - I returned home. The merchant called the young merchant to him and began to ask him:
- Tell me honestly, what happened to you with my wife?
The young man told the merchant how his wife tried to persuade him to kill him.
“Okay,” says the merchant, “I believe you, but I can’t keep it with me.” Take your share and payment until the end of the year and leave. “As you wish,” said the young man.
He returned the key to the shop to the merchant, took his share, hired an assistant and headed to his native village. They had almost reached the village when it began to get dark.
“Let’s put up a tent,” the young merchant says to his assistant. “What are you talking about!” - he answers. “There are only two steps left to go.” “No, I won’t go,” says the young merchant, “my father bequeathed to me: never travel at night.”
They pitched a tent and went to bed. In the middle of the night the young merchant woke up. Let me, he thinks, see if everything is okay, if thieves are getting close to us.
He began to see if all the luggage was in place. Suddenly he sees someone running from the village and dragging something heavy. He began to follow this man. And he with his burden turned into the cemetery. He reached a large stone, moved it away, buried what he had brought, and again heaped a heavy stone on that place. Then he hurriedly walked back to the village. So now I’ll dig up his treasure! — the merchant rejoiced. “And I’ll get rich!”
He wanted to call his assistant, but he was sleeping so hard, even if you take him by the legs and throw him on the ground, he won’t wake up. I carefully made my way to the cemetery. He moved the stone away and quietly dug up the package. He shouldered him, brought him into his tent and unwrapped him. And what did he see! A girl, beautiful as a mermaid, dressed like a princess, lies unconscious, all wounded, bleeding. Her heart beats barely audibly. The young merchant fell in love with her at first sight and decided to cure her.
At dawn they loaded the horses and set off. No longer to the village, but wherever the eyes look. They walked for a day, two, three days, a week, two, three weeks. We reached the city. Here the young merchant released his assistant and rented a room. He settled there with a girl, called together all sorts of healers and healers and said:
- Take whatever you want, just cure this girl.
Healers began to treat her. We were treated for a month, two, three months, and finally cured. When the girl finally recovered, he began to ask her what happened to her and how she ended up in the cemetery. This is what she told him.
- I am the king's daughter. My father has a treasurer. The son of this treasurer, a very angry and unpleasant man, planned to marry me. He pursued me, begged me to marry him, but I refused him every time. And he harbored a grudge against me. One day I was walking with my maids in the field. Suddenly we saw that five horsemen were galloping straight towards us. The maids ran away in fright, and someone grabbed me, his companions tied me up and took me away. I lost consciousness and woke up only in your tent.
“I saved you,” says the merchant, “and I should marry you.” “Well,” says the princess, “I agree.” Go get the priest and we'll get married.
They got married, and the wife began to ask her husband to settle in her hometown. She wanted to take revenge on the treasurer’s son for his bloody crime. They collected all their property and set off. They walked for a day, two, three days, a week, two, three weeks, and reached the city. They rented a room there away from the royal chambers and began to live.
They lived and lived and gradually spent all the money.
“My husband,” says the king’s daughter, “why have you become so sad?” Maybe you’ve run out of money and we have nothing to live on? “Yes,” says the husband. “What to hide?” If I hide from you, then you still can’t hide from God. We have no money at all.
Hearing this, the wife took a precious stone from her hair and said:
“Take this stone and go to the market straight to the treasurer’s son.” Show him the stone and ask how much it costs. The treasurer's son will tell you:
One thousand two hundred rubles. You will say: Give me half, and take the rest for your health. If he calls you to his place, go, and the next day invite him to visit us. Fine?
“Okay,” the husband answers, “I’ll do as you said.”
He took the stone and went to the market. He gave this stone to the treasurer's son at half price. The treasurer's son was so happy that he invited him to his home for a drink and a snack together, secretly hoping that he would be able to use such a simpleton in some other way...
They came to the house of the royal treasurer. We talked about this and that and sat until lunch. Then the servants set the table, the treasurer's son and the merchant ate and drank until the evening. The next day, the treasurer's son, as they agreed, came to visit the merchant's house. They sat all day, ate and drank, feasted, and at midnight, completely drunk, they fell asleep.
The king's daughter got up in the middle of the night, took a dagger and forcefully plunged it into the stomach of her offender. He immediately gave up the ghost. She woke up her fly.
“I finally got my revenge,” she says. “Now take the corpse to the cemetery and bury it in the same place where this scoundrel wanted to bury me.”
The husband sees: nothing can be done, he did as his wife told him.
“Now we need to hide,” says the wife, “to go to another country, otherwise the royal executioners will execute us here.” We’ll go to Istanbul, we’ll live there, we’ll see how things turn out. “Okay,” says the husband. - Let it be your way. Let's see what happens.
My husband bought two good horses at the market, they collected their belongings and went to Istanbul. They travel, travel for a day, two, three days. The king's daughter was very tired and completely exhausted.
“We’ll stop here,” she says to her husband. “There’s a fontanel here, we’ll drink water, sleep a little and then move on.”
After breakfast, the royal daughter fell asleep, and her husband remained to guard the property. He sits and thinks: I wonder if my wife still has a stone, or are we completely beggars? I looked, and she had a red cloth woven into her hair, and a whole dozen precious stones were sewn onto it. The husband was delighted, took the cloth, laid it on the grass and admired the shine of the stones.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a crow flew in. She mistook the red cloth for a piece of meat, grabbed it and immediately flew away. The young husband rushed after her, didn’t catch her, began to cry, tearing out his hair, but he couldn’t get her back. He doesn’t even know how to look his wife in the eye. He decided this: I’ll go alone, earn a lot of money so that I can support my wife myself. And before his wife woke up, he mounted his horse and rode off. He rode on horseback for a day, two, three days, a week, two, three weeks, and reached Tiflis. I started looking for a job, asking everyone, and met a rich man.
“Brother,” says the man, “I have a job as a gardener.” If you want, I’ll hire you and you’ll serve me.” “Well,” says the young merchant, “with pleasure.”
He hired himself out as a gardener, worked from dawn to dusk, did everything in the garden and helped around the house, spared no effort, and did not take time into account. The merchant lived like this for several years and earned a fair amount of money.
“Give me an estimate, master,” he says one fine day.
The owner began to persuade him to stay. It was a pity for him to let such a good worker go. But he insisted on his own.
“Okay,” says the owner. “You worked well, and I’ll pay you well, just cut down that dried poplar in the garden so that it doesn’t spoil the view.” Cut it down, chop it for firewood, and go in peace.
The merchant cut down a poplar, sawed the trunk, chopped it into logs, loaded it onto a cart and finally began to collect the chips. He sees his wife’s cloth lying on the ground, and all the precious stones are intact. Just think: there was a crow’s nest on this poplar tree, and a crow brought a stolen item here! Here the husband of the royal daughter was simply overwhelmed with happiness and went to Istanbul to look for his wife.
What happened to his wife? Then she woke up by the stream and saw: neither her husband, nor his horse, nor precious stones. I thought that robbers had attacked them, and they tied up my husband and took them away with them. Sad, she mounted her horse and went alone to the city of Istanbul. With her last money, she opened a caravanserai there and began charging very cheap rates for overnight stays, so that all poor people could stay there. She thought: Maybe my husband will get to Istanbul and come to my hotel? And her husband actually made it to Istanbul a few years later. He didn’t want to sell the precious stones, so he found the cheapest caravanserai in the city. He came, asked for the cheapest room and settled in it.
Seeing the new tenant, the king’s daughter immediately recognized him as her husband, but for the time being she did not say anything to him, and hid from him all the time.
What about the king? All these years he was looking for his daughter. It seems that there is no place on earth where he sent people, but no one could find it. He once called the treasurer to him and said to him:
- My daughter is missing, your son is missing. And no one can find them. Let's dress up as poor people and go around the world ourselves to look for our children. “Long live to you for many years, king,” says the treasurer. “Your truth.” Let's go.
The king and the treasurer dressed as poor people, took food with them and went. They walked and walked, they looked all over the world, but they couldn’t find either their son or daughter. In the end we decided: let's go to the city of Istanbul, there are a lot of people there, we'll ask around. They came to Istanbul and said:
“We are poor people, isn’t there a caravanserai here for poor strangers?” “How can it not be,” they answer, “there is,” and they pointed out the caravanserai that the tsar’s daughter kept.
Seeing her father and treasurer, she immediately recognized them, but did not show them. She set the table for them, laid out all the food she had, and seated all the guests of the caravanserai at the table. When the guests are a little tipsy, the hostess asks them:
- My guests, what kind of people are you, who are you and where are you from? Tell me. “You start,” she turned to her husband.
He told about all his adventures. As soon as he said that the wounded girl turned out to be the king’s daughter, a poorly dressed guest jumped up and shouted:
- But I am that king! Find my daughter! No one can do this except you!
Here the owner of the caravanserai intervened in the conversation.
“Treasurer,” she said to one of the guests, “your son tried to kill the king’s daughter!” Don't look for him, he got what he deserved. “And I’ll bring your daughter now,” she told the king.
She went out into another room, dressed in her old dress, combed her hair and went out to the guests. Her father and husband both rushed towards her. They began to hug her and cry with joy. And then a feast and fun began, the likes of which the world has never seen. Three apples fell from the sky: one for me, one for you, and the third for all good people.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru