One poor widow had a daughter, Khavroshechka. They lived happily, but trouble came: the widow fell ill and died, leaving her daughter an orphan.
An aunt took the girl in, and the aunt herself had three daughters: the eldest was One-Eyed, the middle was Two-Eyed, and the youngest was Three-Eyed.
Life was bad for Tiny Khavroshechka: they dressed her in rags, made her sick over her work, and reproached her with a piece of bread. The orphan would have been in complete trouble if her mother had not left her with a cow, which helped her in everything.
It used to be that Aunt would ask Tiny Khavroshechka to strain, weave, and whiten the linens, and the girl would go into the field, hug her little cow and say to her: “The little cow is a little cow!” My aunt ordered me to strain, weave, and whiten the canvas, help me. And the cow answered her: “Climb into one of my ears and get out of the other - everything will be done.” Khavroshechka will crawl out of her ear, and she has everything ready: it’s woven, whitened, and rolled up.
The aunt is only surprised when Khavroshechka manages to do all this. He'll hide everything in a chest and give her even more work. But no matter how much work she gave her, Khavroshechka did everything on time.
The aunt decided to find out who was helping the orphan. So she calls her eldest daughter One-Eye to her and says to her: “My daughter, dear!” Look who helps the orphan, who weaves and spins for her.
Khavroshechka went into the field, One-Eye tagged along with her. She lay down in the field on the grass under a bush, and Khavroshechka sat down next to her and said: “Sleep, little eye, sleep, little eye!” One-Eyed fell asleep. While she was sleeping, the cow did all Khavroshechka’s work.
The girls came home. Mother asks One-Eye: “Well, tell me, daughter, what did you see?” And the daughter answers her: “Sorry, mother, I got tired of the sun, fell asleep and didn’t see anything.”
The mother got angry. The next day she sent her middle daughter, Two-Eyes. This one also lay down in the shade under a bush, forgetting her mother’s order. She lies there, dozing, and Khavroshechka says to her: “Sleep, little peephole, sleep, other one!”
The cow has done all the work, but Two-Eyes is still sleeping. Khavroshechka woke her up: “Come on,” she says, “it’s time to go home.” I did all the work. My aunt didn’t even find out from my second daughter who was helping the orphan. She got angry and sent her youngest daughter, Three-Eyes, on the third day.
The girls came to the field. Three-Eyes sat and walked around, and then lay down under a bush, lay there, stretched, and Khavroshechka said: “Sleep, little peephole, sleep, other one!” “But I forgot about the third one.” Two eyes fell asleep, and the third one saw everything. Three-Eyes came home and told her mother everything she had seen.
The aunt went to her husband and said to him: “Go, slaughter the cow!” What did you come up with, wife? The cow is good, it’s a pity. “I don’t want to listen to anything, cut it.”
He went to sharpen his knife, and Khavroshechka rushed to her little cow, hugged her, and she herself shed tears: “The little cow is a little cow!” They want to stab you. Who will I stay with now, little orphan? - Don’t cry, girl! Listen to what I tell you: don’t eat my meat, collect my bones and bury them in the garden. Yes, remember, you need to water them with spring water every day.
The aunt is happy that now there is no one to help Khavroshechka and makes fun of her to her heart’s content. But Khavroshechka did as the cow told her: she didn’t eat her meat, buried her bones in the garden and watered her with spring water every day. An apple tree grew in her garden, thick and spreading, with plump apples hanging on it. Anyone who walks by stops and admires it.
It happened once, girls were walking in the garden, and a rich gentleman, a handsome young man, was driving past the garden. He saw wonderful apples and said to the girls: “Hello, beautiful girls!” Your apples are good! Whichever of you gives me an apple, I will marry that one.
The sisters rushed to the apple tree, and the branches with apples rose high and high. The sisters are jumping around the tree, but they can’t get the apple. And Khavroshechka approached the tree, the branches bent towards her, the apples themselves fell into her hands.
She gave the apple to the master, he took her white hand, put her in the carriage next to him and took her away from his evil aunt. Khavroshechka married the master, and they began to live - to live and make good things.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru