This happened a long time ago, when the bear was a puppy, the donkey was a dead calf, and the wolf was grazing sheep under the mountain, echoing the valleys with the playing of pipes. At that time, King Krasen ruled in the south. He reigned for many years, but he still had no children. When worries and sorrow from such a misfortune surrounded him on all sides, a guest appeared on the royal bed - the queen gave birth to a boy, handsome, strong, and they named him Trandafir - grain of wheat. The king and queen ruled the country in peace and harmony with all the people. Being already very old men, they folded their hands on their chests and died. Their son Trandafir the grain of wheat, who was then in the prime of his life, ascended the throne. He ascended the throne and began to rule as he should rule, and it is not in vain that they say: when a flower blooms, a bee will collect pollen.
He quietly crept up to the king and began to burn him with the fire of love, and he had no time for the king’s wishes, no time for the advice of the wise elders. Ehe-he, where is it! The king hears nothing, sees nothing, does not live, but vegetates: the heat of love torments his heart. As a gust of wind disturbs the foliage of a tree, so his soul trembled with a premonition of heartache.
One fine day, abandoning the affairs of the state, he saddled his horse and set off on the road. The king rode for a long time and reached a steppe of extraordinary beauty, drove further and reached some state. It was late in the evening, and she stopped for the night with the king. He, of course, received him as kings are received: he sat him down at the table, treated him to a glass of wine, and treated him. They started talking. This and that, the king found out the reason for the guest’s suffering. And, just as the spring wind melts the snow on the hills and drives gurgling streams into the valley, so the words of the young king gave impetus to the king’s hospitality: let us remember the wealth and greatness of the guest, and besides, the king had a daughter of marriageable age. Whether for a long time or for a short time, the decorated and dressed up girl sits next to the king. Lots of food around, feast and fun. The young people fell in love with each other and immediately got engaged in the evening, and the wedding day was set in exactly two weeks.
On the morning of the second day, Trandafir the grain of wheat said goodbye to everyone, saddled his horse and rode home - to notify everyone in his state about the wedding and begin preparations for it. He crossed many borders, states large and small and reached the palace of a certain king, where he made a halt. Here he was seated at the table with honors, and how could it be otherwise: a king, and still a young man, is a dear guest everywhere. While they were sitting at the table, the king’s daughter entered, beautiful, beautiful, dressed from head to toe in gold, silver and expensive stones. As soon as the young king saw her, he instantly fell in love with her. No matter how long he sat at the table, he couldn’t take his eyes off her, he fell in love with the maiden so much. He had already forgotten to think about the king’s daughter. This is how it happens: after all, if the moon rises in the sky, the stars fade. After the treats there are conversations, after the conversations there are treats, and so on until the engagement. Having gotten engaged, they set a wedding day exactly two weeks later. The loving and jubilant king hurried home to notify his subjects and begin preparations for the wedding. I drove a little, and suddenly the ego was overcome by such fear and shame that it would have sunk into the ground. How could he match two brides at once and also schedule a wedding on the same day? Doesn't this matter? “What will people say when they hear about such stupidity,” he thought, “they will point their fingers. And not only will they laugh a lot, no one will ever give up their daughter for me.”
Frustrated, he threw the reins onto the saddle, began to amble his horse, and became thoughtful. He rode for as long as he could and found himself in a valley. A wide river flowed calmly along it. He headed along the river and reached the village. Beyond the outskirts, at the bend of the river, women were washing clothes. The horseman approached them and greeted them: “Good day, women.”
- Let your heart be good, logothete!
Having looked at the women, the king saw a girl on a stone, ragged and in rags. She kept hiding and huddling into a ball to cover one or the other hole in her dress. And she was so beautiful that the light came from her reflection in the water. The face is smiling, like a spring day, when the sun is warm and the grass turns green. Trandafir the wheat grain froze in place at the sight of such beauty. It cannot move forward, backward, left or right. His heart trembled, his soul sighed, tears welled up in his eyes, roses glowed on his cheeks - the girl charmed him so much. What can I say! Just as the moon blooms flowers in a field in May, so a beautiful maiden makes hearts tremble. Trandafir dismounted, took the girl by the hand and asked her name.
“Ilyana,” she answered, blushing and embarrassed.
-Where do you live?
- In this village in the valley.
- Alone?
- No, I have a mother and father.
- What do they do?
“Ever since I can remember, they have been weaving matting.” The father weaves, the mother gives the cattails, they weave and weave, then they take them to the fair.
- Let's go to your parents.
The girl collected her belongings, and the two of them headed to the village. They walk, turn from the path onto the road, from the road onto the path, pass through dark alleys and stop at a dilapidated, rickety shack. Trandafir tied his horse to the doorframe and entered the house.
- Hello, good people.
“Let your heart be kind, you are welcome,” the girl’s parents thought that this was probably a rich merchant who had arrived from afar to buy matting or buy cattails for new mats. Yes, they were mistaken, poor people. Then yes
Behold, they talked, the stranger suddenly takes off his bush and with a bow asks them:
“Father and mother of a beautiful maiden, no offense to you and no offense to you, would you bless your daughter to become my betrothed, my bride?” The man, having heard about such a thing, says:
- Oh-oh, my dear, you live in a palace, but we live in a shack, you probably want to laugh at us.
- No, no, I'm telling the truth.
“Don’t you see that we are poor, we don’t even have a shirt on, but you live richly and freely - no, this conversation is of no use.”
- Love is more valuable than anything in the world.
“Eh, good man, there are two thresholds at the door, and it’s much worse to bump on the upper one than to trip on the lower one.”
“I’m not arguing here, and it’s time to end the conversation.” Here's the money, pay up
“with your debts and get ready for the wedding,” says the king and hands the poor people two tightly stuffed wallets so that they can quickly buy everything that they are supposed to have for betrothal.
Believing and not believing, the husband and wife went shopping. From what was, and what was not, they set the table and betrothed their daughter. The wedding day was set in exactly two weeks.
Trandafer the grain of wheat did not want to leave the poor man’s shack, just as a person does not want to say goodbye to life. There was nothing to do, I had to separate from the bride, return to my state, notify about the wedding, prepare a feast. Ilyana accompanied Trandafir the king to the outskirts of the village, to the top of the hill, and there they said goodbye. The horse rushed along the road, and the betrothed kept looking back and looking at the girl, who waved her hand after him until she disappeared into the distance.
Having driven a little, Trandafir again began to be sad and horrified as if the hour of his death had come. Yes and how can he
there was no need to be upset if he remembered that he had gotten engaged to three brides at once and had set everyone’s wedding day in exactly two weeks! What a disaster! And you have to decide which of the three to marry: a royal daughter, a royal daughter, or a peasant daughter. Thoughts haunted him all the way, and the more he wondered, the more he lamented. The young king got into trouble and became confused, like a lost traveler at a crossroads. Out of grief and frustration, he did not see the white light. Completely confused, he drove through many fields and deserted places, and under the canopy of the forest he met a hare, thin and crippled, barely dragging his feet. Seeing Trandafir the grain of wheat, the hare began to beg him, crying in pain:
- Oh, well done, heal me, there will be a great reward for your goodness if I survive.
- What happened to you, dear hare?
“A pack of wolves chased me, and I barely managed to get away from their fangs.
- Well, how can I help you?
- Take me home, otherwise the wolves will catch up with me again. -Where is your house, long-eared?
- In the Chereshnevoy Palace, deep in the forest.
The hare's request and his unfortunate fate touched Tran-dafir the grain of wheat. He took the hare in his arms and set off, and kept driving and driving his horse until he found himself in the very heart of a huge dense forest. In the forest there stood a palace made of cherry trees. The trees grew so close to each other that their branches and foliage were closely intertwined with each other, and not even a drop of rain reached the ground. Trandafir the grain of wheat dismounted and entered
palace and saw there... what do you think? Tables were laid, torches were burning, and in the depths of the palace, on the throne, sat the king of the long-eared, and around, apparently and invisibly, hares: some with their ears straightened, some sitting with their ears drooping. Trandafir reached the throne and released the hare.
When the king saw the hare, he almost burst into tears: it was his son.
“My father, your most illustrious sir, don’t cry; it’s better to thank the traveler: if he hadn’t picked me up, who knows if we would have ever met.” The king instructed his subjects to raise all the doctors in the state to their feet so that they could instantly cure his unfortunate son, but he seated Trandafira at the head of the table, next to his sovereign chair, and began to thank him and ask him how to repay him for the good he had done.
- Maybe gold, or maybe expensive stones? - asks the king.
“I don’t need anything in the whole world, your most illustrious sir, because I have a wound in my heart.”
- Which one?
- Well, I’ll start the story from the very beginning. I am Trandafir the grain of wheat, the son of King Krasen. I was very young when the reins of power were handed over to me. I ruled as time and circumstances required, and when the hour of marriage struck, no one was able to stop me - I saddled my horse and rode around the world to look for my betrothed. I drove for as long as I could and stopped to rest in the palace of a king who had a daughter. I liked her, and I became engaged to her, and set the wedding day in two weeks. I return to prepare for the wedding and stay with a certain king, and he also has a beautiful, beautiful daughter. As if someone had deprived me of my senses, I forgot about my betrothed and became engaged to the king’s daughter, setting the wedding day in two weeks. I was happy and having fun until I passed the border of that state. As soon as he ran over him, I was overcome with such fear and horror that I didn’t know what to do next—I was afraid of people’s ridicule and blasphemy. Has this been seen before? get engaged to two brides at once and schedule a wedding on the same day! Lost in thought, I let go of the reins, and the horse took me where his eyes led him. He drove me, drove me to some valley, and there women washed clothes in the river. There was one girl among them, ragged, in rags, but of written beauty. And so, just as the wind scatters leaden clouds, so the beautiful maiden drove fear and confusion from my soul, and without much talk or circumstance, I became engaged to her. The wedding day was set again in two weeks. Now, most illustrious king, judge for yourself which of them should I choose as my bride: the daughter of a king, the daughter of a king, or the daughter of a poor man. Here the hare king became thoughtful, but could not come up with anything worthwhile, and then he ordered to call all his judges. All the judges came - humble, bowing. They listened to what they were talking about and began to judge and make decisions, but no matter how much they thought, everyone came to three different decisions. Some said: the king should marry the king’s daughter, because he was engaged to her first, others said: the king’s daughter, because he liked her better. There were, thank God, those who were inclined to think: Trandafir should marry the daughter of a poor man, for she was more beautiful than those brides, and dearer to the king than anyone else.
There were more arguments, more trials, and the judges probably would have deliberated for a long time if one had not been found:
- Brothers, the devil is involved here, it’s no different, he started the mess, let him take the rap alone.
-Where can we find him?
“His mansion is not far from here,” answers the hare king. Since the fellow was in a hurry, they appointed a hare as his guide, and at that very moment they set off on their journey, the hare in front, the rider behind him, and so on until the very gates of the devil’s fortress. On the copper plaque at the entrance it was written: “Whoever wants to talk to the devil must first try to force him three times, and whoever tries and does not overcome the devil, let him say goodbye to the white light.” Trandafir read the inscription and shuddered with fear, but he knocked on the gate, and then the devil himself came out to meet him.
- Welcome!
- Thank you.
“Aren’t you going to test your strength with me?” - asks the devil.
- If you want.
“My consent will be your end.”
- No, yours.
- Ha-ha-ha! - I have never met such stubborn people. Well, let's try running first. Let's see who runs the fortress faster.
- Do you still want to compete with me? - Trandafir was surprised. - Yes, you won’t even have time to take a step before I run around. And so that you don’t wonder later, overtake my brother first,” says Trandafir, pointing to the hare.
- Let's!
And they both ran - dust began to swirl. Only the devil was left behind... hehe! He returned much later than the hare, he could barely catch his breath, angry and despicable.
- Well, what do you say? - asks Trandafir, “Wait to rejoice, let’s compare our strength.” Let's see who can carry this horse further on the back.
“Bring it first,” says Trandafir.
The devil grabbed the horse, threw it on his back and - top! top! - reached
mound, with great difficulty climbed to the top and dragged the horse back,
sweating into seven streams.
Trandafer looked at him and laughed:
- Oh, damn you, and you still dare to brag. It would be better not to bother in vain. You barely carried the horse on your back once, huh. I’ll just wrap my legs around it and drag it ten times to the hill and back and won’t get tired at all.
“Well, let’s see,” the devil encourages him. Trandafir mounted his horse, stuck his feet into his sides and galloped off. To. mound and back, then again. The devil was dumbfounded with surprise. It never even occurred to him. But he believed that even a load ten times smaller was beyond the strength of a person - Well, do you admit that you’ve been beaten, you devil? - Trandafir pestered him, getting off his horse.
“Now let’s compare ourselves in whistling,” the devil doesn’t give up, “You whistle first, and I’ll see how far it’s audible, otherwise I might whistle so hard that you’ll be left without ears.”
The devil got scared, but inhaled more air and, as soon as he whistled once, the walls of the fortress bent down.
- Whoa! And that's all? Yes, as soon as I whistle, I will disfigure you. The devil trembled with fear at these words:
“If you want your ears to remain intact,” says Trandafir, “bring a towel, I’ll tie them around you.”
The devil ran and rushed back with a towel. Trandafir tied his eyes and - fuck! bang! — the devil pushed the horse’s feet. He, frightened, neighed deafeningly and hit him so hard on the temple with his hoof that the devil rolled off to God knows where.
And when he came to his senses, he began to beg the young man:
“Don’t whistle anymore, because you’ll take my life.”
“I wouldn’t have whistled, damn it, if you had answered my question.”
- I’ll answer you everything.
- I am Trandafir - grain of wheat. It is you who are to blame for all my troubles. Tell me, which of the three girls should I marry?
- How should I know?
- Either you tell me, or I whistle again.
“Don’t whistle, don’t whistle, I’ll say.”
- Where is the solution?
“Here it is: keep quiet - I’ll say, get up - I’ll mount whatever I thought, master, on the horse and drive.”
-Are you playing the fool?
- No, well done.
- Then say it so that it is clear.
“The royal daughter will tell you: let everyone be numb - I will speak, I will be the first everywhere; The king's daughter will say: get out of the way - I will walk, but where the road is better, where it is more convenient for me, and neither one nor the other will honor you. They want to be higher than the highest, stronger than the strongest. Such are all the rich betrothed. The poor man’s daughter will follow you with a glass of wine, a towel on her hand, and will keep asking: “What do you want, master?” Marry her, and she will be your real wife.
When Baba Dokia shakes out all her casings on a spring day, a clear, cloudless and warm, warm day comes. Trandafir’s soul also became clearer, and it became easier for him to breathe. He returned to his state and for two weeks various dishes were prepared and barrels of expensive wines were opened. And they threw such a feast and wedding that they had never seen anything like it under the proud sun. Tran-dafir-wheat grain and Ilyana began to rule the country, and they ruled and lived in love and harmony. Their reign could be compared to the flow of a calm river through a meadow - it does not encounter obstacles and quietly rolls its waters.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru