There lived a husband and wife. They lived without grieving, but the trouble was: fate did not give them a child.
Once, when my wife was alone at home, a gypsy woman with two small children knocked on her door and, without saying hello, asked:
“Give us something to eat, otherwise we’ll die of hunger at any moment.”
This lady was a kind woman, and therefore there was no need to beg her. Hearing these words, she clasped her hands, groaned, and immediately gave all three of them a mug of milk and a slice of bread.
The gypsy and her gypsies ate, wiped their lips and, without thanking them, moved on. But the next day the gypsy woman with the children appeared again and again asked the kind woman to feed them. She did not refuse the gypsy and treated all three of them with milk and bread.
This went on for a whole week. Only on the seventh day did the gypsy thank the woman and, smiling, said:
“I see, beauty, you are gnawed by melancholy.” If you want to get rid of it, go to your garden, find a drop of congealed tree sap on the trunk of a cherry tree and eat it.
And before a year, your cherished wish will come true.
As soon as the gypsy left, the woman ran into the garden, found a cherry tree and, in fact, saw a frozen drop of tree sap on the trunk.
She removed it from the trunk with her fingertips and ate it. The appointed time passed, and her son was born. Yes, he was so cute that everyone was amazed.
Time passed, other people's children grew and grew, and her son, unlike others, could not boast of height: he grew up a little, but remained just as small. But even though he was small, he was so cheerful and cunning with passion. No wonder they called him the Trickster Kid.
When he turned twenty years old, he decided to enter the royal service. Planned and done. So he set off on his journey.
He walked and walked, taking many roads, and one night he got lost in a deep forest. He wandered through the forest for a long time until he came across a huge house with lighted windows. He approached the house and knocked on the door. The giantess came out to the door, and the Little Trickster asked her:
- Is it possible to spend the night with you, hostess? I’m going to the king, I want to enter the service, but I got lost in the forest.
“Oh, you’re out of luck, poor thing,” sighed the giantess. “This house belongs to the evil Giant-with-a-golden-beard.” So you better get out of here as quickly as possible. Otherwise the Giant will eat you!
“I can’t go any further,” admitted the Little Trickster, “I’m very tired and lost.” So and so the animals in the forest will eat me. It’s better if I stay here, and you hide me somewhere in a secluded place, and in the morning I’ll leave quietly.
- Well, stay if that’s the case. I'll try to outsmart my hubby.
The giantess took him to the kitchen, where an ox, a pig and a lamb were roasting on an iron spit. She fed him, gave him something to drink and hid him in the cellar behind barrels of wine.
Soon the Little Trickster heard a terrible noise - it was the Giant-with-a-golden-beard returning home. The Giant sat down at the table and ordered his wife to serve him a roasted bull. Having dealt with the bull, he ate the pig and the ram and decided to go down to the cellar to indulge in some wine. He picked up a barrel of wine from the bench, drained it in one gulp and was about to go upstairs, but he noticed a young man in the corner.
“Hey,” the Giant rejoiced, “I have a caring little lady.” There will be something for me to snack on at the end. It’s just a pity that the boy is kind of useless, very small.
Uh... nothing!
He grabbed the young man with his huge paw and dragged him into the kitchen.
“Thank you, wife, for your concern,” the Giant laughed, lifting the young man by the collar.
“Don’t touch it, hubby,” asked the Giant’s wife. “I saved it for you for breakfast.”
- For breakfast, you say? Well, okay, then let him live another night. What can you do, little booger? Do you know any more interesting stories?
Little Trickster gathered his courage and let the Giant tell different stories, funnier and funnier ones. And the Giant listened to them and burst out laughing. When the Little Trickster fell silent, he asked him:
- What's your name?
- Little Trickster!
- Ha-ha-ha... Nice name! You are a cheerful boy, I see. You won't get bored with me. That's what, Little Trickster, I will always have time to eat you, but in the meantime you will amuse me with your fables. Agree?
“You’re absolutely right,” the Little Trickster readily agreed. “Why rush, I won’t run away from you anywhere, and I know stories about everything in the world!”
- About everything, about everything?
- Absolutely about everything! - answered the Little Trickster.
After dinner, the Giant took the young man into the next room and ordered him to go to bed, and he returned to the kitchen and said to Yasena:
“Did you hear how that Little Trickster boasted?” He knows everything in the world! But he doesn’t know that there’s a mule in golden boots standing in my stable. And not just in gold, but in walking boots. Take a step and forty leagues are behind you. Oh, you little braggart! Well, okay, I went to bed too.
The Giant lay down on the bed, began to sniffle, and then suddenly burst into laughter:
- Ha-ha-ha!.. He knows everything! How hilarious! I swear by my golden beard, he does not know that there is a clear month lying here in my bag outside the door, which illuminates everything around for forty leagues.
Some time passed, and the Giant laughed again:
- Ha-ha-ha!.. This Little Trickster knows a lot, but he doesn’t know that there’s a violin with silver strings hidden under my bed. And little does he, the know-it-all, know that this violin is magical. As soon as people hear it, they willy-nilly start dancing. Ha ha ha!..
Having laughed to his heart's content, the Giant yawned and suddenly began snoring so much that the whole house shook.
But the Little Trickster didn’t sleep and heard everything. As soon as the Giant began to snore, he jumped out of bed and made his way into the stable, untied the mule in golden boots and was about to saddle him, when the mule began to roar throughout the forest. The Giant woke up, got angry and yelled:
- Shut up, donkey! Don't bother me sleeping! - This is how he rides a mule.
Meanwhile, the Little Trickster saddled the mule, led it out of the stable and jumped on horseback. The mule roared for the second time, but even then the Giant was too lazy to get out of bed, but only shouted:
- Shut up, you bastard! Don't disturb your sleep! Otherwise I’ll get out of bed and beat you with a folder.
When the Little Trickster pulled the reins, the mule roared for the third time.
- Oh, yes! - the Giant was furious. - Well, wait a minute! You will get it from me in full!
The Giant jumped out of bed, grabbed a stick and rushed out of the bedroom. And the Little Trickster, when he saw him at the door, shouted cheerfully:
- Hey, Giant! Here's my first joke! You will remember what the Little Trickster is like! Now hit the road, my fast mule!
The mule stepped forward and immediately found himself forty leagues from this terrible place. The giant in only a shirt rushed after him, but how could you keep up with a fast mule? He returned home with nothing and started scolding his wife. Why should she be scolded?
Early in the morning, the Little Trickster arrived at the royal castle and told the king about his overnight adventure. The king listened to him and rolled with laughter, and then, without hesitation, accepted him into his service as an adviser.
And everything would have worked out well if it weren’t for the king’s daughter. She also wanted to listen to the funny stories that the Little Trickster told. And then one day he tells her that he lives in a dense forest in a big house of the Giant-with-a-golden-beard and he hides in a bag a clear moon that illuminates everything around for forty leagues. Moreover, he also has a magic violin with silver strings, to which everyone starts dancing. And the princess wanted these wonders so much that she completely lost peace. She refused to eat and drink, locked herself in her rooms and did not let anyone in. The king became alarmed here.
- What's wrong with you, daughter? - asks. “Aren’t you sick?”
- Oh, father! - the princess sighed. “Nothing is dear to me until I have a clear month that illuminates everything around for forty leagues.” Order the Little Trickster to go to the Giant and bring me a bright moon. If he doesn’t bring it, I’ll die of boredom.
And the king had to call his young adviser to him and tell him the will of the princess. The Little Trickster was sad; he really didn’t want to return to the Giant’s house. “As if he wouldn’t play one of his jokes on me,” the Little Trickster thought with fear. But the king’s word is law, so he had to obey him. He just asked the king for a bag of salt for the road, sat on a mule and in no time found himself in the clearing where the house of the Giant-with-a-golden-beard stood.
Having waited until nightfall, the Little Trickster climbed onto the roof of the house, looked into the chimney and saw a huge cauldron of stew on the stove, under which the flames danced merrily. He made a hole in the bag and began to carefully pour salt directly into the cauldron. So he poured all the salt into the stew. A little later the Giant sat down at the table, pulled the cauldron with the stew towards him and swallowed the first spoon.
- Well, I was annoying! - he groaned, but he ate all the stew and decided to go get water to wash down the living salt.
He took the clear moon out of the bag, hung it on the corner of the roof so that it would be light, and, shouldering two empty barrels, ran to the river.
And the Little Trickster was right there: he crept up to the house and grabbed the month by the horn. Then he put it in an empty salt bag and shouted louder:
- Hey, Giant-with-a-golden-beard, here’s my second joke for you!
Out of surprise, the Giant even stumbled, but, having come to his senses, he rushed to catch up with the little Dodger. However, he did not run far, because he caught a snag in the dark, fell to the ground and broke his nose. Well, that’s how it happens. And the Little Trickster jumped on a mule and in an instant found himself alone at the royal castle.
The king and his daughter rejoiced when they received a clear month, which illuminated everything around for forty leagues with its light. In the evening the king ordered the moon to be attached to the highest tower, and it became as light as day in the city. Having heard about this wonder, curious people flocked to the city: they must look at such a miracle!
And yet, the capricious princess did not amuse herself with this funny toy for long, and then she became sad again, refused to eat and locked herself in her chambers.
- What's wrong with you, daughter? - the king became alarmed again. - Isn’t she sick?
“No, father, I’m not sick, but I really want to listen to the magic violin with silver strings.”
- There will be a violin for you, don’t be sad! - said the king.
And he ordered to call his adviser. So and so, they say, my daughter, the crown princess, wants to get a magic violin with silver strings.
- If you don’t bring it, your head will fly off your shoulders!
Poor Little Dodger! To go to the Giant - he will not let him go alive, to stay with the King - to lose his head. Well, what would you advise him? He thought and thought and decided to go after all, only he asked the king for a barrel of sleepy water.
They gave him a barrel of sleeping water. And by evening the Little Trickster found himself in a clearing near the house of the Giant-with-a-golden-beard. When it was completely dark, he made his way through the dormer window into the cellar, poured sleepy water into an open barrel of wine, and hid in a corner.
After dinner, the Giant himself went down to the cellar, drank all the wine from the barrel and returned upstairs.
“Oh... Something is making me sleepy,” he said. “Should I go to bed quickly, wife, otherwise I think I’ll fall asleep on the fly.”
His wife made a bed for him, he lay down and immediately began snoring throughout the house. And the Little Trickster waited a little longer, then went up to his room and pulled out a violin with silver strings from under the bed. But as soon as he stepped through the threshold of the house to run with the violin to the king, it began to play by itself. What's so surprising, it was a magic violin!
Hearing the violin, the Giant woke up and, willy-nilly, started dancing. His eyes close together, and his legs dance of their own accord.
- Oh, there’s no urine... - the Giant groaned. - Shut up! - he shouts, and he himself, dancing, walks out of the house.
He went out into the clearing and saw: it was the Little Trickster playing his violin!
- Stop playing! - the Giant begged. - I want to sleep!
“If it’s my violin, I’ll tell her to shut up, otherwise she won’t listen to me!” — the Little Dodger found something to answer.
- Yours, yours! - agreed the Giant-with-a-golden-beard. “I’ll give it to you forever!” Let this be your third joke. But, damn, the last one!
The Little Trickster willingly agreed to this, picked up the violin, sat on the mule and was off.
Having received the magic violin, the king threw a magnificent ball. He invited guests from all over France. And the gogi danced for a day, and another, and a third, and the violin played and played. They will remember this holiday for a long time! And after some time the princess again began to complain of boredom. And the food is not pleasant to her, and the conversations are disgusting, and the violin is boring.
“I want,” he says, “the Giant’s golden beard.” Let the Little Trickster get it, otherwise I’ll die of boredom. At this point the king himself became seriously angry.
- It's dangerous! - he says. “The giant will not let him go alive.” Because of your whim, I will lose my best adviser!
But the princess did not give up her plan, went to bed, refused to eat, did not speak to anyone, did not want to see anyone. The king could not stand it and gave the order that the very next day the Little Trickster should go after the Giant’s golden beard.
“Serves me right,” thought the Little Trickster. “I chose the wrong service.” Wrong owner. But like it or not, we have to go.”
He sat on a mule wearing golden boots and instantly found himself in a clearing near the house of the Giant-with-a-golden-beard. And he can’t wait for him.
So and so, the Little Trickster told him everything frankly. Well, the Giant laughed at his misfortune! He laughed so much that he forgot about all the old grievances and said:
- Here's my beard! Cut her! I'll grow a new one. You will remember what the Giant with the Golden Beard is like.
Yes, it turns out that giants are better than other people.
The Little Trickster returned to the king with the Giant's golden beard and, without waiting for new orders from the capricious princess, he mounted his fast mule and was quickly at home in his native village.
It would have been like this a long time ago, you say? That’s how it is, but if we knew everything in advance, no one would fall into a hole and get into trouble. In a word, the Little Trickster has grown wiser for his difficult service.
Well, his mother and father were so happy about him, so happy that they organized a celebration for the whole village. The best violinist played it, albeit on a simple violin, but the guests danced all night. And the full moon was shining on them, that’s it. I myself was at that holiday, but, as luck would have it, my head began to spin in the morning and I went home. He walked and walked, but never got there - he collapsed from fatigue on our long street, Moulin.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru