The king had twelve sons, fine fellows, alike, slender, tall, like young oak trees, whoever looks at them immediately sees that they are siblings, they are so similar to each other. And why shouldn’t they be similar, after all, pagodas! Their parents loved them dearly, but their mother loved the youngest most of all. As soon as he sees it, his smile will immediately blossom. And the older their sons became, the more their parents rejoiced at them.
But one day the queen became sad, and even when she saw her youngest, she did not become any happier. The sons asked what was the reason for her sadness. Maybe they upset her in some way. But the mother did not answer.
Then the youngest son came up to her and said:
- Mother, tell me what oppresses you so much, don’t hide in front of me!
“Oh, my dear son,” the mother replies, “if I tell you, it will be bad, if I don’t tell you, it will be even worse.”
- If so, better tell me.
- Yes, apparently I’ll have to tell you everything! Oh, woe is me! We have twelve sons, but never had a daughter. And this is our and your happiness. Because a long time ago, your father was forced to make a terrible oath: he would leave his sons alive until he had a daughter. But now I’m expecting a child and I feel that I will not have a son, but a daughter. So you all must die. Father will not reveal himself in any way and will first send you to another castle. But if your sister is born, he will order you to be killed that same night. But I don't want you to die! While you are here, don’t say a word to anyone, not even your brothers! When your father sends you to another castle, obey and go. There you tell your brothers everything and every night look from the fortress walls at our castle. If thirteen candles light up, it means that your thirteenth brother has been born, and there is nothing to be afraid of. But if you see just one candle, then run! This is a sign that a sister has been born and you are in danger. Everything is prepared for your journey, goodbye!
The mother cried for a long time and her beloved son consoled her. Maybe everything will work out. They will see foreign lands, and when their father is gone, they will return home.
Several days passed, the father called his sons and told them this:
- Children, your mother is ill, she needs rest. Go to another castle, have fun there, play until the queen gets better. Then I will call you back.
The sons obeyed, took their weapons, said goodbye to their parents and left for another castle. There the younger brother told us what, how, and how to proceed.
They began to keep watch on the tower every night, two before midnight, two after midnight: to wait for a signal from their father’s castle. The first two nights nothing happened, but on the third, at midnight, a single light came on in my father’s castle. They waited to see if the second one would light up, but the second one did not light up. They hastily raised the rest of the brothers, took their weapons and money, saddled their horses and rushed away.
The brothers galloped to foreign lands. Their journey was long, all their money ran out, they sold their horses, the royal dress, and weapons. Ragged and hungry, they finally reached the high forested mountains. And they decided how they would get over those mountains and go into the service of some king. There is no way my father will find them there.
Only this dense forest did not end. They walk for three days and three nights, and the forest becomes increasingly dense. No paths, no roads, only animal tracks. And when the brothers were completely exhausted from hunger and fatigue, an old abandoned castle stood in front of them in a clearing.
All the doors in the castle are wide open, but there’s not a soul anywhere! In the center of the castle there is a chamber, in it there is an oak table set for twelve people. Next to each plate is a piece of stale bread. The brothers wanted to start eating bread, because they could barely stand on their feet from hunger, but the younger brother persuaded them not to touch the stranger. First, find the person who set the table and ask.
Another door leads out of the room. The brothers entered and saw a small room with a bed covered with straw, a chair, poor clothes and weapons on the wall, everything as if it had been prepared for their older brother. Behind the first room is the second, behind the second is the third, and so on until the thirteenth, and each is not locked, and in each there is a bed, a chair, clothes and weapons: only the thirteenth door is locked.
Through the keyhole, the brothers saw: there was a golden throne standing opposite the door, a golden bed against the wall, and golden women’s clothing on the walls.
The brothers began to break into the chambers, hoping to find the mistress there, but they could neither open nor break down the doors. They shouted, knocked, not a sound! They decided to settle in this empty castle. And they divided the rooms: the oldest took the first, the second took the second, and so on until the youngest. He got the twelfth.
We returned to the table. Now you can eat some bread. And there is already a little soup poured into each plate. When the brothers ate everything that someone had put on the table, meat suddenly appeared near the window. The brothers were surprised: where does everything come from, since there is no kitchen in the castle? Why bother thinking about it? I'd rather eat so my stomach doesn't growl! After dinner we went to bed, deciding that come what may!
When we woke up, the sun was already high. They put on a new dress, grabbed a weapon and went into the room to greet each other. There were already twelve pieces of stale bread on the oak table and there was fresh water! The brothers ate and each began to show off his weapon and try it.
So they lived in the castle for several days and kept waiting for someone to show up. But besides them, there was not a soul in the castle. And the brothers decided to stay here; far from their father, they have weapons, they are not afraid of anyone. True, they didn’t really like rough food; they were used to fried and baked food, but there was enough game, they could get the meat themselves.
The brothers gathered to hunt. On the very first day they were lucky: some shot a bird, some a hare, some a wild goat. They were glad in advance that instead of peas and porridge they would have roast meat. But the next morning there was no trace left of the shot game. So it went on day after day, week after week. The game disappeared at night and the desired roast never appeared on the table.
Some of the brothers are tired of this: why should they, the king’s sons, endure such need! - they found another shelter and got ready to leave. But the younger brother didn’t let him in:
“We’ll wait a year or two until father completely forgets about us and stops looking,” he said.
So they lived for twelve whole years on coarse, wretched food. Unless they roast a bird or a hare in the forest. And they harbored a grudge against their unknown sister and threatened:
– Just fall into our hands, we’ll show you! - After all, without any guilt they had to suffer and endure such need.
Meanwhile, their sister grew up and was as pretty as a poppy. She was so dear to her father and mother that they began to forget about their sons. She sang and chirped so much that her parents beamed with joy. No one in the castle even dared to mention that she once had brothers.
But when the chirping girl grew up and wiser, she began to bother her parents: is it true that she doesn’t have a brother, it’s boring, they say, she’s alone and has no one to play with. She especially pestered her mother.
“Well, mother, tell me, didn’t I really have a brother?” After all, everyone has a brother or sister!
- Oh, daughter, don’t ask, it just so happens that you are the only one in our family.
– But it wasn’t always like this? Is it true?
– Maybe not always, but you don’t need to know about it. It won't get any easier!
“It will, mother, it will, don’t hide it!”
And until then she gave her mother no peace until she told her everything about the twelve brothers: what they were like, what they did, how they left and disappeared, and how their father ordered them to be looked for all over the world.
- And why, mother, no one managed to find them? – the girl asked.
- Nobody, daughter!
- But I will certainly find them! So they didn't search well!
- Apparently it’s not so simple, if they didn’t even find traces, but how many troops were brought up. Why should you, because you are still small!
- Well, no, I’m already big. I’ll go from village to village, from house to house, and everywhere I’ll ask: “Have you seen my twelve brothers? Good people will know that I’m their sister and they’ll help me. After all, they didn’t disappear into the ground, someone had to see them.
Their argument would have continued for a long time about how she would look for her brothers, if the king himself had not approached and asked what she was chattering about here.
And the girl said directly that she would go looking for her brothers all over the world.
The king threatened and begged, and postponed his departure from day to day. The queen cried, begged her daughter, convinced her that while she would find her brothers and die herself, she would not do anything, either for good or for bad.
The parents had to agree. They gave us more money and better servants and escorted us on a long journey.
And she went from village to village, from country to country, but nowhere was there a word about her brothers. Her money gradually ran out. And the servants, one after another, fled, who wanted to endure misfortune and hunger with her. After wandering for three days in these wild places, the girl reached the very castle where her brothers settled.
She entered the castle to ask about her brothers. No one inside. In only one of the rooms the table is set for twelve people and at each plate there is a piece of stale bread. She took a piece that was lying on the edge and ate it. Then she walked through twelve small rooms and reached the thirteenth. The door opened in front of her, she entered the chambers and suddenly heard a roar! Out of fear, our beauty immediately hid under the golden throne.
It was twelve brothers who returned from hunting. They didn't notice anything and sat down at the table. Here the younger brother says:
-Who hid my bread? Let him return it!
“Well, who will hide your bread,” the eldest brother tells him. - Eat and be quiet!
- Look for yourself, there is no bread! If you didn’t hide my bread, then you just ate it.
-Who will covet your piece? Don't tease us! – the brothers got angry at him.
- Here's another! - says the younger brother, - I know that you never have enough! You're still dying of hunger. They give me the same amount, and now you are taking away the last from me.
Word by word. They clung to each other over a crust of bread and raised such a cry that the sister in the thirteenth room heard it. But the hardest thing for her was to hear that she was the reason for everything, if it weren’t for her, the brothers wouldn’t have to live in such poverty, but they would live at home like royalty. In the end, having shouted and gotten drunk, the brothers swore to the youngest that they did not take his bread.
“So,” the elder says here, “there is someone here besides us, we need to find him and kill him, so that no one will feel like quarreling with us over the last piece of bread.”
They searched the entire castle, but found no one, because they could not get into the thirteenth room. They got tired of searching and scattered to their places.
The younger brother began to undress, and heard someone breathing in the next thirteenth room. He immediately decided that he had found the thief; after all, until now even flies had not flown there. He put his ear to the keyhole and heard breathing even more clearly. He pressed the door and it swung open. And in front of him a beautiful girl stands, her face and demeanor are like two peas in a pod. He immediately thought: “This is our sister!” He began to talk to her in a quiet voice and ask who she was and where she was from. She told him everything without hiding: she was their sister and suffered a lot while she found her brothers. But when she heard how her brothers threatened to kill her, she was afraid to go out to them. And she ate the bread because she almost went hungry.
“Well, sister, don’t be afraid of anything,” her brother answers. “Stay here until I call you, and I’ll do everything in such a way that the brothers won’t hurt you.” Tomorrow I’ll keep them hunting, and you take a sip of soup from each plate and break off a piece from each slice. Let's see what they have to say to this.
The brothers come from hunting, and someone ate the soup and broke it off from the bread. Elder brother says:
- Hop! Someone showed up here! Eats our soup and bread! We won’t have dinner, first we’ll find the thief and kill him!
“No,” says the younger brother, “what if it’s one of our relatives or maybe a sister?”
“We won’t have mercy on this one at all!” All our troubles are because of her!
And they set out in search with swords drawn. The sister, poor thing, is huddled in a corner, awaiting her fate. But it never occurred to them to look into the thirteenth room.
After a long, futile search, they went to bed, and in the morning they went hunting. They return in the evening, and again there is not enough food, and all the beds are turned over.
- Well, this time we’ll find it and finish it on the spot! - the brothers threaten at dinner. We won't tolerate it anymore!
And the younger one persuades them again:
- What if it’s really our sister who’s been looking for us for a whole year to call us home, because our father won’t touch us?
“Then we wouldn’t have touched her either!” - the brothers say.
- Went! “She’s here,” the younger one said and led them to the thirteenth room.
The brothers saw their sister and began to ask her forgiveness for wanting to harm her, and to thank her for her release.
In the morning, the brothers took gold from their sister's room for the road, their weapons and quickly moved away from the castle. On that very day, thirteen years had passed since they settled in this abandoned castle.
They are walking through the yard and suddenly a voice is heard from some corner:
- Leave, and you haven’t even paid! And I fed you for thirteen years! They looked around - and there was an old man standing, gray-haired like a harrier. They approached him and asked what payment he wanted.
“My children,” the old man replies, “I’ll tell you everything, but first listen to who I am and why you found yourself here.” Look at me - I am your father's brother, I raised him and was always affectionate to him. But he kicked me out of the country. I became poor. For thirteen years I worked, doing everything with my own hands, and endured hunger and want. And he cursed your father. I swore that there would be no happiness for him or his descendants until they paid for my torment with the hunger and want that I once endured. You have passed the test and now you can live peacefully in my castle and own my wealth. I have as many castles as there are rooms here. Everything is yours! But first you must pay me back: let the youngest of you cut off my head.
The brothers refused for a long time, but the old man ordered, and the younger brother cut off his head. As soon as the old man's head flew off his shoulders, he himself crumbled into dust and the deserted castle disappeared with him. A disenchanted country with thirteen castles stretched out before the brothers and sister. The twelve brothers entered their castles, and the sister entered hers. Her parents were already waiting for her at the castle. Now they were all together, began to live happily and ruled for a long time.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru