Once upon a time there lived a rich merchant, and he had a son. The merchant doted on him and did not refuse the boy anything. One day he wished that he had his own house in a large garden. His father bought him a house, and his son began to spend all his time there.
One day, while walking in the garden, a boy found a small egg in a warbler’s nest. He brought the egg home, put it in a chest, and forgot it there.
Many days have passed since then. A merchant's son lives, doesn't worry about anything, walks around the garden, eats whatever he wants - food is brought to him from his parents' house three times a day.
Meanwhile, a pretty little girl came out of the egg that was lying in the casket. But the merchant’s son does not know about this and does not know. He forgot about the egg a long time ago. And the girl in the casket began to grow up. As soon as she learned to walk, she wanted to see what was going on outside. The casket was not locked. Then one day she opened the doors and found herself in the room. He sees: various dishes are laid out on trays. The girl plucked from one, broke off from another - in a word, she tried a little of everything and again disappeared into the casket. From then on, she got into the habit of enjoying herself every day. The more she grew, the more she ate.
The merchant's son began to notice that there was less and less food left for him. How could he know about the girl who hatched from the chiffchaff's egg in his chest? He sent to tell his mother that they didn’t send him enough food, and all the delicacies were pinched and crumbled. The mother was surprised: she sent him so many things on silver trays, in golden bowls, that there should be enough for not only one, but three! And it’s completely incomprehensible that everything is broken and bitten! And what was wrong here was not to be understood - after all, the girl was in a hurry every time, she was afraid that someone might come in - so she did not have time to restore order.
When the next day the son again began to complain that he had not eaten enough, the mother suspected something was wrong. She told the young man to take a good look to see if there was a thief in his house.
The next day, when the servant laid out various dishes on trays, the merchant’s son, instead of going for a swim as usual, hid in a secluded place and began to wait.
A little time passed when suddenly the doors of the casket opened, a beautiful girl came out and began to try all his dishes. The merchant's son came out into the middle of the room, blocked her path and asked:
- Tell me, who are you and where did you come from? Such beauty probably cannot be found in the whole wide world.
“But I don’t know anything about myself.” I only know that I have been living here, in this casket, for as long as I can remember.
The merchant's son recalled how sixteen years ago he brought home a warbler's egg. Be that as it may, the merchant’s son fell in love with that girl and decided to marry her. The next day he took the bride to show her father and mother. They marveled at her unusual beauty, but did not ask what kind of tribe she was and married her son.
Over time, the young couple had two children. The eldest was named Sheth, the youngest - Boshonto. After the death of his father, the merchant’s son took up trade himself and began to make good money.
Time passed, Sheth got married and lived calmly and happily until their mother died and their father brought a young wife into the house.
Like all stepmothers, this one also disliked her stepsons Sheth and Boshonto. Quarrels and discord began in the house.
One day a fisherman brought them a big fish, all golden like the sun.
“This is not an ordinary fish,” said the fisherman. - The man who eats it will be rich: when he starts laughing, rubies will fall down, and when he starts crying, pearls will roll out of his eyes.
The merchant paid the fisherman a thousand rupees, gave the fish to his wife and ordered him to fry it just for himself. Sheth's wife overheard this conversation. She took the fish, cooked it and hid it for her husband and brother-in-law. For my father-in-law, I stewed a large tree frog with vegetables. She was about to take the food into the room when suddenly she heard a noise. And it so happened that Sheth quarreled with his stepmother because she began to offend his younger brother Boshonto.
“I won’t rest until my father kills you both to death!” - the stepmother shouts. - Whatever happens, I will insist on my point!
Then Shetu’s wife says:
- Believe me, your stepmother is a witch. She bewitched your father, and now she wants to kill us. We’d better leave in good health before our father-in-law returns.
They ate the fish, and when it got dark, all three of them mounted one horse and rode away from their home.
Their horse raced through mountains and valleys, through cities and villages, until it stopped in a dense forest, on the bank of some river. Then trouble befell them. Sheth's wife felt unwell - apparently it was time for her to give birth. They laid her under a tree, and two hours later she gave birth to a boy. The brothers were confused: what to do next, what to do? The forest is desolate, housing is nowhere to be seen, and there is nothing to light a fire with. And it was a cold time - mid-January. Just look, both the mother and the newborn child will die! Sheth left his younger brother with his wife, and he himself went to get fire.
He wandered, wandered all night in the dark through the forest, but never met anyone. It had already begun to dawn, and the morning star began to sparkle in the east, when Sheth saw a large city ahead. He rejoiced: now he will definitely get fire and save his wife and child! At that moment, a richly decorated elephant suddenly approached him, lifted him onto his back and carried him to the city. What was Sheth to do? How could he know that it was destined for him to wear a crown?
In the kingdom where he ended up, the same terrible event happened every day: every day at dawn the townspeople elected a king for themselves, and the next morning he was found dead in his wife’s chambers. And no one, not even the queen herself, knew the cause of their death. What was more surprising than this was that these kings married the same woman. So every morning the royal elephant went to the city and brought a new king. On this day he brought Sheth and placed him on the throne. He was recognized as the new ruler. At first, Sheth couldn't understand anything. Then he had to deal with government affairs all day. Then he learned about everything that happened to other kings. Sheth began to think and wonder who could kill them at night. Maybe this is the work of the queen? It doesn't look like it - she's so beautiful and friendly. Who then?
He thought this way and that and decided to take the sword with him to the bedchamber and not close his eyes at night. In the evening he feasted with his new wife, then the queen fell asleep, and Sheth began to wait for what would happen. The first half of the night passed quietly. He had already begun to doze off, when he suddenly saw that it was as if a thread had begun to stretch out of the queen’s left nostril. It stretched out very long, then began to swell and turned into a huge snake. With one blow of his sword, Sheth cut off her head. The snake twitched several times and then fell silent. Sheth also did not sleep the rest of the night, but nothing else special happened to him. The queen slept sweetly: while the snake lived in her stomach, she also did not know peace. The next morning the ministers came to the royal chambers. They thought that they would find a new corpse. Imagine their surprise when the king came out to meet them, safe and sound! Sheth told them what happened that night, and they were glad that they no longer needed to look for the king.
Meanwhile, the younger brother, Boshonto, sat with his daughter-in-law and child in the forest, waiting for Sheth to return. The night has passed, but he’s gone. What to do? Boshonto went to the river, sat down on the bank and cried bitterly. A merchant sailed past in a boat. He sees a boy sitting, crying, and in front of him is a pile of pearls. The merchant ordered his people to moor the boat to the shore. He looks and can’t believe his eyes: it turns out that the tears running down the boy’s cheeks turn into pearls. The merchant then ordered the boy to be seized and put into a boat. Boshonto resisted with all his might, but how could he cope with adults? The merchant tied him to the mast. Boshonto remembered his relatives, and how he began to cry! The more she cries, the more pearls shed! The merchant was delighted: what a wealth he had received! As soon as we arrived home, he locked Boshonto in a cramped closet - he was shedding tears, and the pile of pearls was growing. Then the merchant thought: “I wonder what will happen if he laughs?” And he ordered the servants to make the boy laugh. Then everyone saw rubies falling out of his mouth. From that time on, the merchant knew only one thing: he was either torturing Boshonto, or telling him to make him laugh, while he himself raked the pearls and rubies.
Meanwhile, Sheth’s wife, when she realized that she was left alone in the world, almost died of grief. She cried, suffered, and fell asleep, clutching her son tightly to her chest. And then this happened: a guard was passing through that forest. And this guard was the most unfortunate man in the world, because all his children were born dead. So that time he was going to the river in order to lower the body of his dead son into the water.
Then he saw a sleeping woman on the shore with a newborn baby in her arms. Then he quietly took this baby, and put his dead one on the woman’s lap, and went home. In the village he announced to everyone that his child was not dead at all, they drove away a little, and he woke up.
Sheth's wife woke up, and she had a dead child in her arms. It grew dark in her eyes, and she decided to drown herself. She entered the water. And not far from her, a brahman was taking his morning bath. He saw that the woman was about to drown herself, stopped her and ordered her to go ashore. Sheth's wife listened. The brahman began to ask her what had happened to her, and then she told him everything. The brahmana took her into his house, and she became his daughter.
The day goes by, the month passes, now a year has passed, and then another and a third. The child, whom the guard took, grew up and became a handsome young man. One day this young man saw a young woman who lived with a brahman and fell in love with her. He came to his father, the guard, and said that he wanted to get married.
The guard went to the brahmana. When he said what he was talking about, the brahmana became very angry. And to tell you where it was seen: the son of a guard, but he wants to marry a Brahmana. He would also like to take the moon out of the sky! from the impudent one! The brahman drove the guard out of the yard, but the young man did not give up: he decided to kidnap that woman.
So one night he climbed onto the roof of a Brahman stable and hid. Suddenly he hears a conversation. These are the calves in the barn talking among themselves. One says:
“People think that we are stupid bastards, that we don’t understand anything, but they themselves are a hundred times stupider than us.”
- Why do you think so, brother? - asks another. - Who are you talking about?
“And at least about the guard’s son, who is now sitting on our roof.” You won't find him worse in the whole world.
- Why? What did he do?
- Well, know that this scoundrel is going to marry his own mother! - the calf answered and told the other the whole story - and about how Shet’s child was born in the forest, who is the son of a guard, and that his uncle, Boshonto, is wasting away in captivity with a villainous merchant, and about how Shet’s wife became the adopted daughter of a brahman.
“And now,” the calf finished his story, “this young man is going to steal his mother.”
When the young man heard all this, he returned home and announced that he wanted to see the local king. The guard wanted to stop him, but the young man did not listen to him and went to the palace. He met with Sheth and told him everything he had heard while sitting on the roof of the barn.
Then the king immediately remembered everything - how he abandoned his unfortunate wife and how he forgot about his brother. He generously rewarded the Brahman, made his wife the eldest queen, and recognized his son as heir. After a long search, he also found his brother Boshonto. He ordered the treacherous merchant to be buried alive in the ground. Then they lived for many years in happiness and contentment.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru