Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife, and they had many children. One day, the wife, who always suffered because she did not know what to feed her children, decided to drown the three older boys in the river. I did what I had in mind.
But two of the three boys knew how to swim and therefore were saved. Only the youngest drowned. The brothers swam to the other shore and came out in the place where the monster with six heads lived.
The older brother was bolder than the younger brother and therefore told him to hide in the bushes on the shore, and he decided to go and see where they would now live.
He crossed cultivated fields and came to round huts. He entered the first, largest hut, examined it and, making sure that there was no one in it, began to restore order. He cleaned the hut and began to prepare food. And in the evening a monster appeared, looked around, sniffed and, sensing someone else’s smell, growled:
- It smells like a man in here! It smells like a man in here!
The boy was not at all afraid of the monster and did not run away from it.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, my little one, I won’t do anything bad to you.” We will live together with you! - the monster croaked.
Very pleased that his home was cleaned, the monster attacked the food that the boy had prepared. It devoured everything with terrible speed. One sip - and all the food in the pots is eaten, a second sip - and all the jugs are empty. And the boy had nothing left.
- And for yourself, my boy, prepare something else! Just let me smoke my pipe first! Ah-ah-ah! - the monster yawned, swallowed his pipe and fell asleep.
The next day, after the monster had left, the younger brother came to the hut. Both boys carefully cleaned the hut and prepared food.
- It smells like a man in here! It smells like a man in here! - the monster exclaimed, sensing an unfamiliar smell.
Entering the hut, it asked:
- Tell me, my boy, what did you do today?
“I didn’t do anything today, I ate all your food and broke all the dishes!” - the younger brother answered boldly.
- How?! You didn’t do anything, you dared to eat my food and you also broke all the dishes? - And the angry monster rushed at the boy.
The older brother hid from fear, and the younger brother began to fight the monster.
At this time, an old woman who lived nearby looked in the door.
“If you can’t handle him, break the pot that’s in that corner over there!” This pot contains the power of a monster!
The boy immediately grabbed the pot, threw it on the floor, and the pot broke. And the monster, having lost its strength, fell.
- Poor boys, you have neither father nor mother! - the old woman said sympathetically. “Take my advice: cut off the monster’s heads.” Take them with you and wherever you want to live, throw them on the ground.
The boys did just that. They cut off the heads of the monster, took them with them and went wherever they looked.
They walked and walked and came to a beautiful place - a forest all around. a wide field where one could cultivate a vegetable garden, and a river with clear water. Here the boys threw the monster's heads to the ground. And immediately a house, a garden, a vegetable garden, and even a wide road that led to the neighboring village appeared in front of them.
Residents from this village soon learned that some boys had settled nearby. People are always curious! They went to look at their new neighbors, and the parents of the boys who lived in the same village went with them. But they did not recognize their sons. However, the boys recognized them and decided to live with their father and other brothers. And they said to their mother:
- It was you who wanted to drown us. That's why we won't live with you.
And the mother, tormented by the fact that everyone turned away from her because of her cruelty, soon died of grief, completely alone.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru