There lived an old man and an old woman. They had three sons. The youngest was called Vanyusha.
The children grew up and began to walk around the world.
They walked and walked.
There is a hut on the road, spinning on one pole.
Vanyusha said to the hut:
- Turn around, turn around, stop with the door towards me!
The hut stopped. The brothers entered the hut and saw: there was no one in the hut, one table stood in the middle and the stove was in the corner.
Vanyusha hit the table with his fist and shouted:
- Serve lunch!
All sorts of food immediately appeared on the table.
The brothers ate and went to bed on the stove.
Suddenly Vanyusha sees the hut filling with water, more and more of it is arriving.
And out of the water comes Chadz-Ielle - the Water Master. As soon as he appeared, the water immediately disappeared.
Vanyusha turned around and shook his leg so that the boot flew off. A boot hit the ceiling, broke through the boards, and knocked the roof off the hut.
From this noise, the brothers woke up on the stove, saw the struggle, jumped down and chopped off both heads of the Water owner with an ax.
The brothers spent the night, and in the morning they left the hut and each went their own way, wherever each head wanted.
Vanyusha went on alone. It took a long time.
Again there is a hut on the way. The hut stands, spinning on one pole.
Vanyusha said to the hut:
- Turn around, turn around, stop with the door towards me!
Vanyusha entered the hut, and a beautiful woman lived in it. I said hello.
The beautiful woman fed and gave Vanyusha something to drink, began to leave him there for the night, and then said to him:
“The old man whose brothers you killed will come here.”
Vanyusha stayed overnight.
Suddenly Vanyusha sees an old man coming in. The old man is old, old, his beard is white, white, right down to the ground. The head is all white - this is the Water Old Man.
“Hello, Ivan Ivanovich,” he says, “I know that you are the only one on earth who can fight, you defeated my brothers!” Let me settle accounts with you!
- I won't fight you! I’ll settle accounts with you tomorrow anyway! - Vanyusha answered and went to bed.
Vanyusha woke up in the morning and looked: on the street around the hut a large ditch had appeared, three fathoms wide, and in the ditch there was a large cauldron with boiling milk on the fire.
The Water Old Man stands on the edge of the ditch and says to Vanyusha:
“If you, Ivan Ivanovich, cross the ditch, you will live, but if you don’t cross, say goodbye to this world.”
And Vanyusha had already come to an agreement with a beautiful woman about what to do. The woman said to Vanyusha:
“I’ll throw the cloth over the ditch above the boiler.” You cross the cloth to the other side, tell the old man to go through too. When the old man walks along the cloth, I will pull the cloth, and the old man will fall into the cauldron.
Let's all go to the ditch. The old man says to Vanyusha:
- Go to the other side!
And the beautiful woman immediately threw the cloth over the ditch, and Vanyusha crossed it to the other side.
- Now you, old man, cross the cloth! - says Vanyusha.
The old man walked along the cloth, reached halfway, and at that time the beautiful woman pulled the cloth. The old man fell straight into a cauldron of boiling milk.
The old man tried to get out of the cauldron, emerged twice, and then began to blow bubbles, drowned and was boiled.
The old man thought that white water was boiling in the cauldron, but he was not afraid of water, he himself was the oldest Water Master, but he was completely boiled in milk.
Vanyusha married this beautiful woman.
They lived, they lived.
Then they decided to return to Vanyushin’s parents. We returned to our father and mother.
Vanyusha was absent for a long time. During this time, the old people became completely old and could not work. To keep warm, the old man burned the head of his axe, and the old woman burned her spindle.
The old men saw their son Vanyusha and rejoiced.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru