Once upon a time there lived a kind and hard-working man. He had a wife, as beautiful as a poppy, but he had no children, and he grieved greatly about this.
Every day travelers from distant lands came to his house. The owner cordially received the guests and let them spend the night, and the hostess busied herself at the stove to treat them well.
But one evening there was not a single guest in the hospitable house. The owner felt uneasy. He left the house and began to look to see if any belated traveler would appear, but the road remained deserted. He stood and waited for a long time. Suddenly an old man with a waist-length beard came out of the darkness, approached him and said:
. - Good evening, son!
- Welcome, grandfather! - answered the owner. “If you’re not in a hurry, come stay with us for the night, and tomorrow morning you’ll continue on your way.”
- Thank you! — the old man rejoiced and followed the good man into his house. The hostess warmly welcomed the guest, then rolled up her sleeves and prepared a delicious meal. dinner. After dinner, the old man asked the owners if they were living well, if they had everything and if they needed anything.
“We live in abundance, we have plenty of everything in our house.” We are missing one thing - a chick to coo in the cradle.
“Don’t worry about it,” said the old man, “you will have a chick.” Now let's go to bed, it's late.
In the morning, the gray-bearded old man got up early and set off. The owner went to accompany him to the outskirts. When they began to say goodbye, the old man took a red apple and a steel saber from his knapsack, gave it to the hospitable man and said:
— When you get home, divide this apple in half. Eat one half with your wife, and cut the other half into two more parts and give it to your two barren mares to eat. In nine months, you will give birth to a wonderful boy with a star on his forehead, who will become the most powerful hero in all the land. The mares will give birth to a foal: one - an ordinary one, and the other - a horned one. Follow this horse and take care of it better than your eyes? yours, because your son will ride it. Take this saber too. Keep it, and when your son grows up, give it to him, but tell him that only he himself can take it out of its sheath. If someone else’s hand draws this saber, then your son will die at that very moment. Well, now, goodbye!
The hospitable man returned home and did everything as the old man had told him. The time came - and a boy with a star in his forehead and a horned horse appeared in the world.
When the boy was fifteen years old, he began to go hunting in the mountains and forests and each time returned with rich booty - with live chamois and deer, and once he even brought home a bear. By that time, a rumor had spread throughout the village that a man of unprecedented strength had appeared in the city: he could break two horse shoes at once. The young man wanted to go to the city and look at this strong man.
“Well, go ahead, son,” said the father, “but first choose one of the two horses that are in the stable.”
The young man entered the stable, looked at the horse, which had no horn, grabbed it by the tail, spun it over his head and threw it into the yard. Then he approached the horned horse, grabbed it by the tail and tried to lift it, but the horse did not budge, as if chained to its stall.
- This is the horse for me! - said the young man, jumped on him and went to say goodbye to his parents.
When the father saw that his son had chosen a horned horse, he was very happy and remembered the saber. He took it out of the house, gave it to his son and conveyed the order of the gray-bearded old man.
The young man kissed his father and mother's hands and set off. He drove and drove and finally reached the city where the famous strongman lived. He found a strong man in a forge.
- Do you want us to compete? - said the fellow with the star on his forehead.
“Well, come on,” the strong man agreed. He took a pair of new horseshoes and broke them, as if they were not horseshoes, but pretzels.
Then the young man, without getting off his horse, reached out and took three horseshoes, put them together and broke them, without even straining.
The famous strongman bowed to the ground and said:
- I admit that you are stronger than me! And the good fellow touched his horse and rode away - to look for other heroes in order to measure his strength with them. He drove around for a long time, asking and asking everyone he met if they had heard of any mighty heroes. Finally they told him that far away in the mountains there lived a black man whom no one could defeat, and the fellow with the star on his forehead went to him.
As soon as the horned horse jumped over the fence of the house where the black man lived, he ran out into the yard, jumped on a black stallion and spun around like a whirlwind.
- Why did you come here? - the black man shouted.
Then the young man pulled out a saber and swung it with a whistle. The black horseman jumped back, looked at the saber and the horned horse, and then dismounted and knelt before the young man:
“I recognize you as a hero above heroes,” he said, “and I’m ready to do everything for you, just spare my life.”
The black man rose from his knees and immediately turned into a handsome white-faced young man.
The good fellow sheathed his saber, dismounted from his horse and entered with the owner into the white house, where the servants prepared a rich dinner for them. The heroes ate, drank, had fun and finally became brothers. The black man, who was now white, began to boast about the strange things he could do.
“I can see three arshins through the ground,” he said, “and as soon as I saw you, I immediately realized that you are the strongest person in the world.” I can also turn into a bear, a goat or a donkey, I can walk on my hands and pick pears and apples from trees with my feet.
- It's all nonsense! - the fellow said and asked: - What else can you do?
“When I put my ear to the ground, I can hear all the conversations in the world.”
- This is great! - said the fellow. - And now, brothers, the time has come for us to...
to wear. Happy Stay!
- Be healthy, brother, in good time! When will we meet again, and how will I know that you are alive and well and nothing bad has happened to you?
“That’s how it is,” answered the fellow. - Do you see this flower? My mother planted it the day I was born. A stalk grew, and two flowers bloomed on it. They will only wither when I die. You take one flower for yourself, and I will have another. Look at him every day. When you see that the flower has withered, know that I am no longer alive.
Having said this, the young man jumped on his horse and rushed off like an arrow. For a long time he rushed through forests, mountains and green valleys, and asked everywhere if people had met a hero among heroes with whom he could measure his strength, but no one knew such a hero.
One day a young man drove up to a deep lake. And just wanted to water his horse, when suddenly a man with a huge belly jumped out of the house that stood on the other bank and started shouting:
- Hey, you! Take the horse away so that he doesn’t dare drink my water, otherwise I ate salted fish, and now I’m so thirsty! I waited a whole week for the rivers to fill the lake,
to drink your fill, and you brought the horse here to drink!
With these words, the pot-bellied man bent down and drank the entire lake in one breath.
Seeing this, the young man was very surprised, got off his horse and started a conversation with the pot-bellied man. They soon became friends and even became brothers. At parting, the young man gave his sworn brother a second flower, told about its wonderful properties and left.
He traveled and traveled around the world and, finally, a horned horse brought him to one deep gorge. In the middle of the gorge stood a tall tower covered with golden tiles.
“Some noble person probably lives here,” the young man thought and knocked on the locked gate.
He knocked once, twice, three times, then looked over the fence and saw that a painted beauty, dressed in silk and brocade, was descending down the marble stairs, and rings with precious stones were sparkling on her fingers. She ran to the gate and opened it. And when did you look up? and saw the young man, tears rolled down her cheeks.
- Why are you crying, beauty? - asked the good fellow.
- How can I not cry, good fellow, because I am a captive of an evil robber. I am the king's daughter. I used to live in my father's palace. I had a fiancé, as young and handsome as you, but on the wedding day a robber broke into the palace, killed my fiancé, and brought me here. Since then I have not known joy. And now I grieve for your fate, because you will die in the prime of your life. A robber will see you and kill you. He can handle a thousand young men like you. . .
“Don’t worry, beauty,” said the fellow. - I will defeat the robber and send him to the next world!
And at that time the robber was returning home from hunting. From afar, he noticed that some horseman was talking to his captive. The robber became angry, his eyes flashed with fire? He drove his horse. The robber galloped up to the young man, and the young man swung his saber and cut his horse in two. The robber fell to the ground. The good fellow swung his saber a second time and cut off the villain’s head. And the beauty stood at that time with a knife in her hand. She decided to stab herself if the robber defeated the young man. Seeing that the villain was killed, the princess rushed towards the winner and hugged him with tears in her eyes. The good fellow took his horned horse to the stable and stayed to live in the tower with the beautiful princess.
You never know, how much time has passed before the king just found out that the robber was gone? no longer in the world and decided to marry his daughter to the prince. The king sent messengers to his daughter, but she did not want to return to the palace.
“Tell my father,” she said to the messengers, “what am I already?” I’m married and don’t want to hear about any prince.
The king was angry and planned to destroy the young man with the star on his forehead. He began to persuade various heroes, but not one of them dared to challenge the young man to a duel. But one day a witch came to the palace - cunning as a fox.
“I undertake to destroy the young man and return your daughter,” she told the king. - But what reward will you give me for this?
“I will give you a whole bag of gold,” the king promised.
The sorceress dressed up as a beggar and went to the tower where the young man and the princess lived. The witch knocked on the gate. The beautiful princess came out when she knocked. And the young man was not at home at that time, he went hunting.
- Have pity on me, daughter! - the crafty witch begged. “I don’t have a single piece of bread in my house.” Give me something to eat.
The princess had a compassionate heart. She took a whole basket of bread, fruits and fried meat out of the house, gave it to the beggar and said:
“When you, grandma, have nothing to eat again, come to me.” I often sit at home alone and get bored. Come, let’s talk about this and that, and I will again give you various foods.
The next day, the sorceress waited until the young man went hunting, and again came to the princess. So I started visiting her every day. They became friends. And so the sorceress began to ask the princess whether she was living well with her husband.
“Very good,” answered the princess. “My hubby has no secrets from me.”
“No, don’t believe it, my dear,” said the witch. “It’s impossible that your husband isn’t hiding something from you.” Try, ask him what the secret of his life is hidden, and see if he will tell you.
- Of course he will! - exclaimed the princess.
- But I don’t think he will! Then the witch left. In the evening, when the good fellow returned from the hunt, the princess set the table, and she sat down in the corner and pouted.
- Why are you so sad today? - the fellow asks her. And the princess answered him:
- Admit it, do you have any secrets from me?
- You yourself know that no.
- Why haven’t you told me until now where the secret of your life is hidden?
- Because then trouble might happen to me.
- Please, tell me! - the princess burst into tears.
The good fellow became alarmed, hugged his wife and said:
- Don't cry. So be it, I’ll tell you the secret of my life. It is hidden in the saber that hangs at my side. As long as I myself take the saber out of its sheath, I will be alive and unharmed, but if someone else takes it out, I will die at that very moment. This is the secret of my life. Just don’t tell anyone about her, because then I’ll be finished.
But the princess did not know how to keep secrets, and the next day the sorceress found out about everything. In the evening she said goodbye to the princess and went out the gate. There she meowed three times, turned into a cat and slipped back through the gateway. Then she quietly crept into the tower and hid there under the bed.
The good fellow returned home. When it was time to sleep, he hung the saber on the wall, and he lay down and fell asleep. The witch crawled out from under the bed at night and turned into an old woman again. She grabbed the saber, took it out of its sheath and threw it out of the window into the lake. At that very moment the young man stopped breathing. The princess began to cry when the next morning she saw that the young man was lying lifeless. Meanwhile, the sorceress returned and told the king about everything. The evil king was delighted, called a regiment of soldiers and went for his daughter. The soldiers surrounded the tower, but then a horned horse jumped out of the gate. He reared up and began to beat the royal soldiers with his hooves. He knocks them to the ground, tramples them, and doesn’t let anyone into the tower.
And even before this, the young man’s named brothers noticed that the flowers he had given them had withered.
“Trouble has befallen our brother-in-law!” - they thought and hurried to each other. They met and decided to find out what happened to the young man.
The one who could hear everything that was said in the world put his ear to the ground and heard the sorceress say to the king:
“As soon as I pulled the saber out of its sheath, he immediately stopped breathing.”
- Where did you put that saber? - asks the king.
— She threw it into the deep lake behind the tower.
The black man heard all this and said to the pot-bellied man:
“It was the old sorceress who killed the hero of heroes.” Let's hurry to his rescue!
The young man's brothers sat on two large mountain eagles and flew to the tower. The eagles flew over the mountains and landed on the shore of the lake. The pot-bellied man bent down and drank all the water from it during the day. A naked saber glittered at the bottom of the lake. The black man grabbed her and ran up the marble stairs to the bedchamber, where the young man lay. I found the scabbard there and as soon as I put the saber in it, the fellow began to breathe. Did he open his eyes? and saw a black man who told him everything that had happened.
Meanwhile, the horned horse continued to bravely fight with the royal soldiers, not letting them into the tower. The good fellow looked out the window, grabbed his saber and ran to help his horse. Now he himself took out the saber. As soon as the heroic saber whistled over the heads of the soldiers, they scattered in all directions, like scared chickens. But the good fellow did not pursue them, but captured only the king and the sorceress and punished them according to their deserts.
Then he arranged a rich feast for his brothers-in-arms, and when they left, he again lived happily in the tower with the beautiful princess.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru