Once upon a time there lived a king, and the king had one and only son. It so happened that the heir fell ill. The king summoned doctors from all over the kingdom and ordered them to cure his son.
The doctors began to look at the patient and began to discuss how to treat him. They cannot identify the disease, they cannot prescribe medicine. And with that they left. The king then issued a cry to the whole earth - whoever cures the prince will receive expensive gifts and untold riches.
And then the old sorcerer came to the palace. He looked at the prince and said:
The prince will recover when he eats the tongue of a bird - not a bird, which is killed by a man - not a man with a gun - not a gun made of wood - not wood.
The elder said these words and left the palace without demanding a gift.
The king summoned his boyars, told them the elders’ words and asked for advice:
what kind of bird is this - not a bird, who is that person - not a person, what kind of gun is this - not a gun, made of wood - not wood.
The boyars began to think, to solve the royal riddle.
They thought and said in one voice:
- The bird is not a bird - it is, of course, a lark. Although he flies, he mostly walks on the ground. Although he sings, he sings only in the sky, not like other birds. A. having sung, it falls to the ground, like a stone.
“And the non-human man,” said the boyars, “is, of course, a shepherd, he lives not in the village, like all people, but in the villages, like a wild beast.” He spends time not with people, but with sheep - what kind of a real person is he?
“And the tree is not a tree,” the boyars decided, “it’s probably a linden tree.” Linden wood is soft and fragile - where can it compare with real wood!
But a gun is not a gun - why guess? - it's a bow and arrow. This bow is made entirely of linden, the string is made of bast.
The king of the boyars listened. The boyars made a bow and ordered to bring
shepherd
“Here’s a linden onion for you,” said the boyars. - Go and shoot us a bird - not a lark bird. We will tear out his tongue, give it to the king's son, and he will recover.
The shepherd took his bow and went to hunt the lark.
The lark either flew straight up to the sun and burst into a ringing song, or threw itself down like a stone - teasing the hunter. The shepherd was already tired of chasing him, when suddenly the lark sat down on the ground and asked in a human voice:
- Why are you chasing me, do you really want to kill me? After all, you and I have known each other for a long time, no one climbs the hill before you - and I’m the first to sing a song when I see you. I am your friend, and you aimed an arrow at me.
And the shepherd revealed himself to the lark.
“It’s not I who want to kill you—the boyars.” So they decided at the royal council. They considered me a man, not a man, but they said about you that you are a bird, not a bird. They put a gun in my hands - not a gun - a linden bow, a bast bowstring - everything was made of wood - not wood. They ordered you to be killed in order to deprive you of your tongue; and with this tongue they will cure the king’s son.
The lark laughed here.
- The boyars deceived you! I am a bird, real, genuine. I'll flap my wings and fly high. I’ll open my beak and the song will flow. And I hatch chicks like other birds. And winter will come - I fight the blizzard, I stay in my native places, I don’t fly to foreign lands. Well, tell me, are there many such birds in the world?
And think to yourself: what kind of person are you - not a person, if you take care of your flock in the rain and in the cold, you take care of every lamb, you don’t spare your strength for the sake of people. You are the real person, And the linden tree is the tree,” said the lark. - Come on; remember what the rafters above your roof, the beams in your attic are made of! And what do you use to slurp your cabbage soup? Is your spoon carved from oak? This tree is a real linden tree. And your bow and arrows are a good weapon. How many enemies were driven away from their homes with these weapons! If you want to know what a gun is—not a gun—it’s an elderberry tube from which boys shoot peas. The elderberry is a tree - not a tree, because it is almost made of pulp, only the tube is hard. But the non-human people are the ones who sent you to kill me: the boyars of foreign backs, bar-parasites. That’s for sure - they are non-human people, because they don’t have a head on their shoulders, but a fake block of wood! The boyar has very little intelligence under his cap, Well, maybe he hasn’t had one for a long time!
Having sung this song, the lark flew high into the sky, towards the sun itself. All the larks, as soon as they see the shepherd, either fly high, high, or fall like stones, all the time. sing:
The boyar has very little intelligence under his cap, Well, maybe he hasn’t had one for a long time!
The larks sing this song to this day.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru