Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen. They had a beautiful kingdom, and they ruled it happily. Only one thing upset them - they did not have children.
One day, while walking through the forest, the queen sat down to rest on the shore of a lake. Suddenly she felt so unbearably sad and lonely that she screamed loudly:
– Oh, God, how I want to have a child!
Suddenly the water in the lake began to boil, and a huge shrimp swam out of its depths.
She said in a human voice:
- Queen, your dream will come true. But allow me, an insignificant shrimp, to accompany you to a magical palace that no mortal can see?
- With pleasure! - answered the queen. “But I can’t swim underwater like you can.”
The shrimp laughed and turned into a sweet old lady. When she came out of the water, her clothes were dry. She wore a white dress with crimson stripes, and had green ribbons woven into her gray hair.
The queen followed her into the dense wild forest. The magical path they walked along glowed under their feet, and orange trees wove a roof over their heads. The divine smell of blooming violets spread all around.
After some time they came to a castle made of pure diamonds. The doors of the castle opened, and six beautiful fairies came out to meet the queen with a bouquet of flowers made from precious stones.
“Your Highness,” said the fairies, “only some mortals can visit this palace.” Your prayers for a child touched our hearts. You will have a child named Feif. When he is born, take the bouquet of flowers we gave you and say the name of each flower out loud. We will immediately appear and reward your child with the best gifts.
The Queen was overjoyed. She thanked the fairies countless times for their kindness. Then, happy, she went home.
After some time, she had a daughter, whom she named Feif. She immediately took out a bouquet and loudly said the name of each flower.
And immediately the whole room was filled with fairies. They were accompanied by little pages who carried boxes of gifts.
There were vests and booties, caps and rattles. Everything was embroidered with gold and decorated with precious stones.
The fairies played with the child a little, and then got to work. In turn, they rewarded her with kindness, intelligence, exceptional beauty, luck and excellent health.
Before the queen had time to thank the fairies, the door swung open and a huge shrimp ran into the room, shouting angrily:
- And you forgot about me! But you owe this happiness to me.
The queen was horrified.
“Oh, forgive me, please,” she begged. – I made a terrible mistake!
The fairies joined her:
- Forgive her, please. She didn't do it on purpose.
“Well, okay,” said the shrimp fairy. - I give the child life. But I warn you that she should not see daylight until she is fifteen, otherwise something terrible will happen. If you let her see the sun before she's fifteen, beware!
All the windows and doors in the royal palace were boarded up. Not even a ray of light broke through anywhere, only candles illuminated the palace rooms.
The girl grew up very smart and beautiful. Fairies often came to look at her and play with her. She was especially loved by a fairy named Tulip.
She constantly reminded the queen:
“Remember what the shrimp fairy said.” Protect your daughter from daylight.
The Queen promised to be careful.
When Feif was fourteen years old, the royal painter painted her portrait, and everyone who saw it immediately fell madly in love with her.
At this time, in another kingdom there lived a prince named Volak. He was only 18 years old, and when he saw the portrait of Princess Feif, he was mad with passion and love. He went to his father King Sage and said:
- Father, I need your help. Here is a portrait of Princess Feif. She won my heart. Give your blessing, I want to marry her.
“What a beautiful girl, and she must be very smart and kind,” said the king. “I give you my parental blessing and will send Lord Canvis as an ambassador to her father.”
Young Lord Canvis was the prince's closest friend. The prince told him:
“If my life is dear to you, do everything to win the princess’s heart.” I will die if she does not become my wife.
He gave Canvis a thousand wonderful gifts for the princess. Feif's parents were very flattered when they learned that Prince Wolak was wooing their daughter. They knew that this was the best, brave, truthful and handsome prince of all those who existed in the world.
The king and queen first decided to show Feyfe to Lord Canvis, but the fairy Tulip warned them that it was unsafe.
When the lord arrived at the palace, to his great amazement, he was denied a meeting with the princess. The king told him the whole story with the fairies.
“But, Your Highness,” Canvis protested, “Prince Wolak is very much in love.” He can neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep. He is very sick. Let me show you his portrait. Understand, if you don’t show the prince Feif, he will die of boredom.
“Poor prince,” said the king. “He is so madly in love with my daughter.” I was young too and I know what love is. We'll try to come up with something.
Feif was shown a portrait of the prince, and she also fell in love with him at first sight.
This conversation was overheard by Lady Weed, who had two daughters of the same age as Feyfe. One was called Daisy, and she adored the princess, and the other was called Prickly, and she hated Feif with all her heart. She also saw the portrait of the prince and promised herself to become his wife.
And Prickly's godmother, unfortunately, was a shrimp fairy. At night Prickly went to her and said:
– Feif marries Prince Volak. And I myself want to become his wife. Can you help me with this?
- Certainly! It will be happiness for me to upset her dream,” said the evil fairy and whispered something in Prickly’s ear.
At this time, Feif dreamed of Prince Volak. Finally she figured out how to rid him of his illness. She went to her mother and said:
– We can deceive the evil fairy. Send me to the prince in a carriage without windows and with a curtained door. I'll go to him at night.
The king and queen agreed to this plan. They informed Canvis about this, and he, happy, rushed home to tell the prince the good news. The king ordered a closed carriage to be made. The inside was lined with green velvet and silver.
The keys to the carriage were handed to the eldest lord of the kingdom and ordered to be locked in a box. When everything was ready, Feyfe, along with Prickly, Daisy and Lady Weed, got into the carriage. The Queen said to Lady Weed:
“I entrust you with the treasure of my life.” Take care of her, remember that she should not see daylight. The prince had already boarded up the windows in his palace and prepared for the meeting.
Weed replied:
- Don't worry and trust me.
And they set off. After a while, Prickly whispered to her mother:
- Mom, we need to do something urgently. If I don't become the prince's wife, I'll die.
Lady Weed took out a long knife, which she had hidden under her skirts, and cut the upholstery of the carriage.
Daylight poured in. Feif immediately turned into a white deer, which jumped out of the carriage and disappeared into the forest.
The servants rushed to look for the white deer. But the evil fairy sent a storm at them and transported them all far, far away, to the other side of the world.
Only Lady Weed, Prickly and Daisy remained. Prickly wore Feife's engagement ring and her crown. Soon they saw the gilded carriage of the prince, who was eagerly waiting for his beloved bride. Seeing Prickly, the old king cried out:
- What kind of jokes?
Lady Weed answered with dignity:
“This is Princess Feif, Your Highness.” And this is proven by the letters of her father and mother, which I convey to you.
Prince said:
- Father, they deceived us. The portrait has nothing in common with the original. I'd rather die than marry this ugly woman.
The king said:
– Until all the circumstances are clarified, I will take the princess and her entourage as prisoners and settle them in the castle.
The prince went to his country house in the forest to hunt and take his mind off unpleasant thoughts.
Walking in the forest, he suddenly felt weak and lay down on the ground. If only he knew that not far from this place walked his beloved princess, who had turned into a white deer, who loved daylight more than anything in the world.
Fairy Tulip knew what happened to Feyf. She sent Daisy to look for her beloved princess, and they met, crying bitterly and hugging.
“My dear princess,” said Daisy. “I will stay with you forever and serve you forever.”
She took the white deer to the orchard to eat fruit from the trees and asked him where they would spend the night. After all, there are many wolves in the forest and it is very scary.
-Have you seen any house in this forest? – Daisy asked the deer. He just shook his head.
Suddenly the fairy Tulip appeared, whose heart was touched by the friendship of the girl and the deer, and said:
– Every night, after sunset, Feif will turn back into a girl. Now follow this path and be brave and patient.
Daisy and the white deer soon came to a hut, on the threshold of which an elderly woman was sitting.
- Do you have a room for me and my deer? – asked Daisy.
“Of course, young lady,” the old lady replied. She led them into a small but very clean room, where there were two beds next to each other.
When the sun set, the white deer turned into a princess, who, throwing herself on Daisy’s neck, warmly thanked her for her help. They talked all night, and the next morning Feif again turned into a deer and ran into the forest to nibble grass.
At this time, the prince and Lord Canvis came across the same hut in search of lodging for the night. The smiling old woman gave them something to eat and allocated a room just opposite the girls' room.
After getting some sleep, the young prince went hunting. Suddenly he saw a white deer grazing not far away. Taking aim, he shot at the deer, but it dodged and disappeared into the thicket of the forest.
Arriving home in the evening, the deer turned into a princess, who told Daisy what had happened to her.
“Dear princess,” said Daisy. – Stay here, don’t go into the forest, it’s dangerous. I will read books to you, and time will pass quickly.
“I would love to,” answered the princess. “But the thing is, when I turn into a deer, I feel like a deer.” I have to run and eat grass.
Tired, she immediately fell asleep. At this time, in another room, the prince was talking about the wonderful deer he saw this morning.
“I’ll definitely shoot him tomorrow,” he said.
In the morning he went in search of a deer. But Feif was on her guard and did not leave the thicket of the forest. The prince walked and walked until he collapsed from fatigue under an apple tree and fell asleep.
At this time, a white deer came out of the thicket and approached the prince.
“He’s even more beautiful than in the portrait,” Feif thought and lay down next to him.
Prince Wolak woke up and was dumbfounded with amazement - a white deer was lying next to him. Before he had time to grab the bow, Feif quickly disappeared from sight. The prince rushed after her and fired. The arrow hit the white deer in the leg and he fell to the ground.
The prince wanted to shoot him, but, seeing the deer’s eyes full of tears and pleading, he took pity on him and carried him to the hut.
Daisy ran out to meet him and shouted:
- This is my deer! Give it to me!
“No,” answered the prince. - I caught him in the forest. He is mine!
“I would rather lose my life than my deer,” answered Daisy. - Look how he recognizes me now.
She said:
“White deer, please give me your leg,” and the deer held out its wounded leg.
She said:
- White deer, do you love me? – and the deer nodded his head in agreement. The prince was amazed.
“I agree,” he said. - The deer is yours. I'm sorry I shot him.
Daisy picked up the deer and carried it to her room. At this time Lord Canvis said to the young prince:
“I recognized this girl, she is from Princess Feif’s escort, I saw her in the princess’s carriage.” There's something wrong here!
They found out from the old woman which room the girls were staying in and made a hole in the wall. Looking into it, they saw Princess Feyfe sitting on the bed, and Daisy next to her, bandaging her leg.
The prince immediately rushed into the girls' room and fell on his knees in front of the princess.
“Forgive me,” he shouted. “I didn’t know anything about the deer.” I would rather die than harm you.
Feif told him everything about her misfortunes. They talked all night, and the next morning, when the sun rose, the princess suddenly discovered that this time she had not turned into a deer. Their joy knew no bounds.
“We must tell my father about this,” said the prince. “He is going to go to war against your kingdom, accusing your parents of deceit.”
Suddenly they heard the sounds of horns and saw that the king himself was coming towards them, and Prickly and her mother were sitting in the cattle wagon.
- My dear father! – the prince rushed to him. “Here is my beloved Princess Feif.” I found her! - he exclaimed.
The king looked at the princess. She stood in a silver dress, embroidered with fresh fragrant roses, and her head was crowned with a crown of diamonds. He had never seen such beauty. Not far away stood the fairy Tulip, who was the old woman at the hut.
Everyone was happy. And Lord Canvis, touched by Daisy’s devotion and kind heart, proposed to her, and the two happy couples got married in the palace church.
Prickly and her mother forgave them and sent them home. And for a long time the whole kingdom retold the story about the magical white deer and his adventures, which ended so happily.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru