A long time ago, in the distant past, there lived a beautiful girl in a castle above the lake. They said that she was engaged to the king's son. They were about to get married, when suddenly a murder occurred: the groom was killed (Lord, have mercy on us!) and thrown into the lake. And of course, he could no longer keep his promise and marry a beautiful girl. Well, so much the worse...
History tells us that the poor girl, having lost the king’s son, lost her mind - her heart was too tender (may God forgive her, as he forgives us) - and began to waste away from longing for him. No one saw her again. It was rumored that fairies had carried her away.
And listen! After some time, white trout appeared in that lake. People did not know what to think about this, because they had never seen a trout before. Years passed, and the white trout remained in the same place where you can see it to this day. It happened so long ago that it’s difficult for me to tell you, in any case, even the most ancient old people in the village have already heard about it.
In the end, people decided that it was not a trout, but a mermaid. How could it be otherwise? And no one ever touched the white trout or harmed it until the drunken soldiers appeared in those places. They began to make fun of and mock the people for thinking so, and one of them (if it was wrong for him - may God forgive me for such words!) even swore that he would catch a white trout and eat it for dinner - what a scoundrel!
Well, what would you say about such a crime! Of course, this soldier caught a white trout, took it home, put a frying pan on the fire and threw the poor thing onto it. How she screams in a human voice, and just think about the soldier holding his sides with laughter. What a robber indeed!
When he decided that one side of the trout was already browned, he turned it over so that the other side could also brown. And imagine, the fire didn’t even touch it, well, not at all, but the soldier thought that it was some kind of strange trout that was not fried at all.
“And yet we will turn it over one more time,” said this atheist, not knowing what awaits him ahead.
So, when he decided that the other barrel was already fried, he turned the trout over again, and - that's it! - its other side was no more browned than the first.
- Eh, bad luck! - said the soldier. - Come on. I’ll try to turn you over one more time, my dear. Don't be cunning!
And with these words, the soldier turned the poor trout over again, then again, but no traces of the fire appeared on it.
“Well,” said this desperate scoundrel.
Of course, you understand, even though he was a desperate scoundrel, such that it could not be worse, he still could have understood that he was doing wrong, since he saw how all his attempts ended in failure! So here it is.
“Well,” he said, “maybe you, my little cheerful trout, are already fried enough, even though you don’t look ready?” Maybe you're better than you seem, so you'll even lick your fingers, huh?
And with these words he takes up his knife and fork to taste the trout. But what is this! As soon as he stuck the knife into the fish, a heartbreaking cry was heard - the soul would go to pieces from this - the trout jumped out of the frying pan and fell straight to the floor, and from the very place where it fell, a beautiful girl rose - so beautiful that you couldn’t take your eyes off, he had never seen more beautiful in his life - dressed in all white and with a gold ribbon in her hair, and blood flowed from her hand in a stream.
“Look where you hurt me, scoundrel,” she said and pointed to his hand.
His eyes went dark.
Couldn't you leave me alone? - she said. - Why did you disturb me and fish me out of the water? Why did you take it away from work?
Here he trembled like a dog in a wet sack, then finally muttered something and begged for mercy:
- Forgive me, my lady! I didn't know you were busy, otherwise I wouldn't have disturbed you. After all, I’m a real soldier and I understand such things!
“Of course, I was busy,” the girl said. “I was waiting for my faithful lover, who was supposed to sail to me. And if he sailed while I was away, and through your fault I don’t see him, I will turn you into a salmon and will pursue you until the end of time, while the grass grows, while the waters flow!
Yeah, the soldier's soul sank when he thought that he would be turned into salmon, and he begged for forgiveness. To which the young lady replied:
“Renounce your bad life, scoundrel, otherwise you will repent and it will be too late.” Become a kind person and make sure you never miss confession. “And now,” she said, “take me back and put me back in the lake from where you caught me.”
“Oh, my lady,” exclaimed the soldier, “do I not have the heart that I would drown such a beautiful girl as you?”
But before he had time to utter a word, the girl disappeared, and on the floor he saw a small trout. Well, he put it on a clean plate and started running as fast as he could: he was afraid that the girl’s lover would come without her. He ran and ran until he reached the same cave again, and threw the trout into the lake. And at that very moment the water in that place turned red - it’s true that blood was still flowing from the wound - but soon the current washed away everything. And to this day, the trout has a small red spot on its side in the very place where the knife hit.
Yes, well, if you knew, from that day this soldier became a different person, he reformed, began to go to confession carefully and observed fasting three days a week, although on those days he did not eat fish: after the fear he suffered, the fish did not spend the night in his stomach - you will excuse me for the rude expression.
In any case, he became, as I already said, a different person. Over time, he left the army and in the end even turned into a hermit. They say that he prayed all the time for the salvation of the soul of the White Trout.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru