Once upon a time there lived a healer and Verakhan the beauty, the daughter of an Aldar, the recluse of the tower. She was an unusually slender girl. Rumors about her spread throughout the world. Aldar did not marry her off to anyone, although many people wooed her. He kept her in a tower, and the tower was such that no one could find its doors without destroying its top.
One day Aldar announced:
“I will marry my daughter only to someone who can destroy her tower.”
And the tower was unusually high. Aldar gave two days:
“Whoever can destroy the tower,” he said, “will be my son-in-law.” Let everyone try their daring!
Suitors began to flock from all sides. Suitors from the Nart people were found. The son of the healer also appeared. Everyone wanted to destroy the tower of the Aldar daughter, but none of the suitors could figure out how.
The sorceress’s son began to go around the people, hoping to find a daredevil among them. He went into one small house and found a widow there; A boy was lying in a cradle in front of her.
- Do you have anyone else? - asks the son of the sorceress.
“Besides this child and myself, there is no one else,” the widow answers him.
Here the boy in the cradle tore his bandages and turned to the son of the healer:
- I am ready to fulfill your wishes!
(And this boy was pointed out to her son by his mother, the healer: “There was such a good fellow born there, check on him!”) The son of the healer was delighted and said to the boy:
- May God give you years of life! You are the one I need, you will be useful to me.
The boy forced himself to dress and said:
- I'll leave home!
The son of the healer took him with him, and they appeared before the crowd. And on the way, the sorceress’s son agreed with the boy:
“We’ll do this: I’ll load the cannon with you and shoot you at the top of the tower.” Maybe you can destroy it. There is no other way.
- OK! - said the boy. - This is a good idea! I agree; if I get to the top of the tower and stay there, I will begin to destroy it with my heels; but if I fly away - anything is possible - then you be quick and don’t let me touch the ground, otherwise it will be my death.
And he also added:
- When you carry me, do not lower me to the ground until you have carried me across the seven rivers.
They loaded the boy's cannon and shot him at the top of the tower. The boy got there, began to strike with his heel, now on one side, now on the other, and thus destroy the tower. And the sorceress’s son is watching him from below, making sure he doesn’t fly off from there. Then the tower began to shake, and the boy fell from it. The sorceress's son put his hem up, caught the boy and began to carry him across the rivers. When he carried him across the second river, Sirdon, a malicious man, learned that if the boy was laid on the ground, he would die and the girl would not go to the son of the healer.
And Sirdon decided to deceive him. So that the son of the sorceress would not recognize him, Sirdon changed clothes and took on a different appearance.
The sorceress's son had already carried the boy across the second river and the third. Here Sirdon got ahead of him and said:
- Good man, where else are you taking him? After all, he has already died, and the tower has already been destroyed, and the girl passes by you into the wrong hands.
But the sorceress’s son did not believe him and carried the boy further. He carried him across one more river - through the fourth. He keeps his path, carries him further than the boy who fell from the tower.
Meanwhile, Sirdon again took on a different appearance and again got ahead of the sorceress’s son:
- Drop the dead man! - he tells him. “You’re missing the girl!”
The sorceress’s son began to doubt: maybe this is true. But still he did not abandon the boy.
When the son of the sorceress carried the boy across the sixth river, Sirdon, taking on a different appearance, again got ahead of him and said:
- What a madman you are, good man! You're still carrying the dead man! The girl will obviously go to someone from the Nart people, and you will be left with nothing!
This time the son of the sorceress believed Sirdon and said to himself:
“Really, if it’s come to this, then where am I taking this dead man?” And I’m also losing my girlfriend!
He laid the dead man on the ground and turned back to the tower.
And she stands the same as he left her, nothing happened to her.
Then the sorceress’s son guessed:
- All this is Sirdon’s machinations! And I ruined the boy too, and achieved nothing!
He returned, stood over the dead man and thought: “What else should I do? Should I take him to his mother? But what will I tell her?
Suddenly he remembered:
- After all, we have a felt whip, let me try it! He returned and told his mother how it had happened.
“I came back for the felt whip,” he says to his mother. “Will she be able to help the boy with anything or not?”
His mother tells him:
- We have to try it, take it with you!
The son of the healer took a felt whip with him and hurried back to the place where he left the dead man. He arrived there, struck the deceased several times with a felt whip and said:
- May God turn you into who you were before! The boy stood up and said:
- Oh, oh, how long I slept!
The son of the healer told him how it all happened, what happened to him. The boy says to the son of the healer:
- If so, then take me across two more rivers, otherwise my business will be bad.
The sorceress's son took the boy and carried him across two more rivers.
Meanwhile, Sirdon tells the Narts:
“I made him put the boy on the ground, and now, God willing, we will have the girl.”
The Narts rejoiced at this and had fun.
Then the son of the sorceress appeared with the boy and asked the Narts:
- What amuses you, sleds? What are you happy about?
- What makes us happy? - the Narts answer. “Now we’ll get Verakhan!”
“Well, okay,” says the sorceress’s son. “Let’s test which of us is more courageous.”
Evening came. Aldar again notifies the people:
“Who else wants to experience their happiness, let them come tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.”
The son of a sorceress took the boy not to where he was born, but to his home. He told his mother not to worry, her boy would spend the night with him that night. I left food for the widow so she could have dinner and returned home.
Having fed the boy, he began to instruct him:
“We need to think about what we have to do tomorrow.” We'll load you into the cannon again and shoot you so that you hit the top of the tower.
On the second day, when people again gathered at the tower, the son of the healer brought the boy there and said to him:
- Do not spare your strength! If we don’t achieve anything this time, then it will be more difficult.
“Don’t doubt me,” he answered. “Make sure that I get to the top of the tower, and then whatever God pleases will happen.”
The crowd of people gathered watched the son of the healer and the boy; The Narts were afraid that they would get the girl.
The sorceress's son loaded the boy's cannon and fired. The boy found himself on the tower and began to throw it in all directions. People marveled at him, and the Aldar himself marveled.
He destroyed the tower as needed, as agreed. Aldar stood up, took his daughter by the hand, led her out and said:
“Today I recognized my son-in-law. And the sorceress’s son says:
- She cannot be passed off as a boy; After all, everything was done thanks to me!
“I don’t recognize anyone except this boy!” - Aldar answers. “My son-in-law is the one who destroyed the tower!” Get ready on such and such a day so that I can meet my son-in-law!
The appointed day has arrived. Aldar prepared a lot of kosarts, set the tables, and the people sat down to feast. The sorceress’s son was also sitting at the table, but he did not bring the boy with him.
Aldar handed his daughter a glass and said:
“My daughter herself knows her betrothed.” Whoever she gives the glass to will be her husband.
Aldar's daughter came out with a glass, walked around, looked at everyone, but did not hand the glass to anyone, turned back and sadly went to her room. She did not pay attention to the son of the healer, who was sitting right there at the table, and did not even look at him.
Aldar gave the order:
- Gather everyone tomorrow, adults and non-adults, worthy and unworthy - everyone without distinction!
He set the tables again. We gathered all the people we could. And the boy dressed himself in the clothes of a beggar and in this form appeared at the feast; He tied the ring on his finger with a rag, saying that he had cut his hand.
People sat down at the tables. The girl brought out a ladle of beer - an honorary glass - and began to go around the tables, closely examining people. But her gaze did not stop at anyone.
The boy sat at the edge with the poor. The girl headed there too. The boy untied the edge of the bandage so that the ring was visible. Verahan noticed the ring and brought a ladle of beer to the boy.
People were very surprised:
- Wow, who did the Aldar daughter give the glass to? Aldar said:
“It would be better if my daughter died than marry someone like that!” When the people dispersed, the young man said to Aldar:
“I set a deadline until tomorrow night to show myself to you.” There will also be a gift for this occasion.
Aldar thought to himself: “It would be better for me not to see his gift!”
And he somehow prepared for the young man’s arrival.
The son of the poor widow was a golden-haired young man. He came to his father-in-law's house with five comrades. The comrades entered the house, joyfully greeted the groom and told Aldar:
- Come out to our son-in-law! Find out our son-in-law! Aldar came out and, seeing him, said:
- Oh God, thank you! I didn't realize he was like that! I disgraced myself in front of all people. We need to prepare food and drinks!
He set the tables with selected dishes and drinks. And the young groom says to them:
“There is no one in my house except my old mother.” I decide on the wedding myself. I will come for my bride in ten days.
Aldar did not object, he only said: “Okay, let’s prepare it for this day!”
Did Aldar have little goodness? He provided his daughter with everything she needed, and since he had no other children, he wrote down half of his fortune to her while he lived. In addition, he wrote a document according to which, after his death, his entire fortune passed to his daughter.
Ten days passed, and the son of the poor widow came for the bride with his comrades. Aldar received them very well, they stayed with him for a whole week, and then he sent them away with honor.
The son returned to his mother rich. And they began to live happily.
And after some time, Aldar died. The widow with her son and daughter-in-law went to live in Aldar’s estate and live there until this day.
And you will live in good health until they return!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru