Once upon a time there lived a peasant, and he had three sons. All the strength is remarkable. An elder can pacify an angry bull and catch a wild boar with his bare hands. The average one is the best at riding a horse. The youngest, even though he is not old enough, tries to keep up with the elders in everything. The village where they lived stood on a steep bank: every now and then it was attacked by sea robbers. One day a misfortune happened: a magic sword disappeared from a mountain cave. With this sword the men saved the village from pirates. They will go out onto the mountain, wave their sword, it will sparkle - and the enemies will run in fear, throwing away their weapons. And then the magic sword disappeared: its enemies stole it from the cave. Then the eldest son came to his father and said:
“I want, father, to return our magic sword, to take it away from our enemies.”
He said so and went on his way. I walked day and night, I couldn’t say how many rivers and mountains I crossed. Suddenly he looks at a gorge. In the gorge there is a house with a tiled roof. A young man entered the gate, and an old man was sitting in the courtyard, his beard was gray and long. The elder says:
“I knew you would come, I prepared a winged horse.” Can he ride a thousand miles a day?
The old man said this and hit the ground with a stick. At the same moment, a white horse appeared: on each side it had a wing.
- How beautiful! - exclaimed the young man.
He jumped on his horse, and the horse flew forward like a whirlwind. The young man grabbed the horse’s mane with both hands, and at any moment he would fall to the ground. He kicked him in the sides, the horse reared up, and threw the young man off. The old man approached the young man and said:
“You can’t handle a winged horse.” You better come home.
The young man asks, begs the old man to allow him to try to saddle the horse again, but the old man doesn’t mind. So the young man returned to the village. His father scolds him:
“I sent you for a magic sword, and you returned with nothing.” Disgraced me! Oh woe! Woe!
Then the middle son approached the old man and said:
- Let me go for the magic sword!
“Go,” said the old man.
The middle son mounted his horse and rode off. On the way there are rivers and then mountains. The young man overcame them. Three days later I reached the cave where the old man lives. The elder asks:
-Who are you and where are you coming from?
“I am the brother of the young man who was with you yesterday,” answers the middle brother.
“It’s already late today, you’ll spend the night here, and tomorrow you’ll go for the magic sword.”
In the morning the birds woke up the young man. He looked out into the yard, and there was a winged horse. Everything sparkles like gold. The young man jumped on his horse and galloped the magic sword
search. He galloped to a cliff on the bank of a wide river, suddenly the horse stopped, and the young man flew out of the saddle straight into the river. The middle brother returned home, not daring to raise his head from shame. His father scolds him:
“Get out of my sight, coward, I don’t want to see you!”
The youngest son came up to his father and said:
- Allow me, father, to try my luck.
He said and bowed to the ground. Then the father answered:
“The older brothers even came back with nothing, so where can you, the youngest, get a sword?” Plus, there are only two days until the full moon!
“And I’ll go through the tiger gorge.”
“Well, well-known hunters don’t dare go there.” No, I won’t let you go, says the father. He loved his younger son more than his elders.
- Let go! - the boy asks, and he almost cries. “When my grandmother was dying, she ordered me to take the magic sword away from my enemies!”
“So be it,” the father agreed. - Go. - And hugged his pet.
The boy said goodbye to his fellow villagers and set off on his way. And the path is long and dangerous. A boy makes his way through the thicket, and suddenly he sees a tiger growling in search of prey. A boy climbed a tree, looked at the tiger and thought: I can get there faster on a tiger than on a horse! He jumped from the tree straight onto the tiger's back. And the tiger rushed him to the cave of the white-bearded old man. He got there in a flash. The elder looked at the boy and asked:
- Did he really come running on a tiger?
“On a tiger,” the boy answered and said: “I need a winged horse!”
He just said that the horse was right there, beating the ground with its hoof.
- Oh, how beautiful! - the boy exclaimed. He patted the horse's mane and examined the horseshoes.
The old man liked the boy: he was both intelligent and agile. He was delighted and said:
- Finally, the horse has found a worthy owner!
The old man told the boy where to look for the magic sword.
“Farewell, most respected one,” said the boy.
“Hurry up,” the old man said in response. - Tomorrow is a full moon!
And the boy’s swift-winged horse rushed to the cave where the enemies hid the sword. The boy looks - there is a river ahead, wide and deep. The horse slowed down, and the boy kicked him in the sides with all his might. The horse flew across the river and galloped on. I rode for a long time. Here is Mount Kurensan - the Mountain of Nine Dragons. The boy dismounted. He carefully approached the cave, looked, and a stone owl was guarding it - after all, a magic sword was hidden there. The boy remembered what the elder punished him. I took a few drops of dew and dropped them on the owl’s beak. The owl woke up from sleep and dropped the golden key from its beak. The boy took it, opened the iron door, and entered the cave. Precious stones sparkle - it hurts your eyes. And among the stones lies a magic sword. The boy took it and said:
- This is our salvation. “The boy kissed the sword, mounted the winged horse and rode home.
And at this time, sea robbers attacked the village. The boy has returned - the battle is in full swing. He waved his sword and began to destroy his enemies - only the sword sparkled. The foreigners fled from the battlefield. And the villagers stand and watch how fearlessly the boy fights. Now the enemies were expelled from their native village forever. The boy approached his father, bowed low and said:
- Father! Now we are not afraid of any enemies! Here it is, the magic sword, our savior, take it!
“You took away a magic sword from your enemies; even your older brothers could not do this.” From now on you take care of it!
“The winged horse and the desire to forever rid our people of their enemies helped me!” - the boy answered and bowed to his father again.
So the noble boy brought a magic sword and got the winged horse Chollim!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru