There was a young warrior distinguished by his courage and sharp mind. He enjoyed universal love and respect. Peace came, the enemy stopped his devastating raids on his homeland, and his mother advised him to get married. Agreeing with his mother, he called his younger brothers and told them: “I will marry a girl who will sew leggings and boots from the steel left over from my father’s saber.”
The brothers took the pieces of steel and set off to look for a girl who could fulfill the wish of their beloved brother. But no matter who they turned to, everywhere they were taken for crazy and showered with ridicule. They wandered for a long time and in the end, exhausted, decided to return home. Not far from their city, they decided to rest and went into a poor peasant house. They were received by a girl of rare beauty, invited into the house and set the table. At dinner one of the brothers asked for wine. To this the girl replied:
- I’ll ask you to go out into the yard, tie your horse to the vine,
In the meantime, I'll bring some wine.
The guest went out into the courtyard and began to look for the vineyard, but in vain - it was not there. He returned and told the young mistress about this.
“If we don’t have a grapevine, how can there be wine in our house?” she said, and the embarrassed guest sat down in his place.
After dinner, the guests began to ask about her family, who they were and why they had been absent for so long.
“My father is sowing a quarrel by the road, and my mother has gone to change her tears,” answered the girl.
The brothers, surprised by the girl’s strange answer, asked her to clarify the meaning of these words.
— Along a country road, a father and his friend are slandering our neighbor, to whom the friend will not hesitate to gossip, and tomorrow a quarrel will begin. And the mother went to other neighbors to mourn the deceased, so that after her death one of the deceased’s relatives would come to mourn her too.
Based on the girl’s wise answers, the brothers thought that she might be able to help them, and they told her why they were traveling around the world.
“I can help you,” she said, “just tell your brother to send me a silk ribbon made from sand and a needle made from small pebbles, then I will sew him leggings and boots.”
They hurried home and conveyed the girl’s answer to their brother. The young warrior was delighted by the wisdom of the stranger and decided to marry her, and through his brothers he sent her betrothal gifts - gold and pearls.
Having accepted the jewelry, the girl asked to tell the groom: “Small and large stars turned out to be rare. Let two mountain eagles not lose each other, and two brothers not hear offensive words.” Having heard these words conveyed to him from the girl, and understanding their meaning, he told the brothers that they had appropriated some of the gifts. Once again convinced of the extraordinary intelligence of his bride, he married her.
...So wisdom helped the poor girl forge her happiness.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru