One day a man was driving home from the market. And the road lay through a dense, impenetrable forest. There is no living soul to be seen anywhere.
Night overtook him on the road. It's dark - you can't prick your eyes out. Can't see anything! He decided to stop and spend the night. He lit a fire, tangled the horse and let him graze. And he sat down near the fire, frying lard on a twig and eating. He ate, lay down and immediately fell asleep - he was very tired from the journey.
And in the morning he woke up, looked - and couldn’t believe his eyes: there was water all around on all sides, the waves were lashing, they were about to overwhelm... The man was scared, he didn’t know what to do.
“I’m lost,” he thinks, “I can’t get out of here!”
And the water keeps rising and rising, the waves rise higher and higher... Suddenly a man sees a man in a boat floating in the distance. He was delighted:
“Well, apparently, it’s not my destiny to die here!” He began to call out to the swimmer with all his might:
- Hey, good man! Swim here quickly! Save me, I’m drowning!..
The swimmer turned his shuttle in his direction and swam towards him. He didn't swim very close and stopped.
- Save me, brother! - the man begs him. -Take whatever you want, just save it!..
“Okay,” says the swimmer, “I’ll save you, but not for nothing: give me what you have in the house and what you don’t know about.”
The man thought and thought:
“What is this that I have in my house and that I don’t know about?.. It seems there is nothing like that. Eh, what will be will be, but there’s no time to bargain, you have to agree!”
“Okay,” he says, “I’ll give you what I have in my house that I don’t know about, just save it!”
“You never know what you’re saying now, and then you’ll retract your words!”
- So what should I do, dear brother?
- Take a piece of birch bark from that birch tree over there, cut your little finger and write this promise on the birch bark with your blood. It will be stronger and more reliable.
The man did just that. He wrote a note on birch bark with his blood and threw it into the boat.
The swimmer grabbed a piece of birch bark and laughed wildly.
And at that same moment all the water disappeared, as if it had never existed, and the swimmer disappeared. Then the man guessed that it was none other than the devil himself. There was nothing to do, he caught his horse, harnessed it and rode home.
Dear, it was so hard for him, he felt so sad - at least he was going to die. The heart foretells trouble...
The man urges his horse as fast as he can and is in a hurry to get home.
He arrived and quickly entered the hut. And the house is cheerful, there are a lot of guests, only the wife is not visible at the table.
- Great! - says the man. - What's new here?
- Hey, we have good news! Your wife gave birth to a son, and such a good one, so strong! Come take a look for yourself!
When the man heard this, his vision became blurred and his head began to spin. All his life he was childless, now a son was born, and he gave him to the devil!
The guests look at the owner and cannot understand what is happening to him.
“That’s right,” they say, “he lost his mind from joy!”
And the boy really was born so handsome and healthy! It grew like dough with yeast.
They named him Yuri.
They sent Yuri to study: he was ahead of everyone in science - he was so smart and understanding, capable of everything. People rejoice when they look at him, and his parents envy him. Only his father is becoming more and more gloomy and sadder.
Yuri guessed that something was wrong here for a reason; He once pestered his father:
“Tell me, daddy, or are you unhappy with me that you always look at me so sadly?” Or don't you love me? Or have I done something bad that I don't even know about?
The father sighs and looks pitifully at his son:
“No, son, I love you more than anyone, and you haven’t done anything bad, only... I promised to give you to the unclean when you weren’t even born.”
And he told him how it was.
- If that’s the case, dad, then be healthy! - said the son. - I need to go. It is not known whether we will see you soon. Either I will lay down my head, or I will release you from your promise!
Yuri began to get ready for the journey. He took a crust of bread and a piece of bacon and quietly left the house at night, so as not to disturb his parents with his farewell.
He got out and hit the road.
He walked through the forests, walked through the forests, walked through the swamps and came out to some hut. He entered the hut. And in that hut the grandmother sits, very old.
- Hello, grandma! - says Yuri.
- Hello, child! Where are you going? Yuri told her where he was going. The grandmother listened and said:
- It’s good, child, that you came to see me! Go ahead, bring me some water and chop some wood: I’ll bake pancakes. As soon as I bake and feed you, I’ll tell you where to go. But you won’t find your way soon.
Yuri brought water, chopped firewood, and the grandmother baked pancakes, fed him to his fill and told him where to go.
- And when you come to the unclean, first find a girl - his worker. She will help you a lot.
Yuri said goodbye to his grandmother and went again. He walked through dark forests, walked through dense forests, made his way through marshy swamps.
Whether it was long or short, he came to the court. The yard was built on the mountains, large and strong, surrounded by a high fence. Yuri knocked on the gate.
“I want to see the owner,” he says! The owner came out in expensive clothes. The gold on it really shines.
And this was the unclean one himself.
- What do you want? - he asks Yuri.
“Yes,” Yuri answers, “I’m looking for my master.” My dad promised to give me to him when I was not yet born.
- I'm your master! - says the unclean one. “I wanted to send messengers for you, because the time has come - you have become an adult.” And I see you showed up yourself. That's how it should be! For this I praise you!
- Tell me, sir, do you have a note from my dad?
- There is a recording, there is! Written on birch bark in blood. If you serve me faithfully, I will give you this recording and release you into freedom - go wherever you want. If you don’t please me, I’ll skin you alive! Well, answer me now: were you walking through the forests?
- Shel.
—Walked through the forests?
- Shel.
—Walked through the swamps?
- And he walked through the swamps.
-Have you come to my yard?
- I’ve arrived.
- Well, here’s your job: during this night you cut down all the trees in my forest and remove them, and in that place you plow the land, harrow it and sow wheat. And may your wheat grow and ripen. So that you squeeze it, thresh it, grind the grain, and bake pies from that flour and bring them to me early tomorrow morning. If you do everything, you will go free. The work is easy!
He said and laughed badly.
Yuri left his master, lowered his head, and didn’t know what to do. He walks through the yard and thinks:
“Well, I set the task!.. I studied everything, but I don’t know how to do this thing. I was completely lost!..”
Yuri began to wander around the yard, looking for the master’s girl worker. He wandered and wandered and wandered to the very end of the yard. He sees a small hut standing. A girl looked out of the hut. Yuri asks her:
“Aren’t you the one who lives with this gentleman as a worker?”
- Yes, well done. Why are you so sad? What are you grieving about?
“How can I not grieve,” Yuri replies, “if my master gave me such work for the night;
which I won’t accomplish even in a year!
- What kind of work did he give you?
“He ordered me to cut down and remove all the trees in his forest in one night, and plow the land in that place, harrow it, sow wheat so that it would germinate and ripen, so that I would squeeze it, thresh it, grind it, and bake pies from that flour and bring it to him early tomorrow morning.”
The girl liked Yuri. She felt sorry for him and thought:
"There's no way they'll kill the guy!"
“Don’t worry,” she says. - Lie down and sleep peacefully, rest after a long journey. I'll help you. Without me, you can’t take your head off your shoulders. So many people have been killed here...
“Tell me,” Yuri says to the girl, “do you live with your master of your own free will?”
- Where on your own!.. Until then, I will languish here, until someone loves me and takes me away from here.
- I'll take you away! - says Yuri.
They began to agree on everything, talked for a long time...
- Well, now it’s time for you to sleep! - said the girl.
Yuri lay down and immediately fell fast asleep, he was very tired while he was making his way through the forests and swamps.
And at midnight the girl went out onto the porch, clapping her hands three times, and various monsters flocked to her.
- Hello, young mistress!
- Hello, scary monsters!
— Why did you demand us: for roll call or for work?
- Why should I call you over? I demand work from you. Cut down all the trees in the Pansky forest, remove them, and plow the land, harrow it and sow wheat. And for that wheat to sprout and ripen in one night. And you crush it, thresh it, grind it, bake pies from that flour and bring it to me tomorrow morning!
The monsters rushed in, and work began: some cut down the forest, some dragged the trees to the side, some plowed, some harrowed, some sowed!.. Before they had time to sow the wheat, it sprang up, blossomed, and ripened. The monsters rushed to the wheat. He reaps, he threshes, he grinds, he bakes pies.
The sun has not yet risen, but everything is already ready.
- Take it, young mistress! The girl took the pies and said:
- Well, now everyone go to your places! The monsters immediately disappeared from sight. And the girl went to Yuri and began to wake him up.
“Well,” he says, “well done, they don’t sleep in the wrong side!” In a foreign country you have to get up early! Yuri woke up, jumped up, and his first thought:
"Are there any pies?"
And the pies are on the table, and so rosy and fluffy!
- Take the pies, bring the pana! - says the girl.
She put the pies on a dish, covered them with a towel and sent Yuri to the master.
The gentleman came out of his chambers.
Yuri bowed to him:
- Hello, master!
- Hello, well done! Did you fulfill my order?
- I did it, master! Everything was done as ordered.
- Show me!
- Please take a look!
The gentleman looked at the pies, sniffed them - as it should! He these pies - hap-hap! — and ate it right away.
“Well,” he says, “well done, Yuri!” As I see, you are not a bad worker! He did one service. If you serve two more, I’ll let you go to your father. Go, rest for three days, and come back on the fourth for a new order.
Yuri heard this and became sad:
“I hope you burst, evil spirit! He’ll probably come up with a job that’s more difficult than before. What can we do here? All hope is in the girl.”
He leaves the master gloomy and dejected. A girl saw him and asked:
- Why are you, Yuri, so sad?
- How cheerful I can be when the master wants to give me a new job!
- Don’t worry: the first job is done - and we’ll do the second! When the time comes, feel free to go to the master for orders.
When the time came, Yuri went to the master.
The unclean pan met him and said hello:
- Great, well done!
- Hello, master!
- Do you see my yard?
- I see.
- Do you see that mountain over there?
- I see.
“On that mountain, build a stone palace in one night, so that it’s better than mine!” And so that there would be as many rooms in that palace as there are days in the year; so that the ceiling is like the clear sky, so that the red sun and the bright moon walk across it and the clear stars sparkle; that the palace be covered with poppies and that three golden carnations be driven into each poppy seed. And so that a river would flow around that palace and there would be a bridge across that river - a golden tablet, a silver tablet, a golden tablet, a silver tablet... Yes, so that a rainbow would span across the bridge, and its ends would rest against the water. In a word, so that you wouldn’t be ashamed to show it to people! If you build such a palace, I’ll let you go to your father; if you don’t, I’ll skin you alive! I have this custom: if there is mercy, then there is mercy, if there is anger, then there is anger. Now go!
Yuri came to the girl and told him what kind of work the master had given him.
- Don’t be sad, everything will be done. It will be ready on time! - says the girl. - Now go to the mountain. Walk and look around, as if you were looking out for the place where you are going to build a palace.
Yuri did just that: he walked and walked near the mountain, looked and looked around, and in the evening he came to the hut and went to bed.
At midnight the girl went out onto the porch and clapped her hands. Various monsters flocked to her here.
- Hello, young mistress!
- Hello, scary monsters! - Why are you asking us: for roll call or for
work?
- Why should I take roll call for you? I demand you to work: I need to build a stone palace on that mountain this night. So that there would be as many rooms in that palace as there are days in the year; so that the ceiling is like the clear sky and so that the red sun and the bright moon walk across it and the clear stars sparkle; that the palace be covered with poppies and that three golden carnations be driven into each poppy seed. And so that a river would flow around that palace and there would be a bridge across the river - a golden tablet, a silver tablet, a golden tablet, a silver tablet... Yes, so that a rainbow would span across the bridge - its ends resting on the water!
As soon as she said it, monsters rushed in: some were carrying stones, some were laying walls, some were laying roofs, some were driving in nails!
In the morning they came to the girl.
- Is everything ready?
- Everything is ready, young mistress! Only in that corner over there they didn’t have time to nail down one grain with three nails, they nailed it with two.
- Well, it doesn't matter. Now everyone get back to where they came from!
The monsters disappeared, as if they had never existed. A girl came into the hut and began to wake up Yuri:
- Get up, go to the master! Everything is ready!
Yuri came out, looked at the palace and was amazed: the palace stands as tall as the sky, a rainbow is playing above the palace, the bridge is burning with fire. He entered the palace, looked at the ceiling - he almost went blind: so red the sun shines, so bright the moon shines, so clear the stars sparkle!..
Yuri is standing on the bridge, waiting for the master.
And then soon the evil one himself appeared. He looks and admires.
- Well, well done, Yuri! - he says. - Good job, if only it's yours! Needless to say, I tried my best! Now you will have one more job - the last one. If you fulfill it, you will return to your father. If you don't do it, you'll lose your head. And this is what this work is like. I have a good horse - he has no price, but he is unbroken. Drive around him!
“Okay,” Yuri answers, “I’ll go around tomorrow!”
And he thinks:
“Well, what a job this is! Yes, I can ride any horse!”
He came and told the girl.
- This is the job for me!
“No,” the girl answers, “don’t boast in advance!” This work is the most difficult. Do you think it will be a real horse? No, it will be the unclean one himself! He doesn’t believe that you cut down the forest, sowed wheat, baked pies and built a palace - he wants to test you. Don’t worry: I’ll help you here too!
In the morning the girl says to Yuri:
- Well, it's time! Go around the horse. Take this willow twig. If the horse gets stubborn and wants to throw you off, hit him between the ears with this twig - he will immediately calm down and become submissive!
Yuri took the willow twig and went to the palace:
- Where is sir?
“No sir,” the servants answer. -He ordered you to go to the stall, take your horse out and ride around.
Yuri entered the stall. There is a horse standing there - a golden hair, a silver hair, its eyes are bloodshot, flames are blazing from its nostrils, smoke is pouring out of its ears - and it is impossible to approach. Yuri waved the willow twig - and he didn’t care about the heat. He approached the horse - the horse reared up, jumped up to the ceiling, and did not allow him to sit on himself. And when he neighed, the whole stall shook and began to shake. Yuri hit him between the ears and the horse fell to his knees. Here Yuri quickly leaps onto his back!.. The horse rears up - he almost throws his rider off! Yes, Yuri is no slouch: let’s whip him between the ears with a twig! The horse is going crazy under him, and he whips him. And the horse carried him - he flies, barely touches the ground, he wants to throw everything off Yuri in order to crush him with his hooves... But Yuri whips him, doesn’t let him go!..
The horse galloped and galloped, flew and flew over the mountains, and through swamps, and through forests, and in the end it became so tired that it stopped both galloping and flying and turned home. He walked with a quiet step. So they returned to the yard.
Yuri put the horse in a stall, and he began to wander around the yard. The master's servants turn away from him, they are afraid: what if the master sees him and thinks that he and Yuri are on friendly terms. Yuri came to the girl’s hut and told her how and what happened.
“Well, apparently you gave the gentleman a good thrashing, since you returned unharmed!” Eat, rest - you are obviously very tired.
The next day, a servant comes to Yuri from the master and calls him to the master’s palace. Yuri went. He is met by a gentleman with a bandaged forehead.
“Well,” he says, “now I don’t know you, and you don’t know me!” Take your father's note and leave tomorrow morning!
Yuri took the note and went into the hut, rejoicing himself. Told everything to the girl. She says:
- You started to rejoice too early! The gentleman is not the type to let you out alive. We can't have morning
wait. As soon as midnight comes, we must hit the road now. We must run in your direction, otherwise the master will destroy us both!
At midnight they got ready to go on the road. The girl told Yuri to spit in every corner of the hut. They closed the door tightly and left. When morning came, the lord sent his servant to Yuri: he ordered him to appear. The servant knocks on the window.
“Get up,” he shouts, “has it already been day?”
- I’ll get up now! - the saliva answers.
By noon the sun had already begun to set. The servant came again.
“Get up,” he calls, “it’s almost noon!”
- I'm getting dressed! - the saliva answers.
It's already time for lunch. The servant calls again.
- I’m washing my face! - the saliva answers. The gentleman got angry and sent for Yuri again. The servants came, they called, but their mouths were dry - no one responded. The doors were broken down - no one was in the hut. As they told the gentleman about this, he became angry, enraged, went berserk, and began banging his head against the wall. And the hostess shouts:
- So he left and took our maid away! Send messengers in pursuit! Either alive or dead, let them bring them! Let him be put to death, but I need a maid - such a worker, such a skilled worker, cannot be found anywhere!
The messengers set off after him, galloping as fast as a horse can gallop.
And Yuri and the girl run as much as they can.
The girl says to Yuri:
- Lay your ear to the ground and listen - is the oak grove rustling, is the road groaning, is there someone chasing us?
Yuri listened and said:
— The oak grove is making a lot of noise, the road is groaning a lot!
“It’s the unclean pan who sent us after us!” They'll catch up with us soon. Let's run quickly! How
they will overtake you, I will turn into a flock of sheep, and I will make you a shepherd. Panov’s servants will begin to ask you if you saw a guy and a girl pass here, and you say: “I saw it when I was young, when I hired myself as a shepherd and when I was tending two sheep, but now I’m an old man and from those two sheep I have a whole flock.”
And the girl turned into a flock of sheep, and Yuri became an old shepherd. Soon the messengers appeared.
“Hey,” they shout, “old man!” Didn't you see a guy and a girl pass here?
- How can I not see it, I saw it!
- When?
- And when I was still young, and had just hired myself as a shepherd, and when I was tending two sheep. And now I’m an old man and from those two sheep I have a whole flock.
-Eh!.. Where can we catch up with them! - say the messengers. -There are maybe a thousand sheep here. How many years have passed since they passed here!
The messengers galloped back to the master. But Yuri and the girl took on their previous form and ran on.
The messengers returned and said to the master:
— We didn’t see anyone. Maybe we lost the trail, maybe we followed the wrong road, we only met a shepherd and a flock of sheep. That shepherd told us that he had been tending a flock in those places since he was a small child, but had not seen the guy and the girl.
- Oh, you fools! - the lady shouted. - After all, that’s what they were! They should have killed the old man and brought the sheep here! After all, this is my maid! She turned into sheep and made the guy a shepherd!
- Download again, catch up! - shouts the sir. - Chop it with axes, and drive the sheep to me!
The messengers rushed back in pursuit. Meanwhile, Yuri and the girl had already run far away. They run, they run... The girl says to Yuri:
- Lay your ear to the ground and listen - is the oak grove rustling, is the road groaning, is there someone chasing us?
Yuri listened and said:
— The oak grove is making a lot of noise, the road is groaning a lot! The master's servants are chasing us!
Then the girl waved her handkerchief - she turned into a garden, and Yuri became an old gardener.
Messengers arrive and ask:
“Didn’t you see, grandfather, how two people were running here - a guy and a young girl?”
“No, I haven’t seen anyone, even though I’ve been guarding this garden for a long time,” the gardener answers.
“Didn’t the shepherd drive the sheep here?” “And I didn’t see the shepherd.”
So the messengers turned back with nothing. And Yuri and the girl ran on.
The messengers arrived and told the master and lady how and what:
“We didn’t catch up with anyone: it was as if they both melted!” We only met the gardener in the garden, and he told us that no one ran along that road and the shepherd did not drive the sheep. We returned. Well, catch the wind in the field?..
- You fools! - the gentlemen and ladies shouted at them. “It was necessary to cut down both the garden and the gardener!” After all, it was Yuri and our maid! I have no hope for you! We have to chase ourselves!
And the gentlemen rushed in pursuit, and the ladies flew along with the messengers - the dust rose in a cloud, the earth trembled, there was a roar all around.
Yuri and the girl heard this noise and rumble - they started to run faster. They guessed that the master and lady, together with the messengers, were chasing them. Meanwhile, the noise is getting louder and louder.
“Well,” says the girl, “even though it’s not far from your house, we just won’t have time to reach it... We have to save you.” I will overflow like a river, and you will be on the other side.
And now - whoosh! — overflowed like a wide river. And Yuri found himself on the other side.
Then soon the master and lady with their servants rode up. The lady looked at the river and shouted:
- Beat her with axes! Use your axes! The servants rushed to the river and began to cut it with axes.
The river groaned and began to flow with blood.
And Yuri is standing on the other side, he can’t help, he doesn’t know what to do.
- Shut up, you worthless thing! - the sir and lady shout to the river. - And you, son of a man, beware: we’ll get to you too!
They shouted and threatened, but they couldn’t do anything. So they returned home with nothing. Yuri hears the river moaning:
- Oh, it’s hard for me... I still have to lie down for a long time - the wounds hurt. It will be a long time not to see you... Go, Yuri, home, to your father, to your mother, just don’t forget me! Just make sure you don't kiss anyone. If you kiss, you will forget me. Come here more often and check on me!
Yuri went home, sad, sad. I thought about returning with my young wife, but this is how it turned out...
He came home. When his father and mother saw him, they almost died of joy. They were just very surprised that Yuri didn’t want to kiss anyone. I never even kissed them. And Yuri began to live at home, making his parents happy. And when evening comes, he will go to the river, talk to her and return home. He himself can’t wait for the girl’s wounds to heal.
So much time has passed. The water in the river became lighter - the girl’s wounds began to heal and close.
And disaster had to happen: one day Yuri fell asleep, and at that time the old grandfather came and kissed him, sleepy. Yuri woke up and forgot the girl - as if he had never seen her.
A little more time passed, and the father said to Yuri:
- Why are you still single? You need to get married. We have found a good bride for you.
Yuri liked this bride. They began to celebrate the wedding. The wedding was fun and noisy. Only Yuri feels uneasy - he feels heavy, anxious, his heart aches, he doesn’t know why.
And in the kitchen of the loaf maker, the wedding loaf is prepared: the dough is kneaded, all sorts of decorations are sculpted. Suddenly some unfamiliar girl came in and said:
- Allow me, loaf makers, to make you a drake and a duck for your loaf and present that loaf to the young people!
The loafers allowed it. The girl sculpted a drake and a duck from dough. She put the drake on a loaf and held the duck in her hands. After that, she entered the upper room, placed a loaf in front of the young ones, and she herself tapped the drake on the head with her duck’s beak and said:
“You forgot, drake, how I rescued you from captivity!” - Yes, there’s a knock on his head. -I forgot how I saved you from death! - Yes, there’s a knock on his head again. “I forgot how I took wounds for you!” - and even a knock on his head.
Then Yuri seemed to wake up - he remembered what happened to him, recognized his girlfriend. He jumped up from his seat, rushed to her, and began to press her to his heart:
- Here, parents, my dear wife! It was she who saved me from certain death! It was she who rescued me from captivity! I love her alone! I don’t even want to know others!
And he sat her down next to him. They celebrated a cheerful wedding here, and Yuri began to live with his young wife.
And they lived long and lived happily!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru