There lived an old man and an old woman. They had no children. Their lives were boring, and they constantly complained about their fate.
One day they were sitting in their garden, where pumpkins grew in the beds.
“Oh, if only we had a son...” said the old man. And suddenly one pumpkin rolled out of the garden and rolled up to the old man and the old woman:
- Why am I not your son?
The old man looked and was surprised. Have you ever seen a pumpkin speak with a human voice? But he suddenly felt joyful, as if he had really seen his own son. The old man and the old woman took their pumpkin son to their home and began to live together.
The old man and the old woman worked in the field all day long, and the pumpkin son cooked food at home and brought it to them in the field. These parents doted on him and loved him like their own son.
And the pumpkin son grew and grew. The time has come for him to get married. He says to the old man and the old woman:
- Look for a bride for me!
They laughed at first, and then became sad:
- Who will marry you, son?
“Don’t worry,” the pumpkin son answers. “I’ll find myself a bride.” You'll see: I'm marrying the king's daughter!
The pumpkin son got ready and set off to look for a bride. He traveled to different countries and visited many cities. Finally he came to the capital of a kingdom, ruled by a rajah who had seven daughters.
One day the Raja called his daughters to him and asked:
- Tell me, daughters, whose mind do you live in?
“With your mind, father,” the six princesses answered in one voice. “If you weren’t a rajah, if you weren’t our father, where would we get such wealth, how could we live so happily?”
Raja was pleased to hear such an answer. But why didn’t the seventh, youngest princess say a word?
- Why are you silent, Kanchi? Whose mind are you living by?
“I live by my own mind, father,” answered Kanchi.
The Raja was surprised and angry. He even changed his face, and his eyes became bloodshot with anger.
- Is this how you value your father’s favors? Apparently, you were too proud if you began to despise your father! Good! Let's see if your fate is happy.
And the rajah ordered that his youngest daughter be given in marriage to the one who would be the first to approach the royal palace the next morning. The youngest princess was proud and held fast to her word. She was not afraid and readily agreed to obey her father.
And a young pumpkin man walked around that city, and the next morning he just approached the royal palace. Raja had been sitting by the window since dawn, waiting to see who would come first. He saw a pumpkin and called his youngest daughter:
- Look who your fate has sent you!
“Well, then,” answered the princess, “I agree.”
The Raja arranged the wedding, and after the wedding the pumpkin husband and his young wife went home. The Raja did not give his daughter any dowry and saw her off without any honor. The princess and her husband walked along the road alone.
On the way they came across a breadfruit tree with ripe fruits. The pumpkin husband saw them and said to the princess:
“I’ll climb up, shake the tree, and you collect the fruits below.”
He climbed up the tree, began to shake it, and the fruit fell to the ground. But when the pumpkin began to descend, he caught on a branch and fell off. The pumpkin hit the ground and broke into pieces.
The princess saw this and sobbed bitterly:
- Alas, my unfortunate lot! Where can I live with my mind!
She remembered how her father and sisters mocked her, and began to lament that at one time she did not listen to them. Suddenly she heard the voice of her pumpkin husband:
- Don't worry, Kanchi! I didn't die, I just changed my clothes!
And then her husband appeared before her in human form - handsome, cheerful, stately. Beside herself with joy, the princess fell at his feet.
The news of this miracle spread everywhere. The rumor also reached the princess's father. And he, his wife and six princesses hurried to his son-in-law. The Raja saw his son-in-law in human form and began to praise his daughter for living with her own mind. And each of the sisters envied her and repented: “Why didn’t I say that I live by my own mind? Then I would have such a handsome man as my husband. Kanchi has achieved this with her mind! And we were left with nothing.”
And the Raja regretted that he had been so unfair to his own daughter. He wanted to give Kanchi half of his kingdom, but she refused:
“We’d better live, father, with our own minds!”
And truly: if you live by your own mind, there is no need to bow to people.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru