A long time ago, not far from the royal palace, there lived a woodcutter. Before that he was so hardworking, it’s hard to say. All he had was a piece of land. The woodcutter processed it and fed on it. Otherwise he will go to the mountains, collect brushwood, take it to the palace, and sell it. He didn’t have a wretched wife or children, so he lived as a bastard.
One day a woodcutter collected brushwood and went to the palace to sell it, but no one bought a single bundle. The woodcutter walked and walked, got tired, and went home.
He walks past the lake and looks - the kids have gathered there and are making noise. He came up, and the kids had caught a huge carp in the lake, and it was twitching on their hook. The kids are happy, jumping, grabbing the carp with their hands. And the carp has tears rolling down his eyes, as if he were a man. The woodcutter took pity on the poor fellow, gave the children money, and bought the carp. He bought it and released it into the lake. The carp emerged once, emerged again, lowered its head as if bowing, and disappeared.
The next day the old man again took the brushwood to the palace to sell. I sold it, went home, and met a young man on the shore of the lake. The young man bowed to the woodcutter, smiled and said:
- Hello, good man! I am the third son of the Dragon King! I went out for a walk yesterday and got hooked. And you saved me! Now my father is inviting you to visit, to the underwater kingdom.
The woodcutter realized then that the young man was the same carp that he had saved yesterday. But he doesn’t want to go to the underwater kingdom; there’s no one to look after the house.
Then the young man took the woodcutter by the hand and dragged him into the lake. There is nothing to do, the woodcutter agreed. He sat on the back of the young carp, and they swam to the bottom.
They swam and swam, and suddenly everything around them sparkled and sparkled. The golden palace grew in front of them. The young man opened the crystal door, led the woodcutter into the royal palace, and there was a golden roof, coral eaves, marble columns.
The formidable King Dragon descended from his golden throne, seated a woodcutter on the throne, arranged a feast in his honor and said:
“You saved my son, and now I have no dearer guest!”
The woodcutter is confused and doesn’t know what to do. Then he started eating, because he hadn’t eaten anything since the morning. He eats, and is amazed: each other’s dishes are tastier, the wines are all sweet and aromatic! Music plays, beautiful girls dance. There are seemingly invisible rooms, and everything is made of gold, crystal and coral. There are countless treasures. We feasted during the day, feasted at night, I didn’t notice how time flew by.
The woodcutter spent time visiting the king, got bored and wanted to go home. The young man won’t let him go, but the woodcutter won’t let him go. The young man became sad and said:
“If your father finds out that you are going home, he will want to give you gifts.” Don’t take anything - ask for a coral vase, the one that stands near the throne. She will serve you well.
The woodcutter went to the King Dragon to say goodbye, and the king said to him:
“You saved my son, and for that I will give you whatever you want.” Any treasure.
The woodcutter is silent. The king asks:
– Or is one treasure not enough for you? – he called the servants and ordered them to bring all the treasures that were in the palace. The woodcutter did not save anything. Silent. He was silent and silent, then he said:
- Thank you, king, for your kindness. Just don't need your treasures!
The king heard this and did not know what to do. He thought and said:
– If you want, take half of the treasures! I don't feel sorry for anything for you!
Then the woodcutter said:
– I don’t need treasures. Better give me the vase that stands near the throne.
The king heard this, was confused and replied:
- Take whatever you want, but I won’t give you the vase!
Then a young carp came forward and said:
“Is it really true, father, that your son’s vase is more valuable to you?”
There's nothing you can do about it. The king had to give the vase to the woodcutter.
The woodcutter returned home, put the vase on the chest of drawers, and the next day he went to pick up the brushwood.
Only strange things began to happen in his house from that time on.
He somehow sold the brushwood and returned home. He was hungry, he wanted to cook some porridge, he looked - the table was set, there was a cup of rice and a snack on the table. The woodcutter looked around - there was no one in the house, he looked in the yard - also not a soul. So the next day, and the third. The woodcutter just wants to eat, and the table is already set. And what is there not on it! The woodcutter had never eaten so deliciously in his life. Who cooks this? The woodcutter thought so, pretended that he was going to sell the firewood, and hid behind the house. It was getting dark. The woodcutter looks - it’s a miracle, and that’s all! A girl came out of a coral vase, beautiful - you couldn’t take your eyes off it, as if a fairy had descended from the sky. The girl went to the kitchen, and she had a bag in her hand. The girl took some rice from the bag, washed it instantly, cooked it, and set the table. But just when she wanted to hide in a vase, the woodcutter was right there. He grabbed the vase and threw it on the floor. The vase broke. So the girl was left standing in the middle of the room.
The woodcutter asks:
- Who are you?
“I am a fairy from the underwater kingdom, I came to help you,” the beauty answers.
And the girl became the woodcutter's wife.
Kind, beautiful, a jack of all trades, a helper for her husband. He even knows how to weave canvas. And the woodcutter tries even harder, cultivating a piece of land and selling brushwood. A husband and wife live - they don’t know grief. And then happiness struck - a son was born. And they called him Kvedori. He was born smart and savvy. The older you get, the smarter you get.
[Kvedori – cunning, smart.]
Once the king went hunting and took his subjects with him. They shot onifazans. At noon the king wanted to eat and ordered the servants to fry the pheasants.
The servants came to the woodcutter's house and began to fry pheasants.
Suddenly they look - a beauty is weaving canvas. And this was Kvedori’s mother.
The servants looked at her and did not notice how the pheasant burned in the fire.
We realized it, but it was too late. And they started blaming each other and got so angry - things got to a fight.
The beauty ran out into the yard, began to separate the servants, found out what was going on and said:
“I’ll give you a pheasant, but don’t say a word to the king about it.”
The beauty went to the kitchen, fashioned a pheasant from the dough and said to the servants:
- Now the pheasant will fly, and you will shoot it.
She threw the pheasant into the air. The servants shot at him, hit him in the wing, and the pheasant fell to the ground. A good woman fried a pheasant and gave it to the royal servants. And they don’t believe their eyes. They ran to the king and told him everything as it was.
The king had an evil plan, without hesitation he called the woodcutter and said to him, so threateningly:
“I heard that you live richly, but have never given gifts to your king.”
I wanted fresh fish! Catch three large carp and bring it to me! If you don’t bring it, I’ll take your wife away from you so that she can serve me in the palace.
The woodcutter returned home a little alive and was sad: where can he get live carps in winter, when the rivers are all frozen with ice?
“Don’t worry,” said the wife, she went to the kitchen, kneaded the dough, and fashioned three pieces of dough. She told Kvedori to bring water and pour it into a barrel. I took the carp and threw it into the water, and the carp immediately came to life.
The woodcutter took them to the king. The king was surprised, but did not show it and said:
– I wanted strawberries. I give you three days' time. Go to the forest and bring it, but if you don’t bring it, I’ll take your wife away from you.
I can’t escape trouble now, the woodcutter thinks. - Where can I get strawberries when the mountains are covered with snow?
I thought and thought, came up with nothing, got sick from sadness and took ill. Then the wife sent her son to the king. The king saw him and said:
- So you are the woodcutter’s son? Well, did my father get me some mountain strawberries?
Kvedori smiled and answered:
“The father wanted to pick strawberries, but a snake bit him.” He died.
The king heard this, attacked the boy, and began to shout:
- You decided to deceive the king, such a scoundrel! Where have you seen snakes in winter?
And Kvedori answers:
“You’re right, king, there are no snakes in winter.” Do strawberries even grow?
The king has nothing to say, but he doesn’t want to give up and says to the boy:
– Strawberries don’t grow – don’t! I'll make do! I heard that you are a smart boy, let’s fight you in Zhang! If you win, it means you are really smart. If you lose, I’ll kill you so you don’t lie.
[Zhangi is a type of Korean chess].
Kvedori returned home and told his mother about everything.
“Don’t be afraid,” says the mother, “I’ll teach you to play zhangi.”
Kvedori’s mother taught her to play zhangi all night. And the next morning he went to the royal palace: The king can’t wait for him, no one has ever beaten him in Zhangi. And Kvedori will lose to him even more so. And then King Kvedori will kill. There was such an agreement. But everything turned out the other way around. The king began to play zhangi with Kvedori, and Kvedori kept winning and winning.
Then the king called all the masters who play zhangi. No one can beat Quedori. Kvedori left. The king got angry, called his servants and ordered them to kill the boy. He promised a reward - one hundred yans. Two volunteered, the greediest ones. The next day Kvedori came to the palace to sell brushwood, the servants grabbed him, pushed him into a sack and dragged him. They dragged and dragged, sat down to rest under a tree, and started talking.
One says:
“Now all that remains is to throw it into the lake.”
Another responds:
- And receive a reward. In the meantime, let's go to the tavern, he won't run away anywhere.
The villains went to the tavern, and left the boy in the sack. And there was a hole in the bag. Kvedori saw through the hole that the villains had left, and tried to get out of the bag. No matter how hard I try, nothing works. He looks and a blind man walks by.
Kvedori tells him:
- Uncle, uncle! Touch my eyes! No way I have received my sight!
-Are you blind too? - asks the traveler.
He followed the voice, began to feel the bag, and Kvedori said:
- I am also blind, they advised me to climb into the bag and repeat: Open your left eye, open your right eye. So I sit all day, saying cherished words. I repeated and repeated - and truly received my sight.
The blind man heard this, untied the bag, touched his eyes. Kvedori asks:
- Have you really received your sight?
He asked once, twice, three times. Kvedori bursts into laughter and says to the blind man:
- Listen, uncle, if it were so easy to see, there would not be a single blind person left in the world. I deceived you! It was the king who ordered me to be seized and put in a sack, and then thrown into the lake. You saved me! Sorry for the deception. Thank you so much!
Kvedori bowed to the blind man and went home. And the drunken servants returned from the tavern and looked - the sack was empty. They were scared and didn’t know what to do. They decided to tell the king that Kvedori was no more, he drowned in the lake.
Kvedori came home and told his father and mother about everything. And they began to think about how to take revenge on the king. The next day the mother sold all her things, bought linens, sewed clothes, no one had ever seen anything like this. She dressed her son in those clothes, gave him a letter on silk, and sent it to the royal palace.
The king saw: Kvedori was safe and sound, he was frightened and looked menacingly at the servants, those who had deceived him. The servants trembled with fear and began to justify themselves:
– It’s not him, it’s his spirit. We definitely remember that we threw him into the water.
Then Kvedori approached the king and said:
“They actually threw me into the lake.” And there someone untied the bag.
I went out and looked - there was a beautiful palace, in the courtyard the King Dragon was sitting on the throne. The king rejoiced and arranged a feast. I laid out all the jewelry: take whatever you want. I told him that I don’t need jewelry, but our king is a big hunter of them. Then the king says: Can’t you invite your king here? The king wrote a letter and asked him to give it to you. Wotono!
Kvedori said this and gave the letter to the king. And this is what the letter says:
Thank you for sending the young man to me. I dressed him in the dress of an envoy and ordered him to deliver a letter to you. I, the Lord of the underwater kingdom, offer friendship to the ruler of the land. Please welcome to visit me so that I can present you and your subjects with priceless treasures.
The greedy king's eyes lit up. And he decided without delay to go to the underwater kingdom to the King Dragon, and not alone, but with his entire retinue, children and household, in order to receive more gifts. And he ordered us to get ready on the road.
The king came with all his retinue to the lake. He ordered everyone, like Kvedori, to tie a heavy iron lid from a cauldron to their head in order to get to the underwater kingdom faster.
The first to jump into the water were the dignitaries and royal relatives, eager to receive rich gifts. As soon as they jump, they start waving their arms, but they don’t stop. And the king and Kvedori stand on the shore, watching.
Kvedori began to hurry the king:
- Do you see, king? They wave their hands to you and call you. Go quickly.
The king tied a cap to his head and threw himself into the water.
So the evil king and all his courtiers drowned in the lake.
And Kvedori returned home and lived happily with his father and mother. We helped and I worked hard myself.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru