Once upon a time there lived a fisherman. He was so poor that he and his wife and children only managed to eat - although not to their full - when they came across some fish.
One day he went fishing, cast his nets, and suddenly a huge bird appeared from the water and hissed:
– If you find it, don’t destroy it!
The fisherman began to pull out the nets, pulling and pulling, but they were somehow heavy. He pulled it out, and suddenly three large eggs rolled out of the nets and into the boat. The fisherman returned to the shore, took the eggs, and when he came home, he put them on the stove. The wife wanted to boil at least one egg for the hungry children, but her husband did not give it:
– If you haven’t found it, don’t destroy it!
The wife grumbled, made some noise and calmed down.
The next day the fisherman went fishing again. Again, a huge bird appeared from the water and shouted in a hoarse voice:
– If you find it, don’t destroy it!
Again the net pulled out three large eggs.
The fisherman went ashore, took the eggs home, and put them on the stove with those three.
The wife again asks him to let him cook at least one thing, but he doesn’t give it. Then she attacked him:
- Oh, you poor ragamuffin, don’t you see that we are dying of hunger? It would be better to carry fish!
Oh, thunder, yes to the night! – the woman shouted and calmed down.
The fisherman went fishing for the third time, as soon as he threw his nets, the same bird jumped out again and shouted:
– If you find it, don’t destroy it!
And this time he pulled out three huge eggs. He put them in the boat, and then took them home and sent them to the others for the stove. They barely fit. The wife couldn’t stand it and started screaming.
The fisherman had to go fishing out of harm's way four times. He cast his nets and sits and waits. I didn’t have to sit for long, when a huge bird rose from the water again and shouted:
– If you find it, don’t destroy it!
And again three huge eggs were dragged into his net, and they burst from their weight. A fisherman swam to the shore, took the eggs and put them on the stove with the others: they barely fit. His wife scolds him and even gets sick from anger; The eggs have cluttered the whole oven, and the children have nothing to eat.
Suddenly the eggs began to burst with a bang. One thing burst - a guy jumped out of it, he was a great guy, he was so good - it was a pleasure to look at. The second one burst, and the same fellow jumped out of it. One after another, all twelve burst, and from the last, from the twelfth, the most handsome boy emerged. They stood in a row in front of the fisherman and barked:
- Feed me, give me something to drink, if you brought it into the world!
Already from amazement, all the illness went away, and let her scold her husband again, and throw her fists, isn’t it enough for her hungry children? Even if these new ones eat him alive, she won’t feed them. Husband and wife got into a fight.
- Well, well, calm down! - said the good fellows, - why do you needlessly scold because of us? We have nothing to do with you here. Better listen to our advice: take us to the king and assign us to service, it will benefit you.
No sooner said than done. The fisherman took the boys to the castle and lined them up in front of the king. The king liked the good fellows. Of course! The daredevils are one to one, smooth as oak trees, and the youngest is the best! The king took them into service, and generously rewarded the fisherman.
The king sent young men to mow a large meadow. But it doesn’t last long: what they mow and collect in haystacks during the day, the evil spirits will scatter during the night. They kept watch, but they never caught anyone.
The youngest one couldn't stand the robbery any longer, so he sat down under a haystack and decided to guard it himself. At night, twelve horses rushed straight to the hay: they were about to scatter them. Our fellow was about to attack them with a scythe, but then the smallest horse said to him:
- Don’t drive us away, what good does it do you? Better feed us enough, because we have to go to work. Now wake up the brothers and lead us to saddle, and choose me yourself and sit on me!
The guy woke up the brothers, they all jumped on their horses and in the morning they were already prancing in front of the king on proud horses.
- Oh, and just in time! – the king was delighted. - After all, the war has begun!
And it was the neighboring king who went to war against him, because he did not want to give him his daughter as a wife!
The brothers came to war, and the neighboring king whipped them with a magic twig, they immediately turned to stone, only the younger one did not turn to stone, but weakened and fell unconscious. He came to his senses, and everything around him was dead. The winged horse says to him:
- Sit on top of me, and be quick! The neighboring king is about to appear to the princess and ask her to marry him. We need to get there before he does!
Our fellow jumped on his horse - and you understand - he came to the princess before that king. But the alien king rushed after him and let’s persuade the princess to marry him, because in the war he killed every single good fellow.
- Well, that’s all! - the princess tells him. - One fellow is already here, he rode up before you! I will marry the one of you who brings my wedding dress from the Glass Castle, it’s in the chest there.
That king refused to go to the Glass Castle. Why, when he already likes the princess’s dress? And the youngest of the twelve went to his hobby and told what and how.
- Hey! Sit on my back, before you have time to look back, we’ll turn around in an instant!
The young man jumped on his horse and rushed off.
They fly to the Glass Castle. The horse tells the guy:
- Here we are! Only you will have to go to the witch alone. Take courage, and when you earn a chest, come back to me. I will graze here in the meadow.
The young man went to the castle to see the witch and asked her to give him the chest in which the princess kept her wedding dress.
“Okay, I’ll give it, but not for nothing,” says the witch, “do you know that you have to earn it?”
- Well, I'm not afraid of work! - the good guy answers, - tell me, what kind of work is this?
“No until the evening,” says the witch, “and in the morning I’ll have to ride around my black horse.” Let's see if you can sit on it?
In the evening our fellow began to walk around the castle. He sees that the greyhound is stuck between two trees and can’t get out. The guy helped her, and the delighted greyhound rushed away, only managing to shout:
- If things get tough, think about me, I’ll appear right away!
In the morning, the old woman brought a black horse out of the stable, and our young man jumped on it. At first the horse galloped little and lightly, and then faster and faster, now it was rushing like an arrow! And he took our young man into an open field. The guy holds himself in the stirrups and doesn’t let go of the reins. Suddenly the black horse under him turned into a hare and rushed into the bushes. Our fellow thought quickly about the greyhound and in time, otherwise he wouldn’t have seen that hare! As soon as I thought, the greyhound had already caught the hare, grabbed it by the ear and dragged it to him. The hare immediately turned around as a horse, and our fellow little by little made it to the castle.
“Here’s your horse, give me the chest,” he says to the witch.
- Look! “It’s too fast,” she replies. - Tomorrow you will ride my gray horse. If you bring him back, it means you’re a brilliant fellow.
In the evening our guy began to walk around the castle. He sees: the eagle is caught in a snare. He let him go. The eagle flew up and shouted:
– Think about me, when things get tough, I’ll come to the rescue right away!
In the morning the old woman brings out the gray horse. He twists his ears and beats with his hoof. The young man sat on him, and he took off at a gallop. He flew out of the gate as if on wings, and the further they rush, the higher they climb, and our fellow takes the horse more and more firmly by the leg.
Suddenly the gray horse turned into a bird. Well done, he’s standing on the ground; he hasn’t even had time to think about the eagle, but the bird has already soared into the clouds. Then he remembered about the eagle, the eagle flew in, grabbed that bird and brought it to the young man in its claws. The bird turned around as a horse, and our fellow calmly returned to the castle.
- Get the horse, give me the chest! - he says to the old woman.
- Look, what did you want! - she answers. - Tomorrow you will start riding my white horse! If you bring this one back, then I will certainly give you the chest.
After work, our fellow walks near the castle and goes out to the pond. He sees: on the shore the fish is struggling, rushing about, and cannot get back into the water. He took it and put it into the water. The fish says to him:
- When you feel bad, think about me, I will immediately come to the rescue. In the morning the old woman brings out a white horse. He rears up and beats with his hooves.
The young man jumped onto his horse. And the horse jumped out of the gate and rushed straight to the pond! Our fellow didn’t notice how he found himself on the shore, suddenly a duck flew out from under him, swam to the other shore and disappeared from sight, and he was standing on the ground. Well done, he remembered about the fish, and it was right there.
“Well,” he says, “where is your horse?”
- That’s it, dear fish, disappeared somewhere in the pond!
The fish collected all the small fish, they looked for the duck and found it, grabbed it by the legs so that it could not fly away, and swam with it to the shore. As soon as the fellow touched her, she immediately turned around as a horse, he climbed onto the horse, and they quietly rode to the castle.
The old witch almost burst with anger. She took the horse from him and led it to the barn. Well done following her. And the witch grabs a broom and lets woo her daughters:
“Can you hold him like that?” You scoundrels, you slackers!
After all, these were her own daughters, and they knew how to turn into animals. The witch returned home, pouting like a turkey with anger, muttering something under her breath. But she still gave me the chest. Our fellow found his winged horse in the meadow and safely got home.
He put the chest in front of the princess, and she said:
-Where is the key? I will marry the one who brings me the key. The alien king again does not budge, but our fellow runs to his winged horse:
“We’ll have to go get the key, dear horse!”
“Let’s go,” the horse answers, “only this time we can’t do without the king, or rather, without his magic twig.” The key is in the mouth of a huge bear, and you must first whip the bear with a rod so that it turns to stone. Go, call the king with you or take the twig from him.
Our fellow went to the king, asking him to either go together or give him a twig. But the king does not want to go, he wants to sit next to the princess. Why, they say, tire yourself! Our fellow grabbed the rod from his hands and rushed on his skate straight to the rocks where the bear was hiding.
The bear stood up on its hind legs and was about to tear the guy apart. The guy hit him with a rod. The bear turned to stone on the spot, and the key fell out of his mouth. The guy took the key and hurried with it back to the royal daughter.
The alien king argues and says that the princess must marry him, because without his twig they would not have seen the key! But our fellow does not agree, he says that he brought both the chest and the key.
“You shouldn’t argue,” the princess separates them, “first you need to open the chest!”
They opened the chest, and there was a sword there.
“Here,” cried the princess. – I knew about him even earlier! Whoever cares about me, let him order to cut off his head from his shoulders with that sword; whose head comes to life, I will go for him.
Both gave their consent, and both had their heads blown off. Our fellow immediately came to life. and instead of a wedding, they gave a funeral to someone else’s king. The good fellow went to his horse, thanking him for his faithful service.
– Do you admit that I served you faithfully?
- I admit it!
“Then you too will do me a service.” Cut off my head with this sword. And then take the twig from under my saddle, go to the battlefield and whip your brothers with that twig. Give them back their lives.
Our fellow didn’t want to cut off the head of his faithful horse, but he had to. He cut it down, and suddenly a beautiful dove flew out of the horse.
Then the young man took a twig from under his saddle, went to the battlefield, whipped his brothers, saw that they had come to life, and passed the twig through the entire army, and the soldiers came to life. And he and the army returned home to the princess. The princess became his wife, and the army has since served him faithfully.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru