Retelling of the Russian folk tale of everyday life. Household tales for children

1 - About the baby bus who was afraid of the dark

Donald Bisset


A fairy tale about how a mother-bus taught her baby-bus not to be afraid of the dark ... About a baby-bus who was afraid of the dark to read Once upon a time there was a baby-bus. He was bright red and lived with his dad and mom in the garage. Every morning …

2 - Three kittens

Suteev V.G.

A small tale for the little ones about three fidgeting kittens and their funny adventures. Small children adore short stories with pictures, therefore, Suteev's tales are so popular and loved! Three kittens read Three kittens - black, gray and ...

3 - Hedgehog in the fog

Kozlov S.G.


The tale of the Hedgehog, how he walked at night and got lost in the fog. He fell into the river, but someone carried him to the shore. It was a magical night! Hedgehog in the fog to read Thirty mosquitoes ran into the clearing and began to play ...

4 - Apple

Suteev V.G.


A tale about a hedgehog, a hare and a crow who could not share the last apple among themselves. Everyone wanted to take it for themselves. But the fair bear judged their dispute, and each got a piece of delicacy ... Read the apple It was late ...

5 - About the little mouse from the book

Gianni Rodari


A small tale about a mouse who lived in a book and decided to jump out of it into Big world... Only he did not know how to speak the language of mice, and only knew a strange bookish language ... Read about a mouse from a book ...

6 - Black whirlpool

Kozlov S.G.


A tale about a cowardly Hare who was afraid of everyone in the forest. And he was so tired of his fear that he came to the Black Whirlpool. But he taught the Hare to live and not be afraid! Black whirlpool read Once upon a time there was a Hare in ...

7 - About the Hedgehog and the Rabbit A piece of winter

Stuart P. and Riddell K.


The story is about how the Hedgehog, before hibernation, ask the Rabbit to save him a piece of winter until spring. The rabbit rolled a large lump of snow, wrapped it in leaves and hid it in its hole. About the Hedgehog and the Rabbit Piece ...

8 - About the Hippo, who was afraid of vaccinations

Suteev V.G.

A tale about a cowardly hippopotamus who escaped from the clinic because he was afraid of vaccinations. And he fell ill with jaundice. Fortunately, he was taken to the hospital and cured. And the hippopotamus became very ashamed of its behavior ... About the Hippo, who was afraid ...

Once the padishah said to his vizier:
- Here's a ram, take him to the market. You have to bail out the money for it, get the wool, bring me two kebab skewers and return the live ram.
The vizier changed into the clothes of a dervish and set off on his way. I met a young man on the way. Let's go together. A small river blocked their way. Vezir suggested:
- Brother, let's make a bridge, it will be easier for one of us. The satellite was surprised:
- What are you, a fool! How can we do it together? They went further, saw a hill ahead. Dervish suggested:
- Let's make a ladder and quickly climb it. The satellite was surprised again:
- Dervish, are you completely stupid? How can you make a staircase here and why?
They moved on, climbed the hill for a long time, then descended, finally came out to the field.
Dervish asked:
- I wish I could find out if the owner of the field ate his harvest, no silt?
The satellite got angry:
- Yes, you are, apparently, quite a fool! The field has not yet been mowed, how could he eat it?
Dervish and the youth entered the city. Dervish asked with a sigh:
- City, are you alive or ruined?
- Let your house collapse, - exclaimed the young man, - you see how many people are here, so he lives. And why should he be busted?
Dervish went to the inn, and the young man went home. He came and said to his sister:
- Sister, today I met such a stupid dervish, I have never seen such.
- Why did he seem so to you? Well, tell me what he said to you stupid.
- We got to a small river, and he said: "Let's make a bridge, one of us will be easier." The sister interrupted her brother:
- Brother, the dervish is smart, you are stupid. He wanted to say: "Yes, one of us will carry the other, it will be easier for one." Here is the bridge.
- Eh, okay, so be it. We got in the way of a hill. He said, "Let's make a ladder and quickly climb it." Well, isn't it stupidity?
- You are stupid, but the dervish is smart, he wanted to say: "Let one of us tell something, and we will rise unnoticed."
- Eh, okay. But when we got to the field, he asked: "I wish I could find out whether the owner of this field ate his crop or not?"
- Brother, this dervish is very clever. He wanted to say: "Owner of this field or not?"
“Okay, I agree with you, sister. But we entered the city, the people are full, and he asks: "City, are you alive or ruined?" I answered him: "Of course, the city is alive, people are walking."
- Eh, brother, what a stupid you are! After all, you should have said: "Come to our house." Where did that dervish go?
- He went to Mevanhana.
- Brother, here are twelve cakes and thirty eggs for you, take them to the dervish.
She tied the food in a knot and gave it to her brother. On the way, the young man thought: "How can the dervish know how many cakes and eggs there are?" He took and ate one cake and two eggs. He brought food to the dervish. The dervish untied the knot, counted the cakes and eggs, and turned to the young man:
- Buddy, do you have eleven months and twenty-eight days in a year?
The young man did not understand the dervish's question, but did not answer and returned home. And he says to his sister:
“Sister, I’m still right, you’re both silly. He asked me: "Do you have eleven months and twenty-eight days in a year?" Doesn't he know that there are twelve months in a year and thirty days in a month?
Then the sister got angry:
- Let the disease take you! Why did you eat a cake and two eggs on the way? That's why he said so. Go invite him to visit us.
The young man went and brought the dervish.
The dervish entered the house, greeted:
- Salam-aleikum, good girl!
- Aleikum-salam, omniscient dervish!
The girl invited the guest to sit down. Dervish addressed the tandoor:
- Tandoor, you look good, but I would like to know: does the smoke rise straight up?
- Dear guest, the smoke from my tandoor rises directly, - answered the girl.
- Mistress, I see that you are a smart girl and only you can help me. I am the padishah's vizier, gave me the padishah a ram and set a condition: to bail out the money for him, and get wool, and bring two kebab spits, and at the same time return the ram to him safe and sound.
- Eh, - says the girl, - dear guest, what's so difficult? The ram must be shaved, half of the wool must be taken to the market to sell, and half must be left — that's the money and wool. Then you need to cut off the eggs of the ram, cook two kebab skewers from them and lay the padishah.
Joyful, the vizier returned to the city and did as the girl advised him. The padishah asked the vizier:
- Vezir, did you have an advisor? Tell me the truth, I will have mercy on you.
The vizier had to tell the padishah about the wise girl. The padishah ordered the vizier:
- Go and get me this girl.
The vizier came to the girl and said to her:
- Good girl, I came to woo you padishah himself.
- Well, I do not mind, only I will set the price of the kalym myself.
- Speak.
- Twenty lambs, thirty wolves, forty lions, fifty camels, sixty foxes, seventy skins, eighty wise men - this is my kalym.
The vizier returned to the padishah and gave him the girl's condition. Padishah thought and answered:
- The girl is right, a man at twenty is like a lamb, at thirty is like a wolf, at forty - a lion, at fifty - a camel, at sixty he is cunning like a fox, at seven or ten years only remains of a man appearance, hide, and at eighty he becomes wise. She is worthy of my son.
And the clever girl became the wife of the son of the padishah.

Wise answers

A soldier comes home from service, having served twenty-five years. Everyone asks him about the king, but he never saw him in person. A soldier goes to the palace to see the king, and he tests the soldier and makes him various riddles. The soldier answers so intelligently that the king is pleased. The tsar sends him to the dungeon and says that he will send thirty geese to him, let the soldier do not fail and be able to pull out of them by a pen. After that, the king summons thirty rich merchants to him and asks them the same riddles as the soldier, but they cannot guess them. The king puts them in prison for this. The soldier teaches the merchants the correct answers to riddles and takes a thousand rubles from each of them. The tsar again asks the merchants the same questions and, when the merchants answer, lets them go, and gives the soldier another thousand rubles for his ingenuity. The soldier returns home and lives richly and happily.

Wise maiden

Two brothers are traveling, one is poor, the other is rich. The poor have a mare, and the rich have a gelding. They stay overnight. At night, the mare brings a foal, and he rolls under the cart of his rich brother. He wakes up in the morning and tells his poor brother that at night his cart gave birth to a foal. The poor brother says that this cannot be, they begin to argue and sue. It comes down to the king. The king summons both brothers to himself and gives them riddles. The rich goes to the godmother for advice, and she teaches him what to answer to the king. And the poor brother tells about the riddles of his seven-year-old daughter, and she tells him the right answers.

The king listens to both brothers, and he only likes the poor man's answers. When the king finds out that the daughter of a poor brother has solved his riddles, he tests her, giving various tasks, and is more and more surprised at her wisdom. Finally, he invites her to his palace, but stipulates that she should come to him neither on foot, nor on a horse, neither naked, nor dressed, nor with a present, nor without a present. The seven-year-old takes off all his clothes, puts on a net, takes a quail in his hands, sits astride a hare and goes to the palace. The king meets her, and she gives him a quail and says that it is her present, but the king does not have time to take the bird, and it flies away. The king talks with the seven-year-old and again becomes convinced of her wisdom. He orders to give the foal to the poor peasant, and takes his seven-year-old daughter to himself. When she grows up, he marries her and she becomes a queen.

Popov worker

Pop hires a farm laborer, sends him to plow on the bitch and gives him a loaf of bread. At the same time, he punishes him so that both he and the bitch are fed, and the mat remains intact. The farm laborer works all day, and when hunger becomes unbearable, he thinks out what to do to fulfill the priest's order. He removes the top crust from the rugs, pulls out all the crumb, eats his fill and feeds the bitch, and sticks the crust in place. The priest is pleased that the fellow turned out to be quick-witted, gives him over the agreed price for his ingenuity, and the farmhand lives with the priest happily.

Shepherd's daughter

The tsar takes the shepherd's daughter, a beautiful woman, as his wife, but demands from her that she does not contradict anything, otherwise he will execute her. A son is born to them, but the king tells his wife that it is not good for a peasant's son to take possession of the whole kingdom after his death, and therefore her son must be killed. The wife submits meekly, and the king secretly sends the child to his sister. When a daughter is born to them, the king does the same with the girl. The prince and the princess grow up away from their mother and become very good-looking.

Many years pass, and the king announces to his wife that he no longer wants to live with her, and sends her back to her father. She does not reproach her husband with a single word and she grazes the cattle as before. The king summons his former wife to the palace, tells her that he is going to marry a young beauty, and tells her to clean up the rooms for the arrival of the bride. She arrives, and the king asks his former wife if his bride is good, and the wife humbly replies that if he feels good, then even more so. Then the tsar returns her royal attire and confesses that the young beauty is her daughter, and the handsome man who came with her is her son. After that, the king ceases to test his wife and lives with her without any cunning.

Slandered merchant's daughter

The merchant and the merchant's wife have a son and a beautiful daughter. Parents die, and the brother says goodbye to his beloved sister and leaves for military service... They change their portraits and promise never to forget each other. The merchant's son serves the tsar faithfully, becomes a colonel and befriends the tsarevich himself. He sees a portrait of his sister on the wall of the colonel, falls in love with her and dreams of marrying her. All colonels and generals envy the friendship of the merchant's son with the prince and think how to make them friends.

One envious general goes to the city where the colonel's sister lives, asks about her and learns that she is a girl of exemplary behavior and rarely leaves home, except to church. On the eve of the big holiday, the general waits for the girl to leave for the all-night vigil, and comes to her house. Taking advantage of the fact that the servants take him for the brother of their mistress, he goes to her bedroom, steals a glove and a name ring from her table and hurries off. The merchant's daughter returns from the church, and the servants tell her that her brother came, did not find her and also went to church. She is waiting for her brother, notices that the gold ring is missing, and guesses that a thief has visited the house. And the general arrives in the capital, slanders the Tsarevich about the Colonel's sister, says that he himself could not resist and sinned with her, and shows her ring and glove, which she allegedly gave him as a keepsake.

The prince tells the merchant's son about everything. He takes leave and goes to his sister. From her, he learns that her ring and glove have disappeared from her bedroom. The merchant's son guesses that all this is the machinations of the general, and asks his sister to come to the capital when there is a big divorce in the square. The girl arrives and asks the prince for the trial of the general who defamed her name. The prince calls the general, but he swears that he sees this girl for the first time. The merchant's daughter shows the general a glove, a pair to the one she allegedly gave the general along with a gold ring, and accuses the general of lying. He confesses everything, he is tried and sentenced to be hanged. And the prince goes to his father, and he allows him to marry a merchant's daughter.

The soldier and the king in the forest

The man has two sons. The senior is taken into recruits, and he is promoted to the rank of general. Then the junior is taken into the soldiers, and he ends up in the same regiment where his brother-general is in command. But the general does not want to recognize his younger brother: he is ashamed that he is a simple soldier, and directly tells him that he does not want to know him. When the soldier tells the general's friends about this, he orders to give him three hundred sticks. The soldier escapes from the regiment and lives alone in the wild forest, feeding on roots and berries.

Once in this forest the king and his retinue are hunting. The king chases after the deer and lags behind the rest of the hunters. He wanders in the woods and meets a fugitive soldier. The king tells the soldier that he is the king's servant. They look for a lodging for the night and enter the forest hut in which the old woman lives. She does not want to feed the intruders, but the soldier finds her plenty of food and wine and reproaches her for being greedy. Having eaten and drunk, they go to sleep in the attic, but the soldier, just in case, persuades the king to take turns to stand by the clock. The king falls asleep twice at the post, and the soldier wakes him up, and the third time he beats him and sends him to sleep, while he himself is on guard.

The robbers come to the hut. They go up to the attic one by one to kill the intruders, but the soldier deals with them. In the morning, the soldier and the king descend from the attic and the soldier demands from the old woman all the money that the robbers have stolen.

The soldier takes the king out of the forest and says goodbye to him, and he invites the servant to royal palace and promises to plead with the emperor for him. The tsar gives orders to all outposts: if they see such and such a soldier, let them salute him in the way it is supposed to greet a general. The soldier is surprised, comes to the palace and recognizes the king in his recent comrade. He awards him with the rank of general, and breaks his older brother into soldiers so that he does not abandon his family and tribe.

The sailor takes time off from the ship to the shore, goes every day to the inn, carousing and pays only in gold. The innkeeper suspects something was wrong and informs the officer, who reports to the general. The general calls the sailor and demands that he explain how he got so much gold. He replies that there is a lot of such good in any cesspool and asks the innkeeper to show the gold that he received from him. In the box, instead of gold, there are knuckles. Suddenly streams of water rush through the windows and doors, and the general has no time for questions. The sailor offers to climb out through the chimney onto the roof. They escape and see that the whole city is flooded. A skiff sails by, a sailor and a general get into it and on the third day they sail to the thirtieth kingdom.

To earn a living, they go to the village and are hired for the whole summer as shepherds: a sailor becomes a senior, and a general becomes a shepherd. In the fall, they are paid money, and the sailor divides them equally, but the general is unhappy that a simple sailor equates him with himself. They quarrel, but then the sailor pushes the general to wake up. The general comes to his senses and sees that he is in the same room, as if he never left it. He does not want to judge the sailor anymore and lets him go. So the innkeeper is left with nothing.

A poor and windy peasant called the Bug steals a canvas from a woman, hides it, and he himself boasts that he knows how to bewitch. Baba comes to him to find out where her canvas is. The peasant asks for a pound of flour and a pound of butter for the work and tells where the canvas is hidden. After that, having stolen a stallion from the master, he receives a hundred rubles from the master for fortune-telling, and the peasant is glorified as a great healer.

The king's wedding ring disappears, and he sends for the healer: if the peasant finds out where the ring is, he will receive a reward, if not, he will lose his head. The witch doctor is assigned a special room so that by morning he will know where the ring is. The footman, coachman and cook, who stole the ring, are afraid that the witch doctor will find out about them, and agree to take turns eavesdropping at the door. The man decided to wait for the third roosters and run away. A footman comes to eavesdrop, and at this time the rooster begins to sing for the first time. The man says: one is already there, there are still two to wait! The footman thinks that the witch doctor recognized him. The same thing happens with the coachman and the cook: the roosters are singing, and the man counts and says: there are two! and now all three! The thieves beg the witch doctor not to give them up and give him the ring. The man throws the ring under the floorboard, and the next morning he tells the king where to look for the loss.

The king generously rewards the medicine man and goes for a walk in the garden. Seeing a beetle, he hides it in his palm, returns to the palace and asks the peasant to guess what is in his hand. The man says to himself: "Well, the tsar got a bug in the hands!" The king rewards the witch doctor even more and lets him go home.

In Moscow, at the Kaluzhskaya outpost, a peasant gives a blind beggar from the last fifty kopecks a seven-dollar bill and asks for forty-eight kopecks for change, but the blind does not seem to hear. The peasant feels sorry for his money, and he, angry with the blind man, slowly takes one crutch away from him, and he himself follows him when he leaves. The blind man comes to his hut, opens the door, and the man sniffs into the room and hides there. The blind man locks himself from the inside, takes out a barrel of money, pours everything that he has collected in a day, and grins, remembering the fellow who gave him his last fifty dollars. And in a beggar's barrel - five hundred rubles. A blind man with nothing to do rolls the barrel on the floor, it hits the wall and rolls back towards him. The man slowly takes the keg from him. The blind man will not understand where the keg has gone, unlocks the door and calls

Pantelei, his neighbor, who lives in a neighboring hut. He comes.

The peasant sees that Panteley is also blind. Panteley scolds his friend for his stupidity and says that it was necessary not to play with money, but to act like him, Panteley: exchange money for banknotes and sew them into an old hat, which is always with him. And in it Pantelei - about five hundred rubles. The man quietly takes off his hat, goes out the door and runs away, taking a barrel with him. Panteley thinks that his neighbor has taken off his hat and begins to fight with him. And while the blind men are fighting, the man returns to his home and lives happily ever after.

The man has three sons. He takes the elder to the forest, the guy sees a birch tree and says that if he burned it on coal, he would start a smithy for himself and start earning money. The father is pleased that his son is smart. He is taking his middle son to the forest. He sees an oak tree and says that if this oak was cut down, he would become carpentry and earn money. Father and middle son are satisfied. And no matter how he drove the younger Vanka through the forest, he was silent. They leave the forest, the boy sees a cow and tells his father that it would be nice to steal this cow! The father sees that there will be no use from him, and drives him away. And Vanka becomes such a clever thief that the townspeople complain about him to the king. He calls Vanka to him and wants to test him: is he as smart as they say about him. The king orders him to take the stallion away from him: if Vanka can steal him, then the king will have mercy on him, but if not, he will execute him.

That evening, Vanka pretends to be drunk and wanders with a keg of vodka through the royal court. The grooms take him to the stable, take the barrel from him and get drunk, and Vanka pretends to be asleep. When the grooms fall asleep, the thief takes the royal stallion away. The king forgives Vanka for this trick, but demands that the thief leave his kingdom, otherwise he will not get it!

Dead body

The old widow has two smart sons, and the third is a fool. Dying, the mother asks her sons so that they do not cheat the fool when they divide the property, but the brothers do not give him anything. And the fool grabs the deceased from the table, drags her to the attic and shouts from there that his mother was killed. The brothers do not want a scandal and give him a hundred rubles. The fool puts the deceased in the woods and takes her to the high road. The master gallops towards him, but the fool does not turn off the road on purpose. The master runs into the logs, the deceased falls from them, and the fool yells that mother was killed. The master is frightened and gives him a hundred rubles to keep quiet, but the fool takes three hundred rubles from him. Then the fool slowly takes the deceased to the priest's yard, drags her into the cellar, puts it on the straw, removes the lids from the milk cot and gives the dead woman a jug and a spoon. He himself hides behind a tub.

He goes down to the priest's cellar and sees: some old woman sits and collects sour cream from the crinkles into a jug. The butt grabs the stick, hits the old woman on the head, she falls, and the fool jumps out from behind the tub and shouts that mother was killed. A priest comes running, gives the fool a hundred rubles and promises to bury the deceased with his own money, if only the fool is silent. The fool returns home with money. The brothers ask him where he is the deceased of affairs, and he replies that he has sold. So it becomes jealous, they kill their wives and take them to the market to sell, and they are seized and exiled to Siberia. The fool, on the other hand, becomes the master of the house and lives - he does not grieve.

Ivan the Fool

The old man and the old woman have three sons: two are smart, and the third is a fool. His mother sends him to take a pot of dumplings to the brothers in the field. He sees his shadow and thinks that some person is following him and wants to eat dumplings. The fool throws dumplings at him, but he still does not lag behind. So the fool comes; to brothers with empty handed... They beat the fool, go to the village to dine, and they leave him to graze the sheep. The fool sees that the sheep have scattered across the field, gathers them in a heap and knocks out the eyes of all the sheep. Brothers come, see what the fool has done, and beat him more than ever.

Old men send Ivanushka to the city for shopping for the holiday. He buys everything he asked for, but out of his stupidity throws everything out of the cart. The brothers beat him again and go shopping themselves, and Ivanushka is left in the hut. Tom doesn't like the beer fermenting in the tub. He doesn’t tell him to wander, but the beer doesn’t listen. The fool gets angry, pours beer on the floor, sits down in the trough and floats around the hut. The brothers return, sew the fool into a sack, carry him to the river and look for an ice-hole to drown. The master rides by on three horses, and the fool shouts that he, Ivanushka, does not want to be a voivode, but they force him. The master agrees to become a commander instead of a fool and pulls him out of the cooler, and Ivanushka puts the master there, sews the sack, sits in the cart and leaves. Brothers come, throw a sack into the ice-hole and go home, and Ivanushka rides towards them in a troika.

The fool tells them that when they threw him into the ice-hole, he caught horses under the water, but there was still a glorious horse. The brothers ask Ivanushka to sew them into a sack and throw them into the hole. He does so, and then goes home to drink beer and commemorate the brothers.

Lutonyushka

Their son Lutonya lives with an old man and an old woman. Once the old woman drops a log and begins to lament, and tells her husband that if they married their Lutonya and had a son and sat next to her, she would drop the log and knock him to death. The old people sit and cry bitterly. Lutonya finds out what the matter is, and leaves the yard - to look if there is anyone in the world more stupid than his parents. In the village, the peasants want to drag a cow onto the roof of the hut. When asked by Lutoni, they say that a lot of grass has grown there. Lutonya climbs onto the roof, picks off a few bunches and throws it to the cow.

The men are surprised at Lutoni's resourcefulness and beg him to live with them, but he refuses. In another village, he sees that the peasants have tied a yoke at the gate and with sticks drive a horse into it. Lutonya puts a collar on the horse and moves on. At the inn, the hostess puts salamata on the table, and she endlessly walks with a spoon to the cellar for sour cream. Lutonya explains to her that it is easier to bring a jug of sour cream from the cellar and put it on the table. The hostess thanks Lutonya and treats him.

A peasant finds an oatmeal in the manure, asks his wife to pound it, grind it, cook it jelly and pour it into a dish, and he will take it to the king: maybe the king will grant something! A man comes to the king with a dish of jelly, and he gives him a golden grouse. A man goes home, meets a shepherd on the way, exchanges a grouse for a horse and moves on. Then he exchanges a horse for a cow, a cow for a sheep, a sheep for a pig, a pig for a goose, a goose for a duck, a duck for a club. He comes home and tells his wife what reward he received from the king and what he exchanged for it. The wife grabs the club and pounds her husband.

Ivan the Fool

The old man and the old woman have two sons, married and hard-working, and the third, Ivan the Fool, is single and loafing around. They send Ivan the Fool into the field, he lashes the horse on the side, kills forty horseflies in one fell swoop, and it seems to him that he has killed forty heroes. He comes home and demands a curtain, a saddle, a horse and a saber from his family. Those laugh at him and give away what is useless, and the fool sits on a thin filly and leaves. He writes on a post a message to Ilya Muromets and Fyodor Lyzhnikov, so that they come to him, a strong and mighty hero, who killed forty heroes in one fell swoop.

Ilya Muromets and Fyodor Lyzhnikov see Ivan's message, mighty hero, and join him. The three of them come to a certain state and stop at the royal meadows. Ivan the Fool demands that the Tsar give him his daughter as a wife. The angry tsar orders the capture of three heroes, but Ilya Muromets and Fyodor Lyzhnikov disperse the tsar's army. The Tsar sends for the hero Dobrynya, who lives in his domain. Ilya Muromets and Fyodor Lyzhnikov see that Dobrynya himself is coming to them, get scared and run away, and Ivan the Fool does not have time to get on the horse. Dobrynya is so tall that he has to bend into three deaths in order to properly examine Ivan. He, without thinking twice, grabs a saber and cuts off the hero's head. The Tsar is frightened and gives his daughter for Ivan.

The tale of the wicked wife

The wife does not obey her husband and will reread him in everything. Not life, but torment! The husband goes into the forest for berries and sees a bottomless pit in the currant bush. He comes home and tells his wife not to go to the forest for berries, and she goes to spite him. The husband takes her to a currant bush and tells her not to pick the berries, and she tears spite him, climbs into the middle of the bush and falls into the hole. The husband rejoices and after a few days goes to the forest to visit his wife. He lowers a long cord into the hole, pulls it out, and on it - a devil! The man is frightened and wants to throw him back into the pit, but he asks to let him go, promises to repay him with kindness and says that an evil wife came to them and that all the devils from her were gone.

A man with an imp agree that one will starve, and the other will treat, and they come to Vologda. The devil stabs the merchant's wives and daughters, and they get sick, and the peasant, as soon as he comes to the house where the devil has settled, is so unclean from there. The peasant is mistaken for a doctor and gives a lot of money. Finally the imp tells him that now the man has become rich and they are with him in the calculation. He warns the peasant not to go to heal the boyar's daughter, into which he, unclean, will soon enter. But the boyar, when his daughter falls ill, persuades the peasant to heal her.

A man comes to the boyar and orders all the townspeople to stand in front of the house and shout that the wicked wife has come. The devil sees the peasant, is angry with him and threatens to eat him, but he says that he came out of friendship - to warn the devil that an evil wife has come here. The little devil is frightened, hears everyone on the street shouting about it, and does not know where to go. The man advises him to return to the pit, the devil jumps there and there with the evil wife and remains. And the boyar gives his daughter for the peasant and gives half of his estate for her.

Disputant wife

A man lives and suffers, because his wife is a stubborn, quarrelsome and inveterate disputant. When someone's cattle wanders into the yard, God forbid to say that the cattle is someone else's, we must say that hers! The man does not know how to get rid of such a wife. Once the lord's geese come to their yard. The wife asks her husband whose they are. He answers: lordly. The wife, flushed with anger, falls to the floor and shouts: I am dying! tell me, whose geese? The husband answered her again: lordly! Wife is really bad, she moans and groans, calls the priest, but does not stop asking about the geese. A priest arrives, confesses and communes her, his wife asks to prepare a coffin for her, but again asks her husband whose geese are. He again tells her that they are lordly. The coffin is taken to church, a memorial service is served, the husband comes up to the coffin to say goodbye, and the wife whispers to him: whose geese? The husband replies that they are lordly, and orders that the coffin be carried to the cemetery. They lower the coffin into the grave, the husband leans over to his wife, and she again whispers: whose geese? He answers her: lordly! They cover the grave with earth. This is how the grandmother's geese left!

The Wife of the Prover

An old man lives with an old woman, and she is so talkative that the old man gets it all the time because of her language. An old man goes into the forest for firewood and finds a cauldron full of gold. He is glad to be rich, but does not know how to bring it home: his wife will immediately blabber! He comes up with a trick: he buries the cauldron in the ground, goes to the city, buys a pike and a live hare. He hangs the pike on a tree, and carries the hare to the river and puts it in a net. At home, he tells the old woman about the treasure and goes with her into the forest. On the way, the old woman sees a pike on the tree, and the old man takes it off. Then he goes with the old woman to the river and with her pulls a hare out of the fishing net. They come to the forest, dig up the treasure and go home. On the way, the old woman tells the old man that she can hear the cows roaring, and he answers that it is their master's devils who are tearing up.

They now live richly, but the old woman has completely gotten out of her hands: every day she throws feasts, even if you run out of the house! The old man suffers, but then beats her hard. She runs to the master, tells him about the treasure and asks him to put the old man in Siberia. The master gets angry, comes to the old man and demands that he confess everything. But the old man swears to him that he did not find any treasure on the land of the lord. The old woman shows where the old man is hiding money, but the chest is empty. Then she tells the master how they went to the forest for the treasure, on the way they took a pike from the tree, then they pulled a hare out of the fishing net, and when they returned, they heard how the devils were tearing him up, master. The master sees that the old woman is out of her mind and drives her away. Soon she dies, and the old man marries the young and lives happily ever after.

Prophetic oak

The good old man has a young wife, a cheating woman. Almost not for her, she does not feed him, and does nothing around the house. He wants to teach her a lesson. He comes from the forest and says that there is an old oak tree that knows everything and predicts the future. The wife hurries to the oak, and the old man comes before her and hides in a hollow. The wife asks the oak for advice on how to blind her old and unloved husband. And the old man from the hollow replies to her that it is necessary to feed him better, and he will go blind. The wife tries to feed the old man sweeter, and after a while he pretends to be blind. The wife rejoices, calls the guests, they have a feast like a mountain. There is not enough wine, and the wife leaves the hut to bring more wine. The old man sees that the guests are drunk, and he kills them one by one, and plugs his mouth with pancakes, as if they choked. The wife comes, sees that all the friends are dead, and henceforth swears to invite guests. A fool walks past, his wife gives him gold, and he pulls out the dead: whom he throws into the hole, whom he covers with mud.

Dear skin

Two brothers live. Danilo is rich, but envious, and poor Gavrila only has an estate, that one cow Danilo comes to his brother and says that nowadays cows are cheap in the city, at six rubles, and they give twenty-five for a skin. Tavrilo, believing him, slaughters the cow, the meat eats, and the skin is brought to the market. But no one gives him more than two and a half. Finally Tavrilo gives up the skin to a merchant and asks him to treat him with vodka. The merchant gives him his handkerchief and tells him to go to his house, give the handkerchief to the hostess and tell her to bring a glass of wine.

Tavrilo comes to the merchant's wife, and she has a lover. The merchant's wife treats Gavrila to wine, but he still does not leave and asks for more. The merchant returns, his wife hurries to hide her lover, and Tavrilo hides in a trap with him. The owner brings guests with him, they start drinking and singing songs. Gavrila also wants to sing, but the merchant's lover dissuades him and gives him first a hundred rubles, then another two hundred. The merchant's wife hears them whispering in the trap, and brings Gavrila another five hundred rubles, just to keep quiet. Tavrilo finds a pillow and a keg of resin, tells the merchant's lover to undress, douches it with resin, dumps it in feathers, sits on top of it, and screams out of the trap. The guests think they are devils and run away. The merchant's wife tells her husband that she has noticed for a long time that evil spirits are playing pranks in their house, he believes her and sells the house for a pittance. And Tavrilo returns home and sends his eldest son for Uncle Danil to help him count the money. He wonders where the poor brother got so much money, and Tavrilo says that he rescued twenty-five rubles for cowhide, bought more cows with this money, ripped off their skins, and sold them again, and put the money into circulation again.

The greedy and envious Danilo stabs all his cattle and takes the skins to the market, but no one gives him more than two and a half. Danilo remains at a loss and lives now poorer brother, and Tavrilo is making a lot of wealth.

How a husband weaned his wife from fairy tales

The janitor's wife loves fairy tales so much that she does not let those who do not know how to tell them to stay. And the husband from this loss, he thinks: how to wean her from fairy tales! The man asks to spend the night on a cold night and promises to tell fairy tales all night long, if only they let him into the warmth, but he himself does not know a single one. The husband tells his wife that the man will speak on one condition: that she should not interrupt him. The man begins: an owl flew past the garden, sat down on a block, drank water ... Yes, only this and repeats. The wife is bored of listening to the same thing, she gets angry and interrupts the peasant, and the husband only needs that. He jumps up from the bench and begins to beat his wife for interrupting the narrator and not letting the tale be heard. And so she gets from him that since then she has renounced listening to fairy tales.

The rich but stingy merchant Marko sees how the poor man takes pity on the beggar and gives him a pretty penny. The merchant becomes ashamed, he asks the peasant for a pretty penny and tells him that he has no small money, but he also wants to give to the beggar. He gives Marco a pretty penny and comes for a debt, but the merchant sends him every time: they say, there is no small money! When he again comes for a pretty penny, Marco asks his wife to tell the peasant that her husband is dead, and he strips naked, covers himself with a sheet and lies under the image. And the peasant offers the merchant's wife to wash the deceased, takes cast iron with hot water and let the merchant water it. He suffers.

After washing Marko, the poor man puts him in a coffin and goes with the deceased to the church to read the psalter over him. At night, robbers enter the church, and the man hides behind the altar. The robbers begin to divide the spoils, but they cannot divide the golden saber among themselves: everyone wants to take it for themselves. The poor man runs out from behind the altar and shouts that the saber will get to the one who chops off the dead man's head. Marco jumps up, and the thieves throw their spoils and scatter in fear.

Marko and the man share all the money equally, and when the man asks about his pretty penny, Marco tells him that again he has no small ones with him. He never gives a penny.

The peasant has a big family, and for good - one goose. When there is absolutely nothing to eat, the peasant roasts a goose, but there is nothing to eat it with: there is no bread or salt. A man consults with his wife and takes the goose to the master to bow to ask him for bread. He asks the peasant to share the goose, so much so that everyone in the family will have enough. And the master has a wife, two sons and two daughters. The man divides the goose in such a way that he gets most of it. The master likes the peasant's ingenuity, and he treats the peasant with wine and gives him bread. The rich and envious peasant learns about this and also goes to the master, having roasted five geese. The master asks him to be divided equally among all, but he cannot. The master sends for a poor man to share the geese. He gives one goose to the gentleman and the lady, one to their sons, one to their daughters and takes two geese for himself. The master praises the peasant for his resourcefulness, rewards him with money, and kicks out the rich peasant.

A soldier comes to the hostess's apartment and asks for food, but the hostess is stingy and says that she has nothing. Then the soldier tells her that he will cook porridge from one ax. He takes an ax from a woman, cooks it, then asks to add cereals, butter - the porridge is ready.

They eat the porridge, and the woman asks the soldier when they will eat the ax, and the soldier replies that the ax has not been cooked yet and he will cook it up and have breakfast somewhere on the way. The soldier hides the ax and leaves satisfied and satisfied.

An old man and an old woman are sitting on the stove, and she says that if they had children, the son would plow the field and sow bread, and the daughter would drown him, and she herself, the old woman, would brew beer and call all her relatives, and would not call the old man's relatives. Older demands that she call his relatives, and not call her own. They quarrel, and the old man drags the old woman by the scythe and pushes her off the stove. When he goes into the forest for firewood, the old woman is about to run away from home. She bakes pies, puts them in a large bag and goes to the neighbor to say goodbye.

The old man finds out that the old woman is going to run away from him, takes pies out of the bag and climbs into it himself. The old woman takes the bag and goes. After walking a little, she wants to stop and says that it would be nice now to sit on a stump and eat a pie, and the old man from the bag shouts that he sees and hears everything. The old woman is afraid that he will catch up with her, and again sets off on the road. So the old man does not give the old woman a rest. When she can no longer walk and unties the sack to refresh herself, she sees that the old man is sitting in the sack. She asks to forgive her and promises not to run away from him anymore. The old man forgives her and they return home together.

Ivan sends his wife Arina to harvest rye in the field. And she reaps just enough to have somewhere to lie down and fall asleep. At home, she tells her husband that she squeezed out one place, and he thinks that the whole strip is over. And this is repeated every time. Finally, Ivan goes to the field for the sheaves, sees that the rye is all uncompressed, only a few places have been squeezed out.

In one such place Arina lies and sleeps. Ivan thinks to teach his wife a lesson: he takes scissors, cuts her bald, smears her head with molasses and sprinkles it with fluff, and then goes home. Arina wakes up, touches her head with her hand and does not understand in any way: either she is not Arina, or the head is not hers. She comes to her hut and asks under the window if Arina is at home. And the husband answers that the wife is at home. The dog does not recognize the owner and rushes at her, she runs away and wanders around the field all day without eating. Finally Ivan forgives her and returns home. Since then, Arina is no longer lazy, does not cheat and works conscientiously.

A peasant plows in the field, finds a semi-precious stone and carries it to the king. A man comes to the palace and asks the general to bring him to the king. For the service, he demands from the peasant half of what the king will reward him with. The man agrees, and the general brings him to the king. The tsar is pleased with the stone and gives the peasant two thousand rubles, but he does not want money and asks for fifty lashes with a whip. The tsar takes pity on the peasant and orders him to be lashed off, but very lightly. Mrkik counts the blows and, having counted twenty-five, tells the king that the other half is to the one who brought him here. The king summons the general, and he gets what is due to him in full. And the tsar gives the peasant three thousand rubles.

Summary Russian folk tales

There lived one padishah. He had an only son named Abdul.

The son of the padishah was very stupid and this caused his father a lot of trouble and grief. Padishah hired wise mentors for Abdula, sent him to study in distant countries, but nothing helped the stupid son. Once a man came to the padishah and said to him: I want to help you with advice. Find a wife for your son so that she can solve any wise riddles. It will be easier for him to live with an intelligent wife.

The padishah agreed with him and began to look for a wise wife for his son. An old man lived in this country. He had a daughter named Magfura. She helped her father in every way, and the fame of her beauty and intelligence went everywhere for a long time. And although Magfura was the daughter of a common man, the padishah sent his viziers to her father: he decided to be convinced of Magfura's wisdom and ordered her father to be brought to the palace.

An old man came, bowed to the padishah and asked:

He appeared at your command, great padishah, - what do you order?

Here are thirty yards of linen for you. Let your daughter sew shirts out of it for all my army and leave it for footcloths, - the padishah tells him.

The old man returned home sad. Magfura came out to meet him and asks:

Why are you so sad, father?

The old man told his daughter about the order of the padishah.

Don't be sad, father. Go to the padishah and tell him - let him first build a palace from one log, where I will sew shirts, and even leave it for firewood, - Magfura answers.

The old man took the log, came to the padishah and said:

My daughter asks you to build a palace out of this log, and even leave firewood for fuel. Complete this task, then Magfura will fulfill yours.

The padishah heard this, marveled at the girl's wisdom, gathered the viziers, and they decided to marry Abdul to Magfur. Magfura did not want to marry the stupid Abdul, but the padishah began to threaten her father with death. They summoned guests from all possessions and celebrated the wedding.

Once the padishah decided to go to his possessions; he took his son with him. They are going, going. The padishah became bored, he decided to test his son and says:

Make the road shorter - something has become boring to me.

Abdul dismounted, took a shovel and started digging a road. The vizier began to laugh at him, and the padishah felt hurt and annoyed that his son could not understand his words. He said to his son:

If by tomorrow morning you can't figure out how to make the road shorter, I will punish you severely.

Abdul returned home sad. Magfura came out to meet him and sews:

Why are you, Abdul, so sad?

And Abdul answers his wife:

My father threatens to punish me if I don't figure out how to make the road shorter. To this Magfura says:

Do not be sad, this is a small problem. Tomorrow you tell your father this way: in order to shorten the boring road, you need to have conversations with your companion. If the companion is a scientist, you need to tell him what cities there are in the state, what battles were and what commanders distinguished themselves in them. And if the companion is a simple person, then you need to tell him about a different craft, about skilled craftsmen. Then the long journey will seem short to everyone.

The next day, early in the morning, the padishah calls his son to him and asks:

Have you figured out how to make the long journey short?

Abdul answered as his wife had taught him.

The padishah understood that it was Magfura who taught Abdul such an answer. He smiled, but said nothing.

When the padishah grew old and died, instead of him it was not Abdul the fool that ruled the country, but his wise wife Magfura.

The tsar's son went hunting. I was chasing a red beast, and did not even notice how I drove into an unfamiliar place. He stopped the horse and did not know where to start, how to get out on the road.
I went to the right - the forest stood like a wall, turned to the left - the forest: there is nowhere either a path or a road.
So he circled from evening dawn to morning. The horse is tired under him, and he is exhausted himself, and there is no end to the forest and the edge.

In the morning, as it began to dawn, I noticed that the stitch was twisting. I was delighted, sent the horse along the trail, and led him with a stitch-path out of the forest into a wide field, into a clean expanse.
I looked around the area, saw the village. The tsar's son got to the village and turned to the hut, where the smoke from the chimney poured in a column.
"If the stove is heated," he thinks, "the owners do not sleep."
He dismounted, tied his horse, climbed onto the porch, entered the vestibule, and only swung the door to the hut, as he saw: a girl jumped out from behind the cross, darted behind the stove and from there said:
- It's bad if the yard is without ears, and the hut is without eyes. Do not blame, good fellow, wait at the door.
The prince thinks:
"What is she saying, is it in her own mind?"
Then he asks:
- Do you live alone or do you have relatives?
- Why alone, - the girl from behind the stove answers, - I have a father and mother and a brother, only today no one happened at home.
- Where are they? the guest asks.
- Parents went on loan to cry, and my brother stole a hundred rubles for a nickel to change.
And again the tsar's son did not understand anything.
At that time the girl came out from behind the stove.
The tsar's son threw up his eyes at the girl, and he was stunned: he stood like a stump, he would not utter a word and could not take a step. How good a girl is - to bypass the whole world, you cannot find such a thing. Brown braid below the waist, blue eyes brighter than the stars burning, cheeks - poppy color, and everything itself, like morning dawn.
She looked at her guest friendly and said:
- Come in, sit down and tell me how to call and dignify you, and for what business did he come to us?
The tsar's son came to his senses, walked through, sat down on a bench and told how he wandered through the forest, how he got to the village, but he himself could not take his eyes off the girl.
- What did you say about the yard without ears and about the hut without eyes, I have no idea.
The girl smiled.
- And what's so tricky. If we had a dog in the yard, it would bark at you, and I would hear that someone is not walking. So much for a yard without ears. And about a hut without eyes, this is what she said: there would be children in the family, they would see a stranger through the window and they would say to me - that you would not have taken me by surprise, untidy.
- Well, what did you tell about your parents and about your brother? - the guest asked.
"Oh, what a stupid, slow-witted, as if inanimate, but seemingly okay, good-looking," the girl thought and answered:
- Parents went to the churchyard, to the funeral - to mourn the deceased, and when the time comes, they themselves will die, then good people will come to bury them and mourn. And my brother on a hundred-ruble horse went to chase the rabbits. The hare will flood - profit for a penny, and drive the horse - a loss of one hundred rubles.
While she was saying so, she set the table.
- Sit down, have breakfast: the rich you are, so happy.
She fed and watered and indicated the road:
- So go, you won't get lost and you will get home by evening.
The tsar's son left and from that day he yearned: he doesn't eat, doesn't drink, the red maiden doesn't get out of her mind.
Parents lament - sorry for their son. Feasts and all sorts of fun give birth, they cannot amuse the prince in any way.
“We need to marry him,” the old tsar says, “he’ll start his own family — and he’ll take away all his sorrow as if by hand.”
He ordered the prince to call.
- That's what, my dear son, it's time for you to acquire your own family: for years you went out, and the queen and I hunt for grandchildren to rejoice. The matter will not be for the bride. Any princess, any princess will happily marry you.
“There is also a girl of indescribable beauty in our kingdom,” the prince answers.
- Good, - said the tsar-father, - tell me where to send matchmakers, in whose boyar court sweetheart started?
The tsar's son told how he got into an unfamiliar area while hunting and how he saw a beautiful maiden in a distant village.
- She is not a princess, not a hawthorn: a black-haired peasant's daughter was to my heart, and no other bride is needed.
The king clapped his palms, stamped his foot:
- A century will not be, so that I become related with the slaves!
- Your will, but for me better century not to marry, than to take a disgraceful one, - the son bowed to his father and went to his room.
The king thought:
"Now he will not come out of my will, but as he becomes king after my death, he will still marry a servant."
I went to the queen, told everything as it was. That - in tears:
- Oh, trouble has come! What are we going to do?
- I came up with, - the king says. - Hey, servants, call the prince!
“We thought, wondered, with the mother-queen we kept a council, and here's our parental will for you,” the king said to his son. - If the girl fulfills three tasks, - be it your way, marry her, and do not fulfill - let her blame herself: do not trample on her more green grass.

And he served one linen stalk:
- First of all, let him straighten the yarn out of this linen, he will put it on the yarn of that linen and sew me a shirt, - I'll see what a craftswoman is like, a craftswoman in needlework.
The tsar's son took the father's order.
The girl saw him through the window and ran out into the street. She met the guest at the gate, looked tenderly:
- Did you come in of your own free will, or did you bring it by captivity?
The heart of the prince began to beat. He stands, shifting from foot to foot, silent. Then he dared and said:
- You fell in love with me, girl-soul. I came to call you to marry.
The girl got angry and became even more beautiful. Then she said, barely audibly:
- If it happened so, apparently, so be it, love you and me.
My parents will not argue, and you need to ask your mother and father.
The prince, without concealment, told everything that was at home, and handed him a flax stalk.
The girl listened to the royal order, smiled. Then she broke a birch twig out of a broom.
- Let them make a spinning wheel and a shuttle from this rod, let the spindle sharpen and the reed prepare whatever is for the thinnest linen, then I will carry out the tsar's order.
The tsar's son returned home, handed the tsar a birch twig and said what the girl had asked for.
The king was surprised, annoyed to himself: "Well, you are cunning, and I am more cunning than you!" He ordered to bring a hundred boiled eggs:
- Take them to the bride, let them bring out the chickens from these eggs and fatten them to the wedding table.
The prince listened to the new order, was saddened, but did not dare to contradict, went to the bride.
The maiden accepted the eggs, brought a pot of millet porridge and said:
- Give this millet to the king, let them sow it and grow millet, those chickens will not peck another.
The prince returned and gave the porridge to his father.
The king listened to the girl's words and ordered the prince to come in three days.
The old tsar thought for a day, and on the third morning a cheerful one got up and chuckled:
- Well, now the servant will know how to compete with the king!
I called my son:
- Go, call your betrothed to visit, we need to see the future daughter-in-law before the wedding. Let her be not in a dress, not without a dress; not with a gift, not without a gift; not on foot, not on horseback, but on horseback.
The tsarevich came to the bride, recounted the tsar's order. Father and mother and brother were saddened:
- Oh, it is not without reason that the king asked such a task!
And the prince became sad.
And the maiden-beauty cheerfully answers:
“Tell your parents to wait tomorrow afternoon.
The groom said goodbye and left.
The girl says:
- Catch me, brother, by morning a live hare and a live quail.
The brother immediately went into the forest. The maid of the parents consoles:
- Do not grieve about anything, do not grieve - the whole thing will be settled.
On the afternoon of the next day, the tsar sits in the upper chamber, looking out the window. He noticed the girl and gave the order to the servant: as soon as the gates were opened in front of her, let the most fierce dogs off the chain.
And he himself laughed:
- Only you lived in the world - they will tear you to shreds.
Looks out the window. Closer and nearer the girl, and sees: instead of a dress, she is wearing a multi-row, frequent net thrown over - not in a dress, not without a dress. The maiden rules over the reins, drives the bridled hare with a cane - neither on foot, nor on horseback, but on horseback.
And as soon as the girl opened the gates, the terrible chain dogs.
The tsar rushed out of the mansion, quickly went downstairs, ran out onto the porch and saw: a hare galloping far, far beyond the gate, and two dogs chasing him, spreading out. A step creaked, the tsar glanced - a girl was climbing the stairs, wrapped in many rows in a tight net and so beautiful that she could not even think of, say, or describe with a pen.
The girl bowed and said with a smile:
- Much honor to me, if the king himself came out on the porch to meet.
She held out her hand:
- Here's my gift.
The tsar wanted to take the gift, but the girl unclenched her fingers, and at the same moment - porsk: the quail soared, up past the tsar's nose.
The tsar has lifted his beard, looks into the sky.
- And not with a gift, and not without a gift, - says the girl, smiles, - as punished, it is.
The tsar looked at the quail, stumbled and tumbled under the stairs with his kulem, only the steps were cracking.
The girl rushed to help, the servants fled, helped the king to rise. Stands, oykat, scratches his sides.
The prince heard the noise, ran out onto the porch, saw the bride, and was delighted.
At that time, the tsar also came to his senses, drew himself up:
- Well, my dear guest, I respected, I did everything as it is in my opinion. Let's go to the chambers, there the queen is waiting for you. - And he himself thinks: "There is nothing to do, the royal word should not be violated. Well, we will see ahead."
The girl was buried behind a currant bush, threw off the net and ended up in an elegant dress.
Everyone looks at her - they don't look enough, they talk among themselves:
- Such beauty of the century has not been seen!
And the queen dried her tears, cheered up as soon as she saw the girl - beloved beauty. The king says: - The bride has fulfilled all three tasks, now you can take a merry feast and start a wedding.
Soon the wedding was played, and the young live in perfect harmony, they will not get enough of it.
How much time has passed, how little time has passed, the old tsar and the tsarina decided to go to another kingdom, to visit the tsarina's sister.
Before leaving, the king says to his son and daughter-in-law:
- Until I return, you, my dear son, rule the kingdom - judge the courts and the ranks, in everything your will, and you, bride-in-law, look after the pantries and look after the cook, take care of the good, and, look, do not interfere with the king's affairs - then it's not a woman's mind. If you don't listen, blame yourself.
The tsar and tsarina left. And the prince once went hunting. On way back a poor man stopped him at the city gates.
- Good man, tell me how to see the king.
- Why do you need to see the king? - asks the tsar's son.
- And then, - the man replies, - to find out if the truth in the world has been completely translated?
- Why do you think that the truth in the world has been translated? - the prince asks.
- Because the poor man is always to blame for everything, and the rich man is always and in everything right, - the man answers.
- How so? - the prince marvels.
“But how,” the man says, “I happened to sue a rich neighbor yesterday, and I experienced myself that the rich man is always right and that there is no truth in court.
The prince asked who the peasant was suing and which judge he tried, then he says:
“Come to the royal palace tomorrow at noon.
The prince returned home and ordered to call that judge and a rich peasant to the palace.
The next day, a judge, a rich peasant and a poor peasant gathered in the royal court.
At noon, the prince went out onto the porch, asks the poor peasant:
- Say what you need from the king.
- So that he can judge us by the truth, - answered the poor man and began to tell. - We got together with a neighbor to the market. My mare was harnessed to his cart. On the way, the road caught us at night, we stopped in a field. In the morning we look - a foal is lying under the cart, my mare is foaled.
- No, you're lying! - the rich man shouted. - This is my cart foaled!
The prince asks the judge:
- You, judge, what do you say? To whom did you award the foal?
- I judged the truth: whose foal I awarded, - and points to a rich peasant: - his foal.
- How did you find out? - the prince asks.
The judge answers:
- So after all, the foal was lying under the cart, therefore, the cart was foaled, and not the mare.
The prince thought:
"Indeed, if the mare had foaled, why would the foal lie under the cart? The judge seems to have judged correctly."
At that time, the young wife of the tsarevich ran out onto the porch:
- Whose foal, it's easy to find out what to think for a long time.
- How is it so easy to find out? - asks the prince.
- And so, - the wife answers: - the foal will run after the mother.
You and your cart go to the left, - she says to the rich man, - and you lead your mare in the other direction, - orders the poor man.
So they did, and the foal ran after the mare.
“You see,” she says to the prince, “the judge did not judge the court for justice.
And the prince awarded: to give the foal to the poor peasant, and removed the unjust judge from office.
The old king and the queen returned home. The boyars began to slander him.
- Without you, Tsar-Sovereign, a man's daughter, a bast woman, she did all the business, she dismissed many of your faithful servants from office, and completely bewitched the Tsarevich. In everything he indulges her, he does not put us boyars and commanding people into anything.
The old king called his daughter-in-law:
- You did not obey me, and for that you are punished: go where you know.
She asks:
- Where will I go, how will I live when my most precious thing is here?
The old tsar thinks: "He regrets pearls and expensive clothes," and says:
“Take whatever you want, just get out of sight so that you’re not here by morning.”
And he ordered the horses to be harnessed, The next morning the king asks:
- Did the bast woman leave?