In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a peasant. Time passed - they signed him up as a soldier; he leaves his wife, began to say goodbye to her and says:
- Look, wife, live well, do not be ridiculous to good people, do not ruin the house, be the boss and wait for me; maybe I'll come back. Here's fifty rubles for you. Whether you give birth to a daughter or a son - all the same, save money until you are old: if you marry off your daughter, she will have a dowry; and if God gives a son and he enters into great years, he will be of great help in that money.
He said goodbye to his wife and went on a hike, where he was led. About three months later, the wife of two twin boys gave birth and named them Ivan, the soldiers' sons.
Let the boys grow up; like wheat dough on a dough, it stretches upward. The children turned ten years old, their mother gave them to science; soon they learned to read and write and the boyar and merchant children were tucked into their belts - no one could better read them, write them, or give an answer.
The boyar and merchant children were jealous and let those twins beat and pinch every day.
One brother says to another:
- How long will they beat us and pinch? Even then, Mother won't wear a dress on us, she won't buy hats; whatever we put on, all the comrades will rip to shreds! Let's deal with them in our own way.
And they agreed to stand for each other, not to betray each other. The next day, the boyar and merchant children began to bully them, and they endure it completely! - how we went to give change. Everyone got it! At once the guards came running, tied them up, good fellows, and put them in prison.
It came down to the tsar himself; he called those boys to him, asked about everything and ordered them to be released.
“They,” he says, “are not to blame: not the instigators!
Two Ivans grew up - soldiers' children and ask their mother:
- Mother, isn't there any money left from our parent? If you stayed, give us: we will go to the city to the fair, buy ourselves a good horse.
Mother gave them fifty rubles - twenty-five for a brother - and ordered:
- Listen, kids! As you go into the city, bow down to everyone you meet and cross.
- Well, darling!
So the brothers went to the city, they came to the horse-drawn carriage, they look - there are a lot of horses, but there is nothing to choose from; everything does not match them, good fellows!
One brother says to another:
- Let's go to the other end of the square; lo and behold, there are crowds of people there - apparently invisible!
We came there, pushed forward — two stallions stood by the oak pillars, chained on iron chains: one on six, the other on twelve; The horses are torn from their chains, bite the bit, dig the earth with their hooves. Nobody dares to come close to them.
- What will the price of your stallions be? - asks Ivan - a soldier's son from the owner.
- Not with your nose, brother, stick your nose here! There is a product, but not for you, there is nothing to ask.
- How do you know what you don’t know; maybe we'll buy it, you just have to look in the teeth.
The owner chuckled:
- Look, if the head is not a pity!
Immediately one brother approached the stallion that was chained on six chains, and the other brother came up to the one that was chained on twelve chains. They began to look in the teeth - where? The stallions reared up and snore ...
The brothers hit them with their knees in the chest - the chains flew apart, the stallions bounced five fathoms, fell to the ground.
- What did you boast about? We won't take these nags for nothing.
The people gasp, wonder: what kind of strong heroes have appeared? The owner almost cries: his stallions galloped out of town and let's walk around the whole clear field; no one dares to start them, how to catch them, no one will think of.
Ivana, the soldiers' children, took pity on the owner, went out into the open field, shouted in a loud voice, with a valiant whistle - the stallions came running and stood in place as if rooted to the spot; then the good fellows put on them iron chains, led them to oak pillars and chained them tightly.
We finished this business and went home.
They are walking along the road, and towards them a gray-haired old man; they forgot what their mother had been punishing them, and passed by, did not bow, but after that one caught himself:
- Oh, brother, what have we done? The old man was not given a bow; let's catch up with him and bow down. They caught up with the old man, took off their caps, bow to the belt and say:
- Forgive us, grandfather, for not saying hello. Mother punished us severely: whoever met on the way, give honor to everyone.
- Thank you, good fellows! Where did you go?
- To the city to the fair; we wanted to buy ourselves a good horse, but there are none that would be useful to us.
- How to be? Nothing to give you a horse?
- Oh, grandfather, if you give it, we will thank you forever!
- Well, let's go!
The old man led them to a great mountain, opens the cast-iron door and leads the heroic horses:
- Here are the horses for you, good fellows! Go with God, have your health!
They thanked them, got on horseback and rode home.
We arrived at the courtyard, tied the horses to a post and entered the hut. Mother began to ask:
- What, kids, have you bought yourself a horse?
- They didn't buy it, they got it for nothing.
- Where did you take them?
- They put it near the hut.
- Oh, children, look - who would not have taken away!
- No, mother, not such horses: let alone take them away - and you cannot approach them!
Mother went out, looked at the heroic horses and burst into tears:
- Well, sons, it is true, you are not my breadwinner. The next day, the sons ask their mother:
- Let us go to the city, we will buy ourselves a saber.
- Go, darlings!
They got together, went to the smithy; come to the master.
- Do, - they say, - we have a saber.
- Why do it! There are ready-made, take as much as you like!
- No, brother, we need such sabers to weigh three hundred poods.
- Oh, what have you invented! But who will turn such a colossus? And you will not find such a forge in the whole world!
There is nothing to do - good fellows went home and hung their heads. They walk along the road, and again the same old man comes across to meet them.
- Hello, young boys!
- Hello, grandfather!
- Where did you go?
- To the city, to the smithy, they wanted to buy themselves a saber, but there are no such ones that we would have on hand.
- That's bad! Something to give you a saber?
- Oh, grandfather, if you give it, we will thank you forever!
The old man led them to a great mountain, opened the cast-iron door and brought out two heroic sabers. They took the sabers, thanked the old man, and they felt joyful, merry in their souls!
They come home, the mother asks:
- What, kids, did you buy yourself a saber?
- They didn't buy it, they got it for nothing.
- Where did you take them?
- They put it near the hut.
- Look, no matter how someone took it away!
- No, mother, let alone take it away, you can't even take it away.
Mother went out into the courtyard, glanced - two heavy sabers, heroic ones, were set against the wall, the hut was barely holding on! She burst into tears and says:
- Well, sons, it’s true, you are not my breadwinner!
In the morning, Ivans - the soldiers' children saddled their good horses, took their heroic sabers, came to the hut, said goodbye to their own mother:
- Bless us, mother, on a long journey.
- Be over you, children, my indestructible parental blessing! Go with God, show yourself, see people; do not offend anyone in vain, and do not yield to evil enemies.
- Don't be afraid, mother! We have such a saying: I’m driving - I don’t fist, but I’ll hit it - I won’t let it go!
The good fellows got on their horses and drove off. Whether it is close, far, long, short - soon the tale tells itself, not soon the work is done - they come at the crossroads, and there are two pillars. On one pillar it is written: "Whoever goes to the right will be the king"; on another pillar it is written: "Whoever goes to the left will be killed."
The brothers stopped, read the inscriptions and thought: where to whom to go? If both of them take the same road - not honor, not praise for their heroic strength, valiant prowess; go alone to the left - no one wants to die!
Yes, there is nothing to do - says one of the brothers to the other:
- Well, brother, I am stronger than you; let me go to the left and see what death can happen to me? And you go to the right: maybe God willing - you will become a king!
They began to say goodbye, gave each other a handkerchief and made the following covenant: to go each his own way, to put up poles along the way, to write about themselves on those poles for the nobility, for the knowledge; every morning to wipe your face with a brother's handkerchief: if death happens; in such trouble, go to look for the dead. Good fellows dispersed in different directions. Whoever put his horse to the right reached the glorious kingdom.
In this kingdom lived a tsar with a tsarina, they had a daughter, princess Nastasya the Beautiful.
Tsar Ivan saw - a soldier's son, fell in love with him for his heroic prowess and, without hesitation for a long time, gave his daughter into marriage for him, named him Ivan Tsarevich and ordered him to rule the whole kingdom. Ivan Tsarevich lives in joy, admires his wife, maintains order in the kingdom and amuses himself with animal hunting.
At some time he began to gather for the hunt, put harness on the horse and found in the saddle - two vials of healing and living water sewn up; looked at those bubbles and put them back in the saddle. "It is necessary," he thinks, "to keep it for the time being; not even an hour - they will be needed."
And his brother Ivan is a soldier's son, who went by the left road, rode day and night tirelessly. A month passed, and another, and a third, and he arrived in an unfamiliar state - right in the capital city. In that state, there is great sadness: the houses are covered with black cloth, people stagger as if sleepy.
He hired himself the worst apartment from a poor old woman and began to ask her:
- Tell me, grandmother, why is all the people in your country so sad and all houses are hung with black cloth?
- Ah, good fellow! Great grief overwhelmed us: every day a twelve-headed serpent emerges from the blue sea, from behind a gray stone and eats a person at a time, now it's the king's turn ... He has three beautiful princesses; only now they took the eldest to the seaside - a snake to be devoured. Ivan - the soldier's son got on his horse and galloped to the blue sea, to the gray stone; on the shore is a beautiful princess, chained to an iron chain. She saw the knight and said to him:
- Get out of here, good fellow! The twelve-headed serpent will soon come here; I will be lost, and you cannot escape death: the fierce serpent will eat you!
- Do not be afraid, - the red girl, maybe choke.
Ivan, a soldier's son, came up to her, grabbed the chain with his heroic hand and tore it into small pieces, like a rotten twine; after lying down on the knees of the red girl.
- I will sleep, and you look at the sea: as soon as the cloud rises, the wind will rustle, the sea will stir - immediately wake me up, fellow.
The red girl obeyed and began to look at the sea.
Suddenly a cloud moved, the wind rustled, the sea stirred - a serpent emerges from the blue sea, rises up the mountain. The princess woke up Ivan, the soldier's son; he got up, only jumped on his horse, and the kite was already flying:
- You, Ivanushka, why did you come? After all, this is my place! Now say goodbye to the white light and get yourself into my throat as soon as possible - it will be easier for you!
“You're lying, you damned snake! If you do not swallow it, you will choke! - Ivan answered, drew his sharp saber, swung, struck and cut off all twelve heads of the snake; raised a gray stone, put their heads under the stone, threw the torso into the sea, and went back home to the old woman, ate and got drunk, went to bed and slept for three days.
At that time the king called the water carrier.
- Go, - he says, - to the seaside, collect at least the princess's bones.
The water carrier came to the blue sea, sees - the princess is alive, unharmed in anything, put her on a cart and took her to a dense, dense forest; brought it into the forest and let's sharpen the knife.
- What are you going to do? the princess asks.
- I'm sharpening a knife, I want to cut you!
The princess wept:
“Don’t cut me, I didn’t do any harm to you.”
- Tell your father that I delivered you from the snake, so have mercy!
Nothing to do - agreed. Let's go to the palace; The tsar was delighted and granted that water carrier a colonel. This is how Ivan, a soldier's son, woke up, called the old woman, gave her money and asked:
- Go, grandmother, to the market, buy what you need, but listen to what you say between people, is there anything new?
The old woman ran to the market, bought various supplies, listened to the news of the people, came back and said:
- There is such a rumor among the people: our tsar had a big dinner, sat at the table kings and envoys, boyars and famous people; at that time a red-hot arrow flew into the window and fell in the middle of the hall, to that arrow was a letter tied from another twelve-headed serpent. The serpent writes: if you don’t send the middle princess to me, I will burn your kingdom with fire, scatter ashes. Today, poor woman, they will take her to the blue sea, to the gray stone.
Ivan, the soldier's son, has now saddled his good horse, sat down and galloped off to the seaside. The princess says to him:
- Why are you, good fellow? Let it be my turn to accept death, to shed hot blood; and what for you to disappear?
- Do not be afraid, red maiden!
He only had time to say that a fierce snake was flying at him, firing fire, threatening him with death.
The hero struck him with a sharp saber and cut off all twelve heads; He put his heads under a stone, threw his torso into the sea, and he returned home, ate and got drunk, and again lay down for three days, for three nights. The water carrier came again, saw that the princess was alive, put her on a cart, took her to a dense forest and began to sharpen a knife. The princess asks:
- Why are you sharpening a knife?
- And I'm sharpening a knife, I want to cut you. Swear an oath that you tell your father as I need, so I will have mercy on you.
The princess gave him an oath, he brought her to the palace; The tsar rejoiced and granted the water carrier the rank of general.
Ivan, the soldier's son, woke up from sleep on the fourth day and told the old woman to go to the market and listen to the news.
The old woman ran to the market, turned back and said:
- The third snake appeared, sent a letter to the tsar, and in the letter demands: take out the lesser princess to be devoured.
Ivan - a soldier's son saddled his good horse, sat down and galloped to the blue sea.
On the shore is a beautiful princess, chained to a stone on an iron chain. The hero grabbed the chain, shook it and tore it like a rotten string; after the red girl lay down on her knees:
- I will sleep, and you look at the sea: as soon as the cloud rises, the wind will rustle, the sea will stir - immediately wake me up, fellow.
The princess began to gaze at the sea ... Suddenly a cloud moved, the wind rustled, the sea stirred - a serpent emerges from the blue sea, rises up the mountain. The princess began to wake Ivan - the soldier's son, pushed, pushed - no, she did not wake up; She cried tearfully, and a hot tear dropped on his cheek: from that the hero woke up, ran to his horse, and the good horse knocked out the earth half an arshin under him with his hooves. The twelve-headed serpent flies, it bursts with fire; looked at the hero and exclaimed:
- You are good, you are good-looking, good fellow, but you will not be alive, I will eat you, and with bones!
“You’re lying, you damned snake, you’ll choke.
They began to fight in mortal combat; Ivan, the soldier's son, waved his saber so fast and forcefully that it got red-hot, you can't hold it in your hands! He prayed to the princess:
- Save me, red maiden! Take off your expensive handkerchief, wet it in the blue sea and let the saber wrap.
The princess immediately wetted her handkerchief and gave it to the good fellow.
He wrapped his saber and let's chop the snake; I cut off all twelve heads for him, put those heads under a stone, threw the body into the sea, and he rode home, ate and got drunk and went to bed for three days.
The king again sends a water carrier to the seaside. A water carrier arrived, took the princess and took her to a dense forest; took out a knife and began to sharpen?
- What are you doing? the princess asks.
- I am sharpening the knife, I want to cut you! Tell your father that I defeated the snake, so have mercy.
Frightened the red maiden, vowed to speak in his words. And the younger daughter was the king's favorite; when he saw her alive, in nothing unharmed, he rejoiced more than ever and wanted to favor the water carrier - to marry him to the lesser princess.
There was a rumor about that all over the state. Ivan, a soldier's son, learned that the tsar was planning a wedding, and went straight to the palace, and there the feast was going on, the guests were drinking and eating, they were playing with all sorts of games.
The younger princess glanced at Ivan, the soldier's son, saw her expensive handkerchief on his saber, jumped up from the table, took him by the hand and said to her father:
- Sovereign Father! This is the one who delivered us from the fierce serpent, from vain death; and the water carrier only knew how to sharpen a knife and say: I'm sharpening a knife, I want to cut you!
The tsar got angry, immediately ordered the water carrier to be hanged, and the princess married Ivan, a soldier's son, and they had great fun. The young began to live, live and make good.
While all this was happening with Ivan's brother, the soldier's son, with Ivan Tsarevich, this is what happened. Once he went hunting, and he came across a swift deer. Ivan Tsarevich struck the horse and set off in pursuit of him; raced, raced and rode out into a wide meadow. Then the deer disappeared from my eyes. The prince looks and thinks where to direct the way now? Lo and behold, a stream flows in that meadow, two gray ducks are swimming on the water. He took aim with a gun, fired and killed a couple of ducks; pulled them out of the water, put them in a bag and drove on.
I rode, rode, saw the white-stone chambers, dismounted from the horse, tied it to a post and went into the rooms. Everywhere is empty - there is not a single person, only in one room the stove is heated, there is a frying pan on the pole, the appliance is ready on the table: a plate, and a fork, and a knife. Ivan Tsarevich took ducks out of his bag, plucked them, cleaned them, put them in a frying pan and put them in the stove; fried, put on the table, cuts and eats.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a red girl appears to him - such a beauty that you cannot say in a fairy tale or write with a pen - and says to him:
- Bread and salt, Ivan Tsarevich!
- You are welcome, red maiden! Sit down to eat with me.
- I would sit with you, but I'm afraid: you have a magic horse.
- No, red maiden, did not recognize! My magic horse stayed at home, I arrived at a simple one. As soon as the red girl heard this, she immediately began to sulk, pouted and became a terrible lioness, opened her mouth and swallowed the prince whole. She was not a simple girl, she was the sister of three serpents who were beaten by Ivan, the soldier's son.
Ivan, the soldier's son, thought about his brother; took a handkerchief out of his pocket, wiped it off, looked - the entire handkerchief was covered in blood. He was greatly saddened:
- What a parable! My brother went in a good direction, wherever he could be a king, but he got death!
He asked for leave from his wife and father-in-law and rode on his heroic horse to look for his brother, Ivan Tsarevich. Whether close, far, soon, short - he comes to the very state where his brother lived; asked about everything and found out that the tsarevich had gone and the hunt, and so he disappeared - he had never been back. Ivan, a soldier's son, went hunting along the same road; and he comes across a fast-footed deer The hero set off in pursuit of him. I drove out into a wide meadow - the deer disappeared from my eyes; looks - a stream is flowing in the meadow, two ducks are swimming on the water. Ivan - the soldier's son shot the ducks, arrived at the white-stone chambers and entered the rooms. Everywhere is empty, only in one room the stove is heated, there is a frying pan on a pole. He roasted ducks, carried them out into the yard, sat on the porch, cut and eats.
Suddenly a red girl appears to him:
- Bread and salt, good fellow! Why are you eating in the yard?
Ivan, a soldier's son, answers:
- Yes, in the upper room reluctantly, it will be more fun in the yard! Sit down with me, red maiden!
- I would gladly sit down, but I'm afraid of your magic horse.
- Enough, beauty! I arrived on a simple horse.
She believed and began to sulk, pouted as a terrible lioness and just wanted to swallow the good fellow, when a magic horse came running and grabbed her with heroic legs.
Ivan, the soldier's son, drew his sharp saber and shouted in a loud voice:
- Stop, damn it! You swallowed my brother Ivan Tsarevich! Throw it back, or I'll chop you into small pieces.
The lioness threw out Ivan Tsarevich: he himself is dead.
Then Ivan, the soldier's son, took out of the saddle two vials of healing and living water; sprinkled his brother with healing water - flesh-flesh grows together; sprinkled living water - the prince stood up and said:
- Oh, how long I slept!
Ivan, a soldier's son, answers:
- You would sleep forever if not for me!
Then he takes his saber and wants to chop off the lioness's head; she turned into a girl-soul, such a beauty that it was impossible to tell, she began to cry tearfully and ask for forgiveness. Looked at her indescribable beauty, Ivan, a soldier's son, took mercy and set her free.
The brothers came to the palace, made a three-day feast; after we said goodbye; Ivan Tsarevich remained in his state, and Ivan, a soldier's son, went to his wife and began to live with her in love and harmony.
