Three fairy tales

– He-he, well, you know, son, I should have checked your chosen one. Is she worthy of you, is she not greedy for gold. What if for her clothes and jewelry are more valuable than you?

Here the girl pouted her lips. And the king continued:

– And now I see that you deserve each other.

The couple immediately cheered up and exhaled easily. The prince grabbed the bride’s hand, approaching his father, and both knelt down. The son asked his father:

– Bless us, father.

The King touched their foreheads with a satisfied smile and said:

– I bless you, my children, for a long and happy life together.

Her parents arrived from the market. She kindly greeted them, laid a tablecloth on the table for them all. The king and the prince were delighted and immediately wooed the girl, saying that she would marry him. Parents and daughter agreed to have a wedding in the palace. And the king nevertheless decided to tell his wife that he had decided to marry his son to a village girl. And upon returning to the palace, he went straight to her.

– How?! – furrowing her brows and pursing her lips, the queen murmured: – Well, I already found a bride for him, it doesn’t happen more beautifully, just look. Royal bloodlines. Why do we need a rustic? Here, look, her portrait. Check out what a beauty!

The king looked and thought:

– God, it doesn’t get any worse. Does my son deserve better? – and said aloud: – Do not worry, my love. This village girl will not be more beautiful than you anyway. You should only see her: neither your grace, nor sophistication. She doesn’t even know how to wear royal outfits. Where does she reach for you? That’s why I chose the country one, so as not to overshadow you.

– Yes?! – her face smoothed out, she raised her head high and said with mock pride: – You’re right, dear, there is some truth in this.

Her cutesy manner seemed to make her head and shoulders taller. And the king embraced his wife, kissed her on the forehead, that the woman blossomed.

At the imminent wedding, the queen was sitting on the throne, she was surrounded by ladies-in-waiting, preening her, bringing a mirror to check if any curl had fallen. The ceremony was already in full swing, the feast was a mountain, the music was playing. A sea of distinguished guests gathered. The queen did not even look in the direction of her daughter-in-law – she did not care what kind of ugly girl was brought to the palace. She just admired herself in the mirror, saying:

– What a beauty I am, you can’t find such a beauty in the whole wide world, – and as if in time with her speeches, she heard the whisper of the crowd: – Oh, what a beauty!

The queen turned up her nose: yes, I am! But then she heard a continuation of the speech:

– What a lovely couple. What a beautiful bride, and you can’t say that she’s not a princess.

– Bride?! What bride? – the queen raised an eyebrow in surprise and turned towards the newlyweds and, seeing her daughter-in-law, was stunned: an unwritten beauty stood next to her son.

– Who is it? Who dragged her? Changed! Was there a villager there? – and with her eyes she began to look for her husband, expecting an explanation from him. Not finding him nearby, she turned to the maid of honor, deciding that she was mistaken: – And how exquisite she is in a wedding dress. And a diamond necklace suits her. I have never seen such a princess?

Involuntarily admiring her, she forgot. The maid of honor just batted her eyelashes stupidly, not daring to comment on anything. And then the queen started up, as if waking up from a dream:

– So this is that redneck? – If that doesn’t happen, I’ll think of something! Only I alone will be the most beautiful in this kingdom. I’ll take it out, and I’ll find another for my son, – she threw the mirror on the floor with anger, jumped up. And convulsively fanning her face, she passed through the crowd, nervously pushing the courtiers aside. – My feet won’t be here, – she hissed angrily under her breath, rushing to her chambers.

The bride and groom were so intoxicated with love and did not take their eyes off each other that they did not notice the absence of the queen. Everyone was dancing, lightly circling around the hall. The hall was full of colorful outfits. The king noticed how his wife quickly left the guests, and, apologizing to noble persons, followed her.

– What happened, dear, why did you leave the ceremony? Let’s go, everyone is waiting for us.

– I’m not going anywhere, go alone. I got a headache.

– Are you sure you weren’t offended by anything? – He gently lifted her chin and slyly looked into her eyes.

– No, really, just a headache from the noise. I’ll be back later, don’t leave the guests, – she was cunning, pretending to be tired.

– Well, dear, take care of yourself, rest, – and, kissing his wife on the cheek, he left.

Left alone, the queen began biting her lips as she concocted a plan to get rid of her daughter-in-law.

– Oh, – how indignant the queen was, she was crying, twitching her upper lip and biting closer: – how can I exterminate my daughter-in-law?

The girl’s parents went home after the feast, and the prince and his wife were so happy and loved each other that they did not part for a minute. Even a short separation caused them pain. But the main affairs of the father pushed love into the background.

One day, the prince and the king went on business to a neighboring state to sign peace agreements. They were gone for a week. The Queen, seizing the moment, rubbed her hands and said smugly, smiling:

– Now is the right time, I should not miss this chance.

She called the servants and ordered to secretly steal the daughter-in-law from her chambers at night, so that no one would see and take her to an abandoned castle, which was located far beyond the forest in the swamp. And imprison her there like a prison. Together with the servant girl, she sent a chest of jewelry there, sarcastically remarking that it was not appropriate for a noble lady to look bad there:

– A lady must be a lady even in a swamp. And this lady only belongs there, next to the frogs and mosquitoes.

She ordered everyone to be silent, otherwise they would lose their lives. Here, from fear for their lives, the servants involved in this were silent.

In the morning the whole palace was raised to its feet: the daughter-in-law was gone! What? How? The guards rushed to the queen and fell at her feet:

– We ask for mercy, empress, you did not order us to be executed. We have not seen who and how kidnapped your daughter-in-law.

– Oh, trouble! What will I say to the poor son? – the queen made a sour face and looked up from the mirror, br ushed away an artificial tear from her eyes with a satin handkerchief: – You are not to blame. I have already been informed that this scoundrel ran away at night to her lover and even took jewelry with her.

Soon, the sad news of treason spread throughout the state. The king and his son rushed in and, not seeing the girl, rushed to ask the queen if people were really saying where she had gone. And she answers:

– Yes, she had already married another during this time, she could not wait. Apparently she did not love you, your redneck, my beloved son.

The son did not believe his mother, but did not say anything to her. He yearned for his wife day and night, grew thin – did not eat anything. He sits at the table, they bring him food, and the food gets stuck in his throat – only his beloved wife was before his eyes. He could not believe that such sincere love was a game, that his beloved had betrayed him. She was so humble, with a pure heart. There was no way she could do this to him.

Something else, something bad happened to her. We need to go look for her.

And then the mother decided to console her son, brought him a bride, a princess, but so terrible, crooked, pockmarked, demolished like potatoes, with little eyes. She smiled at the prince, and her teeth sticking out in different directions were also fastened with braces. The prince was frightened, grabbed his hat and cloak on the move and ran headlong away. He ran away from the palace, saddling a horse, and rode wherever his eyes looked.

How long, how short, did our prince ride and his horse came across the house of that sorceress woman who cured his wife in childhood. The horse stopped, neighed, shaking its head. The guy jumped to the ground, dusted himself off. Just as he was about to knock, the door was opened and an elderly woman appeared on the threshold:

– Hello king’s son, where are you going? – What did you come with? looked him over carefully.

– Yes, that’s the trouble happened to me. The wife is missing, beautiful. The world is not dear to me without her, and my mother wants to marry me again to a slanting, pockmarked princess. I can’t do this anymore, I’m looking for my beloved wife. But I don’t know who to ask.

And the sorceress answered him:

– Come into the house, rest from the road, taste my jelly with milk, otherwise you have completely lost weight. You need to refresh yourself. And there we will decide how to help your grief.

The prince obeyed and entered the room, not even paying attention to how the woman recognized him as a prince. And there on the bench another woman sits and shakes the ball. Different fragrant herbs hang in the corners. Their scent intoxicated him. Even he was drawn to sleep.

– And this is my sister, – she introduced the guest to the woman. – Sit down, don’t be shy.

– Oh, prince, we have been waiting for you for a long time. Come in, my dear, you will be a dear guest.

– How do you know me? – only now he was surprised.

Both chuckled and looked at each other.

– Yes, we are such unusual grannies. We, my dear, know a lot of things.

– I need to hurry, look for my wife. I feel like she’s in trouble.

– We know, we know. But still, don’t rush, first gain strength. Taste our food, sleep, and in the morning we will pick you up and show you the way.

The prince was delighted, cheered up:

– Do you know where she is?

– Of course, we all know.

– Oh, I can’t wait, I’m ready to hit the road right now.

– Ah, fidget, – the hostess patted him on the shoulder and seated him on a bench at the table. She poured jelly, cut off a piece of bread, sprinkled it with salt: – Eat and strength will come.

The prince obeyed, began to eat with pleasure, his appetite appeared, and the old women shook their heads, satisfied, and smacked their lips. They greeted him, because they already knew about everything in advance – how could they not help him?

Barely eating, the prince yawned and stretched. They escorted the sorcerer to the bed, put him there, and they themselves read prayers, walk around the room with smoking herbs, they lit a candle. And the prince dreamed that he was standing on a flowering meadow, dragonflies were flying around, butterflies were fluttering. His beloved appears before him, smiles affectionately and says in a low voice:

– Believe me, my love, I did not betray you. I love you like before, even more.

She said this and disappeared. The prince woke up, and the dawn was already dawning outside the window. He lay down again, and before his eyes stands the image of his beloved. And his soul is calm. He realized that in the palace his mother had deceived him, there was no betrayal, as he had thought before.

Everyone ate barley porridge with milk in the morning, the women gave the guest tea with herbs, and he felt cheerfulness in his whole body.

– Here, take the magic grid with you. When you come to the place where your wife is being kept in the swamps, throw it on yourself and become invisible, otherwise you won’t be able to overcome thirty warriors armed with an ax and get into the tower of that castle. And then, together under the net, go out unnoticed and come back to us here, – the healer handed him a light net, and her sister handed him a map of the forest:

– From my late husband, a forester left. This is where you’ll need it.

He did just that. He thanked them, bowed and galloped towards the swamps.

He rides through the forest, and the trees are getting thicker and thicker, the path is getting narrower and narrower. He sees a large stone standing in the middle of the path and the paths branched out. He looked at the map, but it was not indicated there. He scratched his head, and turned right, towards the swamps, as he reasoned that the frogs croak strongly on that side and it is also clear on the map where the swamps are drawn on the right side. So he let it go there, already feeling in his heart that he would soon meet his beloved. And the prince was not mistaken.

A putrid smell was already in the nose, the quagmire roared ahead, uttering an ominous groan. As soon as he drove closer, he heard a bewitching female voice:

– Boy, why are you so sad? Come to me, you see, I’m bored here alone.

The prince turned around and saw a beautiful girl. She sat waist-deep in the swamp and only slightly splashed the muddy water with her cassock with her hands.

– What do you doubt, prince? – Kikimora winked. – I’ve been waiting for you.

– Hmm, strange, – the prince thought:– people told me that kikimoras are terrible, these swamp residents are dangerous, but she seems beautiful.

He dismounted and tied his horse. He came closer to find out who she was.

– Do you swim here? – nodded inquiringly.

Kikimora laughed.

– Come on and swim with me.

The prince approached, looked at her beauty, but recoiled: instead of hair, brown algae moved on her head. The bright green eyes of the swamp beauty beckoned him to her.

– Yes, go away, – he waved. – Of course, you are beautiful, no doubt, but in my heart I have another.

– Oh, I understand, I loved the foolish forest owner Leshy, but he went to the witch Baba Yaga.

The prince only widened his eyes in surprise.

– Okay, I’ll help your grief. Over there, you see, behind those tall trees, the tower sticks out?

He stood up on tiptoe, screwed up his eyes, and through the thick haze of fog he could make out the outlines of the cone of the roof.

– Is that the peak over there? – he pointed with his hand.

Kikimora nodded and plunged into the bog with a splash and noise, leaving large bubbles behind her, and only the algae from her head still stuck out on the surface of the bog.

The prince found a strong stick and walked cautiously forward, feeling his way. The frogs croaked uncontrollably, straining and calling to each other:

– Here he is, he’s unskillful, -he’s staggering around, he’ll dive in and drown.

Having got out of the swamp, he stepped on solid ground, almost burying his nose in the walls of the old castle. Sneaking unnoticed along the wall to the gate, crouched in the reeds, hearing the laughter of the guards. Tipsy, four men in helmets sat on empty barrels and played dominoes.

The prince threw a net over his head and became invisible. Stepping slowly, he crept past them and slipped inside. He passed through the whole courtyard, along which other guards walked, sheep bleated in the barn and horses neighed. The prince almost stepped on a duck looking for a worm in the ground.

He went up the spiral staircase and opened the door to the room where his beauty was languishing. She sat hunched over the embroidery by the window. A white mouse ran nearby and, squeaking with joy, collected spilled beads. At the feet of the girl stood a chest with the jewels that she allegedly stole.

The prince stood and could not look away, full of tenderness. His wife did not notice. Only then did he remember that he was invisible and tore off the net. The girl screamed in surprise and almost fainted. The prince caught her in time and pressed her to his chest. When they were close, they hugged and she burst into tears with burning tears, and the tears began to fall and turn into beads. By the wall lay a pile of carpets embroidered with beads, and such beautiful patterns – there was nothing there: different flowers and birds, animals, and even a portrait of her beloved husband. And the big wooden chest was full of beads. When the recluse cried on Monday, white beads fell from her eyes, on Tuesday – red, on Wednesday green, and so on in different colors. The prince was surprised