Once upon a time there was a king who was known throughout the country for his wisdom, and there was nothing he knew about the things of the world, and it seemed that even the most secret things could reach his ears. The king, however, had a peculiar habit of bringing him another dish every day after supper, when the table had been cleared and everyone else had left. However, the dish was covered with a lid, and no one knew what it contained, not even the attendant, for the king always waited until he was the only one left in the room before lifting the lid and eating it.

This went on for a long time, and one day, the waiter who served the bowl could no longer restrain his curiosity and brought the dish into his room. He carefully locked the door, lifted the lid, and saw that the dish on the plate was a white snake. When he saw it, he couldn't help but want to taste it, so he cut a small piece with a knife and put it in his mouth. As soon as the snake touched his tongue, he heard some strange little voices whispering outside the window. He went to the window and listened, and found that it was a flock of sparrows chatting, talking to each other about what they had seen and heard in the fields and forests. After eating that piece of snake meat, he can now understand animal language!

Coincidentally, on this very day, the queen's most beautiful ring was missing, because this attendant could go anywhere, so the suspicion of stealing the ring fell on his head. The king called him in and scolded him, and threatened that if he could not tell who the thief was the next morning, he himself would be condemned as a thief and put to death. The squire repeatedly declared his innocence, but it was useless, and the king did not change his mind.

The attendant was troubled and frightened, so he went into the courtyard to think of a way out of his doom. A few ducks sat quietly by the brook in the yard, combing their feathers with their beaks and whispering. The attendant stood aside and listened. They tell each other about the places they have been to in the morning and what good things they have found to eat.

One of the ducks complained, "I have something very heavy in my stomach. I was in a hurry to eat, and I swallowed a ring under the Queen's window. ”

The attendant immediately grabbed the duck by the neck, took it to the kitchen, and said to the cook, "Give you a fat duck." Please slaughter it. ”

"Okay," said the cook, sliding the duck with his hand, "this guy has been fattening himself so hard that he's been waiting in the oven for a long time." So saying, the cook cut off the duck's head, and when he entrailed the duck, he found the queen's ring inside.

The squire easily proved his innocence. The king, feeling that he ought not to have been wronged in such a way, and wished to make amends, allowed him to make a request, and promised that he would give him the best position in the palace if he opened his mouth. But the squire refused all this, and only asked for a horse and some money for his travel, so that he could go out and see the outside world. The king granted his request, and he set out on his way.

One day, he came to a pond and saw three fish in the pond that had made the reeds entangled, and his mouth was open and he wanted to drink. Although it was often said that the fish were dumb, he heard them lamenting and lamenting their tragic death. He was kind, dismounted, and put the three fish back into the water. The fish was so happy that it poked its head out of the water and shouted at him, "We will remember you and repay you for saving your life." ”

He rode on his horse and continued on his way. After a while, he felt as if he heard something in the sand beneath his feet. He listened for a while, and heard an ant king complaining, "Why don't the humans who ride stupid animals stay away from us?" How many of us have been trampled to death by the heavy hooves of this stupid horse! So he hastened to take the horse to the side path. The Ant King shouted to him, "We will remember you." Good intentions will naturally be rewarded! ”

The path led him into a forest. He saw two old crows standing by the nest, throwing the little crows out. "You lazy, useless stuff! Get me out! The old crow scolded, "We can't feed you anymore." You've all grown so big that you should feed yourselves. But one by one the little crows lay on the ground, flapping their wings and shouting, "What a pity we are!" No one can help us. We have to feed ourselves, but we can't even fly! What else can we do but lie here and starve to death? The good young man jumped down from his horse, drew his sword, and killed the horse, leaving it for the little crow to be food. The little crows jumped up at once, eating and shouting, "We will remember you." Good intentions will naturally be rewarded! ”

He can now only walk on two legs. After walking a long way, he came to a big city. A crowd of people chattered in the streets, and a man on horseback shouted: "The princess will choose a husband, but the suitor must complete a difficult task, and if he does not succeed, he will have to give his own life." "A lot of people have tried, but they've just lost their lives in vain. As soon as our young man saw the princess, he was captivated by her beauty, and he forgot about the danger and went to the king to propose marriage.

He was taken to the sea, and a ring was thrown into the sea in front of him. The king ordered him to fish the ring from the bottom of the sea, and said, "If you can't catch it, we'll push you back into the sea until the waves swallow you up." Everyone felt sorry for the handsome young man, and they all quietly left, leaving him alone by the sea.

He stood by the sea, thinking about what to do. Suddenly, he saw three fish swimming towards him, and they were the same fish he had saved. The fish in the middle had a shell in its hand, swam to the shore and spit it at the young man's feet. He picked up the shell and opened it, only to see that the gold ring was inside. He went to the king with the ring in high spirits, thinking that he would give him the promised reward.

However, when the haughty princess learned of his humble origins, she looked down on him very much and asked him to complete the second task first. She went into the garden, scattered ten sacks of millet on the grass with her own hands, and said, "Tomorrow before sunrise you must pick up all of them, not a single grain missing!" ”

The young man sat in the garden, thinking about how he could accomplish the task. But he couldn't come up with anything, so he sat there sadly and waited for the dawn to be taken to death. When the first rays of sunlight shone into the garden, he saw that the ten bags of millet were already full of them, and there were no more than one grain. It turned out that the ant king had come with thousands of ants at night. These grateful little animals worked tirelessly to pick up all the millet and put it in bags.

After a while, the princess herself came to the garden, and was astonished to see that the young man had completed the task given to him. But her haughty heart had not yet been conquered, so she said, "Although he has accomplished two tasks, I cannot marry him unless he can pluck an apple from the tree of life." ”

The young man had no idea where the tree of life grew, but he set out anyway, and was ready to keep looking for it until he could no longer walk. However, he did not have much hope, he searched through three kingdoms, and one day he came to a forest. He was lying under a tree and was just about to go to bed when he suddenly heard a rustling sound on the branches and a golden apple fell into his hand! At the same time, three crows flew down and landed on his knees, saying, "We are the three crows you saved." When we grew up, we heard that you were looking for golden apples, so we flew across the sea to the end of the world where the tree of life grew, and plucked apples for you. ”

The young man was overjoyed to return home, and returned to the beautiful princess with the golden apple, and now the princess had nothing more to say. They cut the fruit of life in half and ate it, and her heart was filled with love for him, and they lived happily ever after.