German fairy tale ("Children's and Household Tales" by the Brothers Grimm)
It happened once that the wife of a rich man fell ill, and when she felt that her end was near, she called her only daughter to her bed and said: “Dear child, always be kind and do not forget God, then he will be your helper; and I will look at you from the next world and will always be with you in spirit. Then she closed her eyes and rested.
My daughter went to her mother's grave every day and was always kind to everyone, and did not forget God. Winter came, covered the grave with a snow canopy, and as soon as the snow melted from the spring sun, the father of the orphan married another woman.
The stepmother brought her two daughters into the house, white-faced and beautiful in appearance, but evil and heartless. Then came a difficult time for the poor stepdaughter. “Is this fool going to sit in our rooms! - the stepmother's daughters spoke. “Whoever wants to eat bread, go and earn it: get out of here, dishwasher!”
They took away her good clothes, put on her an old gray dress and shod her in wooden shoes. “Look at this proud woman, how she dressed up!” - they started talking, began to laugh and took the poor thing into the kitchen.
There, from morning till evening, she had to bear all the menial work, get up early, before light, carry water, make a fire, cook and wash. Moreover, the named sisters tried in every way to upset her, ridiculed her, poured peas and lentils prepared for food into the ashes, so that the poor orphan had to choose them grain by grain from the ashes.
In the evening, tired from work, she did not even have a bed on which she could lie down: she had to lie down next to the hearth in the ashes and sleep on it. And since she was constantly covered with dust and dirt from the ashes, the evil sisters called her Zamarashka.
It happened one day that the father was going to the fair and asked his stepdaughters what they should bring from there? “Beautiful outfits,” one of them said. "Pearls and gems' said another. “Well, what about you, Zamarashka,” asked the father, “what do you want to bring?” - “Father, bring that twig that will whip you on the hat first of all on the way back; break that off and bring it to me!”
So he bought for his two stepdaughters elegant dresses, pearls and precious stones; and on the way back, while he was making his way through the green thicket of bushes, a hazel branch whipped him so hard that he knocked his hat off. He broke off that branch and took it with him.
Arriving home, he gave the stepdaughters what they liked, and Zamarashka - a hazel branch. Zamarashka thanked him, went to her mother's grave, planted her twig over it, and wept so inconsolably that her tears watered the twig abundantly. And the branch grew into a whole tree.
The dirty little thing went under this tree three times every day, wept and prayed there, and every time a little white bird flew up to that tree and sat down, and as soon as the poor thing expressed some desire, the bird would now fulfill it and throw down from the tree what she wishes.
It happened somehow that the king of that country started a festival, and that festival was to last three days; on this holiday, he planned to call all the beauties from all over the kingdom, so that his son could find a bride among them. Both her named sisters, having heard that they, too, should appear on that holiday, became more affectionate, called for Zamarashka and said: “Comb our hair, clean our shoes and fasten the buckles on them - we are going to the holiday in the Royal Castle».
The dirty girl obeyed them, but she began to cry, because she, too, wanted to go along with her sisters and dance; she even asked her stepmother to let her go to the feast. “You, Zamarashka,” the stepmother shouted, “you are all covered in mud and dust, and you are also going to the holiday! You don’t have a dress or shoes on - and you climb there to dance! When Zamarashka did not ask her anymore, the stepmother said to her: “Here I poured a full dish of lentils into the ashes, and if in two hours you manage to pick these lentils out of the ashes, then, perhaps, go along with the sisters to the holiday!”
The poor orphan went down the back stairs to the garden and shouted at the top of her voice: “Dove doves, dear friends, and all of you, little birds in the sky, flock here, help me, the poor one, collect lentils:
Those that are suitable, in a pot,
And unsuitable - in the crotch.
And at her call, two white doves flocked to the kitchen window, and then furry-legged tumblers, and then whole flocks of all kinds of birds from heaven and sank on the ashes. And the doves began to nod their heads and began to peck: peak, peak, peak, peak; and others too: peak, peak, peak, peak - and collected all the suitable grains in a dish. And in less than an hour everything was ready for them, and they flew away again through the same window.
Zamarashka brought the dish to her stepmother with joy and thought that now she would be allowed to go with her sisters to the holiday.
But the stepmother said to her: “No, Zamarashka, you don’t even have dresses, and you can’t dance, they will only laugh at you.” When the poor thing began to cry, the stepmother said: “Now, if you cleanly pick out two dishes of lentils for me from the ashes in one hour, then, perhaps, you will go.” And she thought: “Where can she do this?”
But when she poured two dishes of lentils into the ashes for her, the girl went out by the black porch into the garden and shouted: “Dove doves, dear friends, and all of you, birds in the sky, flock here, help me, poor, collect lentils:
Those that are suitable, in a pot,
And unsuitable - in the crotch.
And at her call, two white doves flocked to the kitchen window, and then furry-legged tumblers, and then whole flocks of all kinds of birds from under heaven and sank on the ashes. And the doves began to nod their heads and peck: peak, peak, peak, peak; and others too: peak, peak, peak, peak - and collected all the good grains in two dishes. And half an hour had not passed before they had everything ready, and they all flew out the window again.
The poor thing took both dishes to her stepmother and was glad that now she would be allowed to go to the feast with her sisters. But the stepmother said to her: “You are trying in vain: you will not go with us; you don’t even have clothes, and you don’t know how to dance; we would have to blush for you."
She turned her back on the poor thing and hurried away with her two proud daughters.
Left alone in the house. Zamarashka went to her mother's grave under a walnut tree and exclaimed:
Then the bird threw her a silver dress with gold and slippers embroidered with silk and silver.
The girl quickly dressed and hurried to the holiday. And her named sisters and stepmother, not knowing anything about it, thought that this was some foreign princess - she was such a beauty in her dress, decorated with gold. The mess never entered their heads: they thought that she was sitting at home and choosing lentils from the ashes.
The prince himself came out to meet the beauty, took her by the hand and danced with her. Yes, he didn’t want to dance with anyone else, and he didn’t let her hand out of his hand, and when one of the men approached her, the prince said: “I myself want to dance with her.”
So she danced until the evening. And when she wanted to return home, the prince said to her: "I will go with you and see you off." He wanted to see death, whose daughter she was and what house she came from. But she eluded him and climbed onto the dovecote.
The prince waited a little, saw that Zamarashka’s father was coming, and said to him: “There, a beauty has climbed onto the dovecote!” The father thought: “Isn’t it a Smudge?” - demanded an ax and a hook and cut the dovecote in two, but there was no one in it. And when they returned home, Zamarashka was still lying in her dirty dress on the ashes, and near her a small oil lamp burned dimly on a chimney.
The dirty girl was nimble: on one side she climbed the dovecote, and on the other she went down and found herself under a hazel tree in an instant; there she threw off her rich outfit, laid it on the grave, and the bird again took this outfit away, and Zamarashka herself again put on gray rags and sat down in the kitchen on a pile of ashes.
The next day, when the holiday began again, and the parents with the named sisters left the house again, Zamarashka went to the hazel and said:
Shake up, shake up you, my tree,
Sprinkle gold and silver on me.
And the bird threw off her dress, even richer, even more elegant than yesterday. And when she appeared at the festival in this outfit, everyone could not be surprised at her beauty.
And the prince was already waiting for her, immediately took her by the hand and danced with her alone. When other men approached her to invite her to dance, the prince would say: "I'm dancing with her."
When evening came, Zamarashka decided to leave, and the prince followed her and wanted to see what house she would enter; but she darted aside and ran into the garden behind the house. In that garden grew a beautiful large pear tree, and there were many wonderful pears in it; It was on him that Zamarashka climbed up, like a squirrel, and hid in its branches; and the prince did not even know where she had gone.
He waited a bit until Zamarashka's father came up and said to him: "Here a beauty slipped away from me, and it seems to me that she climbed onto this pear tree."
The father thought: “Isn’t this a Smudge?” - demanded an ax and cut down a tree; but there was no one in the tree. And when they all returned home, they saw Zamarashka, as always, on her heap of ashes.
She was nimble: on one side she climbed the tree, on the other side she jumped off, returned her outfit to the bird that was sitting on the hazel, and again put on her old tatters.
On the third day, when the parents and the named sisters left home, Zamarashka again went to her mother's grave and said to the tree:
Shake up, shake up you, my tree,
Sprinkle gold and silver on me.
Then the bird threw off her a dress so magnificent and so dazzling that no one had ever seen anything like it; and to this dress and shoes of pure gold.
When she appeared at the festivities in this outfit, everyone marveled at her, like a miracle.
The prince only danced with her, and if someone else approached her, he said: "I'm dancing with her."
When evening came, Shaggy wanted to leave, and the prince still wanted to follow her; but she eluded him so quickly that he did not keep up with her.
However, in advance he embarked on a trick: he ordered to smear the entire staircase with pitch. As Zamarashka ran down the stairs, one of her shoes stuck to the step. The prince raised his slipper, and that slipper was small, pretty, and all gold.
The next morning, the prince came with this shoe to Zamarashka's father and said to him: "My wife will be only the one for whom this golden shoe will fit."
Hearing this, both named sisters rejoiced, because their legs were beautiful.
The eldest went with the shoe to a special room and began to try it on in front of her mother. She began to try on and sees: it does not fit into her shoe thumb because the shoe is too small for her. So the mother gave her a knife and said: “Cut off your finger! After all, if you are a queen, you won’t have to walk!”
The mother's daughter obeyed, cut off her finger, squeezed her foot into the shoe, bit her lip in pain and went out to the prince. He took her as his bride, put her on a horse and took her to his home.
They had to drive past the grave; and two doves sit on a hazel and coo:
Ghouls, ghouls, ghouls,
The whole shoe is covered in blood:
This is not your bride.
The prince looked at the bride's leg and saw how blood was flowing from the shoe.
He immediately turned his horse, returned eldest daughter parents and said that this was not his real bride: let, they say, another sister try on a slipper.
This sister went to a special room, and when she began to put on a slipper, her fingers got into it, but the heel was too big. Then the mother gave her a knife and said: “Cut off a piece from the heel! If you're a queen, you won't have to walk anymore!"
The daughter chopped off part of her heel, squeezed her foot somehow into the shoe, hid the unbearable pain and went out to the prince. He put her on his horse like a bride and rode with her.
But when they passed by a hazel tree, two doves sat on it and cooed:
Ghouls, ghouls, ghouls,
The whole shoe is covered in blood:
The leg, apparently, has no place in it!
This is not your bride.
The prince looked at the bride's leg and saw how blood flowed from the shoe and the white stocking blushed from it.
He turned his horse back and brought this bride to her parents' house. This one isn't real either! - he said. “Do you have another daughter?” - “No,” said the father, “but only from my first, deceased wife, there was a sort of little, crappy little Zamarashka - that one, of course, is not your bride.”
The prince wanted to see her by all means; but the stepmother answered: “No, she’s so dirty that we don’t even dare to show her.”
But the prince insisted on his own, and they should have finally called Zamarashka to him.
She first washed her face and hands cleanly, then went out and bowed to the prince, who gave her a golden slipper. She immediately sat down on a stool, threw off her wooden shoe and put her foot into a shoe, which fell on her foot as if drenched, and as she got up from the stool and the prince looked into her face, he immediately recognized in her that beauty with whom danced, and exclaimed: “Here she is, a real bride!”
The stepmother and both named sisters were frightened and turned white with vexation; and the prince took Zamarashka to his horse and took her to his castle. As they passed by a hazel tree, two white doves cooed:
Ghouls, ghouls, ghouls,
No more blood
There is plenty of room for the foot in the shoe.
Here she is - your bride!
And as they cooed, they immediately flew off the tree and sat on Zamarashka's shoulders: one on the right, the other on the left, and so they remained on her shoulders.
When the time came to play the wedding, the crafty sisters also appeared, they wanted to cuddle up and seem to show participation in the happiness of Zamarashka.
Now the wedding train moved to the church, and the eldest of the named sisters walked with right side bride, and the youngest - on the left; and suddenly the doves of each of them pecked out one eye.
On the way back from the church, the eldest walked on the left, and the youngest on the right side of the bride, and the doves again pecked out one eye each of them.
So they were punished with blindness for life for their malice and slyness.
It happened once that the wife of a rich man fell ill, and when she felt that her end was near, she called her only daughter to her bed and said: “Dear child, always be kind and do not forget God, then he will be your helper; and I will look at you from the next world and will always be with you in spirit. Then she closed her eyes and rested.
My daughter went to her mother's grave every day and was always kind to everyone, and did not forget God. Winter came, covered the grave with a snow canopy, and as soon as the snow melted from the spring sun, the father of the orphan married another woman.
The stepmother brought her two daughters into the house, white-faced and beautiful in appearance, but evil and heartless. Then came a difficult time for the poor stepdaughter. “Is this fool going to sit in our rooms! - the stepmother's daughters spoke. “Whoever wants to eat bread, go and earn it: get out of here, dishwasher!”
They took away her good clothes, put on her an old gray dress and shod her in wooden shoes. “Look at this proud woman, how she dressed up!” - they started talking, began to laugh and took the poor thing into the kitchen.
There, from morning till evening, she had to bear all the menial work, get up early, before light, carry water, make a fire, cook and wash. Moreover, the named sisters tried in every way to upset her, ridiculed her, poured peas and lentils prepared for food into the ashes, so that the poor orphan had to choose them grain by grain from the ashes.
In the evening, tired from work, she did not even have a bed on which she could lie down: she had to lie down next to the hearth in the ashes and sleep on it. And since she was constantly covered with dust and dirt from the ashes, the evil sisters called her Zamarashka.
It happened one day that the father was going to the fair and asked his stepdaughters what they should bring from there? “Beautiful outfits,” one of them said. “Pearls and gems,” said another. “Well, what about you, Zamarashka,” asked the father, “what do you want to bring?” - “Father, bring that twig that will whip you on the hat first of all on the way back; break that off and bring it to me!”
So he bought smart dresses, pearls and precious stones for his two stepdaughters; and on the way back, while he was making his way through the green thicket of bushes, a hazel branch whipped him so hard that he knocked his hat off. He broke off that branch and took it with him.
Arriving home, he gave the stepdaughters what they liked, and Zamarashka - a hazel branch. Zamarashka thanked him, went to her mother's grave, planted her twig over it, and wept so inconsolably that her tears watered the twig abundantly. And the branch grew into a whole tree.
The dirty little thing went under this tree three times every day, wept and prayed there, and each time a little white bird flew up to that tree and sat down, and as soon as the poor thing expressed some desire, the bird would now fulfill it and throw down from the tree what she wishes.
It happened somehow that the king of that country started a festival, and that festival was to last three days; on this holiday, he planned to call all the beauties from all over the kingdom, so that his son could find a bride among them. Both of her named sisters, having heard that they, too, should appear on that holiday, became kinder, called for Zamarashka and said: “Comb our hair, clean our shoes and fasten the buckles on them - we are going to the royal castle for a holiday.”
The dirty girl obeyed them, but she began to cry, because she, too, wanted to go along with her sisters and dance; she even asked her stepmother to let her go to the feast. “You, Zamarashka,” the stepmother shouted, “you are all covered in mud and dust, and you are also going to the holiday! You don’t have a dress or shoes on - and you climb there to dance!
When Zamarashka did not ask her anymore, the stepmother said to her: “Here I poured a full dish of lentils into the ashes, and if in two hours you manage to pick these lentils out of the ashes, then, perhaps, go along with the sisters to the holiday!”
The poor orphan went down the back stairs to the garden and shouted at the top of her voice: “Dove doves, dear friends, and all of you, little birds in the sky, flock here, help me, the poor one, collect lentils:
Those that are suitable, in a pot,
Once upon a time there was a nobleman, and he married the second marriage to the proudest and most arrogant lady in the world. She had two daughters by her first husband, who resembled her in everything. The nobleman also already had a daughter - unparalleled kindness and meekness, her character was given to her late mother, who was of rare qualities. The wedding had barely been celebrated when the stepmother had already shown her temper: she began to persecute her stepdaughter, whose good qualities showed the shortcomings of her daughters in an even more vile form.
She made her do the most menial work in the house. The stepdaughter washed the dishes, the stepdaughter in the chambers of the mistress and young ladies and rubbed the floors. She slept under the roof, in the attic, on a straw mattress, while her sisters lived in rooms with parquet floors, where there were the most fashionable beds and Venetian mirrors that reflected them from head to toe.
The poor girl endured everything patiently and did not dare to complain to her father, who would have scolded her, for his wife turned them on all sides. When she finished her work, she would hide in a corner of the fireplace and sit right on the ashes, which is why she was usually called Dirty. A younger sister, not as evil as the eldest, called her Zamarashka. However, Zamarashka, although in a black body, was a hundred times more beautiful than her dressed-up sisters.
Once the son of the local king gave a ball and invited all the noble people to his place. Our two young ladies also received an invitation, for they belonged to the highest circle. Here they rejoice, take care, as it were, to choose dresses and headdresses to match. New troubles for Shady, because no one like her had to iron her sisters' collars and starch their sleeves. In the house there is only talk about clothes.
“I,” says the eldest, “I will put on a red velvet dress with lace.
“And I,” says the youngest, “I’ll be in my simple dress, but I’ll put on a mantilla with golden flowers and a diamond cap — that way it will be better.”
They sent for a hairdresser to arrange a tricky hairstyle, and bought flies for the face in the first store. Zamarashka was also called for advice, for they knew that she had good taste. Zamarashka gave them excellent advice, even volunteered to comb their hair, to which the sisters agreed.
Behind her hair they say to her:
- And what, Zamarashka, would you like to go to the ball?
“Ah, young ladies, you are all mocking me!” Where can I go!
“True, yours, truth. That would be laughter, if Gryaznushka but put her head to the ball.
Another would have ruined their parting for such speeches, but Zamarashka had kind heart, and she combed the sisters to fame. They didn't eat anything for two days, everyone was so happy. When they put on corsets, more than a dozen laces were torn, they were tightened to such an extent as to make the waist thinner. And all the time they stuck in front of the mirror.
At last the blessed day has come. The sisters left. The dirty girl followed them with her eyes for a long time, as long as she could see the carriage. Then she began to cry.
The godmother, seeing her all in tears, asked what was happening to her?
"I would like to... I would like to..."
She sobbed so hard that she couldn't stop. The godmother was a sorceress and says:
“You really would like to go to the ball, huh?
- Oh yes! ' said the Marasha with a sigh.
- Well, listen, will you be smart? - says the godmother, - I'll arrange it.
She took Zamarashka to her room and said:
- Go to the garden, bring me a pumpkin.
Zamarashka now ran, picked the best pumpkin and brought it to her godmother, not understanding how this pumpkin could lead her to the ball.
The godmother cleaned the gourd and, leaving only one bark of it, hit it with her magic wand: the pumpkin has now turned into an excellent gilded carriage.
Then the godmother went to look into the mousetrap, where she found six live mice.
She ordered Zamarashka to slightly open the door of the mousetrap and touched every mouse that jumped out with her wand. The mouse now turned into an excellent horse, so that in a minute they had a beautiful team of six horses of the color of a mouse skin with apples.
But the godmother did not know how to make a coachman for them.
“Wait a minute,” says Smutty, “I’ll go and see if there’s a rat in the big mousetrap: we’ll make a coachman out of it.”
“Your truth,” answered the godmother, “go and have a look.” Dirty brought a big mousetrap. There were three huge rats in it.
The sorceress took the one with the larger mustache and, touching it with her wand, turned it into a fat coachman with the longest mustache that no one had ever seen.
Then she said to Zamarashka:
“Go into the garden, there you will see six lizards behind the well: bring them here.”
As soon as Zamarashka brought them, the godmother turned them into six lackeys, who immediately stood on their backs and - all in galloons - stood as if they had been doing just that all their lives.
Here the sorceress says to Zamarashka:
- Well, here's your carriage; there is something to go to the ball. Are you happy now?
- Of course, I'm glad. But am I going to go in this nasty dress?
The godmother only touched her with a wand, and at the same moment the dress became cloth, woven from gold and silver, and adorned with precious stones. Then the godmother gave her a couple crystal slippers the most beautiful in the world.
When Zamarashka figured it out like that, she got into the carriage. But her godmother ordered her firmly, most strongly, not to stay longer than midnight, warning that if she stayed at the ball one extra minute, her carriage would still become a pumpkin, horses - mice, servants - lizards, and her dress would become a rag in the old way. .
Zamarashka promised her godmother to leave the ball before midnight.
She rides without feeling happy.
The king's son, who was informed that an unknown noble princess had arrived, ran to meet her, dropped her by the arm from the carriage and led her into the hall where the guests were.
Here there was a deep silence: the dancing stopped, the music stopped playing, so everyone stared at the charms of the unknown beauty. All that was heard was that exclamations:
- Oh, what a beauty!
The king himself, despite his decrepit years, never ceased admiring her and kept whispering to the queen that he had not seen such a sweet, amiable person for a long time.
All the ladies carefully examined her headdress and dress, in order to order similar outfits for themselves tomorrow, if only such rich material could be found and such skillful craftsmen would come across.
The king's son put Zamarashka in the most honorable place and then invited her to dance. She danced with such dexterity that the guests marveled at her even more.
An excellent treat was served, but the prince did not touch him, he was so busy with an unknown beauty.
And Zamarashka sat down with her sisters and showered them with courtesies: she shared with them the oranges and lemons that the prince brought her, which surprised them very much, because the sisters did not recognize her. While they were talking among themselves, Zamarashka hears - it strikes eleven o'clock and three quarters; she now made the company curtsy and quickly went home.
Returning home, Zamarashka immediately went to her godmother and, thanking her, said that she would like to attend the ball tomorrow too, because the prince asked her to come.
While she was telling her godmother about the ball, the sisters knocked on the door. Zamarashka ran to open the door.
How long have you been back! she said, rubbing her eyes and stretching as if she had just woken up. She didn't even want to sleep!
If you were at the ball, one of the sisters said, you wouldn't get bored there. A princess of such beauty came to the ball, such beauty that no one had ever seen! She showered us with pleasantries, treated us to oranges and lemons.
Zamarashka did not feel happy. She asked the sisters about the name of the princess, but they answered that no one knew her, that the king's son was very upset by this and that he would not regret anything in the world, just to know who she was.
Zamarashka smiled and said:
- So what a beauty! Lord, how happy you are! Can't I see her too? Oh, old lady, give me your yellow dress that you wear on weekdays.
— Really! replied the elder sister. — That's great! So now I will give my dress to the nasty Dirty! Here I found a fool!
The dirty girl was expecting a refusal and was very glad of it, because she would have found herself in great difficulty if her sister had agreed to lend her her dress.
The next day the sisters went to the ball again, and Zamarashka too, only she was even more elegant than the first time.
The king's son looked after her all the time and did not stop complimenting her.
The young girl was not bored and completely forgot her godmother's order, so that it was already beginning to strike midnight, when, according to her calculation, it should not have been even eleven o'clock yet. She got up and ran away with the ease with which a doe runs.
The prince chased after her, but did not catch up.
On the run, Shady dropped one of her crystal slippers from her foot: the prince carefully picked it up.
The dirty girl ran home all in a hurry, without a carriage, without footmen, in her nasty dress. Of all the recent luxury, she had only one crystal slipper, a pair of what she had dropped.
The prince asked the sentries at the palace gates if they had seen the princess. The sentries answered that they saw only the young, badly dressed girl more like a man than a lady.
When the sisters returned from the ball, Zamarashka asked them if they had a good time and if the unknown beauty came again?
They answered that she had come, but ran away at midnight and with such haste that she dropped one of her crystal slippers from her foot, the most beautiful of which is not in the world; that the king's son picked up this slipper, that he kept looking at it all the way through the ball, and that he must be in love with the beauty to whom the slipper belongs.
The sisters spoke the truth, for a few days later the king's son gave orders to announce at the sound of trumpets that he would take for himself the girl whose foot was on the shoe.
They began to try it on: first to the princesses, then to the duchesses and other court ladies, but all in vain. They also brought it to the sisters: each of them tried with all her might to squeeze her foot into the shoe, but could not.
The dirty little girl, who was at the same time and recognized her slipper, suddenly says with a laugh:
“Let me see if it will fit on my leg.”
The sisters began to laugh and taunt her.
The courtier, who was trying on the slipper, looked attentively at Zamarashka and, finding her very beautiful of herself, said that, of course, this should be done and that he was ordered to try on the slipper for all girls without exception. He made Zamarashka sit down, and when he brought the slipper to her foot, he saw that the foot entered into it without difficulty and the slipper fit her just right.
The sisters were very surprised; but they were even more surprised when Shady took out another shoe from her pocket and put it on the other foot.
Then the godmother came up and, touching Zamarashka's dress with her wand, turned it into an outfit even more luxurious than before.
Then the sisters recognized in her the same beauty that they had seen at the ball. They threw themselves at her feet, asking for forgiveness for the ill-treatment she endured from them.
Zamarashka raised them and, hugging them, said that she forgives them from the bottom of her heart and asks to always love her.
After that, she was led in all her attire to the young prince.
He liked her even more than before, and a few days later they were married.
The dirty girl, who was as much good as beautiful, placed her two sisters in the palace and on the same day married them off to two noble courtiers.
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My daughter went to her mother's grave every day and was always kind to everyone, and did not forget God. Winter came, covered the grave with a snow canopy, and as soon as the snow melted from the spring sun, the father of the orphan married another woman.
The stepmother brought her two daughters into the house, white-faced and beautiful in appearance, but evil and heartless. Then came a difficult time for the poor stepdaughter. “Is this fool going to sit in our rooms!” the stepmother’s daughters began to talk. “Whoever wants bread, go and earn it: get out of here, dishwasher!”
They took away her good clothes, put on her an old gray dress and shod her in wooden shoes. "Look at this proud woman, how she dressed up!" - they started talking, began to laugh and took the poor thing into the kitchen.
There, from morning till evening, she had to bear all the menial work, get up early, before light, carry water, make a fire, cook and wash. Moreover, the named sisters tried in every way to upset her, ridiculed her, poured peas and lentils prepared for food into the ashes, so that the poor orphan had to choose them grain by grain from the ashes.
In the evening, tired from work, she did not even have a bed on which she could lie down: she had to lie down next to the hearth in the ashes and sleep on it. And since she was constantly covered with dust and dirt from the ashes, the evil sisters called her Zamarashka.
It happened one day that the father was going to the fair and asked his stepdaughters what they should bring from there? "Beautiful outfits," one of them said. "Pearls and precious stones," said another. "Well, and you, Zamarashka," asked the father, "what will you bring?" - "Father, bring that twig that will whip you on the hat first on the way back; break off that one and bring it to me!"
So he bought smart dresses, pearls and precious stones for his two stepdaughters; and on the way back, while he was making his way through the green thicket of bushes, a hazel branch whipped him so hard that he knocked his hat off. He broke off that branch and took it with him.
Arriving home, he gave the stepdaughters what they liked, and Zamarashka - a hazel branch. Zamarashka thanked him, went to her mother's grave, planted her twig over it, and wept so inconsolably that her tears watered the twig abundantly. And the branch grew into a whole tree.
The dirty little thing went under this tree three times every day, wept and prayed there, and each time a little white bird flew up to that tree and sat down, and as soon as the poor thing expressed some desire, the bird would now fulfill it and throw down from the tree what she wishes.
It happened somehow that the king of that country started a festival, and that festival was to last three days; on this holiday, he planned to call all the beauties from all over the kingdom, so that his son could find a bride among them. Both her named sisters, having heard that they, too, should appear on that holiday, became more affectionate, called for Zamarashka and said: "Comb our hair, clean our shoes and fasten the buckles on them - we are going to the royal castle for a holiday."
The dirty girl obeyed them, but she began to cry, because she, too, wanted to go along with her sisters and dance; she even asked her stepmother to let her go to the feast. “You, Zamarashka,” the stepmother shouted, “you are all covered in mud and dust, and you are also going to the holiday! You don’t have a dress or shoes on - and you climb there to dance!”
When Zamarashka did not ask her anymore, the stepmother said to her: “Here I poured a full dish of lentils into the ashes for you, and if in two hours you manage to pick these lentils out of the ashes, then, perhaps, go with your sisters to the holiday!”
The poor orphan went down the back stairs into the garden and shouted at the top of her voice: “Dove doves, dear friends, and all of you, little birds in the sky, flock here, help me, the poor one, collect lentils:
Those that are suitable, in a pot,
And unsuitable - in the goiter.
And at her call, two white doves flocked to the kitchen window, and then furry-legged tumblers, and then whole flocks of all kinds of birds from heaven and sank on the ashes. And the doves began to nod their heads and began to peck: peak, peak, peak, peak; and others too: peak, peak, peak, peak - and collected all the suitable grains in a dish. And in less than an hour everything was ready for them, and they flew away again through the same window.
Zamarashka brought the dish to her stepmother with joy and thought that now she would be allowed to go with her sisters to the holiday.
But the stepmother said to her: "No, Zamarashka, you don't have dresses in store, and you can't dance, they will only laugh at you." When the poor thing began to cry, the stepmother said: "Now, if you cleanly pick out two dishes of lentils for me from the ashes in one hour, then, perhaps, you will go." And she thought: "Where can she do it?"
But when she poured two dishes of lentils into the ashes for her, the girl went out by the black porch into the garden and shouted: “Dove doves, dear friends, and all of you, birds in the sky, flock here, help me, poor one, collect lentils:
Those that are suitable, in a pot,
And unsuitable - in the goiter.
And at her call, two white doves flocked to the kitchen window, and then furry-legged tumblers, and then whole flocks of all kinds of birds from under heaven and sank on the ashes. And the doves began to nod their heads and peck: peak, peak, peak, peak; and others too: peak, peak, peak, peak - and collected all the good grains in two dishes. And half an hour had not passed before they had everything ready, and they all flew out the window again.
The poor thing took both dishes to her stepmother and was glad that now she would be allowed to go to the feast with her sisters. But the stepmother said to her: "You are trying in vain: you will not go with us; you have no clothes, and you do not know how to dance; we would have to blush for you."
She turned her back on the poor thing and hurried away with her two proud daughters.
Left alone in the house. Zamarashka went to her mother's grave under a walnut tree and exclaimed:
Then the bird threw her a silver dress with gold and slippers embroidered with silk and silver.
The girl quickly dressed and hurried to the holiday. And her named sisters and stepmother, not knowing anything about it, thought that this was some foreign princess - she was such a beauty in her dress, decorated with gold. The mess never entered their heads: they thought that she was sitting at home and choosing lentils from the ashes.
The prince himself came out to meet the beauty, took her by the hand and danced with her. Yes, he didn’t want to dance with anyone else, and he didn’t let her hand out of his hand, and when one of the men approached her, the prince said: “I myself want to dance with her.”
So she danced until the evening. And when she wanted to return home, the prince said to her: "I will go with you and see you off." He wanted to see death, whose daughter she was and what house she came from. But she eluded him and climbed onto the dovecote.
The king's son waited a little, saw Zamarashka's father coming, and said to him: "There, a beauty has climbed onto the dovecote!" The father thought: "Isn't it a Smudge?" - demanded an ax and a hook and cut the dovecote in two, but there was no one in it. And when they returned home, Zamarashka was still lying in her dirty dress on the ashes, and near her a small oil lamp burned dimly on a chimney.
The dirty girl was nimble: on one side she climbed the dovecote, and on the other she went down and found herself under a hazel tree in an instant; there she threw off her rich outfit, laid it on the grave, and the bird again took this outfit away, and Zamarashka herself again put on gray rags and sat down in the kitchen on a pile of ashes.
The next day, when the holiday began again, and the parents with the named sisters left the house again, Zamarashka went to the hazel and said:
Shake up, shake up you, my tree,
Sprinkle gold and silver on me.
And the bird threw off her dress, even richer, even more elegant than yesterday. And when she appeared at the festival in this outfit, everyone could not be surprised at her beauty.
And the prince was already waiting for her, immediately took her by the hand and danced with her alone. When other men approached her to invite her to dance, the prince said: "I'm dancing with her."
When evening came, Zamarashka decided to leave, and the prince followed her and wanted to see what house she would enter; but she darted aside and ran into the garden behind the house. In that garden grew a beautiful large pear tree, and there were many wonderful pears in it; It was on him that Zamarashka climbed up, like a squirrel, and hid in its branches; and the prince did not even know where she had gone.
He waited a little, until Zamarashka's father came up, and said to him: "Here, one beauty slipped away from me, and it seems to me that she climbed onto this pear tree."
The father thought: "Isn't this a Smudge?" - demanded an ax and cut down a tree; but there was no one in the tree. And when they all returned home, they saw Zamarashka, as always, on her heap of ashes.
She was nimble: on one side she climbed the tree, on the other side she jumped off, returned her outfit to the bird that was sitting on the hazel, and again put on her old tatters.
On the third day, when the parents and the named sisters left home, Zamarashka again went to her mother's grave and said to the tree:
Shake up, shake up you, my tree,
Sprinkle gold and silver on me.
Then the bird threw off her a dress so magnificent and so dazzling that no one had ever seen anything like it; and to this dress and shoes of pure gold.
When she appeared at the festivities in this outfit, everyone marveled at her, like a miracle.
The prince only danced with her, and if someone else approached her, he said: "I'm dancing with her."
When evening came, Shaggy wanted to leave, and the prince still wanted to follow her; but she eluded him so quickly that he did not keep up with her.
However, in advance he embarked on a trick: he ordered to smear the entire staircase with pitch. As Zamarashka ran down the stairs, one of her shoes stuck to the step. The prince raised his slipper, and that slipper was small, pretty, and all gold.
The next morning, the prince came with this shoe to Zamarashka's father and said to him: "My wife will be only the one for whom this golden shoe will fit."
Hearing this, both named sisters rejoiced, because their legs were beautiful.
The eldest went with the shoe to a special room and began to try it on in front of her mother. She began to try on and sees: her thumb does not fit into the shoe, because the shoe is too small for her. So the mother gave her a knife and said: "Cut off your finger! After all, if you are a queen, you won't have to walk!"
The mother's daughter obeyed, cut off her finger, squeezed her foot into the shoe, bit her lip in pain and went out to the prince. He took her as his bride, put her on a horse and took her to his home.
They had to drive past the grave; and two doves sit on a hazel and coo:
Ghouls, ghouls, ghouls,
The whole shoe is covered in blood:
This is not your bride.
The prince looked at the bride's leg and saw how blood was flowing from the shoe.
He immediately turned the horse, returned the eldest daughter to her parents and said that this was not his real bride: let, they say, another sister try on a slipper.
This sister went to a special room, and when she began to put on a slipper, her fingers got into it, but the heel was too big. Then the mother gave her a knife and said: "Chop off a piece from the heel! If you become a queen, you won't have to walk anymore!"
The daughter chopped off part of her heel, squeezed her foot somehow into the shoe, hid the unbearable pain and went out to the prince. He put her on his horse like a bride and rode with her.
But when they passed by a hazel tree, two doves sat on it and cooed:
Ghouls, ghouls, ghouls,
The whole shoe is covered in blood:
The leg, apparently, has no place in it!
This is not your bride.
The prince looked at the bride's leg and saw how blood flowed from the shoe and the white stocking blushed from it.
He turned his horse back and brought this bride to her parents' house. "This one isn't real either!" he said. "Don't you have another daughter?" - "No," said the father, "but only from my first, deceased, wife, there was a sort of little, crappy little Zamarashka - that one, of course, is not your bride."
The prince wanted to see her by all means; but the stepmother answered: "No, she's so dirty that we don't even dare to show her."
But the prince insisted on his own, and they should have finally called Zamarashka to him.
She first washed her face and hands cleanly, then went out and bowed to the prince, who gave her a golden slipper. She immediately sat down on the bench, threw off her wooden shoe and put her foot into the shoe, which fell on her leg as if it had been drenched, and as she got up from the bench and the prince looked into her face, he immediately recognized in her that beauty with whom danced, and exclaimed: "Here she is, a real bride!"
The stepmother and both named sisters were frightened and turned white with vexation; and the prince took Zamarashka to his horse and took her to his castle. As they passed by a hazel tree, two white doves cooed:
Ghouls, ghouls, ghouls,
No more blood
There is plenty of room for the foot in the shoe.
Here she is - your bride!
And as they cooed, they immediately flew off the tree and sat on Zamarashka's shoulders: one on the right, the other on the left, and so they remained on her shoulders.
When the time came to play the wedding, the crafty sisters also appeared, they wanted to cuddle up and seem to show participation in the happiness of Zamarashka.
Now the wedding train moved towards the church, and the eldest of the named sisters walked on the right side of the bride, and the youngest on the left; and suddenly the doves of each of them pecked out one eye.
On the way back from the church, the eldest walked on the left, and the youngest on the right side of the bride, and the doves again pecked out one eye each of them.
So they were punished with blindness for life for their malice and slyness.
It happened once that the wife of a rich man fell ill, and when she felt that her end was near, she called her only daughter to her bed and said: “Dear child, be always kind and do not forget God, then he will be your helper; and I will look at you from the next world and I will always be with you in spirit. Then she closed her eyes and rested.
My daughter went to her mother's grave every day and was always kind to everyone, and did not forget God. Winter came, covered the grave with a snow canopy, and as soon as the snow melted from the spring sun, the father of the orphan married another woman.
The stepmother brought her two daughters into the house, white-faced and beautiful in appearance, but evil and heartless. Then came a difficult time for the poor stepdaughter. “Is this fool going to sit in our rooms!” the stepmother’s daughters began to talk. “Whoever wants bread, go and earn it: get out of here, dishwasher!”
They took away her good clothes, put on her an old gray dress and shod her in wooden shoes. "Look at this proud girl, how she dressed up!" - they started talking, began to laugh and took the poor thing into the kitchen.
There, from morning till evening, she had to bear all the menial work, get up early, before light, carry water, make a fire, cook and wash. Moreover, the named sisters tried in every way to upset her, ridiculed her, poured peas and lentils prepared for food into the ashes, so that the poor orphan had to choose them grain by grain from the ashes.
In the evening, tired from work, she did not even have a bed on which she could lie down: she had to lie down next to the hearth in the ashes and sleep on it. And since she was constantly covered with dust and dirt from the ashes, the evil sisters called her Zamarashka.
It happened one day that the father was going to the fair and asked his stepdaughters what they should bring from there? "Beautiful outfits," one of them said. "Pearls and precious stones," said another. "Well, and you, Zamarashka," asked the father, "what will you bring?" - "Father, bring that twig that will whip you on the hat first on the way back; break off that one and bring it to me!"
So he bought smart dresses, pearls and precious stones for his two stepdaughters; and on the way back, while he was making his way through the green thicket of bushes, a hazel branch whipped him so hard that he knocked his hat off. He broke off that branch and took it with him.
Arriving home, he gave the stepdaughters what they liked, and Zamarashka - a hazel branch. Zamarashka thanked him, went to her mother's grave, planted her twig over it, and wept so inconsolably that her tears watered the twig abundantly. And the branch grew into a whole tree.
The dirty little thing went under this tree three times every day, wept and prayed there, and each time a little white bird flew up to that tree and sat down, and as soon as the poor thing expressed some desire, the bird would now fulfill it and throw down from the tree what she wishes.
It happened somehow that the king of that country started a festival, and that festival was to last three days; on this holiday, he planned to call all the beauties from all over the kingdom, so that his son could find a bride among them. Both her named sisters, having heard that they, too, should appear on that holiday, became more affectionate, called for Zamarashka and said: "Comb our hair, clean our shoes and fasten the buckles on them - we are going to the holiday in the royal castle."
The dirty girl obeyed them, but she began to cry, because she, too, wanted to go along with her sisters and dance; she even asked her stepmother to let her go to the feast. “You, Zamarashka,” the stepmother shouted, “you are all covered in mud and dust, and you are also going to the holiday! You don’t have a dress or shoes on - and you climb there to dance!”
When Zamarashka did not ask her anymore, the stepmother said to her: “Here I poured a full dish of lentils into the ashes for you, and if in two hours you manage to pick these lentils out of the ashes, then, perhaps, go with your sisters to the holiday!”
The poor orphan went down the back stairs into the garden and shouted at the top of her voice: “Dove doves, dear friends, and all of you, little birds in the sky, flock here, help me, the poor one, collect lentils:
Those that are suitable, in a pot,
And unsuitable - in the goiter.
And at her call, two white doves flocked to the kitchen window, and then furry-legged tumblers, and then whole flocks of all kinds of birds from heaven and sank on the ashes. And the doves began to nod their heads and began to peck: peak, peak, peak, peak; and others too: peak, peak, peak, peak - and collected all the suitable grains in a dish.
