Bushy Bride
Once, there was a widower who had a son and a daughter by his first wife. Both are good children and love each other with all their hearts. After a while, the man married again and chose a widow who had an ugly and cruel daughter, and her mother was also ugly and evil. Since the day his new wife came home, the man’s children have not been at peace, unable to find a corner where they can rest, so the boy thought that the best thing he could do was to go out into the world and try to earn his bread.
After wandering for some time, he arrived at the king’s palace, where he obtained a place under the coachman. He was very agile and active, and the horses he cared for were so fat and sleek that they sparkled.
But his sister, who was still at home, got worse. Both her stepmother and stepsister always found fault with her; no matter what she did or where she went, they scolded and tortured her so much that she never had an hour of peace. They forced her to do all the hard work, and harsh words fell on her early and late, but with very little food to go with it.
One day, they told her to go to the stream to get water to take home, and an ugly and terrible head rose from the water and said: ‘Wash me, girl!’
“Yes, I will be happy to wash it for you,” said the girl and began to wash and scrub the ugly face, but she could not help thinking it was a very unpleasant job. When she had done it, and done it well, another head rose above the water, and this one uglier still.
‘Tie my hair, girl!’ said the leader.
“Yes, it would be my pleasure to comb your hair,” the girl said and began to deal with the tangles, and as you can easily imagine, this was not a pleasant job either.
When she finished doing that, another head that looked much uglier and more terrible emerged from the water.
‘Kiss me, girl!’ said the leader.
“Yes, I will kiss you,” the man’s daughter said, and she did it, but she thought it was the worst job she had ever had to do in her life.
So all the chiefs began to talk among themselves and ask what they should do with this girl full of kindness.
“She will be the most beautiful girl ever, beautiful and bright as day,” the chief said.
“Gold falls out of her hair whenever she brushes it,” said the second.
“Gold falls out of her mouth whenever she speaks,” said the third head.
So when the man’s daughter came home, looking beautiful and bright as day, the stepmother and her daughter became even meaner, and what was worse was when she started talking, and they saw gold coins falling from her. Mouth. The stepmother fell into such intense passion that she chased the man’s daughter into the pigpen – she might be there to display the pure gold, the stepmother said, but she was not allowed to set foot in the mess. House.
Not long after, the mother wanted her daughter to go to the stream to get water.
When she brought the bucket, the first head popped out of the water near the shore. ‘Wash me, girl!’ it said.
‘Let’s take a bath!’ the woman’s daughter replied.
Then, the second head appeared.
‘Dress my hair, girl!’ said the leader.
‘Brush your teeth!’ said the woman’s daughter.
So it went down, and the third head popped up.
‘Kiss me, girl!’ said the leader.
“Like I would kiss your ugly mouth!” said the girl.
So once again, the heads discussed among themselves what they should do about this hot-tempered and self-centered girl, and they agreed that she should have a four-inch nose, A jaw three inches long., and a fir bush in the middle of her forehead, and every time she spoke ashes fell from her mouth.
As she carried the box back to the door of the little house, she called to her mother, who was inside: ‘Open the door!’
‘Open the door yourself, my dear child!’ said the mother.
“I can’t get close because of my nose,” the daughter said.
When the mother came to see her, you could imagine what her mood was, how she screamed and complained, but neither her nose nor her jaw had developed at all because of it.
Now, the brother, who was serving in the king’s palace, took a portrait of his sister and carried it with him, and every morning and evening, he knelt before it and prayed for her. My sister, she’s close. He loves her.
The other stablehands heard him doing this and peeked through the keyhole into his room and saw him kneeling before a picture, so they told everyone that every morning and evening, the young man knelt and prayed before an idol he had; Finally, they went to the king and begged him to also look through the keyhole and see for himself what the young man had done. At first, the king did not believe this, but after a long time, they prevailed; he crept to the door, looked over, and saw the young man kneeling with his hands clasped before him. A picture is hung on the wall.
‘Open the door!’ the king cried, but the young man did not hear.
So the king called him again, but the young man was praying so fervently that this time, he did not hear him either.
‘I said open the door!’ the king cried again. ‘It’s me! I want in.”
So the boy ran to open the door, but in haste, he forgot to hide the photo.
When the king entered and saw it, he stood still as if in chains and could not move from his place because the painting seemed too beautiful to him.
‘There is no place on earth with such a beautiful woman!’ said the king.
But the boy told him that she was his sister and that he had painted her, and if she was not prettier than in the painting, she was no uglier anyway.
“Well, if she is so beautiful, I will make her my Queen,” said the king and ordered the young man to go home and find her immediately and return without delay. The young man promised to do his best and departed from the king’s palace.
When his brother came home to pick up his sister, his stepmother and stepsister followed. So they all set out together, and the man’s daughter brought with her a coffin in which she kept gold and a dog named Tieu Tuyet. These two things were all she inherited from her mother. After a while, they had to cross the sea. The older brother sat down to steer the ship while his mother and two half-sisters went to the ship’s bow and rowed a long way. They finally saw land.
‘Look at that white hair; That’s where we’ll land,” the brother said, pointing toward the ocean.
“What is my brother saying?” asked the man’s daughter.
The stepmother replied: “He told me to throw my coffin into the sea.”
‘Oh, if my brother says so, then I must do it,’ said the man’s daughter and threw her coffin into the sea.
When they had been sailing for a while longer, the brother once again pointed toward the sea. “There, you can see the palace we are bound to,” he said.
“What is my brother saying?” asked the man’s daughter.
The stepmother replied: “Now he told me to throw my dog into the sea.”
The man’s daughter cried and was highly miserable because Tieu Tuyet was the most beloved person in the world, but in the end, she threw the boy into the sea.
‘If my brother says so, I have to do it, but heaven knows I don’t want to throw you out, Tieu Tuyet!’ she said.
So they went a step further.
“There, you may see the king coming to meet you,” said the brother, pointing to the shore.
“What is my brother saying?” his sister asked again.
The stepmother replied: “Now he tells you to throw yourself into the sea quickly.”
She cried and moaned, but as her brother had said, she thought she must do it, so she jumped into the sea.
But when they arrived at the palace, the king saw the ugly bride with a nose four feet long, a three-panel jaw, and a bush in the middle of her forehead. He was terrified, but the wedding feast had been prepared, including the preparation and baking, and all the wedding guests were sitting and waiting, so no matter how ugly she was, the king was forced to take her away.
But he was angry, and no one could blame him, so he threw his brothers into a pit full of snakes.
The following first Thursday night, a beautiful young woman entered the palace kitchen and asked the maid sleeping there to lend her a toothbrush. She begged very beautifully and received it, then she combed her hair, and gold fell out of it.
There was a little dog with her, and she told him, ‘Go out, Little Snow, and see if it’s morning!’
She said this three times, and the third time she showed the dog, it was almost dawn. Then she was forced to leave, but as she left, she said:
‘Get out, you ugly bush bride,
Sleep softly next to the young king,
On sand and rock, I make my bed,
And my brother slept with the cold snake,
No pity and no crying.”
I will come here two more times and never return,” she said.
In the morning, the kitchen maid told what she had seen and heard, and the king said that next Thursday night, he would watch in the kitchen to see if this was true, and when it began to get dark, he went out. Outside the kitchen. Kitchen for girls. But though he rubbed his eyes and did everything to keep himself awake, it was all in vain, for the Bush Bride hummed and sang until his eyes closed, and when the beautiful young lady came, he was already asleep—drunk and snoring.
This time, as before, she borrowed a comb to brush her hair, gold falling as she did so. Then she chased the dog out three times, and when morning came, she left, but as she left, she said as she had said before: ‘I will come once more and then never come back again.’
On the third Thursday night, the king again insisted on keeping watch. Then he sent two men to guard him; each must take hold of an arm, shake and jerk his arm whenever he appears to be about to fall asleep, and he sent two men to spy on his Bushy Bride. But as night fell, Bushy Bride began to hum and sing again so that his eyes began to close and his head drooped to one side. Then the beautiful girl came and took a comb and combed her hair until the gold fell out of her hair, then she told Tieu Tuyet to go out to see if it was about to be dawn, and she did so three times. The third time, it was just starting to get light, she said:
‘Get out, you ugly bush bride,
Sleep softly next to the young king,
On sand and rock, I make my bed,
And my brother slept with the cold snake,
No pity and no crying.”
all that had happened and how her stepmother and stepsister had betrayed her. Then immediately, the brother was taken out of the snake pit – the snakes had never touched him – and the stepmother and sister were thrown into it in his place.
No one can know how happy the King was to get rid of that hideous hirsute Bride and have a Queen as bright and beautiful as day.
And now the actual wedding was held, celebrated in such a way that it was spoken of and discussed throughout the seven kingdoms. The King and Bride drove to the church, and Little Snow was in the carriage too. When the blessing was given, they returned home, and after that, I didn’t see them again.
