The White Duck
A robust and powerful Prince marries a lovely Princess three times, and he has not had time to look at her, he has not had time to talk to her, he has not had time to listen to her when he is forced to do so. He left her on a distant journey and left his young wife in the hands of strangers. The Princess cried a lot, and the Prince’s words of comfort were also many. He advised her not to leave the towering tower, not to have anything to do with wrong people, not to listen to evil words, and not to associate with strange women. All these things the Princess promised to do. The Prince left, and she locked herself in her room. She sat there and never went out.
After a long time or a short time, it didn’t matter, but one day, she was sitting by the small window, wet with tears, when a woman passed by the window. She had a simple and kind appearance, resting her elbows on her crutch, resting her chin and speaking to the Princess in a cooing, caressing voice:
“What is this, dear little Princess, you are forever wondering? Pray now, come out of your watchtower and look into God’s beautiful world, or go down into your little garden among the sweet green things and banish your sorrow!”
The Princess refused for a long time, not even listening to what the woman said, but in the end, she thought: “There is no harm in going to the garden; crossing the stream is another matter.” But she did not know this woman was a witch and came to destroy her because she was jealous of her happiness.
So the Princess went with her into the garden and listened to her cunning and coy words. And in the garden, from under the mountain flowed a stream of water as clear as crystal.
“What do you say now,” said the woman, “the day is scorching, the sun is burning with all its might, but this dear little stream is so cold, so refreshing, and to hear how it babbles – Why shouldn’t we say that? Take a bath here?
“Ah, no, no! I will not,” said the Princess, but she thought to herself: “But why not? There’s no harm in taking a bath!” So she took off her little sarafan and jumped into the water. After bathing, the witch hit her on the shoulder and said: “Now swim around like a white duck!”
But the witch immediately put on the Princess’s cloak, tied the rope and painted it, and sat in the Princess’s place in the tower waiting for the Prince.
And as soon as the little dog began to bark and the little bell jingled, she rushed out to meet him, threw herself around his neck, kissed and caressed him. The Prince was so overjoyed that he was the first to extend his arms towards her, not realizing that the person standing before him was not his wife but an evil witch.
Meanwhile, the poor duck living in the clear water laid eggs and hatched her chicks; two were beautiful, but the third was still in the womb, and her children grew into small children. She picked them up, and they began to walk along the stream, catching goldfish, picking up scraps of cloth and making coats, running up to the shore and looking at the meadows. But mother said: “Oh! Please don’t go there, my children. An evil witch inhabited her. She ruined me, and she will destroy you!
But the children did not listen to their mother. One day, they played on the grass; the next day, they chased the ants, going farther and farther and, just like that, entering the Crown Prince’s yard.
The witch knew them instinctively and gritted her teeth in anger, but she behaved very kindly, called the children out, gave them good food and drink, then made them lie down to sleep, told the family to light a fire in the yard and set up a fireplace. Boil water on it and sharpen the knife.
The two brothers went to sleep, but the stillborn one, whom their mother told the others to hold in their arms so as not to catch a cold, did not sleep but only listened and saw everything.
During the night, the witch came to their door and said: “Are you sleeping or not?”
Then the stillborn child answered for his brothers:
“We weren’t dreaming in our dreams, but thinking in our heads that you wanted to cut us all up! – the arbour of burning maple branches, the boiling kettles and the sharpening steel knives.”
“They are not asleep,” said the witch, then went out the door, paced back and forth, then went out the door again:
“Are you guys sleeping yet?”
And the stillborn child cried out from under his pillow instead of his brothers:
“We do not dream in our dreams, but in our thoughts; we think you want to separate us all. The pyres of maple branches are burning, the kettles are boiling, and the steel knives are sharpening.”
“How does it always have the same voice?” thought the witch; “I’ll just take a peek.” She opened the door very gently, looked in and saw both brothers sleeping soundly. She then kills both of them.
In the morning, the white duck began to look for and call her children, but her beloved children did not come to her call. Her heart had a premonition of something evil. She shivered and flew to the Prince’s yard. In the Prince’s yard, white as a white towel, cold as a small snakehead fish, the brothers lined up in a row. She flew down, threw herself at them, flapped her little wings, circled her little children and cried out in a mother’s voice:
“Kra, kra, my dear loves!
Kra, kra, my little pigeons!
I raised you in pain and fear,
I have nourished you with pain and tears,
At night, it makes me unable to sleep,
There is no sweet dish because of you.”
The prince heard the lament and immediately called the witch and said: “Wife, have you heard this story? You have never heard of this story?”
“Imagine! GREET! My servant, chase this duck out of the yard!”
They started to kick her out, but she kept flying around and said to her children:
“Kra, kra, my dear loves!
Kra, kra, my little pigeons!
The old witch is your bane,
That old witch, that evil snake,
That evil snake lurks unseen;
Your father from you she took,
My father is dear, my husband is honest;
We were in the running stream she threw.
She turned us into white ducks,
And prosper as if wrong were correct!”
The Crown Prince felt something was wrong here, so he cried out:
“Bring that white duck here!”
They all hurried to carry out his orders, but the white duck flew in a circle, and no one could catch it. Finally, the Prince went out onto the balcony. She passed in his arms and fell at his feet. The Prince carefully held her little wings and said:
“The white birch tree stands behind me, and the beautiful girl stands before me!”
Then the white duck transformed into her former three-times lovely princess form taught them how to get some living water, and said in the magpie’s nest, sprinkle the living water to her children, and they shivered. Then she spotted speaking water on them, and they began to talk. And the Crown Prince suddenly found himself surrounded by his family, all alive and well, and they all living together, living happily, choosing good and avoiding evil.
But the witch, by order of the Prince, was tied to the horse’s tail and dragged across the vast steppe. The birds of the air ate her flesh, and the wild winds of heaven scattered her bones, and no trace or memory of her remained.
