Welcome to good old Italy, a blessed sunny country of flowering and fruit-bearing fruit trees, vineyards cared for by the caring hands of peasants, silvery olives and miracles! Is it possible to lose heart here, on this land, washed by gentle seas, with fertile, lush land?!
“Under the hot sun and people are born with a hot disposition”, what a misfortune happens, the characters of Italian fairy tales do not tolerate a bad mood, even if evil fate sends the most difficult trials one after another. Oh no! These are daredevils, charming, cheerful, with a flexible, resourceful mind, wise and stubborn. Who said that destiny cannot be changed?! Here is the brave Francesco, with a kind and merciful heart, wisely and disposes of the gifts of the fairy of Krensky Lake, he deftly bagged the signor of the devil, who kidnapped the twelve best youths of the city, in a bag. And the club danced so merrily over the bag that it forced the cunning devil to free the young men and get away with nothing.
“You can turn against the wind, you can also make an evil fate better,” says the wise washerwoman Franchiska to the poor royal daughter Santina, who is waiting for nothing but failure, an evil fate attached to her. First of all, you need to find this evil fate, treat her with a pretzel, wash her, dress her up in a wonderful new dress, so that from a dirty, angry, insidious old woman trying to harm Santina in everything, she turns into a neat, sweet, kind old woman. "It's a well-known fact that all women, even the oldest ones, love new outfits." And then the old woman - fate will present such a gift that Santina could not even dream of.
But you need to be careful with your desires, because in Italy you can easily meet a fairy who will help your most cherished desire come true. Oh, how Martino's ringing song fascinated the forest fairy, and she wished to make him happy. After all, according to him, for happiness, he only needed people to come running to look at him. Fortunately, Martino, who became a golden statue, the fairy again looked into the clearing where the happy shepherd was sitting and again turned him into a man.
Traveling with this collection of fairy tales from the Niole Mountains, to Messina, from Palermo to Florence, and further to Corsica, you can enjoy unbroken multi-layered plots, where sometimes three more amazing stories are hidden in one fairy tale, where goodness, honor and courage invariably triumph over base vices, and magic coexists with folk wisdom and ingenuity

Text and photo: Lilia Makalieva

Three oranges. Italian folk tales. Artist: Shishmareva Tatiana. Speech, 2016

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This collection introduces the little reader to Italian folk tales, which will give him an idea about this cheerful people, their national character. Truth and fiction are bizarrely intertwined in them, the characters are endowed with wonderful skills, and the plot takes on the most unexpected twists. And, of course, good always triumphs over evil here!

THREE ORANGE
Italian folk tales

MASSARO TRUE

Once upon a time there lived a king, and he had a goat, a lamb, a ram, and a red-haired, high-horned cow. The king was very proud of his flock. A goat, a lamb, a ram, and a big-horned cow grazed in the royal garden, and the king fed them every morning from his own hands.

Everything would be fine if not for the ladies of the court. They raised a piercing shriek at the sight of a cow, and the lamb was kissed and squeezed so that it began to grow weak from these tendernesses.

The king didn't know what to do. Then the chief minister advised to send the herd to the mountain pasture.

That would be nice, - agreed the king. - But where can I find such a shepherd, whom I would trust more than my ministers? You are always before my eyes, and the shepherd wanders the mountains day and night,

They started looking for the right person. Messengers were sent out in all directions. They searched far, but found close: near the city wall lived a peasant, more honest than ever before in the world. Never in his life did this man lie, he spoke only the truth. He was called the master of truth - Massaro Truth. The king called him to him and entrusted him with his beloved cattle.

Every Saturday, he said to the shepherd, you must come to the palace and report on how things are going.

And so it happened. Every Saturday Massaro Pravda descended from the mountains, entered the royal chambers, took off his felt hat and bowed low.

Hello, Your Royal Highness!

Hello, Massaro True! How is my goat doing?

Fresh like a rose

Well, what about my lamb?

Plays like a child.

Tell me more about the lamb.

The lamb blooms like a chamomile.

And my favorite cow?

She is quite healthy!

The king nodded graciously, and Massaro Pravda returned again to the herd.

Previously, the king had no one to compare his ministers with. And now he noticed every now and then that the ministers, no, no, and they would lie. Therefore, the king was dissatisfied with his ministers, and they, of course, were dissatisfied with the royal shepherd. And then one day the chief minister said to the king:

Do you really think, Your Majesty, that Massaro Truth always tells the truth? Such people do not exist in the world.

Well, I do not! exclaimed the king. - I'm ready to pawn his head that he will never lie.

And I, - the Chief Minister shouted in a fit of temper, - am ready to pawn my head that on the very first Saturday he will deceive you!

Well, - said the king, - if he deceives, I will order the shepherd's head to be cut off, and if he does not deceive, the executioner will cut off your head.

The minister bit his tongue, but it was too late. He began to think how to force Massaro Pravda to tell a lie. But the more I thought, the less I could come up with. Only three days remained until Saturday, and the minister felt that his head was not so firmly supported on his shoulders.

On Thursday morning, the minister's wife asked her husband:

What happened to you, what are you so worried about?

Leave me alone, my husband grumbled. - The only thing missing is that I consult with my wife about state affairs.

But if a woman is already curiosity, she will not rest until she finds out everything she needs. Less than an hour later, the chief minister told his wife about the dispute with the king.

Only and everything?! - said the wife. - Don't worry, I'll make sure that your head is intact.

And she began to dress up. She put on a satin dress with lace, a pearl necklace around her neck, bracelets on her wrists, rings on her fingers. Then she got into a carriage and went to the mountains. She reached the mountain pastures, and saw Massaro Pravda with the royal herd.

So kiss me, your radiance. For one kiss from you, I'll give anything.

Give me that goat. I have long wanted to have one.

Eh, - said Massaro Pravda, - that's what I can't do! Ask for something else.

Well then, lamb.

Let's agree, your blindness, - said Massaro Pravda, - I will give everything except a goat, a lamb, a ram and a red cow. The beast is not mine, which means there is nothing to talk about it.

So what! You never know in the mountains steep cliffs and deep gorges, - the wife of the minister began to persuade him. - The lamb can always stumble.

So after all, he did not stumble, - objected the puzzled Massaro.

But you can tell that to the owner. But I will add all my rings to the kiss.

Italian fairy tale

THREE ORANGE

Throughout Italy, the story of the three oranges is told. But it's amazing - in each locality it is told in its own way. But the Genoese say one thing, the Neapolitans another, the Sicilians a third. And we listened to all these tales and now we know how it really happened.

There once lived a king and a queen. They had a palace, they had a kingdom, there were, of course, subjects, but the king and queen had no children.

One day the king said:

If we had a son, I would put a fountain on the square in front of the palace. And it would not be wine that would be beaten out of it, but golden olive oil. For seven years women would come to him and bless my son.

Soon a very pretty boy was born to the king and queen. The happy parents fulfilled their vow, and two fountains were beaten on the square. In the first year, fountains of wine and oil rose above the palace tower. The next year they were lower. In a word, the royal son, every day, became larger, and the fountains became smaller.

At the end of the seventh year, the fountains no longer beat, wine and oil oozed from them drop by drop.

Once the king's son went out to the square to play skittles. At the same time, a gray-haired, hunched-over old woman dragged herself to the fountains. She brought with her a sponge and two earthenware jugs. Drop by drop, the sponge soaked up either wine or oil, and the old woman squeezed it into jugs.

The jugs were almost full. And suddenly - bang! Both shattered into shards. That's such a well-aimed blow! It was the king's son who was aiming a large wooden ball at the skittles, but hit the jugs. At the same moment, the fountains dried up, they no longer gave a drop of wine and oil. After all, the prince just at that moment was exactly seven years old.

The old woman shook her crooked finger and spoke in a raspy voice:

Listen to me, royal son. Because you broke my jugs, I will put a spell on you. When you blow three times seven years, longing will attack you. And she will torment you until you find a tree with three oranges. And when you find a tree and pick three oranges, you'll be thirsty. Then we'll see what happens.

The old woman laughed wickedly and trudged away.

And the king's son continued to play skittles, and in half an hour he had already forgotten about the broken jugs and the old woman's spell.

The prince remembered him when he was three times seven - twenty-one years old. Anguish fell upon him, and neither hunting games nor magnificent balls could dispel it.

Ah, where can I find three oranges! he repeated.

The father-king and mother-queen heard this and said:

Shall we regret for our dear son at least three, at least three tens, at least three hundred, at least three thousand oranges!

And they piled a whole mountain of golden fruits in front of the prince. But the prince just shook his head.

No, these are not those oranges. And what are those that I need, and I myself do not know. Saddle up, I'll go look for them

The prince was saddled with a horse, he jumped on it and rode off. He rode, he rode along the roads, he found nothing. Then the prince turned off the road and galloped straight ahead. He rode to the stream and suddenly heard a thin voice:

Hey, king's son, see that your horse does not trample on my house!

The prince looked in all directions - no one was there. He looked under the horse's hooves - an eggshell lies in the grass. He dismounted, bent down, sees a fairy sitting in a shell. The prince was surprised, and the fairy says:

For a long time no one visited me, no one brought gifts.

Then the prince removed from his finger a ring with an expensive stone and put it on the fairy instead of a belt. The fairy laughed with joy and said:

I know, I know what you're looking for. Get the diamond key and you will enter the garden. There are three oranges hanging on a branch.

Where can you find the diamond key? asked the king.

My older sister probably knows this. She lives in a chestnut grove.

The young man thanked the fairy and jumped on his horse. The second fairy really lived in a chestnut grove, in a chestnut shell. The prince gave her a golden buckle from her cloak.

Thank you, - said the fairy, - I will now have a golden bed. For this, I will tell you a secret. The diamond key lies in a crystal chest.

Where is the casket? - asked the young man.

My elder sister knows this,” the fairy answered. - She lives in a hazel tree.

The king's son sought out a hazel tree. The oldest fairy made herself a house in a hazelnut shell. The king's son removed the gold chain from his neck and presented it to the fairy. The fairy tied the chain to the branch and said:

This will be my swing. For such a generous gift, I will tell you something that my younger sisters do not know. The Crystal Casket is located in the palace. The palace stands on a mountain, and that mountain is behind three mountains, behind three deserts. The one-eyed watchman guards the casket. Remember well: when the watchman sleeps, his eye is open, when he is not sleeping, his eye is closed. Go ahead and don't be afraid.

How long the prince rode, we do not know. He just crossed three mountains, drove through three deserts and drove up to that very mountain. Then he dismounted, tied his horse to a tree and looked around. Here is the path. It is completely overgrown with grass - it is clear that no one has been in these parts for a long time. The king followed her. The path crawls, meandering like a snake, all up and up. The king does not turn away from her. So the path brought him to the top of the mountain, where the palace stood.

Flew past forty. The king asked her:

Magpie, magpie, look through the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.

Magpie looked in the window and shouted:

Sleep, sleep! His eye is closed!

Eh, the prince said to himself, now is not the time to enter the palace.

He waited until night. An owl flew by. The king asked her:

Owl, owl, look in the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.

The owl looked in the window and hooted:

Uh-uh! The guard is not sleeping! His eyes are looking at me like that.

Now is the time, - the prince said to himself and entered the palace.

There he saw a one-eyed watchman. Near the watchman stood a three-legged table with a crystal chest on it. The prince lifted the lid of the chest, took out a diamond key, but he did not know what to open with it. He began to walk around the palace halls and try which door the diamond key would fit. I've tried all the locks and the key doesn't work. There was only a small golden door in the farthest hall. The king's son put a diamond key in the keyhole, it fit just right. The door immediately swung open, and the prince entered the garden.

Stranger, we advise you to read the fairy tale "Three Oranges (Italian Fairy Tale)" to yourself and your children, this is a wonderful work created by our ancestors. Thanks to the developed children's imagination, they quickly revive the colorful pictures of the world around them in their imagination and fill in the gaps with their visual images. All descriptions of the environment are created and presented with a feeling of deepest love and appreciation for the object of presentation and creation. Faced with such strong, strong-willed and kind qualities of the hero, you involuntarily feel the desire to change yourself for the better. Despite the fact that all fairy tales are fantasy, however, they often retain the logic and sequence of events. Surprisingly easily and naturally, the text written in the last millennium is combined with our present, its relevance has not diminished at all. There is a balancing act between good and bad, tempting and necessary, and how wonderful that every time the choice is right and responsible. The fairy tale "Three Oranges (Italian Tale)" is worth reading for everyone online for free, here is deep wisdom, philosophy, and simplicity of the plot with a good ending.

F or once the king and queen. They had a palace, they had a kingdom, there were, of course, subjects, but the king and queen had no children.
One day the king said:
- If we had a son, I would put a fountain on the square in front of the palace. And it would not be wine that would be beaten from it, but golden olive oil. For seven years women would come to him and bless my son.
Soon a very pretty boy was born to the king and queen. The happy parents fulfilled their vow, and two fountains were beaten on the square. In the first year, fountains of wine and oil rose above the palace tower. The next year they were lower. In a word, every day the royal son got bigger, and the fountains got smaller.
At the end of the seventh year, the fountains no longer beat, wine and oil oozed from them drop by drop.
Once the king's son went out to the square to play skittles. At the same time, a gray-haired, hunched-over old woman dragged herself to the fountains. She brought with her a sponge and two earthenware jugs. Drop by drop, the sponge soaked up either wine or oil, and the old woman squeezed it into jugs.
The jugs were almost full. And suddenly - bang! Both shattered into shards. That's such a well-aimed blow! It was the king's son who was aiming a large wooden ball at the skittles, but hit the jugs. At the same moment, the fountains dried up, they no longer gave a drop of wine and oil. After all, the prince just at that moment was exactly seven years old.
The old woman shook her crooked finger and spoke in a raspy voice:
“Listen to me, royal son. Because you broke my jugs, I will put a spell on you. When you blow three times seven years, longing will attack you. And she will torment you until you find a tree with three oranges. And when you find a tree and pick three oranges, you'll be thirsty. Then we'll see what happens.
The old woman laughed wickedly and trudged away.
And the king's son continued to play skittles, and in half an hour he had already forgotten about the broken jugs and the old woman's spell.
The prince remembered him when he was three times seven - twenty-one years old. Anguish fell upon him, and neither hunting games nor magnificent balls could dispel it.
“Oh, where can I find three oranges!” he repeated.
The father-king and mother-queen heard this and said:
“Surely we will regret for our dear son at least three, at least three tens, at least three hundred, at least three thousand oranges!”
And they piled a whole mountain of golden fruits in front of the prince. But the prince just shook his head.
— No, these are not those oranges. And what are those that I need, and I myself do not know. Saddle up, I'll go look for them
The prince was saddled with a horse, he jumped on it and rode off. He rode, he rode along the roads, he found nothing. Then the prince turned off the road and galloped straight ahead. He rode to the stream and suddenly heard a thin voice:
“Hey, king’s son, be careful that your horse doesn’t trample on my house!”
The prince looked in all directions - no one was there. He looked under the horse's hooves - an eggshell lies in the grass. He dismounted, bent down, and saw that a fairy was sitting in a shell. The prince was surprised, and the fairy says:
- For a long time no one has visited me, no one has brought gifts.
Then the prince removed from his finger a ring with an expensive stone and put it on the fairy instead of a belt. The fairy laughed with joy and said:
“I know, I know what you are looking for. Get the diamond key and you will enter the garden. There are three oranges hanging on a branch.
— Where can I find the diamond key? asked the king.
“My elder sister probably knows this. She lives in a chestnut grove.
The young man thanked the fairy and jumped on his horse. The second fairy really lived in a chestnut grove, in a chestnut shell. The prince gave her a golden buckle from her cloak.
“Thank you,” the fairy said, “now I will have a golden bed.” For this, I will tell you a secret. The diamond key lies in a crystal chest.
— Where is the casket? the young man asked.
“My older sister knows this,” the fairy replied. — She lives in a hazel tree.
The king's son sought out a hazel tree. The oldest fairy made herself a house in a hazelnut shell. The king's son removed the gold chain from his neck and presented it to the fairy. The fairy tied the chain to the branch and said:
This will be my swing. For such a generous gift, I will tell you something that my younger sisters do not know. The Crystal Casket is located in the palace. The palace stands on a mountain, and that mountain is behind three mountains, behind three deserts. The one-eyed watchman guards the casket. Remember well: when the watchman is sleeping, his eye is open; when he is not sleeping, his eye is closed. Go ahead and don't be afraid.
How long the prince rode, we do not know. He just crossed three mountains, drove through three deserts and drove up to that very mountain. Then he dismounted, tied his horse to a tree and looked around. Here is the path. It is completely overgrown with grass - it is clear that no one has been in these parts for a long time. The king followed her. The path crawls, meandering like a snake, all up and up. The king does not turn away from her. So the path brought him to the top of the mountain, where the palace stood.
Flew past forty. The king asked her:
“Magpie, magpie, look through the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.
Magpie looked in the window and shouted:
Sleeping, sleeping! His eye is closed!
“Eh,” the prince said to himself, “now is not the time to enter the palace.
He waited until night. An owl flew by. The king asked her:
- Owl, owl, look in the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.
The owl looked in the window and hooted:
— Uh-uh! The guard is not sleeping! His eyes are looking at me like that.
“Now is the time,” said the prince to himself, and entered the palace.
There he saw a one-eyed watchman. Near the watchman stood a three-legged table with a crystal chest on it. The prince lifted the lid of the chest, took out a diamond key, but he did not know what to open with it. He began to walk around the palace halls and try which door the diamond key would fit. I've tried all the locks and the key doesn't work. There was only a small golden door in the farthest hall. The king's son put a diamond key in the keyhole, it fit just right. The door immediately swung open, and the prince entered the garden.
In the middle of the garden stood an orange tree with only three oranges growing on it. But what oranges they were! Large, fragrant, with a golden skin. As if all the generous sun of Italy went to them alone. The king's son picked the oranges, hid them under his cloak, and went back.
As soon as the prince descended from the mountain and mounted his horse, the one-eyed watchman closed his only eye and woke up. He immediately saw that there was no diamond key in the chest. But it was already too late, because the prince was galloping at full speed on his good horse, taking away three oranges.
Here he crossed one mountain, rides through the desert. The day is sultry, there is not a cloud in the azure sky. Hot air flows over hot sand. The king was thirsty. He wanted so much that he couldn't think of anything else.
“Why, I have three oranges! he said to himself. “I’ll eat one and quench my thirst!”
As soon as he cut the peel, the orange broke into two halves. A beautiful girl emerged from it.
"Give me a drink," she pleaded in a plaintive voice.
What was the queen to do! He himself was burning with thirst.
- Drink, drink! the girl sighed, fell on the hot sand and died.
The prince mourned over her and went on. And when he looked back, he saw that an orange grove was green in that place. The prince was surprised, but did not turn back.
Soon the desert ended, the young man drove up to the forest. A brook murmured affably at the edge. The prince rushed to the stream, got drunk himself, gave his horse plenty to drink, and then sat down to rest under a spreading chestnut tree. He took out a second orange from under his cloak, held it in his palm, and curiosity began to torment the king's son as much as thirst had recently tormented him. What is hidden behind the golden skin? And the prince cut the second orange.
The orange split into two halves, and a girl came out of it. She was even prettier than the first.
“Give me a drink,” said the girl.
“Here is a stream,” answered the prince, “its water is clear and cool.
The girl leaned against the stream and instantly drank all the water from the stream, even the sand at the bottom of it became dry.
- Drink, drink! the girl groaned again, fell on the grass and died.
The king was very upset and said:
“Eh, no, now I won’t even take a drop of water in my mouth until I drink the third girl from the third orange!”
And he spurred on his horse. Drove a little and looked back. What a miracle! Orange trees lined the banks of the stream. Under the dense greenery of their branches, the stream filled with water and again sang its song.
But the prince did not return here either. He rode on, clutching the last orange to his chest.
How he suffered on the way from heat and thirst is impossible to tell. However, sooner or later, the prince rode to the river that flowed near the borders of his native kingdom. Here he cut the third orange, the largest and ripest. The orange opened like petals, and a girl of unprecedented beauty appeared before the prince. What the first two were good for, but next to this one they would have seemed just plain ugly. The prince could not take his eyes off her. Her face was softer than an orange blossom, her eyes were as green as the ovary of a fruit, her hair was as golden as the peel of a ripe orange.
The king's son took her by the hand and led her to the river. The girl leaned over the river and began to drink. But the river was wide and deep. No matter how much the girl drank, the water did not decrease.
Finally, the beauty raised her head and smiled at the prince.
“Thank you, prince, for giving me life. Before you is the king's daughter orange trees. I've been waiting for you in my golden dungeon for so long! And my sisters were waiting too.
"Oh, poor things," the prince sighed. It's my fault for their deaths.
“But they didn’t die,” said the girl. "Didn't you see that they had become orange groves?" They will give coolness to tired travelers, quench their thirst. But now my sisters will never be able to turn into girls again.
"Won't you leave me?" exclaimed the king.
“I won’t leave if you don’t stop loving me.”
The prince laid his hand on the hilt of his sword and swore that he would call no one his wife but the daughter of the king of the orange trees.
He put the girl in front of him on the saddle and galloped to his native palace.
Already the palace turrets shone in the distance. The prince stopped his horse and said:
“Wait here for me, I will come back for you in a golden carriage and bring you a satin dress and satin shoes.”
“I don’t need a carriage or clothes. Better not leave me alone.
“But I want you to move into my father's palace like a royal son's bride. Don't be afraid, I'll put you on a tree branch, over this pond. Nobody will see you here.
He picked her up in his arms, put her on a tree, and drove through the gate himself.
At this time, a lame-legged, crooked in one eye maid came to the pond to rinse clothes. She leaned over the water and saw the girl's reflection in the pond.
“Is it really me? the maid screamed. How beautiful I have become! It is true that the sun itself envies my beauty!
The maid raised her eyes to look at the sun, and noticed a girl among the dense foliage. Then the maid realized that she was not seeing her own reflection in the water.
"Hey, who are you and what are you doing here?" the maid shouted angrily.
“I am the bride of the king's son and I am waiting for him to come for me.
The maid thought: "This is an opportunity to outwit fate."
“Well, it remains to be seen who he will come for,” she answered, and began shaking the tree with all her might.
The poor orange girl tried her best to hold on to the branches. But the maid shook the barrel more and more. The girl fell off the branch and, falling, turned back into a golden orange.
The maid quickly grabbed the orange, put it in her bosom, and climbed up the tree. As soon as she perched on a branch, the prince drove up in a carriage drawn by six white horses.
The maid did not wait until she was removed from the tree, and jumped to the ground.
The prince recoiled when he saw his bride lame-footed and crooked in one eye.
The maid quickly said:
“Hey, little fiancé, don’t worry, this will all pass for me soon. I got a speck in my eye, and I spent my leg on a tree. After the wedding, I will be even better than I was.
The prince had no choice but to take her to the palace. After all, he swore on his sword.
The father-king and mother-queen were very upset when they saw the bride of their beloved son. It was worth going for such a beauty almost to the ends of the world! But once the word is given, it must be kept. They began to prepare for the wedding.
Evening has come. The whole palace was ablaze with lights. The tables were lavishly set, and the guests were dressed to smithereens. Everyone had fun. Only the king's son was unhappy. He was tormented by longing, such a longing, as if he had never held three oranges in his hands. At least once again get on your horse and go no one knows where, no one knows why.
Then the bell was struck, and everyone sat down at the table. And the young people were seated at the head of the table. Servants served the guests with skillfully prepared dishes and drinks.
The bride tried one dish, tried another, but each piece stuck in her throat. She was thirsty. But no matter how much she drank, her thirst did not subside. Then she remembered the orange and decided to eat it. Suddenly an orange rolled out of her hands and rolled across the table, saying in a gentle voice: The crooked falsehood is sitting at the table, And the truth has entered the house with it!
The guests held their breath. The bride turned pale. The orange rolled around the table, rolled up to the prince and opened up. From it came the beautiful daughter of the king of orange trees.
The prince took her by the hands and led her to her father and mother.
This is my real bride!
The evil deceiver was immediately driven away. And the prince and the girl from the orange celebrated a merry wedding and lived happily until old age.

Throughout Italy, the story of the three oranges is told. But what is surprising is that in each locality it is told in its own way. But the Genoese say one thing, the Neapolitans another, the Sicilians a third. And we listened to all these tales and now we know how it really happened.

There once lived a king and a queen. They had a palace, they had a kingdom, there were, of course, subjects, but the king and queen had no children.

One day the king said:
- If we had a son, I would put a fountain on the square in front of the palace.

And it would not be wine that would be beaten from it, but golden olive oil. For seven years women would come to him and bless my son.

Soon a very pretty boy was born to the king and queen. The happy parents fulfilled their vow, and two fountains were beaten on the square. In the first year, fountains of wine and oil rose above the palace tower. The next year they were lower. In a word, every day the royal son got bigger, and the fountains got smaller.

At the end of the seventh year, the fountains no longer beat, wine and oil oozed from them drop by drop.

Once the king's son went out to the square to play skittles. At the same time, a gray-haired, hunched-over old woman dragged herself to the fountains. She brought with her a sponge and two earthenware jugs. Drop by drop, the sponge soaked up either wine or oil, and the old woman squeezed it into jugs.

The jugs were almost full. And suddenly - bang! Both shattered into shards.

That's such a well-aimed blow! It was the king's son who was aiming a large wooden ball at the skittles, but hit the jugs. At the same moment, the fountains dried up, they no longer gave a drop of wine and oil. After all, the prince just at that moment was exactly seven years old.

The old woman shook her crooked finger and spoke in a raspy voice:
“Listen to me, royal son. Because you broke my jugs, I will put a spell on you. When you blow three times seven years, longing will attack you.

And she will torment you until you find a tree with three oranges.

And when you find a tree and pick three oranges, you'll be thirsty.

Then we'll see what happens.

The old woman laughed wickedly and trudged away.

And the king's son continued to play skittles, and in half an hour he had already forgotten about the broken jugs and the old woman's spell.

The prince remembered him when he was three times seven - twenty-one years old. Anguish fell upon him, and neither hunting games nor magnificent balls could dispel it.

“Oh, where can I find three oranges!” he repeated.

The father-king and mother-queen heard this and said:
“Surely we will regret for our dear son at least three, at least three dozen, at least three hundred, at least three thousand oranges!”

And they piled a whole mountain of golden fruits in front of the prince. But the prince just shook his head.

— No, these are not those oranges. And what are those that I need, and I myself do not know.

Saddle the horse, I'll go look for them. The prince saddled the horse, he jumped on it and rode. He rode, he rode along the roads, he found nothing. Then the prince turned off the road and galloped straight ahead. He rode to the stream and suddenly heard a thin voice:
“Hey, king’s son, be careful that your horse doesn’t trample on my house!”

The prince looked in all directions - no one was there. He looked under the horse's hooves - an eggshell lies in the grass. He dismounted, bent down, and saw that a fairy was sitting in a shell. The prince was surprised, and the fairy says:
- For a long time no one has visited me, no one has brought gifts.

Then the prince removed from his finger a ring with an expensive stone and put it on the fairy instead of a belt. The fairy laughed with joy and said:
“I know, I know what you are looking for. Get the diamond key and you will enter the garden. There are three oranges hanging on a branch.
— Where can I find the diamond key? asked the king.
“My elder sister probably knows this. She lives in a chestnut grove.

The young man thanked the fairy and jumped on his horse. The second fairy really lived in a chestnut grove, in a chestnut shell. The prince gave her a golden buckle from her cloak.

“Thank you,” the fairy said, “now I will have a golden bed.”

For this, I will tell you a secret. The diamond key lies in a crystal chest.

— Where is the casket? the young man asked.
“My older sister knows this,” the fairy replied. — She lives in a hazel tree.

The king's son sought out a hazel tree. The oldest fairy made herself a house in a hazelnut shell. The king's son removed the gold chain from his neck and presented it to the fairy. The fairy tied the chain to the branch and said:
This will be my swing. For such a generous gift, I will tell you something that my younger sisters do not know. The Crystal Casket is located in the palace. The palace stands on a mountain, and that mountain is behind three mountains, behind three deserts. The one-eyed watchman guards the casket. Remember well: when the watchman is sleeping, his eye is open; when he is not sleeping, his eye is closed. Go ahead and don't be afraid.

How long the prince rode, we do not know. He just crossed three mountains, drove through three deserts and drove up to that very mountain. Then he dismounted, tied his horse to a tree and looked around. Here is the path. It is completely overgrown with grass - it is clear that no one has been in these parts for a long time. The king followed her. The path crawls, meandering like a snake, all up and up. The king does not turn away from her. So the path brought him to the top of the mountain, where the palace stood.

Flew past forty. The king asked her:
“Magpie, magpie, look through the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.

Magpie looked in the window and shouted:
Sleeping, sleeping! His eye is closed!
“Eh,” the prince said to himself, “now is not the time to enter the palace.

He waited until night. An owl flew by. The king asked her:
- Owl, owl, look in the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.

The owl looked in the window and hooted:
— Uh-uh! The guard is not sleeping! His eyes are looking at me like that.
“Now is the time,” said the prince to himself, and entered the palace.

There he saw a one-eyed watchman. Near the watchman stood a three-legged table with a crystal chest on it. The prince lifted the lid of the chest, took out a diamond key, but he did not know what to open with it. He began to walk around the palace halls and try which door the diamond key would fit. I've tried all the locks and the key doesn't work. There was only a small golden door in the farthest hall. The king's son put a diamond key in the keyhole, it fit just right. The door immediately swung open, and the prince entered the garden.

In the middle of the garden stood an orange tree with only three oranges growing on it. But what oranges they were! Large, fragrant, with a golden skin.

As if all the generous sun of Italy went to them alone. The king's son picked the oranges, hid them under his cloak, and went back.

As soon as the prince descended from the mountain and mounted his horse, the one-eyed watchman closed his only eye and woke up. He immediately saw that there was no diamond key in the chest. But it was already too late, because the prince was galloping at full speed on his good horse, taking away three oranges.

Here he crossed one mountain, rides through the desert. The day is sultry, there is not a cloud in the azure sky. Hot air flows over hot sand.

The king was thirsty. He wanted so much that he couldn't think of anything else.

Why, I have three oranges! he said to himself. - Eat one and quench your thirst!

As soon as he cut the peel, the orange broke into two halves. A beautiful girl emerged from it.

"Give me a drink," she pleaded in a plaintive voice.

What was the queen to do! He himself was burning with thirst.

- Drink, drink! the girl sighed, fell on the hot sand and died.

Soon the desert ended, the young man drove up to the forest. A brook murmured affably at the edge. The prince rushed to the stream, got drunk himself, gave his horse plenty to drink, and then sat down to rest under a spreading chestnut tree. He took out a second orange from under his cloak, held it in his palm, and curiosity began to torment the king's son as much as thirst had recently tormented him. What is hidden behind the golden skin? And the prince cut the second orange.

The orange split into two halves, and a girl came out of it. She was even prettier than the first.

“Give me a drink,” said the girl.
“Here is a stream,” answered the prince, “its water is clear and cool.

The girl leaned against the stream and instantly drank all the water from the stream, even the sand at the bottom of it became dry.

- Drink, drink! the girl groaned again, fell on the grass and died.

The king was very upset and said:
“Eh, no, now I won’t even take a drop of water in my mouth until I drink the third girl from the third orange!”

And he spurred on his horse. Drove a little and looked back. What a miracle!

Orange trees lined the banks of the stream. Under the dense greenery of their branches, the stream filled with water and again sang its song.

But the prince did not return here either. He rode on, clutching the last orange to his chest.

How he suffered on the way from heat and thirst is impossible to tell. However, sooner or later, the prince rode to the river that flowed near the borders of his native kingdom. Here he cut the third orange, the largest and ripest. The orange opened like petals, and a girl of unprecedented beauty appeared before the prince. What the first two were good for, but next to this one they would have seemed just plain ugly. The prince could not take his eyes off her. Her face was softer than an orange blossom, her eyes were as green as the ovary of a fruit, her hair was as golden as the peel of a ripe orange.

The king's son took her by the hand and led her to the river. The girl leaned over the river and began to drink. But the river was wide and deep. No matter how much the girl drank, the water did not decrease.

Finally, the beauty raised her head and smiled at the prince.

“Thank you, prince, for giving me life. Before you is the daughter of the king of orange trees. I've been waiting for you in my golden dungeon for so long!

And my sisters were waiting too.

"Oh, poor things," the prince sighed. It's my fault for their deaths.
“But they didn’t die,” said the girl. "Didn't you see that they had become orange groves?" They will give coolness to tired travelers, quench their thirst. But now my sisters will never be able to turn into girls again.
"Won't you leave me?" exclaimed the king.
“I won’t leave if you don’t stop loving me.”

The prince laid his hand on the hilt of his sword and swore that he would call no one his wife but the daughter of the king of the orange trees.

He put the girl in front of him on the saddle and galloped to his native palace.

Already the palace turrets shone in the distance. The prince stopped his horse and said:
“Wait here for me, I will come back for you in a golden carriage and bring you a satin dress and satin shoes.”
“I don’t need a carriage or clothes. Better not leave me alone.
“But I want you to move into my father's palace like a royal son's bride. Don't be afraid, I'll put you on a tree branch, over this pond. Nobody will see you here.

He picked her up in his arms, put her on a tree, and drove through the gate himself.

At this time, a lame-legged, crooked in one eye maid came to the pond to rinse clothes. She leaned over the water and saw the girl's reflection in the pond.

“Is it really me? the maid screamed. How beautiful I have become! It is true that the sun itself envies my beauty!

The maid raised her eyes to look at the sun, and noticed a girl among the dense foliage. Then the maid realized that she was not seeing her own reflection in the water.

"Hey, who are you and what are you doing here?" the maid shouted angrily.
“I am the bride of the king's son and I am waiting for him to come for me.

The maid thought: This is an opportunity to outwit fate.

“Well, it remains to be seen who he will come for,” she answered, and began shaking the tree with all her might.

The poor orange girl tried her best to hold on to the branches. But the maid shook the barrel more and more. The girl fell off the branch and, falling, turned back into a golden orange.

The maid quickly grabbed the orange, put it in her bosom, and climbed up the tree. As soon as she perched on a branch, the prince drove up in a carriage drawn by six white horses.

The maid did not wait until she was removed from the tree, and jumped to the ground.

The prince recoiled when he saw his bride lame-footed and crooked in one eye.

The maid quickly said:
“Hey, little fiancé, don’t worry, this will all pass for me soon. I got a speck in my eye, and I spent my leg on a tree. After the wedding, I will be even better than I was.

The prince had no choice but to take her to the palace. After all, he swore on his sword.

The father-king and mother-queen were very upset when they saw the bride of their beloved son. It was worth going for such a beauty almost to the ends of the world! But once the word is given, it must be kept. They began to prepare for the wedding.

Evening has come. The whole palace was ablaze with lights. The tables were lavishly set, and the guests were dressed to smithereens. Everyone had fun. Only the king's son was unhappy. He was tormented by longing, such a longing, as if he had never held three oranges in his hands. At least once again get on your horse and go no one knows where, no one knows why.

Then the bell was struck, and everyone sat down at the table. And the young people were seated at the head of the table. Servants served the guests with skillfully prepared dishes and drinks.

The bride tried one dish, tried another, but each piece stuck in her throat. She was thirsty. But no matter how much she drank, her thirst did not subside. Then she remembered the orange and decided to eat it.

Suddenly an orange rolled out of her hands and rolled across the table, saying in a gentle voice: The crooked falsehood is sitting at the table, And the truth has entered the house with it!

The guests held their breath. The bride turned pale. The orange rolled around the table, rolled up to the prince and opened up. From it came the beautiful daughter of the king of orange trees.

The prince took her by the hands and led her to her father and mother.

This is my real bride!

The evil deceiver was immediately driven away. And the prince and the girl from the orange celebrated a merry wedding and lived happily until old age.