The eagle was happy and said to the boy. "You have been very good to me. What can I do for you?"

"How can an eagle help me?" the boy answered.

Then the eagle said, "Take one of my feathers, one from the wing, and hide it. If you should ever be in trouble, beat the feather between two stones, and I’ll come to help you." After he said that, the eagle flew away.

The time came when the boy left home to try his luck in the world. As he was walking by a river, he saw a man sitting and thinking on the bank of the river. There was a wolf behind the man and the wolf was looking at the man.

"You, my friend, there's a wolf behind you!" shouted the boy.

The man instantly jumped into the river. The wolf ran away and the boy kept on walking.

After a while, the boy found a big fish on the bank of the river. The water had splashed on the shore and thrown the fish right out of the river. The boy felt sorry for the fish and pushed it back into the water with his stick.

The fish turned its head to the boy and said, "What would you like me to give you? I want to pay you back for the help you gave me."

" What can a fish give me ?" the boy laughed.

"Cut off one of my scales and keep it," the fish replied.

"Then if you ever need my help, beat the scale between two stones and I'll come to help you."

The boy kept on walking and met the man he had saved from the wolf. The man said to the boy, "Hello, my friend, God be with you."

"God be with you too," the boy replied.

"I want to do something for you," said the man, "because of what you did for me. You know, when you saved me from the wolf."

"What kind of man are you?" asked the boy.

"I'm the devil!"

The boy was frightened when he heard that and cried, "I don't want your help, I'm afraid you'll do something bad to me!"

"Don't worry," said the devil. "I must do something good for you, nothing bad. Take three hairs of my head and go to the nearest city. That's where the king's daughter lives. Her name is Dunya and she's very beautiful. She's decided to marry anyone who can hide from her for three days without her finding him. Make a bet with her that you can do it. Then burn my three hairs and I'll come to you and tell you what to do. Believe me, I'll help you become the king's son-in-law."

The boy took the devil's hairs and went away. The devil jumped into the river.

Then the boy went to the city that the devil had told him about. He told a messenger from the king's palace that he wanted to make a bet that he could hide from the king's daughter. The messenger told the boy that many young men had tried their luck doing it, but had lost the bet and gotten killed by the king. If he couldn't hide from the king's daughter, they warned him, he would also get killed!

"Don't worry about me!" the boy cried and he went to get a room at the inn. When he got in his room, he burned the devil's hairs. Instantly the devil appeared.

"I know why you're calling me," said the devil. Where is the eagle's feather you have? Beat that feather between two stones and the eagle will come here because he will know you need him."

The boy did what the devil told him to. Instantly the eagle flew down to him and asked, "Why are you calling me?" "I made a bet with the king's daughter." replied the boy. Please help me hide from her so she won't be able to find me."

The eagle called four more eagles and said to the boy, "First eat and drink. Then spread yourself across our backs!"

The boy ate and drank and then spread across the eagles' backs. The eagles flew up in the sky, above the clouds, so that no one could see the boy. The next morning, before sunrise, the king's daughter bathed herself nicely and climbed up a high tower, from which she could see the whole world. She looked through a telescope but she couldn't see the boy anywhere. Then she looked out at the ocean. Still she couldn't see the boy. Then she looked up to the sky. First she saw a dark cloud, and then she saw a piece of the boy's clothes sticking out behind it.

After a while, the boy went to see the king's daughter. "No one has hidden better than you," she praised him, "but I found you anyway. You were hiding above the clouds on the backs of five eagles."

The boy went away. Then, as the devil had told him to do, he beat the fish scale between two stones and went to the shore where he had first seen the fish.

"Why are you calling me?" the fish asked the boy. The boy told the fish everything that had happened and finally said, "I would like you to hide me someplace where nobody can see me."

"Come here and get inside my mouth," said the fish. The boy got into the fish's mouth. The fish swam under water and hid itself under a rock in the sea.

The next morning, the king's daughter got up, washed her face nicely as usual, and climbed to the top of the tower. She looked all over the sky and the earth but she couldn't see the boy. Then she looked through the telescope at the ocean. She saw a piece of the boy's clothes caught in the fish's teeth. That was a fine surprise for her!

At a certain time, the boy came to the king's daughter again. "Were you able to see me this time?" he asked.

"Yes, as God wills, I saw a piece of your clothing in the fish's mouth."

The boy left. That night, he decided to hide for the third time. This time, the devil blew on him and turned him into an apple. He put the apple under the king's apple tree, near a spring, where the king's servants always got water. The servants saw the apple on the ground and thought it looked strange. One of them picked up the apple and went running back to the king's daughter to show it to her. She liked the apple so much that she stuck it in her bodice.

The next morning the king's daughter climbed to the top of the tower again. She saw the whole world, the sky, the earth, and the sea. But she couldn't see the boy anywhere. Happily she called out, "Oh, boy, boy, where are you?''

At that moment, the apple rolled out of her bodice. It turned into the boy again. "I'm here!" the boy cried.

The Queen's daughter held out her hand to the boy and said, "From this moment, I am yours and you are mine!"

And that is how the boy who was always doing good things for people became the king's son-in-law.

Three sisters 

There were once three sisters and each wanted to be the most beautiful of the three. So they went to the Sun and asked him: "Sun, Sun, which one of us is the most beautiful?"

The Sun said to them: "The youngest of you is the most beautiful."

The oldest and middle sisters were not satisfied with that answer. So they asked the Sun three more times. Each time the Sun gave them the same answer.

The two older sisters then plotted to kill their younger sister. They cooked wheat and made unleavened bread to take to their mother's grave. Then they said to their younger sister: "Let's go to our mother's grave. We'll take the wheat and bread there ... for our mother's dead soul."

The youngest sister had no idea what her sisters were planning to do to her, so she went with them. They came to a wilderness where they stopped. The two older ones said to the younger one: "Oh, dear sister, we forgot the candles. Why don't you wait here while we go back home and get them?"

So the two sisters went home and left the youngest sister in the wilderness to wait for them. The youngest sister waited and waited ... It got darker and darker, but the two sisters never came back. They left their younger sister there so that she would be eaten up by wild beasts.

Late in the evening a lamb came up to her. She gave the lamb some of the cooked wheat she had. The lamb ate the wheat and went away. Fearing that wild animals might come and eat her, she said to herself: "I'll follow the lamb!"

The lamb was owned by nine brothers. When it came home, followed by the youngest sister, they were away at work. Their house looked very untidy, so the girl cleaned it and cooked supper for the nine brothers. Then she hid herself behind the door.

It was late when the brothers came home from work. When they saw what the girl had done, they were very surprised. But the girl stayed hidden behind the door and didn't make a sound.

The next morning the oldest brother said to the others:

"The one who cooked our supper last night may cook it today. I'll stay here today and watch to see who it is."

The whole day he stayed there and waited and waited. When evening came, he began to feel sleepy and fell asleep. Then the girl came out and cleaned the house and cooked supper in a great hurry. When she was done she hid behind the door again.

When the oldest brother woke up, he couldn't believe his eyes. The house was clean and supper was ready! He didn't know what to say to his brothers who had left him home just so he could find out who was cleaning their house and cooking their supper.

The next morning, the second brother stayed home. He watched and watched all day but didn't see anybody. The other brothers did the same but didn't see anybody because all of them fell asleep in the evening. At last it was the youngest brother's turn. He said to himself: "I don't know how it can be that my eight brothers waited and watched and didn't see anybody. This time I'll watch and find out who does all those things for us!"

He watched and watched but the girl didn't come out. Finally he pretended to fall asleep. The girl thought he was sleeping, so she came out from behind the door to begin her daily work.

The youngest brother jumped out of his bed, took her hand, and said to her: "You, sister! You have done so many good things for us, you are our sister!''

Later that evening, the other brothers came home from work and were very happy to see the girl. From then on they loved her as a sister. So that she wouldn't be alone during the day, they bought her two pigeons.

When the two older sisters found out that their younger sister was still alive and living happily, they became more jealous than ever and decided to poison her. They sent for an old woman, gave her home-made bread with poison in it and told her to give the bread to their sister so that she would die.

The old woman took the bread to the youngest sister. The girl broke the bread and a few crumbs of it fell on the floor. The pigeons began to eat the crumbs and quickly died. So the girl knew that the bread had poison in it and didn't eat it.

Later in the evening, the brothers came home from work and asked the girl what had happened to the pigeons. She told them everything that had happened and how the pigeons had died. Then the brothers said to her: "If that old woman comes again, don't let her in. She may do something bad to you. We are nine brothers and you are our only sister."

When the two older sisters heard that the youngest sister was still alive, they sent the old woman to her again. The old woman came a few more times and each time tried to use a different trick on the youngest sister, but the girl wouldn't let her in and didn't even open the door. At last, however, the two sisters thought of a clever trick. They would try once more to poison her. So they gave the old woman a ring and some poison too, and told her to take the ring to their sister. The old woman said: "I’ll go, but she won't let me in. She won't even open the door!"

'If she doesn't open the door," the sisters said, "knock at it anyhow. If she comes to the window to see who's knocking, just tell her that we, her sisters, have a burning desire to see her again, but that we can't visit her. Also tell her that we have given you this ring to take to her."

Then they told the old woman to ask the girl to put out her hand so she could put the ring on the girl's finger. When the girl put her hand out, the old woman was to cut the girl's smallest finger and put poison on it. It would hurt so badly that the girl would put her fingers in her mouth, swallow the poison and die.

The old woman took the ring, went to the girl, and did everything the sisters had told her to do. So the girl died.

Later that evening, the nine brothers came home and found her dead. Her death broke their hearts and they cried out loud; they didn't know who had done them such harm. Then they dressed the girl in a white dress like a wedding dress and cried some more over her. They felt so sad about her that they didn't bury her the way dead people are usually buried. Instead they made a coffin out of glass and put her into it. Then they put on black clothes. The whole house was covered with black. They put the coffin on a high tree by a river where the King's horses always came to drink water.

The next morning, when the King's horses came to the river, they wouldn't drink the water because of the gleam that was coming from the coffin. That happened several times. At last, the King's son decided to find out why the horses wouldn't drink water from the river they had always drunk from before. So he went there himself and saw the coffin. He told his servants to take it down from the tree so he could see what was in it. The servants took the coffin down.

As soon as he saw the beauty of the dead girl in the coffin, he fell in love with her. He took home the coffin with the girl in it and put it in a special room. Once a day he went to look at the girl.

The time came when the King's son had to go far away. But before he left he told his mother that nobody was to open the room where the coffin was. As soon as he left, however, his mother became curious, as all women do, opened the door and went into the room. She saw the dead girl and was fascinated by her beauty. So she took a scarf, soaked it with wine, and covered the girl's face with it. Out of God's mercy, the girl came to life.

There are no words to tell how happy the Queen was. She put a wedding dress on the girl who was to be her daughter-in-law. Then she took the girl into another room and let her wait there the way brides are supposed to.

When the Queen's son came back, he went right to the room where the coffin was. When he didn't find it where he had left it, he got angry. He began to shout and quarrel with everybody because he thought that someone had taken the coffin. Then his mother told him everything, how she had gone into the room and brought the girl back to life and how the girl was alive and waiting for him, the way brides are supposed to wait for the bridegroom.

Full of joy, he ran to the room where the girl was waiting for him, and he married her. So justice won, and the youngest sister became a queen.

 The three brothers and the dragon

Once upon a time, there were three brothers, the youngest of whom was considered good-for-nothing. The three brothers had a garden with different fruit trees. In the middle of the garden stood an apple tree on which grew golden apples. As the apples ripened, somebody or something took them from the tree. Seeing the problem, the oldest brother told the middle brother to watch the garden the whole night through to discover who kept stealing the ripe apples. When the good-for-nothing brother heard the oldest brother's words, he said to him, "My dear brother, let me stay and watch the garden".

"Get out of my way, you good-for-nothing," replied his brother, "how could you even think that you are capable of doing something like that?"

That night, the oldest brother went to the garden to watch the apple tree. He watched and watched, but the moment he fell asleep, a she-dragon came and picked the ripe apples. When the older brother awoke, he saw that somebody or something had picked the apples. The next night the middle brother went to watch the apple tree. Again the youngest brother begged them to let him guard the apple tree, but the two brothers would not let him. So the next night, the middle brother went to guard, but he also fell asleep, and the she-dragon came and picked the apples. On the third night, the worthless youngest brother begged his brothers to let him watch the apple tree. The oldest brother shouted at him.

"Go to hell, you good-for-nothing. Stop boasting and pretending you are a hero. How can you even think that you can watch the apple tree when we could not? Get out of my way before I slap you so hard that you won't know which way to run!" As he spoke, the oldest brother slapped his brother across the face.

"Slap me once again, my brother," said the good-fog-nothing, "but let me guard the apple tree tonight."

"Let him guard", said the middle brother. " We'll see what he does."

When the worthless brother got permission, he went to the garden and climbed up the apple tree. Exactly at midnight, the she-dragon walked directly into the apple tree. Instantly the good-for-nothing brother jumped down from the tree and ran to catch her. When the she-dragon saw the good-for-nothing brother run after her, she was frightened and started to run away. As she ran, the good-for-nothing brother kept running after her until they came to a hole in the ground. The she-dragon went into the hole and hid there.

The next morning the good-for-nothing brother told his brothers where the she-dragon went. The good-for-nothing brother asked for a stout rope. He asked his brothers to tie him with the rope and lower him into the hole.

"When I shake the rope from inside the hole, pull me up," he said to his brothers.

They took a rope and the good-for-nothing brother tied the rope to his waist. Then his brothers lowered him into the hole. Once inside, the good-for-nothing brother looked to and fro for the she-dragon. He found a big chest full of jewellery. He tied the rope to the chest and shook the rope to signal his brothers. They pulled the chest out of the hole and let the rope down again because they expected to pull out more treasure. But the good-for-nothing brother could not find anything else, and therefore tied the rope to his waist and shook it in order to be pulled out. The two brothers began to pull the rope, but when they saw their brother, they paused.

"Let's drop him back down; let the dragon eat him because he is a better hero then we are," said the oldest brother.

"That's a good idea, my brother," said the middle one. "Let's drop him down."

Instantly they dropped the good-for-nothing brother. He kept falling down and down until he found himself in the underworld. He untied the rope and started walking along a narrow street until he came to an old granny's house.

"Good evening, granny," said the good-for-nothing brother. "Please, my old mother, give me some water to drink because I have been walking the whole day and I could find no water along the way. Why is there no water in this world?"

"Oh, my dear son, there are many water fountains in our world, but all of them are shut by an evil she-dragon. Each day she stops the water fountains. People cannot fetch drinking water until we give her one person to eat for each day of water. That is why I have only a small amount of water. I will let you drink a little. Then let's go to the edge of the town. There we shall watch and pity the king's daughter, who will be eaten by the she-dragon. Today is the king's turn to feed the she-dragon with a human body so that she will let the water fountains run."

The good-for-nothing brother drank a little water and together with the granny went to watch the dragon eat the king's daughter. The young man went to the king's daughter and sat beside her.

"Don't sit near me, young man, because here comes the she-dragon to eat me up. Go away because she may eat you up with me," she said to the good-for-nothing brother.

When the she-dragon arrived and saw the two people, she was happy and said, "Look! See, I'm lucky today. I used to eat only one person a day, but now I'm going to eat two!" She opened her mouth to eat them, but since the good-for- nothing brother was strong, he hit the dragon's forehead with his mace and she fell down dead.

When the king saw what happened, he was very happy and he offered the good-for-nothing brother a lot of money. But the young man would not accept anything. The only thing he wanted was to return to the upper world. When the king heard the good-for-nothing brother's wish, he gave him three eagles - one white, one black, and the third one red - to carry him to the upper world. He gave him three young cows to feed the eagles with. The eagles took the good-for-nothing brother on their wings and began to fly. Each time the eagles opened their beaks, the good-for-nothing brother cut a piece of meat from the cows and gave meal to the eagles, saying, "Here you are. Eat." But not having enough meat and fearing that the eagles might drop him back into the underworld, he cut a piece of flesh from his own thigh and fed the eagles, and they took him to the upper world.

Before the eagles returned to the underworld, each of them gave the good-for-nothing brother one feather so that he could call them whenever he found himself in trouble. They told him that he could light the feathers by touching each to a flame, and that then the eagle he chose would come to help him.

When he returned home, his brothers wondered how he had managed to climb out of the hole in which they had dropped him. The good-for-nothing brother said nothing and behaved as if they had done nothing bad to him. During that time, the king wanted to get his three daughters married. He therefore made an announcement to the entire world that the man who could jump from one mountain to another on horseback would be given the king's daughter as his wife.

The good-for-nothing brother lit the feather of the white eagle and the white eagle came to him. The young man asked for a strong white horse and white clothing for himself. The eagle brought him the things he asked for. He took everything he needed and jumped from one mountain to another the way the king required. He then took the king's daughter and hid her in his house. He used the same trick and took the other two daughters of the king and hid them in his house. After a few days he invited his brothers to his house and gave a bride to each of them. He kept one bride for himself.

"Although you, my brothers, hurt me badly, I shall do something good for you. Each of you take one of the king's daughters," he said, and they went on living the way real brothers should.