Rosebud
Once upon a time, there lived a husband and wife. They were very unhappy because they didn’t have a single friend in the whole wide world.“I go to church, and they turn me away,” the wife cried.
“I go to the neighbors, and they point me to the door,” the husband complained. “Let’s leave this place and live in the mountains, far away from these heartless people.”
They gathered their meager belongings and went to live in a mountain cave.
“And all this because of those quarrelsome neighbors,” said the husband.
“Thank God, now we have no neighbors,” replied the wife.
“That’s true, but we still need to make a living. I’ll go to the nearest town and find work.”
“May God help you,” said the wife. “But remember: to survive among people, you must tell them what they want to hear about themselves. As the saying goes, a cunning lamb sucks seven sheep…”
The husband was gone for a whole month. Finally, he returned to his wife with a large sack of supplies on his back. He looked and couldn’t believe his eyes: a giant was lying in front of the cave entrance. The husband was terrified. He froze, not knowing what to do. But the giant rose from the ground, muttered something under his breath, and disappeared.
The wife came out to greet him:
“Don’t be afraid of him; he’s kind. The Lord sent him to our family to guard our home while you’re away at work.”
The husband was overjoyed to be back at his hearth with his beloved wife. He opened the sack and said:
“Look, wife, there’s enough food here for a whole month. I got lucky; I worked for a kind master. He paid me generously and said he would give me a month’s leave once a month so I could visit my family.”
They had a wonderful dinner and went to sleep. A day or two passed, and the husband prepared to leave for work again, saying he would return with more supplies in a month. Meanwhile, his wife was pregnant. When it was time for the child to be born, the wife, in agony and despair, cried out:
“I’m all alone here; what will I do without a midwife?”
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a midwife appeared in the cave. She helped deliver a baby girl. The midwife washed the child, dried her, and laid her in bed next to her mother. A week passed. The mother said:
“Oh, God! How will I baptize the girl? There’s no priest or godfather here.”
Just then, after these words, a priest and a godfather entered the cave. The midwife prepared the water, and the godfather held the child in his arms. The priest, waving a censer over the baptismal font, recited a prayer, placed fragrant incense in the water, and dipped the girl into the font. He named her Rose—Little Rose. After the baptism, the priest handed the girl back to her mother.
“Now that we’ve baptized the child, let each of us make a wish,” said the midwife.
“You go first,” replied the priest.
“May the Lord turn the water that Little Rose washes in into gold and silver,” wished the midwife.
“If Little Rose ever cries, may the Lord turn her tears into pearls,” wished the priest.
“May the Lord make it so that wherever her foot steps, flowers of unparalleled beauty bloom,” wished the godfather.
After making these three wishes, they all disappeared. Two days later, as the mother bathed the girl, she noticed that the water in the basin seemed to freeze. She poured it into a far corner of the cave. When the child cried, pearls fell from her eyes instead of tears, but the mother, thinking they were hailstones, swept them up and dumped them in the same corner.
Meanwhile, the husband returned with his month’s wages. He carried a huge sack of supplies on his back. He saw the same magical giant standing in front of the cave entrance. This time, he wasn’t afraid, and the giant let him pass.
Seeing they now had a daughter, the husband was overjoyed.
“Tell me, wife, did anyone help you when this little ray of sunshine was born?”
The wife replied:
“Thank God, I wasn’t alone. A midwife was with me when I gave birth. Then a priest and a godfather came. They baptized the girl and named her Little Rose.”
That day, they had a festive meal. After playing with the child, they went to sleep. When the morning sun flooded the cave, the husband noticed something glinting in the far corner.
“Where did this ice come from?” he said, as he began to gather what he thought was ice into a sack. “I’ll take it to my master. He likes to sip his wine with ice on hot days. Besides, he asked me to bring him ice if I ever found any in the mountains.”
“Do you know where that ice came from?” said the wife. “When I bathed our daughter, the water in the basin started to freeze, so I poured it into that corner. And when she cried, the floor was covered with hailstones. I swept them up and threw them there too.”
The husband tied the sack, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and went to work. His master wasn’t home, so he decided to hide the sack in the cold cellar to keep the ice from melting. When the master returned, the husband opened the sack and took a handful of what he thought was ice.
“Where did you get this? Do you have more?” asked the astonished master.
“A whole sackful.”
“Show me.”
They went to the cellar and opened the sack.
“Oh, Lord! Friend, you call this ice? This is gold, silver, and pearls! Son, I have no right to this treasure. It’s yours, of course. Let’s go to the market and sell it for cash.”
When they returned from the market, the worker was a wealthy man.
- "You no longer need to work for me," the master said to him. "Go home and live as you please."
The man took his money and trudged back to the cave.
- "Wife, it wasn’t ice. It was gold, silver, and pearls," he exclaimed. "Look, I’ve brought you a whole sack of money. Now we no longer need to live here in the cave. We can return to the city and live in a mansion so grand that not only our enemies but even our friends will envy us."
- "But we could build a house here, near the cave," his wife objected. "The Lord has spared us from neighbors. It’s so peaceful here without them."
The man hired a craftsman and workers. In a short time, a grand palace was built near the cave. In this palace, Rosette grew not by the day, but by the hour. By the age of fifteen, she was a stunning beauty, with a graceful figure and a lovely face. Wherever her foot stepped, violets and roses of unparalleled beauty bloomed. Her thick golden braids reached her heels, and her words flowed from her scarlet lips like nectar from rose petals. She herself resembled a heavenly flower, as if saying to the sun itself, "Rest, sun, let me shine in your place."
One day, it so happened that a prince and the royal advisor were hunting in those parts. They spent the whole day searching for game, but to no avail. Suddenly, they spotted a doe. Spurring their horses, the hunters gave chase. The doe, skillfully evading pursuit, leaped over the wall surrounding the palace garden and disappeared from sight.
Approaching the gates, the hunters dismounted and approached a man sitting on a bench nearby. They asked to be allowed inside to search for the doe.
- "Very well, search," agreed Rosette’s father—it was he who sat by the gates.
The hunters searched the entire area but found no trace of the doe. Instead, they saw Rosette. The girl was walking through the garden, and where her foot stepped, violets and roses bloomed. The prince couldn’t tear his eyes away from such beauty.
- "Here she is, my doe!" he said with a smile.
Meanwhile, the advisor’s blood ran cold. If he were to cut himself now, not a drop of blood would flow. The advisor had dreamed of marrying the prince to his own daughter! Without wasting any time, the prince immediately asked Rosette’s father for her hand in marriage.
- "Speak to her yourself," he replied.
- "I agree," said Rosette.
The prince was a very headstrong young man. He wanted to take Rosette to his palace immediately to wed her without delay. But the advisor dissuaded him:
- "Why rush, Prince? First, seek your father’s blessing for this marriage."
The prince bid farewell to Rosette, jumped on his horse, and, saying he would return soon, rode off with the advisor.
- "I’ve met a girl I wish to marry," the prince told his father. "There is no beauty like her in the whole world. Now she alone exists for me."
The king decided to ask the advisor, as someone who had seen the girl with his own eyes, what he thought of her.
- "You’ll see her soon enough," the advisor replied spitefully. "A wild girl from the mountains. Born in a cave."
The prince received his father’s blessing for the marriage. Together with the advisor and an escort of armed riders, he set off to fetch his bride. Among the retinue, disguised in men’s clothing, was the advisor’s daughter. Rosette’s father held a grand feast for the wedding party.
- "May you live long. May old age find you under one roof," Rosette’s parents wished the young couple.
The next morning, after the feast and with her parents’ blessing, Rosette set off for the royal palace with the guests. Night fell during their journey.
- "Let’s not rush in the dark. We’ll set up camp and spend the night, then enter the palace in the morning light," the advisor suggested.
They agreed. Taking advantage of the joyful mood of the wedding party, the advisor got them all so drunk they passed out. Then he took Rosette by the hand and led her to a stream near the camp.
- "Sit here, my dear, I’ll be back soon," he said to her. "I’ll return with a trustworthy man to guard you. Our men have had too much to drink tonight."
The advisor returned with his own daughter. Together, they began to threaten Rosette. The advisor grabbed her and shouted to his daughter:
- "Take off her clothes and put them on yourself."
The advisor’s daughter shed her men’s clothing and dressed in Rosette’s wedding attire. Then she drew her dagger, gouged out Rosette’s eyes, and hid them in her pocket. Leaving the naked, bleeding Rosette by the stream, they returned to the camp. The advisor’s daughter sneaked into the tent and lay down to sleep next to the prince.
No one in the camp noticed what had happened—they were all dead drunk. When they awoke in the morning, the procession continued on its way. They entered the capital to the sound of cheerful music. At the king’s command, the wedding was celebrated for seven days and seven nights. A day or two after the wedding, the prince said to his wife:
- "Why don’t flowers bloom where your foot steps?"
His wife began to invent a thousand excuses to explain why she couldn’t show her talent now. The prince grew suspicious. His wife disappointed and angered him so much that he began to beat her. Hearing his daughter’s groans, the advisor said to the king:
- "Didn’t I warn you she was a wild girl? We had no business bringing her to the palace. But she’s your son’s wife now. It’s a disgrace to beat one’s wife. People are already talking about it. This must stop."
Let the prince beat the advisor’s daughter a thousand times a day—it’s none of our concern. Let’s see what happened next to Rosette.
It so happened that a merchant was traveling that road. He and his men set up camp by the stream to rest and have lunch. The merchant threw a piece of bread to his dog. The dog took it and disappeared into the bushes. When the dog returned, the merchant gave it another piece. Snatching it in its teeth, the dog again disappeared into the bushes. Returning, it received another piece of bread and once more ran off into the bushes.
- Go and see where she is taking the bread, said the merchant to one of his men.
The man returned, shouting:
- Master, the dog is taking bread to a blind girl who is all wounded and almost naked, hiding in the bushes.
The merchant was a kind man:
- Dear child, tell me, where are you from?
- I am from the capital, she replied.
- I am heading there myself. I would be glad to take you home.
And so, together with the caravan, they arrived in the city.
- Now I can find my way home on my own, said the girl.
She knocked on the door of a small house. Seeing this, the merchant left with a clear conscience.
An old woman opened the door:
- Who are you? What do you want?
- Mother, let me stay with you.
- My child, I am a poor old woman, living alone. How can I possibly take you in?
Rosie reached into her pocket. When the old woman saw a whole handful of gold coins before her, she said:
- Come in, dear, come in...
- Mother, do not fear me. I will not trouble you. I will even help you become rich. Now, let me wash myself.
The old woman took a bucket and filled a tub with water. She stood aside to watch how the blind girl would manage.
- Mother, leave me alone. I can bathe myself.
When the old woman returned to empty the tub, she was astonished to find it full of gold and silver.
- How did this happen? she exclaimed.
- Mother, to become rich, all you need is a pair of strong hands to carry water for my baths. I can turn it into gold and silver, Rosie told her.
From then on, the old woman could hardly wait for Rosie's next bath. Every day, early in the morning, she went to the fountain for water. Gold and silver piled up in her house. One day, Rosie said to the old woman:
- Mother, tell me, is there an architect in your city?
- Of course there is, this is the capital.
- Then let us hire him. Let him design a palace with an elegant facade. We have so much gold now that it is time for us to live in a palace.
The architect drew up the plans, and within two months the palace was built. It turned out so beautiful that it was the talk of the town. The palace was furnished with the best furniture, adorned with magnificent tapestries and carpets.
- Well, dear mother, I think you must be happy now, Rosie said to the old woman.
- No, my child. How can I say I am happy? The most important thing is still missing. I think about it day and night.
- And what is that? Tell me.
- It is, my child, that you cannot see the light of God. How can I bear this? How can I be happy when there is someone suffering beside me?
- Dear mother, last night I had a dream about this, can you imagine? I saw you and me by a stream. A dove and a pigeon were talking to each other about how to restore my sight. I think this stream must be somewhere nearby.
- I will take you to a beautiful stream. We will sit on its bank in the shade of the plane trees and breathe the fresh air.
The next morning, they set off for the stream. Sitting on its bank, lulled by the gentle murmur of the water, Rosie and the old woman soon dozed off. Rosie dreamed again of the doves discussing how to restore her sight:
- Do you see that girl? That is Rosie, said the dove to the pigeon. She was born in a cave. The daughter of the king's advisor blinded her and deceitfully married the prince. Rosie's eyes are still with her. Leave your feather here. The old woman will take it for Rosie. When she places her eyes in their sockets and brushes them with this feather, she will be healed at once.
The doves flew away. Waking up, Rosie roused the old woman:
- Wake up, mother. Look, is there a dove's feather under the trees? Pick it up, I need it.
The old woman began to search. Finding the feather, she gave it to Rosie, and they returned home.
- Now watch: I will walk, and wherever my foot steps, violets and roses will grow. Gather them into bouquets and then go and sell them for a pair of eyes. That is the price for these flowers; do not accept anything else, Rosie told the old woman.
Filling a huge basket with roses and violets, the old woman went to sell them in the streets of the city. These were flowers as if from a heavenly garden. It was not the season for roses and violets, and the old woman knew well that the flowers were very valuable. But who would have a spare pair of eyes? People sincerely thought her mad when the old woman spoke of taking eyes as payment for the flowers.
Suddenly, a window in the royal palace flew open. Upon discovering what was happening, the tsar's daughter-in-law shouted:
- I will buy all your flowers from you!
The old woman replied:
- I will give them to you only in exchange for a pair of eyes.
The tsar's daughter-in-law, taking Rosette's eyes from her pocket, handed them to the old woman:
- Here, take them.
Leaving the basket of flowers for the tsarevich's wife, the old woman quickly returned to Rosette. Hearing the approaching footsteps, the girl rushed to the door.
- My dear, I sold them, here is what you asked for.
Rosette inserted the eyes into their sockets:
- Now bring me fresh water from the stream.
The old woman brought the water. The girl dipped a dove's feather into it and ran it over her eyes. A miracle occurred! Rosette's eyes were healed, and she could see again. The old woman's compassionate heart was also healed.
Let us leave them in this joyful moment in their palace and see what was happening in the royal palace.
The tsarevich was overjoyed when he saw the beautiful flowers in his wife's bedroom, hung on the walls and placed around the bed. His wife hoped that this would win her husband's favor.
- Here! Here are the flowers I spoke of, - exclaimed the tsarevich. - Forgive me for treating you harshly. And please, walk so that I may see flowers grow where your feet tread. This request was what the counselor's daughter feared most:
- You are being cruel to me again, - she replied defiantly.
And they quarreled once more. The tsarevich left the bedroom and went to sleep in another room.
- It can only be Rosette, - he decided. - Only through her can such wonderful roses and violets appear in this world. But if she is still alive, where is she?
The tsarevich felt as though he had grown wings - so strong was his hope of reuniting with his beloved. The flowers were a good omen. For several months, the tsarevich searched for Rosette, but to no avail - there were no hints or clues as to where she might be. In that country, there was a custom: when May arrived, horses from the royal stables were distributed to the people, who would care for them until the cold season.
The old woman told Rosette about this custom. The girl replied that it would be shameful not to take part. After all, they could take at least one horse and thereby help their tsar.
When the old woman arrived at the royal stables, all the horses had already been taken. Only one miserable nag remained, which no one wanted. The horse was weak, and people feared it would die before reaching the pasture.
The tsar gave it to the old woman, and she took it with her.
- Did you bring the horse? - asked Rosette.
- Yes, I did. But it's not a horse, it's a real nag. How will we care for it? We have no oats, no barley, no hay. It won't be easy to keep the horse.
- Leave it to me, - said Rosette. - The Lord is merciful. He will not abandon us.
From then on, the horse followed the girl everywhere as she walked through the garden. After a few months, it had transformed into a magnificent, blooming steed. When the time came to return the horse to the royal stables, the tsarevich himself came for it.
- Mother, you must have one of our horses, - he said to the old woman.
- Yes, that's right. Look at that mighty horse, so spirited it can leap from star to star.
The tsarevich went into the garden, and what did he see? Rosette was leading the handsome horse by the reins, and it followed, eating the violets and roses that bloomed beneath her feet. The tsarevich was struck as if by lightning. His heart instantly filled with joy. Rosette and the tsarevich rushed into each other's arms.
The girl told him how the royal counselor and his daughter had treated her. The tsarevich returned to the palace and told the tsar everything.
- You scolded me for marrying a mountain girl, a girl from the caves. You kept saying, "Don't blame me for marrying of your own will. I wanted you to marry my counselor's daughter." Well, father, now you will see that girl from the mountains. She is my true wife. And now, command that carpets be laid from your palace to the old woman's palace.
By the tsar's order, the carpets were laid. The counselor was beside himself with fear when he learned what was happening. Rosette was brought into the royal palace with all honors. Troops lined her path, the streets were crowded with people, and music played. Children ran after the girl, gathering bouquets of violets and roses that bloomed where she walked. Everyone was enchanted by her beauty and grace.
The tsar kissed Rosette and the tsarevich and blessed their marriage. Their dreams had come true, and may yours come true as well.
You may ask, "What became of the royal counselor and his daughter?" Well, by the tsar's command, they were tied to the tails of unbroken mares and driven out of the city.
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