The Sister and the Seven Brothers
Once upon a time, there were seven brothers. They had no sister. One day, they decided to go hunting and said:"If a sister is born to us, place a spindle on the roof. But if a brother is born, place a plow. If we see a plow, we won’t return home—we’ll go to distant lands to seek our fortune. But if we have a sister, we’ll come back to see her."
A sister was born to them, but someone mistakenly placed a plow on the roof. The brothers saw it from afar and said:
"There’s no point in returning."
And so they left. The little sister grew up and became a big girl.
One day, one of her friends lost a ball of yarn. She began accusing everyone of stealing it. All the girls swore by their brothers that they hadn’t seen the ball, but the sister swore by her little dog. Her friends laughed at her:
"Why are you swearing by your dog? You have brothers—seven of them!"
The girl ran home to her mother and asked:
"Is it true that I have brothers?" Her mother replied:
"It’s true. But they’ve gone to distant lands."
The girl decided to find her brothers. She woke up very early and set off on her journey. Whether she walked a little or a lot, only she knows, but she eventually reached a dense forest. There, she saw a small house. She entered it and found no one inside. She cleaned and swept the house, made seven beds, washed seven cups, prepared a meal for seven, and then hid.
By evening, the owners returned. They were surprised: who had cleaned so thoroughly? Who had cooked such a delicious meal? And who lived in that house? None other than her seven brothers! The next morning, six brothers went hunting, while the seventh stayed behind to keep watch and see who was visiting their home.
He saw the girl, spoke with her, and discovered that she was their sister. He went into the forest to fetch his brothers, while the sister began preparing lunch. She tried to light the hearth to cook porridge with raisins, but nothing worked—the fire went out completely.
The sister went to ask kind people for some fire. She reached a large house and saw smoke rising—a sign that there was fire inside. She entered and froze at the entrance: in the middle of the room sat an old woman, stuffing forty pounds of pork into her mouth and chewing. The girl asked her for fire, and the old woman gave her hot coals and a handful of ashes, so that the ashes would scatter and leave a trail. But this old woman was the mother of a huge and terrifying demon.
The demon returned home, learned that a girl had visited, and decided to capture her. He followed the trail, found where she lived with her seven brothers, and began knocking on the door.
"Open the door, girl, open it! I’ll give you beautiful beads."
"No," the girl replied, "I won’t open it for anything." The demon knocked again and said:
"If you don’t want to open it, just stick your finger through the crack, and I’ll put a ring on it."
As soon as she stuck out her finger, the demon bit it off, and the girl fainted.
Her brothers returned and found the door locked from the inside. They entered the house through the chimney and revived their sister. She told them everything. Furious at the cursed demon, the brothers tracked him down and killed him. They brought his body back and buried it in the garden. But the demon’s mother decided to take revenge. She disguised herself as a poor old woman and hired herself as a servant in their house.
She began watering the spot where the demon was buried, and a fragrant herb grew there. The old woman put the herb in the soup, and as soon as the brothers ate it, they turned into sheep.
The sister wept, but what could she do? She drove the sheep to pasture. A prince rode by and was so taken with the girl that he decided to marry her on the spot. But she said:
"I’ll marry you only if you take my brothers with us."
The prince agreed. They began living together in the palace, and the sheep were kept in the royal stables.
The prince’s relatives grew jealous of the girl because he loved her so much, and they decided to get rid of her. They took her to the river to bathe and pushed her into the water. One of the women put on her dress, and the prince didn’t notice that his wife had been replaced. The woman lay in bed, moaning and groaning, and said to the prince:
"I’m sick, I’m dying. Order all the sheep to be slaughtered and give me their blood to drink—then I’ll recover."
"My dear wife," the prince said, "you cared so much for those sheep! What’s happened that you want to destroy them yourself?"
"Nothing," the woman replied. "Life is the most precious thing."
The sheep heard that they were to be slaughtered and went to the river. They stood by the water and cried:
*"They’re sharpening their knives,
Dear sister,
They want to slaughter us all,
Dear sister.
Come quickly to the shore,
Dear sister,
Save your faithful brothers,
Dear sister."*
The sister heard them, awoke in the river, and felt life return to her. She swam to the shore. As soon as she stepped out of the water, her brothers turned back into men. The prince then threw a grand feast, and the wicked deceiver was tied to a mule’s tail and sent tumbling down a hill. Good remained with them, and evil left with her. Three apples fell from the sky: one for us, one for you, and one for everyone else.
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