The Blind Serpent

Once upon a time, there lived a blacksmith. He lived happily with his wife and little son. The blacksmith's anvil rang from morning till evening, and his son was always by his father's side, learning the craft. He even forged himself an iron knife. But soon, the blacksmith's happiness came to an end. His wife fell ill and passed away. The blacksmith remarried, and they had many children together. The stepmother loved her own children but looked at her stepson with disdain and every day told her husband:

"Drive him out of the house before he grows up. When he grows up, he'll start working in the forge and take bread from your other sons. Look how skillful his hands are. The whole village will order sickles and axes from him, and your other sons will starve."

"Where will I send him?" asked the blacksmith.

"Take him to the deep forest where the wolves live, tie him to a tree, and leave him there."

"No, I won't do that!" replied the blacksmith.

But the blacksmith's wife wouldn't give up. She secretly called the blacksmith's assistant and persuaded him to take the boy to the forest.

"I'll reward you generously if you rid me of him!" she said.

The assistant took the boy to the deep forest, pulled a rope out of his bag, and began unwinding it. The boy watched him and finally asked:

"Uncle, why do you need that rope?" The assistant confessed everything to him.

"If you are a kind man and have any pity in your heart," said the blacksmith's son, "spare me! Don't tie me up, just leave me in the forest. I'll take care of myself."

The man felt ashamed and did as the boy asked. He threw the rope into a ravine and left the orphan in the forest. The boy looked around and walked through the thicket. He wandered all day, stumbled upon a goat path, and followed it.

"I'll go wherever this path leads," he decided.

He walked until evening. When the sun set, he reached a beautiful palace. "Maybe the people who live here will take me in," he thought and entered the courtyard.

But there was no one there. The boy looked around, checked every corner, and finally saw an old blind serpent sitting in a chair in front of a large cauldron. A lame donkey lazily wandered nearby. The boy tiptoed closer to the cauldron and looked inside. It was empty. But soon, the sound of bells was heard, and a herd of goats entered the courtyard without a shepherd. The blind serpent stood up, took a bucket, and began milking the goats, pouring the milk into the cauldron. After milking all the goats, he leaned over the cauldron and drank greedily. The boy was starving. He watched and then leaned over the cauldron and drank his fill. But he said nothing to the blind serpent, fearing that the serpent might eat him.

Five or six days passed. Every evening, the serpent went to bed hungry because the boy drank the milk, and there wasn't enough for the serpent.

"What is this?" thought the blind serpent. "Why isn't there enough milk? Is someone secretly drinking it? I must find out what's going on."

The next day, when the serpent started drinking the milk, he suddenly reached out and began feeling around the cauldron. Before the boy could react, the serpent grabbed him.

The boy was frightened, cried, and begged:

"Let me go, Uncle Serpent! I beg you! If you spare me, I'll work for you."

"Alright," said the serpent. "That suits me. I'm old, and there's no one to milk my goats. Now you'll milk them and pour the milk into the cauldron. Once you're done with that, you'll sweep the courtyard. Drink as much milk as you want. You need to fatten up so I can eat you. It's been a long time since I've tasted human flesh—since I went blind. In my youth, I ate as many people as there are grains of sand at the bottom of the sea."

"How did you end up here?" asked the boy.

"I am the last serpent, a descendant of giant monsters that once roamed the earth. I am very old. All my teeth have fallen out."

The serpent released the boy, and he began working for him. Since the boy was hardworking and quick, the master of the empty palace soon grew accustomed to him and one day said:

"I am pleased with you. Until now, you've only swept the courtyard. Now I'll give you the keys—sweep the entire palace. You can open all the rooms, but don't enter the last two. Otherwise, you'll regret it!"

The boy took the keys, unlocked all the rooms, swept them thoroughly, and finally reached the last two. He stopped in front of the doors and said to himself, "If the serpent forbids me from opening them, there must be something wondrous inside. Let me take a look!" And he opened the forbidden doors.

He entered the first room and saw a marvelous fountain: instead of water, pure gold flowed from it. The boy held his hands under the stream, and they immediately turned golden.

"I've never seen such a fountain in my life!" he thought.

He entered the second room and saw a magnificent black horse standing there, with a clay lamp burning in the corner. As soon as the boy opened the door, the horse raised its head and spoke in a human voice:

"Get on me right now, and let's flee—there's no life for me here!"

Then the horse's tail, which was the serpent's loyal servant, spoke:

"Try to run away, and I'll tell the serpent, and he'll eat you."

"Cut off my tail!" ordered the horse. The boy cut off the tail with his knife—leaving only a single hair—jumped on the horse, and the horse said:

"Take the clay lamp with the fire, take my comb, and let's ride through the forest!"

The boy did everything the horse said. But as soon as they left the palace, the single unsevered hair from the horse's tail began to scream and squeal—loud enough for the whole forest to hear. The serpent heard the noise. In an instant, he jumped up, climbed onto his lame donkey, and chased the fugitives. Although the donkey was lame, it ran like the wind. Beyond the forest, where the open field began, the serpent began to catch up with the black horse. The boy trembled with fear.

"Throw the comb!" shouted the horse. The boy turned around, threw the comb, and at that moment, an entire forest of combs, teeth pointing upward, grew in front of the serpent and his donkey. While the donkey struggled through the forest of combs, it injured its other leg, but it still panted and snorted, chasing the black horse. Then the horse said to the boy:

"Throw the oil lamp!"

The boy threw the lamp, and at that moment, a deep lake of oil spread behind them. The donkey plunged into the lake and drowned. The blind man-eating serpent drowned as well.

The boy returned to the serpent's palace, settled there, set up a forge, and began forging sickles, hoes, axes, and plowshares. And since the golden fountain never ran dry, he washed his hands in the golden water every day. That's why everyone called him "The Blacksmith with Golden Hands."

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The Blind Serpent

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