The Brave Youth with a Star on His Forehead and His Horned Horse

Once upon a time, there lived a kind and hardworking man. He had a wife who was as beautiful as a poppy flower, but they had no children, and this grieved him deeply.

Every day, travelers from distant lands would stop by his house. The host would warmly welcome them and offer them a place to stay overnight, while his wife would bustle around the stove, preparing a feast for them.

But one evening, not a single guest came to their hospitable home. The host felt uneasy. He stepped outside and looked around, hoping to see a late traveler, but the road remained deserted. He stood there waiting for a long time. Suddenly, an old man with a beard down to his waist emerged from the darkness, approached him, and said:

"Good evening, my son!"

"Welcome, grandfather!" replied the host. "If you're not in a hurry, come in and spend the night with us, and continue your journey in the morning."

"Thank you!" the old man said joyfully and followed the kind man into his home. The hostess warmly welcomed the guest, then rolled up her sleeves and prepared a delicious dinner. After the meal, the old man asked the hosts how they were doing, if they had everything they needed, and if there was anything they lacked.

"We live in plenty; our home has everything we need. Only one thing is missing—a little chick who would coo in the cradle."

"Do not grieve over this," said the old man. "You will have your chick. But now, let's go to bed; it's late."

In the morning, the gray-bearded old man rose early and set off on his journey. The host walked him to the edge of the village. When they said their goodbyes, the old man took a red apple and a steel sword from his bag, handed them to the hospitable man, and said:

"When you return home, cut this apple in half. Eat one half with your wife, and cut the other half into two pieces and feed them to your two barren mares. In nine months, a wonderful boy with a star on his forehead will be born to you, and he will become the mightiest hero in all the land. The mares will each give birth to a foal: one ordinary, and the other with horns. Take care of this horned foal and guard it more than your own eyes, for your son will ride it. Take this sword as well. Keep it, and when your son grows up, give it to him, but tell him that only he can draw it from its sheath. If another hand unsheathes this sword, your son will die in that very moment. Now, farewell!"

The hospitable man returned home and did everything as the old man had instructed. In time, a boy with a star on his forehead and a horned foal were born.

When the boy turned fifteen, he began to hunt in the mountains and forests, returning each time with a rich bounty—live chamois and deer, and once even dragging home a bear. By then, word had spread through the village that a man of incredible strength had appeared in the city: he could break two horseshoes at once. The young man wanted to go to the city and see this strongman.

"Well, go, my son," said his father, "but first, choose one of the two horses in the stable."

The young man entered the stable, looked at the horse without horns, grabbed it by the tail, spun it over his head, and threw it into the yard. Then he approached the horned horse, grabbed its tail, and tried to lift it, but the horse didn't budge, as if it were rooted to its stall.

"This horse is for me!" said the young man, jumped on it, and rode off to bid farewell to his parents.

When the father saw that his son had chosen the horned horse, he was overjoyed and remembered the sword. He brought it out of the house, handed it to his son, and relayed the old man's instructions.

The young man kissed his father's and mother's hands and set off on his journey. He rode and rode until he finally reached the city where the famous strongman lived. He found the strongman in a blacksmith's shop.

"Do you want to test our strength?" said the young man with the star on his forehead.

"Alright, let's do it," agreed the strongman. He took a pair of new horseshoes and broke them as if they were soft pretzels.

Then the young man, without dismounting, reached out, took three horseshoes, stacked them together, and broke them without even straining.

The famous strongman bowed to him deeply and said, "I admit, you are stronger than I am!" The young man spurred his horse and rode off to seek other heroes to test his strength against. He traveled far and wide, asking everyone he met if they had heard of any mighty heroes. Finally, he was told that deep in the mountains lived a black man whom no one could defeat, and the young man with the star on his forehead set off to find him.

As soon as the horned horse leaped over the fence of the house where the black man lived, the man ran out into the yard, jumped on a black stallion, and began to whirl like a whirlwind.

"Why have you come here?" shouted the black man.

The young man drew his sword and swung it with a whistle. The black rider recoiled, looked at the sword and the horned horse, then dismounted and knelt before the young man:

"I acknowledge you as the greatest of heroes," he said, "and I am ready to do anything for you, only spare my life."

The black man rose from his knees and immediately transformed into a handsome, fair-faced youth.

The young man sheathed his sword, dismounted, and entered the white house with the host, where servants had prepared a lavish feast. The heroes ate, drank, made merry, and eventually became brothers. The black man, now white, began to boast of the wondrous things he could do.
— I can see three arshins through the ground, — he said. — And as soon as I saw you, I immediately knew that you are the strongest man in the world. I can also turn into a bear, a goat, or a donkey, walk on my hands, and pluck pears and apples from trees with my feet.

— That's all nonsense! — said the young man and asked, — What else can you do?

— When I press my ear to the ground, I can hear all the conversations in the world.

— That's amazing! — said the young man. — But now, brother, it's time for us to say goodbye. Farewell!

— Be well, brother, and good luck! But when will we meet again, and how will I know that you are alive and well and that nothing bad has happened to you?

— Here's how, — replied the young man. — Do you see this flower? My mother planted it on the day I was born. A stalk grew, and two flowers bloomed on it. They will wither only when I die. You take one flower, and I'll keep the other. Look at it every day. When you see that the flower has wilted, know that I am no longer alive.

Having said this, the young man jumped on his horse and raced away like an arrow. For a long time, he roamed through forests, mountains, and green valleys, asking everywhere if people had seen a hero greater than all heroes, with whom he could test his strength, but no one knew of such a hero.

One day, the young man approached a deep lake. Just as he was about to water his horse, a man with a huge belly suddenly jumped out of a house on the opposite shore and began shouting:

— Hey, you! Take your horse away so it doesn't drink my water! I ate salty fish, and now I'm terribly thirsty! I've been waiting for a whole week for the rivers to fill the lake so I could drink my fill, and here you come with your horse to drink!

With these words, the pot-bellied man bent down and drank the entire lake in one gulp.

Seeing this, the young man was very surprised. He dismounted and struck up a conversation with the pot-bellied man. Soon they became friends and even swore brotherhood. At parting, the young man gave his sworn brother the second flower, explained its miraculous property, and rode away.

He traveled and traveled, and finally, his horned horse brought him to a deep gorge. In the middle of the gorge stood a tall tower covered with golden tiles.

— A noble person must live here, — thought the young man and knocked on the locked gates.

He knocked once, twice, three times, then peered over the fence and saw a beautiful maiden descending a marble staircase. She was dressed in silk and brocade, and her fingers sparkled with rings adorned with precious stones. She ran to the gates and opened them. When she raised her eyes and saw the young man, tears streamed down her cheeks.

— Why are you crying, beauty? — asked the young man.

— How can I not cry, good young man? I am a prisoner of an evil robber. I am the king's daughter. I used to live in my father's palace. I had a fiancé, as young and handsome as you, but on our wedding day, the robber burst into the palace, killed my fiancé, and brought me here. Since then, I have known no joy. And now I grieve for your fate, for you will perish in the prime of your life. The robber will see you and kill you. He can handle a thousand young men like you...

— Don't grieve, beauty, — said the young man. — I will defeat the robber and send him to the next world!

Meanwhile, the robber was returning home from a hunt. From afar, he noticed that a rider was talking to his prisoner. The robber grew furious, and his eyes blazed with fire. He spurred his horse and galloped toward the young man. The young man swung his saber and cut the robber's horse in two. The robber fell to the ground. The young man swung his saber a second time and cut off the villain's head. The beauty stood nearby with a knife in her hand. She had decided to stab herself if the robber defeated the young man. Seeing that the villain was dead, the princess ran to the victor and embraced him with tears in her eyes. The young man led his horned horse to the stable and stayed to live in the tower with the beautiful princess.

Whether a short or long time passed, the king eventually learned that the robber was no longer alive and decided to marry his daughter to a prince. The king sent messengers to his daughter, but she refused to return to the palace.

— Tell my father, — she said to the messengers, — that I am already married and will not hear of any prince.

The king grew angry and plotted to destroy the young man with the star on his forehead. He began to persuade various heroes, but none dared to challenge the young man to a duel. Then one day, a cunning witch, as sly as a fox, came to the palace.

— I will destroy the young man and return your daughter to you, — she said to the king. — But what reward will you give me?

— I will give you a whole sack of gold, — promised the king.

The witch disguised herself as a beggar and went to the tower where the young man and the princess lived. She knocked on the gates. The beautiful princess came out to answer the knock. The young man was not home at the time; he had gone hunting.

— Have pity on me, dear girl! — pleaded the cunning witch. — I don't have a crumb of bread in my house. Give me something to eat.

The princess had a compassionate heart. She brought out a whole basket of bread, fruits, and roasted meat, handed it to the beggar, and said:
— When you, grandmother, have nothing to eat again, come to me. I often sit at home alone and get bored. Come over, we’ll chat about this and that, and I’ll give you some food again.

The next day, the witch waited until the young man went hunting and came to the princess again. And so she began visiting her every day. They became friends. And then the witch began to pry, asking the princess if she was happy with her husband.

— Very happy, — replied the princess. — My husband has no secrets from me.

— No, don’t believe that, my dear, — said the witch. — It can’t be that your husband doesn’t hide something from you. Try asking him where the secret of his life lies — let’s see if he tells you.

— Of course, he will! — exclaimed the princess.

— But I think he won’t! — Then the witch left. In the evening, when the young man returned from the hunt, the princess set the table but sat in the corner, pouting.

— Why are you so sad today? — the young man asked her. And the princess replied:

— Admit it, do you have any secrets from me?

— You know I don’t.

— Then why haven’t you told me where the secret of your life lies?

— Because then misfortune could befall me.

— Please, tell me! — the princess burst into tears.

The young man grew worried, embraced his wife, and said:

— Don’t cry. Very well, I’ll reveal the secret of my life to you. It lies in the saber that hangs at my side. As long as I draw the saber from its scabbard myself, I will live and remain unharmed, but if someone else draws it, I will die that very moment. That is the secret of my life. But you must not tell anyone, for then it will be the end of me.

But the princess could not keep secrets, and the very next day the witch learned everything. In the evening, she bid farewell to the princess and went out the gate. There, she meowed three times, turned into a cat, and slipped back through the gate. Then she quietly crept into the tower and hid under the bed.

The young man returned home. When it was time to sleep, he hung the saber on the wall, lay down, and fell asleep. The witch crawled out from under the bed at night and turned back into an old woman. She grabbed the saber, drew it from its scabbard, and threw it out the window into the lake. At that very moment, the young man stopped breathing. The princess wept when she saw in the morning that the young man lay lifeless. Meanwhile, the witch returned and told the king everything. The evil king rejoiced, summoned a regiment of soldiers, and went to fetch his daughter. The soldiers surrounded the tower, but then a horned horse leaped out of the gate. It reared up and began to strike the king’s soldiers with its hooves. It knocked them to the ground, trampled them, and let no one into the tower.

And before this, the young man’s sworn brothers noticed that the flowers he had given them had withered.

— Something terrible has happened to our sworn brother! — they thought and hurried to each other. They met and decided to find out what had happened to the young man.

The one who could hear everything spoken in the world pressed his ear to the ground and heard the witch telling the king:

— As soon as I drew the saber from its scabbard, he stopped breathing.

— And where did you put the saber? — asked the king.

— I threw it into the deep lake behind the tower.

The black man heard all this and said to the pot-bellied man:

— It was the old witch who killed the mightiest of heroes. Let us hurry to his rescue!

The young man’s sworn brothers mounted two large mountain eagles and flew to the tower. The eagles flew over the mountains and landed by the lake. The pot-bellied man bent down and drank all the water from it in one breath. At the bottom of the lake, the bare saber gleamed. The black man grabbed it and ran up the marble stairs to the chamber where the young man lay. He found the scabbard, and as soon as he sheathed the saber, the young man began to breathe. He opened his eyes and saw the black man, who told him everything that had happened.

Meanwhile, the horned horse continued to bravely fight the king’s soldiers, not letting them into the tower. The young man looked out the window, grabbed his saber, and ran to aid his horse. Now he drew the saber himself. As soon as the hero’s saber whistled above the soldiers’ heads, they scattered in all directions like frightened chickens. But the young man did not pursue them; instead, he captured only the king and the witch and punished them as they deserved.

Then he held a grand feast for his sworn brothers, and when they left, he lived happily ever after in the tower with the beautiful princess.

More fairy tales

• Two Hundred and Twenty Tricks
• The Sparrow and the Fox
• Why the Weather in March is Changeable
• Hedgehog the Spiny, Mole, and the Fox
• The Silver Deer