The Voivode's Children

A miller once had three daughters. The two elder sisters were beautiful, but the youngest was even more beautiful than both of them. Time passed, and all three girls came of age. One evening, they were sitting by the mill, spinning by the light of the moon. The eldest sister said:

"If the son of the voivode were to propose to me, I would weave so much linen that it would be enough for his entire army."

"And if the son of the voivode were to take me as his wife," said the middle sister, "I would bake him such a large white loaf of bread that it would feed his entire army."

The youngest sister then spoke:

"If the son of the voivode were to marry me, I would bear him two boys with golden hair and silver teeth."

Now, the son of the voivode would come down to the river every evening to water his white horse, and his path took him past the mill. It so happened that he was passing by just as the three sisters were speaking. After watering his horse, he turned toward the mill and said to the old miller:

"Listen, old man, give me one of your daughters as my wife."

"Which one has won your heart?" the miller asked joyfully.

"The youngest."

"Take her, my son, but first tell me, do you have any trade?"

"I am the son of the voivode. My father is old. When I marry, he will place me at the head of his entire army. I will become the voivode."

"Well, if that's the case," said the miller.

The very next day, the wedding took place. The voivode's son placed his young bride in a gilded carriage, took her to his father's palace, and they lived happily.

Time passed, and the old voivode grew frail and handed over his position to his son. The son became the new voivode. One day, the two elder sisters came to the palace and pleaded with the youngest:

"Let us live with you, sister! We are tired of sitting at our father's mill, and we no longer want to be covered in flour."

"You are most welcome!" replied the youngest, and she let them stay in the palace.

But the eldest sister was wicked and envious. Day and night, she plotted how to get rid of her sister and marry the young voivode herself. Soon, the youngest sister gave birth to two boys with golden hair and silver teeth. The mother couldn't take her eyes off her newborns. Her husband, however, was out hunting and was not expected back until evening. The envious sister stood by the new mother's bedside, trembling with anger. She devised an evil plan and said to the voivode's wife:

"You should rest a little, sister!"

"But what about the babies?" asked the mother.

"I will put them in the cradle and rock them until they fall asleep."

Exhausted, the mother closed her eyes and fell asleep. The envious sister had been waiting for this moment. She grabbed the newborns, ran into the garden, killed them, and buried them in the ground. Then she took two puppies and placed them in the cradle instead of the babies.

The mother was still asleep when the voivode returned from the hunt.

"Congratulations on the newborns!" greeted the sister-in-law.

"Where are they?" exclaimed the young father, rushing to the cradle. But when he saw the two puppies, he turned yellow with rage:

"Throw out this filth!" he shouted. "And drive their mother away! Let her live in a hut by the river and tend to my ducks!"

"How will you live without a wife?" asked the envious sister.

"That won't be a problem. I'll take you in her place!" replied the furious voivode.

That very night, his orders were carried out.

The next day, the voivode went for a walk in the garden and saw something astonishing: in the place where the envious sister had buried the babies, two marvelous trees had grown, with silver leaves and golden flowers. The voivode was amazed and called his new wife:

"Look at this miracle!"

As the voivode walked under the trees, they bent over him and began to stroke his hair with their leaves. But when his wife followed, the trees began to whip her face with their branches.

The voivode then called for craftsmen and said:

"Secure a bed between the branches of each of these trees. My wife and I will sleep here tonight."

The craftsmen did as they were told. That evening, the voivode and his wife came and lay down to sleep. The silver leaves rustled above their heads. The voivode soon fell asleep, as the branches rocked him gently and the flowers caressed his face. But his wife lay as if on needles, afraid to move, for the branches lashed at her. At midnight, the trees spoke in human voices:

"Brother," one tree asked, "is it hard for you to hold the voivode?"

"He is our father, and how can one's own burden be heavy? It is easy for me to hold him on my branches. But you, brother, it must be hard to hold his wife?"

"Yes, brother, she is as heavy as a buffalo. My branches are cracking under her weight."

The voivode's wife heard this, climbed down from the tree, and spent the rest of the night lying on the wet grass.

The next day, when the voivode went hunting again, she took an axe, cut down the trees, and burned them. All that remained was a pile of ashes. The mother of the murdered children, who was now a duck herder, gathered the ashes and scattered them in the garden. By evening, two cornflowers with golden stamens and silver petals had grown on the beds. The envious sister guessed that these flowers had grown from the ashes of the trees. She let a sheep into the garden, and it ate the cornflowers. That same night, the sheep gave birth to two lambs with silver wool and golden horns. The envious sister quickly stuffed the lambs into a basket, smeared it with tar, and threw it into the river. The river carried the lambs downstream. Just before the duck herder's hut, the basket caught on a willow bush, and the lambs bleated pitifully, for they were hungry. The duck herder heard the bleating, lit a candle, and went to the willow bushes. She saw a tarred basket washed up on the shore. She opened it and found two lambs with silver wool and golden horns. The mother immediately recognized her children. She brought them to the hut and nursed them. As soon as the first lamb drank her milk, it turned into a baby. The mother was overjoyed and nursed the second lamb, which also turned into a boy.

The two boys with golden hair and silver teeth grew up in the duck herder's hut and soon began to walk and talk. They often played by the river, and everyone who passed by stopped to admire them. One day, the voivode's wife walked by. The children saw her and began to throw stones at her. When the voivode rode by, they ran out of the hut and began to sweep the road in front of his horse with brooms.

The voivode saw them and was very surprised: who were these boys with silver teeth and golden hair? After all, such sons were what his first wife had promised to bear him. Troubled, he went to find the duck herder. She was tending the ducks by the river.

"Where did you get these boys?" asked the voivode.

"The river brought them to me in a tarred basket," replied the duck herder, and she disappeared into the hut.

The voivode returned to the palace. Meanwhile, his wife was chasing a cat that had lapped up some milk.

"Don't hit me, or I'll tell the voivode how you killed his sons and replaced them with puppies!" meowed the cat.

The voivode heard this, snatched the stick from his wife's hand, threw it out the window, then picked up the cat and began to question it. The cat, who never sleeps at night, knew everything. It told the voivode from beginning to end what the envious sister had done to the children, the trees, the cornflowers, and the lambs.

"But how did the lambs turn into children?" asked the voivode.

"I know that too," said the cat. "I was hunting mice near the duck herder's hut when she found the basket with the lambs. As soon as she gave them her milk, they turned into children."

After learning the truth, the voivode brought his first wife and children back to the palace, and he ordered the envious sister to be put in a barrel and thrown into the sea.

↑ To the top

The Voivode's Children

More fairy tales