The Sun
In a time long, long ago, there lived a husband and wife in a village, and they had a son named Bernardinet. A beautiful name for a peasant boy, don’t you think? They lived comfortably and happily, but then misfortune struck: Bernardinet’s mother passed away. His father grieved for a while but soon remarried. And so, Bernardinet gained a stepmother.No sooner had she crossed the threshold of the house than she began to hate Bernardinet for no reason at all. Day and night, she nagged her husband, saying that his son didn’t love or obey him, that he was completely out of control, and that it was time to teach him a lesson, or else he’d grow up to be a real bandit. And this she said about a little boy! She had no conscience!
For a long time, the father didn’t listen to her, but eventually, she wore him down. One evening, they agreed that the next morning the father would take Bernardinet into the forest and abandon him there to scare him a little. They planned to come back for him after a day or two. However, Bernardinet wasn’t asleep and overheard everything his father and stepmother discussed. He quietly slipped out of the room, filled his pockets with wheat grains, and then went back to bed.
In the morning, his father woke him and said:
"Get up, son! You’re coming with me to the forest to gather firewood."
Bernardinet jumped up, quickly got dressed, and they set off for the forest with his father. As they walked, Bernardinet quietly dropped wheat grains along the path so he could find his way back. When they reached the deepest part of the forest, his father said:
"You gather some kindling here, and I’ll go mark the trees we’ll cut down."
"I’m scared to stay here alone," said the boy.
"Don’t be afraid, I’ll be back in no time."
His father left. Bernardinet waited and waited, but his father never returned. When he realized his father wasn’t coming back, he decided to find his way home, since he had marked the path with wheat grains. But when he turned back, he saw that not a single grain remained on the path—the birds had eaten them all. Bernardinet sat down on the ground and wept bitterly.
But crying wouldn’t solve anything. He wiped his tears, stood up, and walked wherever his eyes led him. He wandered for a long time. By the time the day ended, he saw a light in the distance. He headed toward it and found himself in front of a huge house, the likes of which he had never seen before.
Bernardinet knocked on the door. A giantess came out, and Bernardinet asked her:
"Could you give me shelter for the night?"
"Come in, come in! My husband, the kind giant Drak, will be delighted to meet you. He loves eating little boys, especially for dinner."
"Oh!" Bernardinet was frightened, but then he thought that he’d perish in the forest at night anyway, so he said, "Could you show me where to hide so that Drak won’t notice me?"
The giantess let Bernardinet into the house and told him to hide under the bed.
Now, you should know that Drak had a daughter, who was kind and pretty—nothing like her father. Her name was Sunny. She took pity on the boy and decided to help him. While her mother was busy cooking in the kitchen, Sunny crept up to the bed and whispered to Bernardinet:
"Here, take this rat’s tail. When my father tells you to show him your little finger, show him this tail instead."
That night, the ogre Drak came home and roared:
"I smell human flesh!"
His wife said:
"Shh... There’s a little boy hiding under the bed, but he’s too skinny. Let him stay with us for a while to fatten up."
"I should take a look at him," grumbled Drak. "Hey, you, stick out your little finger!"
Bernardinet showed him the rat’s tail, just as Sunny had instructed. Drak mistook the tail for a finger—it wasn’t surprising, as the room was dimly lit by a single small lamp. Besides, Drak was nearsighted and not very bright.
"Ugh! He really is a scrawny thing!" Drak agreed. "Let him fatten up a bit."
At dawn, when Drak left the house, Bernardinet began to secretly prepare to leave. But Sunny stopped him:
"Where will you go without knowing the way? You’ll just get lost in the dense forest. You’d better stay with us. Besides, I’ll have more fun with you here. I’ll teach you games, show you all the hidden places in our forest, and tell you stories. Stay! And don’t be afraid of my father—I’ll help you if anything happens..."
And so, she convinced Bernardinet to stay in Drak’s house. He stayed, but he couldn’t shake the unease in his heart: what if the ogre caught sight of him?
Days passed: day after day, week after week...
Then one day, Drak came home early and saw Bernardinet in the garden with his daughter.
"Is this really that scrawny boy?" Drak marveled. "He’s grown so fast! Listen, wife, roast him for me for breakfast. He’s plumped up nicely."
Sunny rushed to her father and said:
"Spare Bernardinet, Father! He’s my friend, and I’ll be lonely without him."
Drak glanced at his daughter but didn’t scold her. Instead, he said:
"Fine, I won’t touch him, but on one condition: he must complete my task."
They called Bernardinet, and Drak said to him:
"Take my big shovel, dig a deep well, and by evening, I want a jug of clear water from that well on my table."
Bernardinet took the big shovel from Drak, barely able to lift it, and went to dig the well. But as soon as he started, the shovel broke! Drak had deliberately given him a rusty one.
At noon, Sunny said to her mother:
"I want to take Bernardinet a pot of soup."
"Why are you so taken with that boy?" the giantess grumbled, but she gave her the pot of soup.
Sunny grabbed the pot and ran to Bernardinet. She found him sitting under a tree, looking dejected.
"Why are you so sad, Bernardinet?" Sunny asked. "Is the work not going well?"
"What do I have to be happy about?" Bernardinet replied. "I started digging the well, but the shovel—snap!—broke."
"Don’t be upset about that, Bernardinet, I’ll help you. For now, eat your soup and don’t worry."
After Bernardinet finished the soup, Sunny took a wooden stick from her pocket, tapped it on her knee, and said:
"Stick, stick, my little helper, let a well with clear water appear here!"
And in that very moment, a well with clear, sparkling water appeared before Bernardinet.
"Wow!" the boy exclaimed. "This is a miracle of miracles!"
All day they walked through the forest, gathering nuts, and in the evening, Bernardinet scooped cold water from the well into a jug and placed it on the table. Drak saw the jug, smirked, and, turning to his daughter, wagged his finger:
"Oh, Sunshine, Sunshine, you must have had a hand in this!"
"What are you talking about, father? I had nothing to do with it."
After dinner, Drak said to his wife:
"Put the boy to sleep in the small room. On that very bed..."
And that bed was no ordinary bed—it was a bed of coals! Sunshine knew this very well, and slipping quietly into the room, she whispered to Bernardinet:
"Lie down in my place, and I'll sleep on that bed. It doesn't scare me!"
And so they did. In the morning, seeing the boy alive and well, Drak was surprised but didn't show it and said to him:
"Today, take the grapevines from the shed, plant them on that slope, and by evening, place a full plate of ripe grapes on the table."
Bernardinet took a new shovel from the shed, grabbed the grapevines, and headed to the mountain slope. But, just like the day before, the shovel broke again.
"Oh, so that's how it is!" Bernardinet grew angry at Drak. "He deliberately gives me a bad shovel! Fine. I'll never finish this work in a day, unless Sunshine helps me?"
He tossed the broken shovel pieces into the bushes and began to wait for Sunshine. She came to him at noon and said:
"Good day, Bernardinet!"
"Good day, Sunshine!"
"Having trouble again?"
"The shovel broke. And even if it hadn't, how could I finish this work by evening?"
"Don't worry, I'll get you out of this mess. But first, have some soup—see, I brought it for you."
And while Bernardinet ate the soup, Sunshine took her magic wand, tapped it on her knee, and said:
"Wand, wand, my little helper, let a vineyard grow on the mountain slope!"
Before Bernardinet could blink, a vineyard had grown on the slope, covered with large, ripe clusters of grapes. Well, the job was done, and in the evening, Bernardinet placed a plate of golden grapes on Drak's table.
"I see, I see, Sunshine, you helped the boy again," Drak said, shaking his head and glancing at his daughter.
"What are you talking about, father? I don't know anything about it."
After dinner, Drak beckoned Bernardinet with his finger and said:
"Go to sleep now, and when I call you in the early morning, get up right away. Understood?"
Bernardinet nodded and went to sleep, while the ogre approached his daughter and said angrily:
"I don't like your tricks! They won't lead to any good. If you don't want worse to happen, go to sleep now, and when I call you in the early morning, get up right away. Understood?"
Drak must have been up to something. When Bernardinet and Sunshine left, he ordered his wife:
"In the morning, light a fire and put a cauldron on the hearth. I think it's time to put an end to my daughter's friendship with this Bernardinet. I don't like it! It's time to eat him!"
"That's true," his wife agreed.
And so Bernardinet would have perished if Sunshine hadn't overheard her parents' conversation. She tiptoed to her friend's bed and whispered in his ear:
"Now, Bernardinet, we must run! Father has decided to destroy you this morning. The magic wand won't help here—it has no power in this house. Let's run away together! At dawn, father will ask you, 'What rooster is crowing?' and you must answer, 'The red one!' An hour later, he'll ask the same question, and you must answer, 'The black one!' Then we can run."
Bernardinet remembered everything and waited for the appointed hour. He was so scared in that big, dark house that he didn't sleep a wink all night. And how could he sleep when his life hung by a thread! And so, when the pale dawn peeked through the windows, a rooster crowed in the distance. Drak shouted throughout the house:
"Bernardinet, what rooster is crowing?"
"The red one!"
And silence fell over the house again. An hour passed, and Bernardinet heard the same question:
"Bernardinet, what rooster is crowing?"
"The black one!" the boy replied, got up, and quietly dressed.
And Sunshine was already there, right beside him.
"Now, let's go!" Bernardinet whispered, but Sunshine put a finger to her lips and shook her head: not yet, she signaled. She took a spindle and placed it on her bed, and on Bernardinet's bed, she placed a distaff.
"They will answer as needed, by my will!" she explained to Bernardinet.
Then they climbed out the window and, without looking back, ran into the forest, far away from the terrifying ogre.
Meanwhile, Drak, suspecting nothing, shouted again an hour later:
"Hey, Sunshine, get up!"
"I'm getting up," replied the spindle.
"Hey, Bernardinet, get up!"
"I'm getting up," replied the distaff.
Drak waited a little longer, and when they still didn't come, he shouted even louder...
- Get up, you naughty girl!
- I’m getting up, I’m getting up!
- Get up this instant, Bernadinet!
- I’m getting up, I’m getting up!
- That’s more like it, muttered Drak discontentedly and yawned sweetly.
Another quarter of an hour passed, but there was still no sign of Sunny and Bernadinet. Drak grew furious, jumped out of bed, and rushed into his daughter’s room. But the bed was empty, and instead of his daughter, there lay a spinning wheel! Drak froze in place, his mouth agape, unable to utter a word. When he finally came to his senses, he rushed to Bernadinet’s room. But there, instead of the boy, lay an old spindle on the bed.
The foolish Drak grabbed his head, tore out a clump of hair in rage, shook his fists, and howled at the top of his lungs.
His wife came running, saw the empty beds, and threw up her hands:
- Oh, Bernadinet, what a trickster! And our daughter is no better. And why are you just standing there like a post? Go after them and bring them back!
Drak grabbed his club and raced after the runaways.
Meanwhile, the runaways were already far away. As you can imagine, they were in a hurry. They only stopped to rest by a small lake. Sunny began picking daisies, while Bernadinet lay down on the grass. After a while, he glanced at the road and suddenly jumped up:
- Look, Sunny! Your father’s here! We’re done for!
But Sunny replied:
- With my wand, we have nothing to fear... Wand, wand, my little helper, turn Bernadinet into a drake and me into a duck.
Drak ran up to the lake and saw a drake and a duck gliding across the greenish water.
- Where did they disappear to? I saw them from a distance, muttered Drak, turning to the drake and duck. - Hey, you! Have you seen two kids around here?
They replied:
- Quack! Quack! Quack!
- Ugh, with their stupid quacking! You’re no help at all! Drak waved his hand and went back home.
His wife saw him and asked in surprise:
- Where are Sunny and Bernadinet? Didn’t you find them?
- No, I didn’t. I thought I saw them from afar, but by the time I got there, they vanished into thin air. I even asked the drake and duck, but they were no help.
- Oh, you fool! That was them! Go back and don’t return without them!
Drak ran back to the lake, but it was in vain—there was no sign of the drake or the duck. Furious, he threw his club to the ground and went on searching for the runaways.
But how could he find them? Meanwhile, Sunny turned into a titmouse, and Bernadinet became a goldfinch. They flew deep into the forest, perched on branches, and began singing—talking to each other.
Drak also wandered through that forest. He grew tired and was about to turn back when he suddenly heard birdsong. He stopped and asked:
- Hey, little forest birds, have you seen two kids around here?
- Tweet-tweet-san! Tweet-tweet-san! the birds chirped.
- Oh, you useless things! All you know is your “tweet-tweet-san”...
He returned home and told his wife about the birds, but she scolded him:
- You fool! That was them! Go back!
But Drak stubbornly refused: “I won’t go anymore. Let them do as they please.”
He and his wife argued for a long time, but eventually, Drak gave in and reluctantly set off again. This time, he walked slowly, unaware that Sunny and Bernadinet had spotted him from afar. Sunny turned into a bridge over a stream, and Bernadinet became the bridge’s railing.
Drak approached the stream, looked up, and was surprised: he knew these places well, but he had never seen this bridge with railings before. He stared at it for a long time and finally realized it was another trick of his daughter.
- So, I’ve caught you, you runaway tricksters! Drak laughed maliciously. - Now you’ll pay! This time, you won’t escape me.
But just as Drak reached for the railing, the railing and the bridge vanished, and on the meadow appeared a bull with a white spot on its forehead and a green, bug-eyed frog. Things might have turned out fine if Sunny hadn’t dropped her magic wand into the stream. Drak noticed the wand, snatched it from the water, and laughed even louder:
- Here it is, the magic wand! Now I can do whatever I want with you! No, I won’t kill you, but I’ll punish you severely.
- You, Bernadinet, will live as a bull for ten years, and then you’ll forget your dear Sunny as if she never existed. And you, my daughter, for your disobedience, will spend ten years and one more year hopping around as a frog. That’s it!
He stuffed the magic wand into his pocket and left.
Bernadinet and Sunny grieved, but there was nothing they could do—they couldn’t break Drak’s spell. For nearly ten years, they stayed together on that meadow, never once parting. Only once, near the end of the tenth year, the bull decided to wander through the nearby dense forest. He wandered and wandered until he got lost. It’s no surprise—it could happen to anyone.
He searched for the familiar meadow for a long time but never found it. Then the tenth year passed, and the bull turned back into a handsome young man. Bernadinet was overjoyed to regain his human form but instantly forgot his faithful companion and wandered off alone to distant, unknown lands.
The frog was heartbroken when Bernadinet disappeared into the forest. But another year passed, and Sunny turned from a green, bug-eyed frog into a beautiful young woman. Everything would have been fine, but Sunny couldn’t forget Bernadinet. So, she set off for those distant lands where her friend had vanished. Her heart must have guided her.
She traveled many roads, visited many towns and villages, but she couldn’t find Bernadinet. She was on the verge of despair when one day, she stopped to rest near a baker’s house and saw a wedding procession passing by. She looked at the groom and froze—it was none other than her Bernadinet.
As soon as the procession passed, Sunny snapped out of it, ran to the baker’s wife, and asked for a piece of dough. The baker’s wife refused at first, saying she had no dough, but after Sunny’s tearful pleas, she finally found a small lump in the kneading trough.
Sunny grabbed the dough, shaped it into two tiny doves—a male and a female—and whispered something over them.
Suddenly, the doves came to life and flew straight to the groom and bride. They circled above their heads, and the male dove said to the female:
- Coo-coo-coo... Kiss me, my dove.
- Coo-coo-coo... I won’t kiss you, replied the female dove. - You’ll forget me, just like Bernadinet forgot his Sunny. There she stands by the fence, and he doesn’t even see her. He’s completely forgotten her!
Bernadinet heard their cooing and remembered everything. Love had proven stronger than the magic spell! He left the bride, ran to his beloved Sunny, embraced her tightly, helped her onto a horse, and they rode off together, no one knows where.
And it doesn’t matter where they went, where they lived, or what they did. All that’s known is that from that day on, they were never apart and lived happily ever after.
More fairy tales
