Pearl Tears

There was, and yet there was nothing—there lived two brothers in the world. Both were married, but one had children, while the other did not. They lived together in harmony and friendship. But then the younger brother's children grew up, and his wife said to him:
"We must separate from your brother. He and his wife are old—what use are they now?"
The husband grew angry:

"What are you saying, wife? How can you even think that? Where will they go, the old ones? When they were young, they worked like oxen, toiling for us and our children. And now that they’ve grown old and frail, you want to drive them away?"
"No, no!" said the wife. "If you don’t part ways with your brother, I’ll throw myself into the river and end my life."

What could he do? The husband went and told his brother everything.

The childless brother grew sad and said:
"Why would you drive me away in my old age? I’m already on the brink of death. I’m your brother—it would be a sin for you to do this. You won’t lose anything by keeping me. My share could feed not just me and my wife, but an entire family. And since I have no children, I won’t take anything to the grave—it will all go to your children!"

"What am I to do?" said the brother. "I don’t want to part with you either, but my wife has completely worn me down. She’s threatening to take her own life."

What could the childless brother do? He went and told his wife everything, and the very next day, they set off on their journey. They took nothing with them and left empty-handed.

They walked and walked until they came to a forest.
They began searching for shelter in that forest.

They wandered for two days, and on the third day, they found an old, abandoned cottage. They entered—there were no owners in sight, but there was enough bread and wine to last for many years. The old man and his wife said:
"Well, it seems this is the devil’s property. If he comes, he’ll eat us, but at least we’ll be spared from suffering." And so they began to live there.

They lived like this for a month, then two. Time passed. Many months went by, but the owner never appeared. The old couple lived quietly and peacefully in their new home, though sometimes they grew sad:
"When we die, who will close our eyes? Who will bury us?"

More time passed, and the old woman felt a child stirring in her womb.
They rejoiced and waited.

The time came, and the old woman gave birth to a daughter—and what a daughter! When she laughed, roses and violets bloomed around her, so beautiful and fragrant that even a dying person would be healed by their charm and scent. When she cried, her tears turned into pearls.

And so they lived. Whenever the child cried, pearls would fall, and the old man would gather them, sell them, and buy everything they needed.
The old couple and their daughter lived happily and comfortably. The old man even built a castle for his daughter.

Time went on.
The daughter grew up and became a beautiful maiden, so lovely that just one glance at her made you forget everything in the world.

One day, the son of the king of that land went hunting. He hunted all day with his advisors and hunters, but they only managed to kill one pheasant.

In the evening, the prince said:
"Go and roast this pheasant somewhere. We’ll spend the night here and hunt some more tomorrow. We can’t return to the palace with just one pheasant!"

One of the hunters took the pheasant and went looking for a place to roast it. He came across the old man’s home and entered. The old man welcomed him properly and offered him food. The guest said:
"I’m a servant of the prince. I must roast this pheasant for him."
The old man wanted to take the pheasant and roast it himself, but the hunter refused:
"I must prepare it myself for my master."

They lit a fire, and the hunter skewered the pheasant and began roasting it. Just then, the old man’s daughter entered.
The hunter looked at her and couldn’t take his eyes off her. The girl stood there, and he stared so intently that the bird burned on the coals.

What could he do? The hunter got up and carried the burnt pheasant back. The prince looked at it and said:
"Why is this pheasant so burnt?"
"My apologies, my lord," said the hunter. "The old man welcomed me so kindly and invited you to visit. I wanted to let his family roast the pheasant, but I refused, thinking I should prepare it for you myself. While it was roasting, the old man’s daughter came in—she’s so beautiful, I couldn’t look away. That’s why the bird burned."

The prince went with all his advisors to visit the old man.
The old man was delighted by the guests and welcomed them with great honor.
He served everything he had in the house. When they sat down to eat, the old man took a jug of water and began pouring it over the guests’ hands. When he approached the prince, the prince refused:
"I won’t let an old man pour water for me. Surely there’s someone younger who can do it."
The old man’s wife then took the water and went around the guests, but the prince refused her as well. He wanted the old man’s daughter to pour water for him.

The old couple called their daughter.
The girl entered, carrying a jug of water. When the prince looked at her, he was so stunned that he fainted. The girl laughed, and roses and violets bloomed around her. It was with these roses and violets that they revived the young man, and everyone sat down to eat.

After the meal, the prince asked the old man to give him his daughter in marriage.
The old man said:
"My lord, we are not worthy, but if it is your will, who could we wish for better?"

The prince was overjoyed. That very night, he became engaged to the beautiful maiden, and the next morning, he rode home to share the happy news with his family.
His parents agreed:
"If she is to your liking, we won’t oppose it."

Now, this king had an evil uncle.
And the uncle had a wicked daughter—a dark-skinned, unattractive girl. The evil uncle was determined to marry his daughter to the prince.

The uncle volunteered to fetch the bride. As he got into the carriage, he hid his dirty, raven-haired daughter in the back and took her with him.
They arrived, took the bride, and set off.
The uncle brought two jugs of water with him.
Along the way, he gave the bride salty food to eat—she was dying of thirst.
She begged:
"Please, give me just a drop of water."
But the uncle said:
"Where can we find water in this deep forest?"
"Give me water, and I’ll give you anything in return," pleaded the girl.
"Well, if you give me one of your eyes, I’ll give you water," said the uncle.
"Take my eye, just give me something to drink," said the girl.
The uncle gave her a small jug of water, plucked out her eye, and hid it.

The girl drank the entire jug, but her thirst was still not quenched. She asked for water again. The uncle gave her another jug and plucked out her other eye. Then he said to the servants:
"The bride is tired. She needs to rest, but you go on ahead without stopping."

The servants rode off, while the uncle stopped the carriage, led the blind girl out, and tied her to a tree. He stripped her of all her fine clothes, dressed his own daughter as the bride, seated her in the carriage, and rode away.
They arrived at the palace.

Meanwhile, the prince had prepared a grand wedding, invited guests, and was eagerly awaiting his beautiful bride—but she never came.

They brought him, instead of his beautiful bride, a dark-skinned girl, an unsightly creature. No roses, no pearls, no violets.

The king's son was furious—what kind of monster is this? Who replaced my beauty with this dark, crow-like girl?!
"Where is my beautiful bride? What have you done to her?!" he shouted at his uncle.
"My lord," said the uncle, "this is her. She just cried a lot, saying goodbye to her family, and her face changed from the tears. She'll recover, and she'll be the same again."
The king's son didn't believe him. He kept the dark-skinned girl at a distance.
And so they lived—wife on her own, husband on his own.

Meanwhile, the blind girl was left alone in the forest. She stood by the tree where her uncle had left her from the carriage, crying and grieving. Her tears flowed like pearls, and the pearls fell, burying her.
The pearls covered her up to her chest, covering the naked girl.

Near the forest where the girl wept and grieved, there was a city. In the city lived a poor old man. The old man's only possession was a donkey.

The old man would go into the forest with his donkey, gather dry branches and kindling, load the donkey, bring it to the city, sell it, and give the money to the poor. At noon, he would go again, bring more kindling, sell it, and donate to the church for the poor. In the evening, he would gather more branches, sell them, and spend the money on himself and his old wife. That's how the kind old couple lived.

One day, he went into the forest, let the donkey graze, and started cutting dry branches. He gathered them, tied them up, and went to look for the donkey, but it was gone.

The old man walked through the forest, searching.
He saw the donkey standing, staring at a mountain of pearls, and in the pearls, buried up to her chest, was a girl.
The old man got angry at the donkey and tried to shoo it away, but the girl spoke:
"Who are you, man? Be my brother or father, save me, dig me out of this mountain of pearls."
The old man dug her out, took her home, and later gathered the pearls and brought them to his house.

The old man became rich. He dressed the girl, built her a grand chamber, and gave her a separate room.
One day, the girl was sitting in her room and heard a hen in the yard scolding a chick, pecking it with her beak. The chick squealed, and the rooster ran over, scolding the hen:
"Why are you hurting my child?!"
The girl heard this and laughed. Roses and violets rained down, and everything around her bloomed. The old man came in, amazed: where did these wonderful flowers come from, as if a garden had suddenly blossomed? The girl said:
"Father, take these roses and violets to the city where the king lives. Carry them, but don't sell them, no matter how much they offer. Find the king's uncle. If he wants to buy the roses and violets, tell him: I don't sell, I only exchange for eyes. If he gives you eyes, give him the flowers and bring the eyes to me."

The old man carried the flowers to the city.
He walked around, carrying them, but didn't sell them to anyone, even though many tried to bargain. Finally, he came across the uncle. The uncle said:
"Sell me the roses and violets, old man!"
The uncle decided to buy the flowers, scatter them around his daughter, and say: see, the roses and violets bloom around the bride again. But the old man said:
"I don't sell, I only exchange for eyes."
The uncle gave the old man one eye, took the flowers, and scattered them around his dark-skinned daughter, but it didn't help—the king's son still wouldn't go near the ugly girl.
The old man brought the eye to the beautiful girl. She inserted the eye, ground pearls in the juice of her roses and violets, washed it, and brought the eye to life.

The girl regained sight in one eye, but the other was still blind. How could she get it?
The girl prepared a coffin and told the old man:
"Take this necklace from my neck. Know that I will die when you remove it. Take it to the uncle and exchange it for the other eye. Attach it to me, then lay me in the coffin, take me to the place where you found me, and leave me there."

The old man went, exchanged the necklace for the girl's eye, brought it back, inserted it into the dying girl, and with tears carried her to the place where he had first seen her in the mountain of pearls.
The beauty gave birth to a son there. The boy lay in the coffin next to his mother, would get up, drink milk, and lie down again.

Meanwhile, the prince grieved for her and stayed far from the uncle's daughter.
One day, he went hunting to distract himself. He entered the forest. He startled a doe, and it ran. The king's son shot an arrow, but the doe escaped. He chased after it.
The doe ran and ran, and the young man ran after it.

Suddenly, the doe leaped over a coffin and disappeared. The prince approached, looked, and saw his beautiful bride lying in the coffin. He recognized his beloved.

She lay as if asleep. The prince embraced her, wept, and shed tears, but what good were tears?
He cried himself out, stepped back, took his son, who lay in the coffin next to his mother, and led him to the palace.

He brought the boy, and the uncle's daughter took him, led him to her room, caressed him, played with him, hoping to win the prince's favor.

She took him in her arms, but the boy grabbed her necklace and pulled at it, crying.
The king's son got angry and said to the dark-skinned girl:
"Give him what he wants, don't tease the child." She took off the necklace and gave it to the boy.
But as soon as the boy got what he wanted, he cried even more, reaching for his mother in the forest.
The king's son took the child, put him on his horse, and rode into the forest. The boy saw his mother, calmed down, smiled, and waved his little hands.

The prince sat the boy next to his mother and watched what he would do. The boy crawled, wrapped his arms around his mother's neck, and put the necklace on her. The beauty came to life, opened her eyes, sat up, and looked around.
The king's son was overjoyed, not knowing what to do with his happiness.
He put his wife and son on his horse and raced home.

He arrived at the palace and shouted:
"Here is my wife, and here is my son!"
The king and queen came out to greet them, embracing and kissing their daughter-in-law.
She entered the palace, remembered all she had endured, and wept—her tears flowed, and the floor was covered in pearls.

The beauty saw the uncle's dark-skinned daughter and laughed—roses and violets bloomed around her.
The evil uncle and his daughter were tied to horses' tails and torn to pieces, and the prince married his betrothed.

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Pearl Tears

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