The Tale of the Fawn and Helen the Beautiful
Whether it happened or not, there lived in a village a very wealthy king. One day, the king said to his hunters:"Go hunting and kill the first beast you encounter."
The hunters went, and as they walked, they saw a doe in a clearing. Just as they aimed their rifles to kill her, as the king had ordered, they noticed that a boy was suckling at her teat. The child saw the rifles, let go of the teat, wrapped his arms around the doe's neck, and hugged and caressed her. The hunters were astonished.
They took the boy with them, brought him to the king, and told him everything.
Now, this king had a son who was the same age as the boy.
The king baptized them both together and named the boy found in the forest "Fawn."
Fawn grew up alongside the king's son, sleeping in the same room and nursed by the same wet nurse.
While others grow by years, they grew by days. Soon, they turned twelve.
The king rejoiced, for he now had two sons.
One day, the boys went out to the field with their bows. The king's son shot an arrow, and at that moment, an old woman was carrying water in a jug. The arrow knocked the handle off the jug.
The old woman turned and said:
"I won't curse you—you're the only son—but may love for Helen the Beautiful take root in your heart."
Fawn was puzzled:
"What is she saying?"
But from that day on, the king's son could think of nothing but Helen the Beautiful. Love for her took hold of his heart and gave him no peace.
What could he do? Three weeks passed. The young man wandered about half-dead, tormented by love for someone he had never even seen.
Fawn said to him:
"Let your sworn brother die if he doesn't bring you Helen the Beautiful."
He went to the king and said:
"Father, order the blacksmith to forge me iron boots and an iron bow and arrows. I must set out to find Helen the Beautiful."
The father agreed. They forged Fawn an iron bow and arrows weighing five poods, along with iron boots, and he set off with the king's son on their journey.
Fawn said to his adoptive father as they parted:
"Don't worry, Father. Where Fawn is, you have nothing to fear. Wait for us for two years. If we return, it will be with glory. If not, know that we are no longer among the living."
They walked and walked until they entered a dense, impassable forest. They saw a high cliff in the forest, and on the cliff stood a massive house. In front of the house was a marvelous garden. And in that house lived five-headed and nine-headed devs.
The king's son said to Fawn:
"I'm tired, brother. Let's rest here for a while."
"Alright," said Fawn. The king's son lay down and dozed off. Fawn said:
"You lie here and rest, and I'll go to the garden to bring you the finest fruits."
They were not like brothers but like father and son—that's how Fawn cared for his friend.
Fawn entered the garden and approached the best apple tree, picking the fruits.
Suddenly, a nine-headed dev leaped out and shouted:
"Who are you? How dare you enter my garden? Even the birds in the sky don't fly here, and the ants don't crawl on the ground—everyone fears me!"
"I am Fawn!" the young man shouted. The dev stepped back, growling in anger. The devs knew that when the fawn's son appeared in the world, it would mean their end.
The devs were terrified, scattering and hiding wherever they could.
Fawn killed them all, except for one five-headed dev who survived by hiding in the attic.
Meanwhile, the king's son slept in the shade.
Fawn cleared the house of devs and went to wake his brother. The devs' house and all their wealth now belonged to them.
The brothers strolled through the garden, enjoying themselves.
But the five-headed dev, Babakhanjomi, sat in the attic, trembling.
Finally, he gathered his courage, came down, and said to Fawn:
"Don't kill me. I'll be your brother. All our wealth will be yours." Fawn smiled. Then the five-headed dev asked:
"But what drives you to wander the world, visiting villages and cities?" Fawn replied:
"We have one task. If we fail, I'll destroy you just like I did the other devs!" And he told him: "We are searching for Helen the Beautiful, and you must help us find her."
Babakhanjomi had a little house that he could carry on his back and move wherever he needed. The dev said:
"Climb into this house, and we'll go search for Helen the Beautiful. But it won't be easy. There are many who seek her."
They climbed in and set off. They traveled for about three months until they reached a river.
"I'm tired," said the king's son to Fawn. "Let's rest."
Babakhanjomi was even more exhausted. The brothers stepped out of the house and sat by the river to rest.
They grew thirsty and drank from the river, but the water was salty.
Fawn was surprised:
"Why is the water salty?"
"That's not water—it's tears," said Babakhanjomi. "Upstream lives a five-headed dev who also loves Helen the Beautiful, but he can't win her. He burns with love as if in fire, and his tears flow like a river."
Fawn was amazed and said:
"Then I swear by my name, Fawn, that I will win her for my brother and marry them!"
They went to that dev, and Fawn said:
"Dev, do you love Helen the Beautiful so much?"
The dev is crying, shedding tears. The Fawn promised:
"Well, we'll show her to you when we take her home."
They traveled further.
Several more months passed. They were traveling, and eventually, they ran out of food. They reached a small forest. They still knew nothing about Helen the Beautiful.
The Fawn said:
"I'll go; there's a village in the distance. I'll ask around, maybe they know where to find Helen the Beautiful."
Babakhanjomi and his brother stayed in the house. The Fawn went.
He saw an old woman in a hut and asked:
"Mother, for the love of all mothers, tell me, do you know where to find Helen the Beautiful and in which castle she lives?"
The old woman was surprised. She knew how difficult it was to reach Helen the Beautiful and marveled at how casually the young man spoke of it.
"It's a very difficult task, my son," said the old woman. "You clearly don't know. The Wind King loves her, always watching, wanting to kidnap her. That's why they keep this beauty behind nine locks, and she doesn't see a ray of sunlight, so afraid they are that she might be taken."
Still, she told him where Helen the Beautiful's castle was. There was a large garden with a high fence around it, and deep within the garden stood the castle where Helen the Beautiful and her family lived.
"How can I reach her?" asked the Fawn. "My brother wants to marry her."
"Oh, it's a difficult task," said the old woman. "She has many suitors; they won't give her to your brother. She sets three tasks for her suitors. If they complete them, she will marry them; if not, they will be crushed to dust."
The Fawn smiled. What could she possibly think of that we couldn't accomplish? And he went back to where he had left his brother and Babakhanjomi.
The dev hoisted the house with the Fawn and the king's son on his back and set off.
They reached the castle.
The Fawn went ahead.
Helen the Beautiful's mother was a sorceress, and she could both kill and revive a person.
She saw the Fawn, and he was such a fine young man, so handsome, one could stare at him endlessly.
"Who are you, what kind of person? And what brings you here?"
The Fawn said:
"I come as a friend, not an enemy."
"And what do you want?"
"I want to take your Helen the Beautiful as my sister-in-law."
Helen had three brothers. All three were out hunting in the forest at that time.
"Stay here," said Helen the Beautiful's mother. "Wait for the brothers, you'll come to an agreement, and everything will be settled."
The Fawn sat in the garden, waiting for the brothers.
Meanwhile, the king's son and Babakhanjomi were waiting for him, afraid that the Wind King might clash with the Fawn and destroy him. They decided to go and investigate.
When it grew dark, Helen the Beautiful's brothers appeared. One carried a whole deer on his back, another a roe deer, and the third a whole tree trunk for firewood.
They caught the scent of a stranger. They asked their mother:
"Who is this here?"
"He comes in peace, children, don't harm him," said the mother.
Meanwhile, Babakhanjomi brought the king's son. The king's son stood there, waiting to see what would happen.
The brothers sat down to skin the deer. The Fawn approached. While they were skinning one leg, the Fawn—quickly—skinned the entire deer. Helen the Beautiful's brothers were amazed.
They sat down to dinner. The Fawn grabbed huge pieces of meat. The brothers were astonished.
They finished dinner and went to sleep.
Morning came, and Helen the Beautiful said:
"If he completes three tasks, I will become his wife; if not, it won't happen."
They led the king's son to the beauty. She spoke to him, but he stood silent, not making a sound. Helen the Beautiful's mother had enchanted him, and the poor man couldn't think straight, standing like a statue.
"Go away," the beauty dismissed the king's son.
He walked out as if drunk. The Fawn ran up and asked:
"Well, what did she say?"
"I don't know, brother, I didn't understand anything."
The Fawn got angry. He went again to ask the beauty to receive the suitor a second time.
She agreed, but the suitor remained silent the second time as well, leaving her as if in a dream.
The Fawn told Babakhanjomi everything. They agreed and persuaded the beauty to call the suitor a third time, but he stood again like a statue, enchanted by the old woman. Babakhanjomi approached, took out the necessary letters that protected against enchantments, and threw them into the room where Helen the Beautiful was speaking with the suitor.
The walls cracked, and the king's son came to his senses. As he sobered up, he saw Helen the Beautiful, ran up, grabbed her hand, and shouted:
"You're mine, mine!"
The Fawn rejoiced, and Helen the Beautiful rejoiced. She knew her mother had been enchanting suitors to prevent her from marrying.
The groom and bride came out, celebrating.
The next morning, the groom and bride were walking in the garden, and the Fawn was nearby, watching them, overjoyed.
The Wind King saw the beauty, rushed like a whirlwind, swooped down on the groom, spun him around, and threw him to the ground. Then he grabbed the beauty and flew off with her into the sky.
The Fawn saw his brother lifeless and nearly died of grief, forgetting about Helen the Beautiful. Only then did he remember what the kind old woman had told him about the Wind King, but it was too late.
The Fawn sat there, mourning his brother.
Helen the Beautiful's mother approached and said:
- Don't cry, I will revive him, but Helen has been kidnapped, and I don't know how to help with that sorrow.
She took out a handkerchief, wiped the young man's face, and he came back to life, stood up. He rubbed his eyes and said:
- How long I have slept.
He looked around - Helen the Beautiful was gone, and he began to grieve and cry: what to do now, how to be? The Young Stag went to Babakhandjomi:
- The Wind King has stolen our bride, we must rescue her at all costs.
- Let Babakhandjomi die if he doesn't help you - said the dev. - Look into my right ear, there you will find a saddle, take it out, and in the left - a bridle and a whip, harness me, and let's go.
The Young Stag left the king's son in Helen the Beautiful's house, harnessed Babakhandjomi, tightened nine girths, and put nine bits in his mouth.
- Now sit down - said Babakhandjomi. - Strike me three times with the whip, so hard that you tear off nine strips of skin, and I will fly, just don't be afraid!
The Young Stag bid farewell to the king's son:
- Sit and wait, and we will go in search of Helen the Beautiful.
He jumped on the dev, struck him three times with the whip, so hard that he indeed tore off nine strips of skin. The dev groaned, whistled, hit the ground, soared up, broke through the clouds, and flew. They raced across the sky and reached a field.
In the field, there was an old woman. The Young Stag asked her:
- Where does the Wind King live? The old woman began to lament:
- Oh, my son, what brought you here? He will sense human scent and destroy us all! How dare you show yourself here? He recently brought a girl, a beauty unseen under the sun, there was such a whirlwind, such a groan and whistle - everything around was destroyed.
- It is for that beauty that I have come - said the Young Stag - take me to him.
- Alright - said the old woman. She was trembling, barely breathing from fear.
The Young Stag dismounted from the dev, hid the saddle, bridle, and whip in his ears, and went with the old woman.
The dev stayed behind, walking around, looking around, and killed all the Wind King's chickens.
The old woman led the Young Stag to the Wind King's castle and left.
The king had gone hunting that morning, and Helen the Beautiful was sitting alone in the castle, crying.
The Young Stag approached, kicked the door, broke it down, and entered.
- How did you get here? - said the beauty. - And what about that poor one? - she asked about her groom.
The brother-in-law and sister-in-law embraced and kissed. The Young Stag told her everything and said:
- I have come to take you away.
- Oh, you can't take me away! The cursed Wind King will destroy us both.
The Young Stag went to the old woman and said:
- Teach me how to take the beauty away from here and how to destroy the Wind King. The old woman said:
- Go and tell the beauty: when he leaves, let her decorate one corner of the house with flowers and greet him sadly, as if she misses him.
And so they did. When the Wind King went hunting, Helen the Beautiful got up, gathered flowers, fussed with them like a child, arranged them, and decorated one corner of the house. The king returned in the evening, was surprised, and asked:
- What are you doing, like a child, fussing with flowers?
- What else can I do? - she said. - You're not at home, so I amuse myself. If you told me where your soul is, it wouldn't be so boring.
- Why do you, beauty, need my soul?
- Why? I would know, at least I could caress it while waiting for you. Tell me, after all, I am your wife. The Wind King said:
- Alright, I'll tell you, since it's so. He led her to the roof and said:
- Over there, on the meadow, do you see a deer? Three men mow grass for him, but he alone eats all the grass, and the mowers can't keep up with him. In that deer's head are three boxes, and in those boxes is my soul.
- And no one can kill that deer? - asked the beauty.
- It can't be killed unless you take my bow and arrows. In those three boxes are three birds. Kill one bird - I will turn to stone up to my knees, kill the second - up to my waist, and kill the third - I will die. Do you understand now where my soul is?
Morning came. The Wind King went about his business, and the beauty took his bow and arrows and gave them to the Young Stag, telling him how to kill the king.
The Young Stag was delighted, took the bow and arrows, went, shot an arrow, killed the deer, ran, cut open its head, and took out the boxes.
As soon as the deer fell, the Wind King sensed something wrong. He hurried home.
The Young Stag tore off the head of the first bird - the Wind King's legs became paralyzed.
He tore off the second bird's head - the Wind King became heavy, barely made it to the threshold. He stretched out, shouting to Helen the Beautiful:
- You betrayed me?!
He tried to climb the stairs, but the Young Stag had already grabbed the third bird.
- This is for your villainy! - he shouted to the Wind King and tore off the third bird's head.
The Wind King fell dead, and the Young Stag approached Helen the Beautiful:
- Well, let's go.
- Go - said Helen the Beautiful - pass through nine rooms, in the tenth is the Wind King's horse tied up. This horse is no horse - it's a storm, we'll sit on it and fly.
The Young Stag took that horse, called Babakhandjomi. He took out all the equipment from his ears, sat on the dev himself, and seated Helen the Beautiful on the storm-horse. They flew.
They brought Helen the Beautiful to her groom. They celebrated the wedding.
Everyone thanked the Young Stag.
And the king-father had already cried out all his tears, dressed his entire kingdom in black. He grieved, cried over the death of the young men. He no longer hoped to see them alive.
The young men feasted at the bride's family, Babakhandjomi loaded his house on his back, and they went.
They passed by that dev, who had cried a whole river of tears for Helen the Beautiful.
The Young Stag said:
- What, dev, do you want to take a look at Helen the Beautiful?
- Oh, my lord Deerling, who would let me look at her?
- Look, - says Deerling. As soon as the dev laid eyes on the beauty, he was blinded by her beauty, instantly melted away, and breathed his last. They moved on. They spent the night in the palace of those nine-headed devs that Deerling had destroyed, and then continued their journey. There were still five months of travel left. So they stopped to rest near a forest. Suddenly, at night, three doves flew in. They perched on a branch. The first one said:
- When the king finds out that his son is bringing Helen the Beautiful, he will send him a gun as a gift. The gun will fire and kill him. And whoever overhears us and tells about it will turn to stone and die.
- So be it, - the other two doves confirmed.
And the second dove said:
- When the king-father finds out that his son is coming, he will come out, bring him a horse, and when the son mounts the horse, he will fall and die.
- So be it, - the doves confirmed again and added: - And whoever overhears us and tells about it will turn to stone and die.
And the third said:
- And also: when they arrive, the gveleshapi will come at night and strangle both - the king's son and Helen the Beautiful, and whoever overhears us and tells about it will turn to stone and die.
They spoke and flew away.
Deerling heard all this. He remained silent.
Morning came. Everyone entered the devs' house, and they set off.
The king found out that his son was coming back safe and sound, bringing Helen the Beautiful. He sent him a gun, but Deerling rushed forward, grabbed the gun, and threw it far away, not letting the groom have it.
The king's son was upset: "My father sent me a gun, honored me, but Deerling threw it far away."
The father sent his horse to his son. Deerling returned the horse as well.
The king's son was upset, but what could he do?
They arrived, and the father met them, welcoming them.
They celebrated the wedding.
Deerling went out and released Babakhandzhomi.
- Thank you for your service. Go now, live freely.
The dev left. And Deerling sneaked into the newlyweds' bedroom, stood by the door, waiting. They fell asleep, but Deerling did not sleep. How could he? He stood guard, holding his sword ready, knowing what awaited his friend.
At midnight, the gveleshapi appeared. It crept in, already opening its jaws, about to pounce on the newlyweds and strangle them. Deerling swung his sword and struck the gveleshapi. He chopped it into pieces and threw them under the bed.
Morning came.
The newlyweds woke up, unaware of what had happened during the night.
The servants came to clean the bedroom and saw pieces of the carcass lying under the bed. The king was furious: who is mocking us?
They began to judge and discuss. They blamed Deerling for everything. He had shown disrespect to the king's son on the journey: he had not given him the gun and had sent the horse away. Surely, he was mocking them now as well.
Deerling said:
- I only wished you well. Do not make it so that you live and rejoice, while I die.
But no, they were angry with him, demanding to know what this was and where it came from!
- Well, - said Deerling, - I will tell you, but may it not burden you that I worked so hard for your happiness, and now you are destroying me. That night, when we rested in the field, - Deerling began, - three doves flew in, perched on a branch, and spoke. One said: when they arrive, the king-father will send his son a gun, the gun will fire and kill him. Whoever betrays us will turn to stone.
Deerling said this and turned to stone up to his knees.
Everyone understood and begged him:
- Do not speak anymore, it's not necessary! - No, said Deerling, - if I speak, I will speak to the end. And the second dove said: the king-father will send a horse, the son will fall from the horse and die... He said this and turned to stone up to his waist. - Do not speak, - everyone begged, - it's not necessary! - No, - said Deerling, - you should have believed me, but now it's too late. And the third dove said: at night, when the newlyweds enter the bedroom, the gveleshapi will come and devour them...
Deerling said this and turned entirely to stone. The father and son wept and grieved, but what could they do to help their sorrow?
And Helen the Beautiful was already heavy with child. But this did not bring joy to the king's son. "No," he thought, "I must restore life to my faithful friend, no matter the cost."
He stood up, put on iron boots, took an iron staff in his hands, and set off.
He walked, asking everyone:
- How can I revive my petrified friend? He grew tired and sat down by a forest to rest for a while. Suddenly, an old man emerged from the thicket. The king's son asked him as well how to save his friend. The old man said:
- Where are you going? His salvation is in your home. The king's son did not understand what that salvation was. And the old man said:
- Do you not know that a son has been born to you, a golden-haired boy. In him lies the salvation of your friend. Kill him in his cradle, boil him, pour that water over your petrified friend - and he will come back to life.
The king's son returned.
"What can I do," he thought, "there will be more children, but I will never find another friend and brother."
He came and saw his son lying in the cradle, shining like the moon. The boy's golden curls gleamed brightly.
He said to his wife:
- Helen the Beautiful, this is what I have been told. She agreed:
- If only to revive our Deerling.
They did everything as the old man had instructed.
Deerling stirred, opened his eyes, and came back to life.
In the morning, Helen the Beautiful approached his cradle - she was his mother, after all, and her heart ached for her son, even though she had sacrificed him - and saw something moving in the cradle. She pulled back the curtain, and there was the living child.
Everyone rejoiced.
They slaughtered a cow and fifteen whole sheep, roasted them on spits, and feasted for fourteen days, never clearing the table.
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