"Terrible Devv"   Georgian folk tale Print

Whether it was or not, who knows? It is said that there was a king. This king intended to marry. He chose a bride — an unprecedented beauty for a girl: her eyes are black as night, her curls are golden, her lips are redder than poppy red, and her condition is like a young apple tree. There was no better girl in the whole kingdom. He married a king and lived happily with a young queen. Soon they had a son-tsarevich. And there was a terrible grief for the king. A huge maiden stormed into the palace, grabbed and carried the queen. The king beats his head against the rocks, chases after the pursuit, —do not catch the dreaded virgin, not return the queen. The king knows that the dreaded virgin is immortal. Neither kill nor conquer it. The king cries, fights, and can do nothing. Here a year goes by, the second goes. The king gradually began to forget his grief. And the tsarevich grows and grows, soon quite big grew. He comes to his father once and asks: - Dad, where's my mother? The tears from his eyes again poured into the king. He hugs the prince and says: - You still, son, lay in the cradle as your mother abducted a terrible maiden and carried her away from the palace. The young man heard it and lost his composure. Day and night, he dreams of his mother, strangling his anger on virgins, does not sleep. The prince comes to his father and says: - I decided, my father, to find a terrible virgin and to release my mother. I do not want my mother in captivity to suffer. Frightened by the king, began to refuse his son: - Where to you, son, with a maiden to fight! He still could not win him. "And I'll try," the prince says. And he went looking for the dreaded virgin. After a while, at what hour he arrives at the intersection of the three paths. Along one road an inscription on a stone: "Who goes here - will soon return home." To the second: "Who goes here - will not get home soon". And about the third one: "Whoever goes here will never come home." "Probably, this third road leads to a terrible maiden," the prince thought, and without hesitation, went with her. He went, went, nine mountains passed, nine years crossed, nine gorges passed. And here he comes to one city. The prince sees - it is empty and sad in the city. Residents hide in the homes, no soul is visible in the streets, no lights are on. no voices, no songs to hear. The prince came into one house, asks: - What happened to you in the city for sadness? No people can be seen, no voices heard, no lights are lit, no songs are sung. And they answer him: - We have trouble in the city, Tsarevich. Every day, a huge sea boar comes to the shore and devours everything on the road. That's why we're hiding, so no one votes. - Well, it is impossible to live like this - says the prince - I have to go and see what you have for a boar. - The prince goes to the seashore and sees - stands on the shore of a high tower, the top rested on the sky, the feet in the sea wave entered. And in the tower window, and sits at the window a beauty: eyes, like night, black, curls of gold, lips red poppy redder, and as fresh as a young apple. The beauty looked at the young man and gasped. - Why did you come here? Here the bird does not fly in the sky and the fish do not live in the water. Here all the dreaded virgin are afraid. "Oh, is that his tower?" Asks the young man. - How did you get here, beautiful? - I was abducted from the palace of my husband, the king. I lived in happiness and joy; a son was born to me, and a maiden came and took me away from the cradle of a son. Delighted young man found his mother. - I am your son! He exclaimed. - I came to release you. "Oh, son, it's a difficult thing," says the queen. - Dev is stronger than anyone in the world, and his death is far from hidden, no one will find it. - And you ask him, mummy - says the prince - where he hides the power. Maybe he'll tell you. And tomorrow I will come to you again. Here the virgin returns to his tower. He pulled his nose up, looked around and yelled: - Someone was here! The human spirit smells. - What are you, who would be here! - answers the queen. - Birds do not fly here, too - are they all afraid of you?;. The virgin rested, ate, drank, and the queen said to him: - Your strength amazes me, maiden. All of you, both immortal and invincible, are called. What is your strength and where is it hidden? - Buried under the stove, - replies the maiden. He lay down and snored.? In the morning, the maiden rushed to rob. The prince comes under the window and asks: - Well, what, mother, did you find out? "Find out, son," says the queen. - The power of the dev-va is buried under the oven. - You, mother, decorate the stove as best you can, blossom it, - the prince teaches. Returns in the evening of virgins, looks - the cleaned furnace is better than usual, the flowers are scattered around. - What is it? - asks the dev. And the queen kindly answers him: - You are dear to me - and strength is your way. So I decorated the place where she was buried. Laughing maiden: - Not under the stove is my strength, but in the marble pillar on which the ceiling is held. He lay down and snored. And again in the morning he went robbery. In the morning the prince comes and his mother says to him: The virgin deceived me: not under the stove his power, but he in this pillar of marble, on which the ceiling hangs. - You bloom this pillar tomorrow, - replies the prince. Comes a virgin from the hunt, he sees - a flowered marble pillar. Down to the ceiling, top to bottom, red and white roses are twisted. The devil sounded. - And what is your strength? - asks the queen, and the most kindly maiden's forehead strokes, looking into frightful eyes. "And my strength is in the wild boar that comes out of the sea every day," the maid replies. - As long as that boar is alive, I will be invincible as well. A boar can only be killed when it is struck directly between the eyes with the sword. Nobody knows this, so I'm not afraid of anyone in the world. He lay down asleep, fell asleep, snored. And in the morning he woke up and left the robbery again. The prince comes under the window to his mother. - Well, son, now I have learned everything, - says the mother. - His strength is in the sea boar. The boar must be struck with the sword between his eyes, and he is not afraid of other wounds. - Thank you, mother, now I know what to do, - says the prince. He took his sword and ran to the forge. For three days and three nights sharpened the blacksmith's sword to the prince. He shone, shining his sword with a terrible sparkle. Took his queen and went straight to the sea. The sea roared, the waves rustled, and a wild wild boar ran ashore. Fangs are long, scary, wool on end. As the boar of the tsarevich noticed - so he rushed at him with a furious mouth. He wants to tear up, swallow the brave man. And the prince waved his sword, and how he would strike the boar between his eyes and cut in two. Tsarevich - to the tower. Looks - the mountain of the mountain descends the exhausted virgin. His power was gone. He wanted to growl at the young man, and the prince would cry out to him: - Be quiet, monster! Now you are in my hands. Go unlock your cellars, get everything you stole from the residents! He crawled into the dungeons of the devas and began to carry out the loot from there. Inhabitants from the city came running - cheerful, happy, joyful. Praise good fellows, thank him, dismantle their property. And the prince put his mother on the girl's back, sat down and ordered: “Bring us to the palace, to my father.?” He carried them in the air to the royal palace. When the king saw from the window that his wife and son were returning, he ran to meet them. For joy, not alone. The virgin fell in the middle of the royal court. The prince and the queen came down from him. And then the virgin disappeared without a trace. Only a fairy tale about him remained.