The Three Oranges is an Italian folk tale. Three Oranges - Italian folk tale Three OrangesItalian folk tales

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Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen. They had a palace, they had a kingdom, and, of course, they had subjects, but the king and queen had no children.

One day the king said:

If we had a son, I would put a fountain in the square in front of the palace. And it would not produce wine, but golden olive oil. For seven years women would come to him and bless my son.

Soon the king and queen had a very handsome boy. The happy parents fulfilled their vow, and two fountains began to flow in the square. In the first year, fountains of wine and oil rose higher than the palace tower. The next year they became lower. In a word, the king's son, every day, became larger, and the fountains became smaller.

At the end of the seventh year, the fountains no longer flowed; wine and oil oozed out of them drop by drop.

One day the king's son went out to the square to play bowls. And at this very time, a gray-haired, hunched old woman dragged herself to the fountains. She brought with her a sponge and two earthenware jugs. Drop by drop, the sponge absorbed either wine or oil, and the old woman squeezed it into jugs.

The jugs were almost full. And suddenly - fuck! - both shattered into shards. What a neat hit! It was the king's son who aimed a large wooden ball at the pins and hit the jugs. At the same moment, the fountains dried up; they no longer produced a drop of wine or oil. After all, the prince turned exactly seven years old at that moment.

The old woman shook her crooked finger and spoke in a creaky voice:

Listen to me, king's son. Because you broke my jugs, I will put a spell on you. When you have been blown three times for seven years, you will be overcome by melancholy. And she will torment you until you find a tree with three oranges. And when you find a tree and pick three oranges, you will be thirsty. Then we'll see what happens.

The old woman laughed maliciously and trudged away.

And the king's son continued to play skittles and after half an hour he had already forgotten about the broken jugs and the old woman's spell.

The prince remembered him when he was three times seven - twenty-one years old. Melancholy fell upon him, and neither hunting fun nor lavish balls could dispel it.

Oh, where can I find three oranges! - he repeated.

The father king and mother queen heard this and said:

Are we really going to spare at least three, at least three dozen, at least three hundred, at least three thousand oranges for our dear son!

And they heaped a whole mountain of golden fruits in front of the prince. But the prince only shook his head.

No, these are not those oranges. And I myself don’t know which ones I need. Saddle your horse, I'll go look for them

They saddled the prince's horse, he jumped on it and rode. He rode, he rode along the roads, but found nothing. Then the prince turned off the road and galloped straight ahead. He galloped to the stream and suddenly heard a thin voice:

Hey, king's son, be careful that your horse doesn't trample my house!

The prince looked in all directions - there was no one. I looked under the horse’s hooves and saw an eggshell lying in the grass. He dismounted, bent down, and saw a fairy sitting in a shell. The prince was surprised, and the fairy said:

No one has visited me for a long time, no one has brought me gifts.

Then the prince took the ring with an expensive stone from his finger and put it on the fairy instead of a belt. The fairy laughed with joy and said:

I know, I know what you're looking for. Get the diamond key and you will enter the garden. There are three oranges hanging on a branch.

Where can I find a diamond key? - asked the prince.

My older sister probably knows this. She lives in a chestnut grove.

Throughout Italy the story of the three oranges is told. But what’s surprising is that each locality tells it differently. But the Genoese say one thing, the Neapolitans say another, the Sicilians say another. And we listened to all these tales and now we know how everything really happened.

Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen. They had a palace, they had a kingdom, and, of course, they had subjects, but the king and queen had no children.

One day the king said:

– If we had a son, I would put a fountain in the square in front of the palace.

And it would not produce wine, but golden olive oil. For seven years women would come to him and bless my son.

Soon the king and queen had a very handsome boy. The happy parents fulfilled their vow, and two fountains began to flow in the square. In the first year, fountains of wine and oil rose higher than the palace tower. The next year they became lower. In a word, the king’s son, every day, became larger, and the fountains became smaller.

At the end of the seventh year, the fountains no longer flowed; wine and oil oozed out of them drop by drop.

The jugs were almost full. And suddenly - fuck! – both shattered into shards.

What a neat hit! It was the king's son who aimed a large wooden ball at the pins and hit the jugs. At the same moment, the fountains dried up; they no longer produced a drop of wine or oil. After all, the prince turned exactly seven years old at that moment.

The old woman shook her crooked finger and spoke in a creaky voice:

- Listen to me, king's son. Because you broke my jugs, I will put a spell on you. When you have been blown three times for seven years, you will be overcome by melancholy.

And she will torment you until you find a tree with three oranges.

And when you find a tree and pick three oranges, you will be thirsty.

Then we'll see what happens.

The old woman laughed maliciously and trudged away.

And the king's son continued to play skittles and after half an hour he had already forgotten about the broken jugs and the old woman's spell.

The prince remembered him when he was three times seven - twenty-one years old. Melancholy fell upon him, and neither hunting fun nor lavish balls could dispel it.

- Oh, where can I find three oranges! - he repeated.

The father king and mother queen heard this and said:

“Are we really going to spare at least three, at least three dozen, at least three hundred, at least three thousand oranges for our dear son!”

And they heaped a whole mountain of golden fruits in front of the prince. But the prince only shook his head.

- No, these are not those oranges. And I myself don’t know which ones I need.

Saddle the horse, I’ll go look for them. The Korolevich saddled the horse, he jumped on it and rode. He rode, rode along the roads, but found nothing. Then the prince turned off the road and galloped straight ahead. He galloped to the stream and suddenly heard a thin voice:

“Hey, king’s son, make sure your horse doesn’t trample my house!”

– No one has visited me for a long time, no one has brought me gifts.

Then the prince took the ring with an expensive stone from his finger and put it on the fairy instead of a belt. The fairy laughed with joy and said:

“I know, I know what you’re looking for.” Get the diamond key and you will enter the garden. There are three oranges hanging on a branch.

-Where can I find a diamond key? - asked the prince.

“My older sister probably knows this.” She lives in a chestnut grove.

The young man thanked the fairy and jumped on his horse. The second fairy really lived in the chestnut grove, in a chestnut shell. The prince gave her a gold buckle from his cloak.

“Thank you,” said the fairy, “I will now have a golden bed.”

For this I will tell you a secret. The diamond key lies in a crystal casket.

-Where is the casket? - asked the young man.

“My elder sister knows this,” answered the fairy. - She lives in a hazel tree.

The prince found a hazel tree. The eldest fairy built herself a house in a hazelnut shell. The king's son took the gold chain from his neck and gave it to the fairy. The fairy tied the chain to the branch and said:

- This will be my swing. For such a generous gift, I will tell you something that my younger sisters do not know. The crystal casket is located in the palace. The palace stands on a mountain, and that mountain is behind three mountains, behind three deserts. The chest is guarded by a one-eyed watchman. Remember well: when the watchman is sleeping, his eye is open, when he is not sleeping, his eye is closed. Go and don't be afraid of anything.

We don’t know how long the prince’s journey took him. He just crossed three mountains, drove through three deserts and arrived at that very mountain. Then he dismounted, tied his horse to a tree and looked back. Here is the path. It was completely overgrown with grass - apparently no one had been in these parts for a long time. The prince walked along it. The path crawls, twisting like a snake, up and up. The prince does not turn away from her. So the path led him to the top of the mountain, where the palace stood.

Flew past a magpie. The prince asked her:

- Magpie, magpie, look through the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.

The magpie looked through the window and shouted:

- He's sleeping, he's sleeping! His eye is closed!

“Eh,” the prince said to himself, “now is not the time to enter the palace.”

He waited until nightfall. An owl flew past. The prince asked her:

- Owl, owl, look into the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.

The owl looked through the window and hooted:

- Wow-wow! The watchman is not sleeping! His eyes look at me like that.

“Now is the time,” the prince said to himself and entered the palace.

There he saw a one-eyed watchman. Near the guard stood a three-legged table with a crystal casket on it. The prince lifted the lid of the chest, took out a diamond key, but did not know what to open with it. He began to walk through the palace halls and try to see which door the diamond key would fit. I tried all the locks, the key doesn't fit in any of them. There was only a small golden door left in the farthest hall. The prince put the diamond key into the keyhole, and it fit perfectly. The door immediately swung open, and the prince found himself in the garden.

In the middle of the garden there was an orange tree with only three oranges growing on it. But what oranges they were! Large, fragrant, with golden skin.

As if all the generous sun of Italy went to them alone. The king's son picked the oranges, hid them under his cloak and went back.

As soon as the prince descended from the mountain and jumped on his horse, the one-eyed watchman closed his only eye and woke up. He immediately saw that there was no diamond key in the casket. But it was already too late, because the prince was galloping at full speed on his good horse, taking away three oranges.

Now he has crossed one mountain and is riding through the desert. It’s a sultry day, not a cloud in the azure sky. Hot air flows over the hot sand.

The prince was thirsty. He wanted it so much that he couldn’t think of anything else.

Why, I have three oranges! - he said to himself. “I’ll eat one and quench my thirst!”

As soon as he cut the peel, the orange split into two halves. A beautiful girl came out of it.

“Give me something to drink,” she asked in a plaintive voice.

What was the prince to do? He himself was burning with thirst.

- Drink, drink! – the girl sighed, fell on the hot sand and died.

Soon the desert ended, the young man drove up to the forest. At the edge of the forest a stream babbled welcomingly. The prince rushed to the stream, drank himself, gave his horse plenty to drink, and then sat down to rest under a spreading chestnut tree. He took out a second orange from under his cloak, held it in his palm, and curiosity began to torment the prince as much as thirst had recently tormented him. What's hidden behind the golden skin? And the prince cut into the second orange.

The orange split into two halves and a girl came out of it. She was even more beautiful than the first.

“Give me a drink,” said the girl.

“Here is a stream,” answered the prince, “its water is clean and cool.”

The girl fell down to the stream and instantly drank all the water from the stream, even the sand at the bottom became dry.

- Drink, drink! – the girl moaned again, fell on the grass and died.

The prince was very upset and said:

- Eh, no, now I won’t even take a drop of water into my mouth until I give the third girl a drink from the third orange!

And he spurred his horse. I drove a little and looked back. What a miracle!

Orange trees lined the banks of the stream. Under the thick greenery of their branches, the stream filled with water and sang its song again.

But the prince did not return here either. He drove on, clutching the last orange to his chest.

It is impossible to tell how he suffered from heat and thirst on the way. However, sooner or later, the prince rode to the river that flowed near the borders of his native kingdom. Here he cut the third orange, the largest and ripest. The orange opened like petals, and a girl of unprecedented beauty appeared in front of the prince. The first two were good, but next to this one they would have seemed plain ugly. The prince could not take his eyes off her. Her face was softer than an orange blossom, her eyes were green like the ovary of a fruit, her hair was golden like the peel of a ripe orange.

The king's son took her hand and led her to the river. The girl leaned over the river and began to drink. But the river was wide and deep. No matter how much the girl drank, the water did not decrease.

Finally, the beauty raised her head and smiled at the prince.

“Thank you, prince, for giving me life.” Before you is the daughter of the king of the orange trees. I've been waiting for you for so long in my golden dungeon!

And my sisters were waiting too.

“Oh, poor things,” sighed the prince. “It’s my fault for their deaths.”

“But they didn’t die,” said the girl. “Didn’t you see that they became orange groves?” They will give coolness to tired travelers and quench their thirst. But now my sisters will never be able to turn into girls.

-Will you not leave me? - exclaimed the prince.

“I won’t leave you if you don’t stop loving me.”

The king's son placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and swore that he would call no one his wife except the daughter of the king of the orange trees.

He placed the girl in front of him on the saddle and galloped off to his native palace.

The palace turrets were already sparkling in the distance. The prince stopped his horse and said:

“Wait for me here, I will come back for you in a golden carriage and bring you a satin dress and satin shoes.”

“I don’t need a carriage or outfits.” Better don't leave me alone.

“But I want you to enter my father’s palace, as befits the bride of a king’s son.” Don't be afraid, I will put you on a tree branch, above this pond. No one will see you here.

He picked her up, put her on a tree, and drove through the gate.

At this time, a lame-legged maid with a crooked eye came to the pond to rinse her clothes. She leaned over the water and saw the reflection of a girl in the pond.

- Is it really me? - the maid shouted. – How beautiful I have become! That's right, the sun itself is jealous of my beauty!

The maid raised her eyes to look at the sun and noticed a girl among the thick foliage. Then the maid realized that she was not seeing her reflection in the water.

- Hey, who are you and what are you doing here? – the maid shouted angrily.

“I am the bride of the king’s son and am waiting for him to come for me.”

The maid thought: Here is a chance to outsmart fate.

“Well, it’s still unknown who he’ll come for,” she answered and began to shake the tree with all her might.

The poor orange girl tried her best to stay on the branches. But the maid rocked the trunk more and more. The girl fell from the branch and, falling, turned back into a golden orange.

The maid quickly grabbed the orange, put it in her bosom and climbed up the tree. As soon as she had time to perch on a branch, the prince arrived in a carriage drawn by six white horses.

The maid did not wait for her to be removed from the tree and jumped to the ground.

The prince recoiled when he saw his bride lame and crooked in one eye.

The maid quickly said:

- Eh, groom, don’t worry, this will all pass for me soon. A speck got into my eye, and I had my leg stuck on a tree. After the wedding I will become even better than I was.

The prince had no choice but to take her to the palace. After all, he swore on his sword.

The father king and mother queen were very upset when they saw the bride of their beloved son. It was worth traveling almost to the ends of the earth for such a beauty! But once the word is given, it must be fulfilled. We began to prepare for the wedding.

Evening has come. The whole palace was shining with lights. The tables were lavishly set, and the guests were dressed to the nines. Everyone was having fun. Only the king's son was sad. He was tormented by melancholy, such melancholy as if he had never held three oranges in his hands. At least get on your horse again and ride to who knows where, who knows why.

Then the bell was rung and everyone sat down at the table. And the young people were seated at the head of the table. Servants served guests with skillfully prepared food and drinks.

The bride tried one dish, tried another, but each piece remained stuck in her throat. She was thirsty. But no matter how much she drank, the thirst did not subside. Then she remembered the orange and decided to eat it.

Suddenly the orange rolled out of her hands and rolled across the table, saying in a gentle voice: The crooked lie is sitting at the table, And the truth has entered the house with her!

The guests held their breath. The bride turned pale. The orange rolled around the table, rolled up to the prince and opened up. From him came the beautiful daughter of the king of the orange trees.

The prince took her hands and led her to her father and mother.

- This is my real bride!

The evil deceiver was immediately driven away. And the prince and the orange girl celebrated a merry wedding and lived happily into old age.

Once upon a time there lived a king and a queen. They had a palace, they had a kingdom, and, of course, they had subjects, but the king and queen had no children.

One day the king said:

If we had a son, I would put a fountain in the square in front of the palace. And it would not produce wine, but golden olive oil. For seven years women would come to him and bless my son.

At the end of the seventh year, the fountains no longer flowed; wine and oil oozed out of them drop by drop.

The old woman shook her crooked finger and spoke in a creaky voice:

The old woman laughed maliciously and trudged away.

And the king's son continued to play skittles and after half an hour he had already forgotten about the broken jugs and the old woman's spell.

The prince remembered him when he was three times seven - twenty-one years old. Melancholy fell upon him, and neither hunting fun nor lavish balls could dispel it.

Oh, where can I find three oranges! - he repeated.

The father king and mother queen heard this and said:

Are we really going to spare at least three, at least three dozen, at least three hundred, at least three thousand oranges for our dear son!

And they heaped a whole mountain of golden fruits in front of the prince. But the prince only shook his head.

No, these are not those oranges. And I myself don’t know which ones I need. Saddle your horse, I'll go look for them

Hey, king's son, be careful that your horse doesn't trample my house!

No one has visited me for a long time, no one has brought me gifts.

Then the prince took the ring with an expensive stone from his finger and put it on the fairy instead of a belt. The fairy laughed with joy and said:

I know, I know what you're looking for. Get the diamond key and you will enter the garden. There are three oranges hanging on a branch.

Where can I find a diamond key? - asked the prince.

My older sister probably knows this. She lives in a chestnut grove.

The young man thanked the fairy and jumped on his horse. The second fairy really lived in the chestnut grove, in a chestnut shell. The prince gave her a gold buckle from his cloak.

“Thank you,” said the fairy, “I will now have a golden bed.” For this I will tell you a secret. The diamond key lies in a crystal casket.

Where is the chest? - asked the young man.

My elder sister knows this,” answered the fairy. - She lives in a hazel tree.

This will be my swing. For such a generous gift, I will tell you something that my younger sisters do not know. The crystal casket is located in the palace. The palace stands on a mountain, and that mountain is behind three mountains, behind three deserts. The chest is guarded by a one-eyed watchman. Remember well: when the watchman is sleeping, his eye is open, when he is not sleeping, his eye is closed. Go and don't be afraid of anything.