Seven-headed snake

A king decided to go on a sea trip. He assembled his fleet and sailors, and traveled day and night to an island covered in big trees. The island was full of towering trees, and under each tree lay a lion. As soon as the king let his men land, the lions rushed over. They fought a battle with the lions, and although they defeated the lions, they were killed and wounded. Those who survived walked through the forest and found a beautiful garden on the other side, where all kinds of plants from all over the world flourished.

There were also three springs in the garden: the first was silver, the second was gold, and the third was jewelry. (The people emptied their packages and put them in these treasures.) There was a large lake in the middle of the garden, and when they approached the lake, they heard the lake say to them, "Who are you and how did you come? Is it the king who came to visit us?" They were startled and dared not answer.

Then the lake said: "It is too dangerous for you to come here. Our king has seven heads, and he is resting, but he will come to me to bathe when he wakes up in a while. It will be troublesome to see anyone in the garden. If you want to escape, you must take off your clothes and spread on the road leading to the castle. The king likes soft things so that he can slide over comfortably and will not eat you if he pleases. At most, give you some punishment and let you go."

The people did as the lake suggested. After a while, the ground began to shake, then cracked, and the lions, tigers, and beasts around the castle emerged from the cracks, and thousands of beasts followed their king out of the castle. The king was a seven-headed snake, and the snake swam on the spread of clothes, came to the lake, and asked who spread the soft things on the ground. The lake said it was some people who paid homage to it. The king ordered them to be brought before him. They knelt down respectfully and told him briefly what had happened. The king said to them in a majestic and terrifying voice: "I will punish you for daring to come here. Every year you must choose twelve pairs of virgins for me. If you don't, I will destroy your whole country."

Then the seven-headed snake called a beast to take the people out of the garden and drove them away. The people left the island and went back to their own country to tell the people what had happened. Soon it was time for the beast king to ask them for boys and girls. The king announced that he had recruited twelve boys and girls to sacrifice themselves to save the country. At a time, many young people came over and were willing to take on the mission, far more than the seven-headed snake asked for.

The big ship was built, with black sails on board, and the boys and girls got on the boat. When they arrived in Beast Country, they went to the lake immediately. This time the lion did not come out, the spring did not flow, and the lake did not speak. Only a quarter of an hour later, there was another earthquake, this time more violent and terrifying than the last. The seven-headed snake came out on its own, and when it saw the food waiting for him, it swallowed it in one bite. The crew returned to the country, doing the same thing for many years.

Now, the king and queen of this unfortunate country are old, and they have no children. One day, the queen thought that she had no children, and that the throne would pass to foreigners after the king's death, she sat by the window and wept sadly. Suddenly, a short old woman appeared in front of her, holding an apple in her hand, and said, "My queen, why are you crying, what makes you so sad?"

'Well, kind mother-in-law, 'replied the Queen.' I am sad because I have no children. '

"Is this your trouble?" the woman said. "I am a nun in a spinning monastery, and my mother left me this apple when she died. Whoever eats this apple will have children."

The queen bought apples from the old woman, she peeled the skin, and threw the peel out the window. By chance, a mare ran under the window and ate the peel. After a while, the queen gave birth to a boy, and the mare gave birth to a foal. The boy and the foal grew up together and loved each other like brothers. After the king and queen died, the boy was nineteen years old, and he was very lonely. One day, he was chatting with his horse, and the horse said to him, "Listen to me, I love you very much, and I hope you and the country are well. If you continue to send twelve boys and girls to the beast every year, the country will soon perish. Come on my back, I'll take you to meet a woman, she can guide you how to get rid of the seven-headed snake. "

So the prince got on horseback, and the horse took him to a mountain. The middle of the mountain was empty, and there was a big cave in it. In the cave was an old woman spinning yarn. This is a monastery, and the old woman is the abbot of the monastery. The nuns spin yarn all day long, which is why it is called a spinning monastery. Around the cave are beds made of hard rock, and the nuns sleep on them. An oil lamp in the middle is guarded by the nuns in turn, so the lamp never goes out, and anyone who negligently causes the lamp to go out will be put to death.

As soon as the prince saw the old woman spinning, he knelt at her feet and begged her to tell him how to kill the seven-headed snake.

She got the young man up, hugged him and said, "I know, my child, that I sent that nun to your mother to get her pregnant and give birth to you, and your horse was born at the same time. Only with its help can you save the world from the devil. I'll tell you what to do: Fill your horse with cotton and follow the way I show you to the serpent's palace, so that the beasts won't find out. You will see the seven-headed snake sleeping, the bed is covered with bells all around, and there is a sword hanging on the bed, with which the snake can be killed, because once the blade of the sword is broken, a new one will grow, enough to cut off all the heads of the monster. In order to deceive the snake king, you also have to slide gently to his bed, plug all the bells beside his bed with cotton, and gently remove the sword, quickly cut off the monster's tail. It will wake up and come and catch you. You have to quickly chop off his first head, the second head is stretched out, and then chop off with a sword, and just chop it down like this until all its heads are cut off. "

After the old dean blessed the prince, the prince began his journey. Following the path pointed out to him by the old dean, the prince arrived at the castle of the beast, and he succeeded in eradicating the monster according to the instructions. The other beasts heard of the death of the Hydra King and rushed to the castle immediately, when the prince had already mounted his horse and was far from their control. They tried their best to catch up, but could not catch up. The prince and his horse reached the palace safely and finally rescued the country from a terrible repression.