An urgent time passed, the soldier served the king and began to ask to go home to see his relatives. At first he didn’t let him in, but then he agreed, endowed him with gold and silver and let him go on all four sides.
So the soldier received his resignation and went to say goodbye to his comrades, and his comrades said to him:
“Can’t you bring it on the sheets, but before we lived well?”
So the soldier began to bring it to his comrades; He brought it and brought it - lo and behold, he only had five nickels left.
Here comes our soldier. He walked a little, and an old woman met him and began to beg for alms; the soldier and handed her a nickel.
He walked a little again, looked, and the same old woman again came towards him and asked for alms; the soldier handed over another nickel, and he himself marveled: how did the old woman find herself in front again? He looks, and the old woman is again in front and asks for alms; The soldiers gave the third nickel.
I walked a mile again. He looks, and the old woman is again in front and asks for alms. The soldier got angry, the zealousness could not stand it, he pulled out the cleaver and wanted to cut her head open, and as soon as he swung it, the old woman dropped a knapsack at his feet and disappeared. The soldier took the knapsack, looked and looked and said:
- Where am I going with this rubbish? I have enough of mine!
And he was just about to quit - suddenly, out of nowhere, two young men appeared before him, as if out of the earth, and said to him:
-What do you want?
The soldier was surprised and could not say anything to them, and then shouted:
- What do you want from me?
One of them came closer to the serviceman and said:
“We are your humble servants, but we obey not you, but this magic bag, and if you need anything, give orders.”
The soldier thought that he was dreaming all this, rubbed his eyes, decided to try, and said:
- If you are telling the truth, then I order you to immediately have a bed, a table, a snack and a pipe of tobacco!
Before the soldier even had time to finish, everything appeared as if it had fallen from the sky. The soldier drank, ate, fell on his bed and lit a pipe.
He lay there for quite some time, then waved the little bag, and when the young man (the little boy’s servant) appeared and said to him:
“As many as you like,” said the fellow.
“Well, put everything away,” said the soldier and moved on.
So he walked after that, whether close or far, and in the evening he came to one estate, and here was a glorious manor’s house. But the master did not live in this house, but lived in another - in a good house there were devils. So the soldier began to ask the men:
-Where does the master live?
And the men say:
- What do you want about our master?
- Yes, you should ask to spend the night!
“Well,” the men say, “just think, he’ll send you to the devils for lunch!”
“It’s okay,” says the soldier, “and you can deal with the devils.” Tell me, where does the master live?
The men showed him the manor's house, and the soldier went to him and began to ask him to spend the night. The master says:
“I guess I’ll let him in, but it’s not quiet there.”
“Nothing,” says the soldier.
So the master led the soldier to a good house, and when he brought him in, the soldier waved his magic bag and, when the young man appeared, he ordered a table to be prepared for two people. Before the master had time to turn around, everything appeared. The master, although he was rich, had never had such a snack before! They began to have a snack, and the master stole the golden spoon. We finished the snack, the soldier waved his bag again and ordered everything to be put away, and the fellow said:
- I can’t clean up - not everything is on the table.
The soldier looked and said:
- Why did you take the spoon, master?
“I didn’t take it,” says the master.
The soldier searched the master, gave the spoon to the footman; and he himself began to thank the master for the lodging for the night, and he crushed him so badly that the master, out of anger, locked all the doors.
The soldier locked all the windows and doors from other chambers, crossed them and began to wait for the devils.
Around midnight he hears someone beeping at the door. The soldiers waited a little longer, and suddenly so much evil spirits gathered and they started shouting so loudly that they could shut up!
One shouts:
- Push, push!
And the other shouts:
- But where to push, if there are crosses pointed out!..
The soldier listened and listened, and his hair stood on end, even though he was not a cowardly man. Finally he shouted:
- What do you want from me here, barefoot?
- Let me go! - the devils shout to him from behind the door.
- Why should I let you in here?
- Yes, let me go!
The soldier looked around and saw a bag of weights in the corner, took the bag, shook out the weights and said:
- How many of you, barefoot, will come into my bag?
“Let’s all come in,” the devils tell him from behind the door.
The soldier made crosses with charcoal on the bag, closed the door a little and said:
- Well, I’ll see if it’s true what you said when you all come in?
Every single one of the devils climbed into the bag, the soldier tied it, crossed himself, took a twenty-pound weight and started hitting the bag. He hits and hits and feels: is it soft?
Now the soldier sees that it has finally become soft, he opened the window, untied the bag and shook the devils out. He looks, and the devils are all mutilated, and no one moves from their place.
This is how the soldier shouts:
- Why are you lying down here, barefoot? Are you waiting for another bath, huh?
The devils all somehow ran away, and the soldier shouted after them:
- If you come here again, I’ll ask you something else!
The next morning the men came and opened the doors, and the soldier came to the master and said:
- Well, master, now go to that house and don’t be afraid of anything, but I need to give me money for the journey for my troubles!
The master gave him some money, and the soldier went on his way.
So he walked and walked for such a long time, and it wasn’t far from home, only three days’ walk! Suddenly an old woman met him, so thin and scary, carrying a bag full of knives, saws, and various hatchets, and propped up with a scythe.
She blocked his way, but the soldier could not stand it, pulled out the cleaver and shouted:
- What do you want from me, old woman? Do you want me to open your head?
Death (it was she) and says:
“I was sent by God to take your soul!”
The soldier's heart trembled, he fell to his knees and said:
- Have mercy, Mother Death, give me only three years; I have served the king for a long time as a soldier and now I am going to see my relatives.
“No,” says death, “you won’t see your family, and I won’t give you three years.”
- Give it at least three months.
- I won’t give it even for three weeks.
- Give it at least three days.
“I won’t give you even three minutes,” said death, waved his scythe and killed the soldier.
So the soldier found himself in the other world and was about to go to, but they didn’t let him there: he was unworthy, which means he was. The soldier went from paradise and... fell into hell, and then the devils came running to him and wanted to drag him into the fire, and the soldier said:
- What do you want from me? Oh, you barefoot people, or have you already forgotten the master’s bathhouse, huh?
The devils all ran away from him, and Satan shouted:
-Where did you guys run to, kids?
When Satan heard this, he himself ran into the fire.
So the soldier walked and walked around hell - he became bored; went to heaven and said to the Lord:
- Lord, where will you send me now? I didn’t deserve heaven, and in hell all the devils ran away from me; I walked and walked through hell, I got bored, and I went to you, give me some kind of service.
The Lord says:
- Go, service, ask Michael the Archangel for a gun and stand guard at the doors of heaven!
The soldier went to Michael the Archangel, asked him for a gun, and stood watch at the doors of heaven.
So he stood there, whether long or short, and he saw that death was coming, and straight to heaven. The soldier blocked her way and said:
- What do you want there, old woman? Go away! The Lord will not accept anyone without my report!
Death says:
“I came to the Lord to ask which people he ordered to kill this year.”
The soldier says:
The servant came to heaven, and the Lord said:
- Why did you come, service?
“Death has come, Lord, and asks: what kind of people are you ordering to kill next year?”
The Lord says:
- Let him kill the oldest!
The soldier went back and thought:
“God orders the oldest people to die; But what if my father is still alive, because she will kill him, just like me. So, perhaps, I won’t see you again. No, old man, you didn’t give me free food for three years, so go ahead and gnaw the oaks!”
He came and said to death:
“Death, God ordered you this time not to kill people, but to gnaw oaks, such oaks that are no longer alive!”
Death went to gnaw the old oak trees, and the soldier took the gun from her and began to walk again at the doors of heaven.
A year has passed in this world, death has again come to ask what kind of people God tells it to kill this year.
The soldier gave her the gun, and he himself went to the Lord to ask which people he was ordering to die this year. The Lord ordered the most seasoned to die, and the soldier again thinks:
“But I still have brothers and sisters and a lot of acquaintances there, but death will kill me, so I won’t be able to see them again! No, let another year gnaw at the oak trees, and then, perhaps, our brother-soldier will have mercy!”
He came and sent death to gnaw on the most vigorous, seasoned oaks.
Another year passed, death came for the third time. The Lord ordered her to kill the youngest, and the soldier sent her young oak trees to gnaw.
So, when death came for the fourth time, the soldier said:
- Well, you old one, go on your own if you need to, but I won’t go: I’m tired of it!
Death went to the Lord, and the Lord said to her:
- Why, death, have you become so thin?
- How skinny can you be, you gnawed oak trees for three whole years, broke all your teeth! But I don’t know why, Lord, you were so angry with me?
“What are you, what are you, death,” the Lord says to her, “why did you get the idea that I sent you to gnaw oak trees?”
Stranger, we advise you to read the fairy tale “The Soldier and Death” to yourself and your children, this is a wonderful work created by our ancestors. All heroes were “honed” by the experience of the people, who for centuries created, strengthened and transformed them, paying great and deep importance to children’s education. The plot is simple and as old as the world, but each new generation finds in it something relevant and useful. All images are simple, ordinary and do not cause youthful misunderstanding, because we encounter them every day in our everyday life. Of course, the idea of the superiority of good over evil is not new, of course, many books have been written about it, but it’s still nice to be convinced of this every time. The text, written in the last millennium, combines surprisingly easily and naturally with our modern times; its relevance has not diminished at all. Rivers, trees, animals, birds - everything comes to life, is filled with living colors, helps the heroes of the work in gratitude for their kindness and affection. The fairy tale “The Soldier and Death” will be fun to read online for free for both children and their parents, the kids will be happy about the good ending, and moms and dads will be happy for the kids!
An urgent time passed, the soldier served the king and began to ask to go home to see his relatives. At first the king did not let him in, but then he agreed, gave him gold and silver and released him on all four sides.
So the soldier received his resignation and went to say goodbye to his comrades, and his comrades said to him:
“Can’t you bring it on the sheets, but before we lived well?”
So the soldier began to bring it to his comrades; He brought it and brought it - lo and behold, he only had five nickels left.
Here comes our soldier. Whether it’s close or far away, he sees: there’s a zucchini standing to the side; The soldier went into a tavern, drank for a penny, ate for a penny, and moved on. He walked a little, and an old woman met him and began to beg for alms; the soldier and handed her a nickel. He walked a little again, looked, and the same old woman again came towards him and asked for alms; the soldier handed over another nickel, and he himself marveled: how did the old woman find herself in front again? He looks, and the old woman is again in front and asks for alms; the soldier gave the third nickel.
I walked a mile again. He looks, and the old woman is again in front and asks for alms. The soldier got angry, the zealousness could not stand it, he pulled out the cleaver and wanted to cut her head open, and as soon as he swung it, the old woman threw the knapsack at his feet and disappeared. The soldier took the knapsack, looked and looked and said:
- Where am I going with this rubbish? I have enough of mine!
And he was just about to quit - suddenly, out of nowhere, two young men appeared before him, as if out of the earth, and said to him:
-What do you want?
The soldier was surprised and could not say anything to them, and then shouted:
- What do you want from me?
One of them came closer to the serviceman and said:
“We are your humble servants, but we obey not you, but this magic bag, and if you need anything, give orders.”
The soldier thought that he was dreaming all this, rubbed his eyes, decided to try, and said:
- If you are telling the truth, then I order you to immediately have a bed, a table, a snack and a pipe of tobacco!
Before the soldier even had time to finish, everything appeared as if it had fallen from the sky. The soldier drank, ate, fell on his bed and lit a pipe.
He lay there for quite some time, then waved the little bag, and when the young man (the little boy’s servant) appeared and said to him:
- How long will I lie here on this bed and smoke tobacco?
“As many as you like,” said the fellow.
“Well, put everything away,” said the soldier and moved on. So he walked after that, whether close or far, and in the evening he came to one estate, and here was a glorious manor’s house. But the master did not live in this house, but lived in another - in a good house there were devils. So the soldier began to ask the men:
-Where does the master live?
And the men say:
- What do you want about our master?
- Yes, you should ask to spend the night!
“Well,” the men say, “just think, he’ll send you to the devils for lunch!”
“It’s okay,” says the soldier, “and you can deal with the devils.” Tell me, where does the master live?
The men showed him the manor's house, and the soldier went to him and began to ask him to spend the night. The master says:
“I guess I’ll let him in, but it’s not quiet there!”
“Nothing,” says the soldier. So the master led the soldier to a good house, and when he brought him in, the soldier waved his magic bag and, when the young man appeared, he ordered a table to be prepared for two people. Before the master had time to turn around, everything appeared. The master, although he was rich, had never had such a snack before! They began to have a snack, and the master stole the golden spoon. We finished the snack, the soldier waved his bag again and ordered everything to be put away, and the fellow said:
- I can’t clean up - not everything is on the table. The soldier looked and said:
- Why did you take the spoon, master?
“I didn’t take it,” says the master.
The soldier searched the master, gave the spoon to the footman, and he himself began to thank the master for the night’s lodging, and he crushed him so badly that the master, out of anger, locked all the doors.
The soldier locked all the windows and doors from other chambers, crossed them and began to wait for the devils.
Around midnight he hears someone beeping at the door. The soldier waited a little longer, and suddenly so much evil spirits gathered and they started screaming so loudly that you had to close your ears!
One shouts:
- Push, push!
And the other shouts:
- But why bother, if there are crosses pointed up!.. The soldier listened, listened, and his own hair stood on end, even though he was not a coward. Finally he shouted:
- What do you want from me here, barefoot?
- Let me go! - the devils shout to him from behind the door.
- Why should I let you in here?
- Yes, let me go!
The soldier looked around and saw a bag of weights in the corner, took the bag, shook out the weights and said:
- How many of you, barefoot, will come into my bag?
“Let’s all come in,” the devils tell him from behind the door. The soldier made crosses with charcoal on the bag, closed the door a little and said:
- Well, let me see if you were telling the truth that you would all come in?
Every single one of the devils climbed into the bag, the soldier tied it, crossed himself, took a twenty-pound weight and started hitting the bag. He hits and hits and feels: is it soft? Now the soldier sees that it has finally become soft, he opened the window, untied the bag and shook the devils out. He looks, and the devils are all mutilated, and no one moves from their place.
This is how the soldier shouts:
- Why are you lying down here, barefoot? Are you waiting for another bath, huh?
The devils all somehow ran away, and the soldier shouted after them:
- If you come here again, I’ll ask you something else!
The next morning the men came and opened the doors, and the soldier came to the master and said:
- Well, master, now go to that house and don’t be afraid of anything, but I need to give me money for the journey for my troubles!
The master gave him some money, and the soldier went on his way.
So he walked and walked for such a long time, and it wasn’t far from home, only three days’ walk! Suddenly an old woman met him, so thin and scary, carrying a bag full of knives, saws, and various hatchets, and propped up with a scythe. She blocked his way, but the soldier could not stand it, pulled out the cleaver and shouted:
- What do you want from me, old woman? Do you want me to open your head?
Death (it was she) and says:
“I was sent by the Lord to take your soul!”
The soldier's heart trembled, he fell to his knees and said:
- Have mercy, Mother Death, give me only three years; I have served the king for a long time as a soldier and now I am going to see my relatives.
“No,” says death, “you won’t see your family, and I won’t give you three years.”
- Give it at least three months.
- I won’t give it even for three weeks.
- Give it at least three days.
“I won’t give you even three minutes,” said death, waved his scythe and killed the soldier.
So the soldier found himself in the next world and was about to go to heaven, but they didn’t let him there: he was unworthy, which means he was. A soldier left heaven and ended up in hell, and then the devils came running to him and wanted to drag him into the fire, and the soldier said:
- What do you want from me? Oh, you barefoot people, or have you already forgotten the master’s bathhouse, huh?
The devils all ran away from him, and Satan shouted:
-Where did you guys run to, kids?
“Oh, dad,” the little devils tell him, “the soldier is here!”
When Satan heard this, he himself ran into the fire. So the soldier walked and walked around hell - he became bored; went to heaven and said to the Lord:
- Lord, where will you send me now? I didn’t deserve heaven, and in hell all the devils ran away from me; I walked and walked through hell, I got bored, and I went to you, give me some kind of service!
The Lord says:
- Go, service, ask Michael the Archangel for a gun and stand guard at the doors of heaven!
The soldier went to Michael the Archangel, asked him for a gun, and stood watch at the doors of heaven. So he stood there, whether long or short, and he saw that death was coming, and straight to heaven. The soldier blocked her way and said:
- What do you need, old woman? Go away! The Lord will not accept anyone without my report!
Death says:
“I came to the Lord to ask which people he ordered to kill this year.”
The soldier says:
“It would have been like this a long time ago, otherwise you’re coming in without asking, but don’t you know that I mean something here too; Hold the gun, and I’ll go and ask.
The servant came to heaven, and the Lord said:
- Why did you come, service?
- Death has come. Lord, and asks: what kind of people are you ordering to kill next year?
The Lord says:
- Let him kill the oldest!
The soldier went back and thought, “The Lord orders the oldest people to die; But what if my father is still alive, because she will kill him, just like me. So, perhaps, I won’t see you again. No, old man, you didn’t give me free food for three years, so go ahead and gnaw the oaks!”
He came and said to death:
- Death, the Lord ordered you this time not to kill people, but to gnaw oaks, such oaks that no longer exist!
Death went to gnaw the old oak trees, and the soldier took the gun from her and began to walk again at the doors of heaven. A year has passed in this world, death has come again to ask what kind of people the Lord tells it to kill this year.
The soldier gave her the gun, and he himself went to the Lord to ask which people he was ordering to kill this year. The Lord ordered the most seasoned to die, and the soldier again thinks:
“But I still have brothers and sisters and a lot of acquaintances there, but death will kill me, so I won’t be able to see them again! No, let another year gnaw at the oak trees, and then, perhaps, our brother-soldier will have mercy!”
He came and sent death to gnaw on the most vigorous, seasoned oaks.
Another year passed, death came for the third time. The Lord ordered her to kill the youngest, and the soldier sent her young oak trees to gnaw.
So, death came for the fourth time, the soldier said: “Well, old you, go if you need to, yourself, but I won’t go: I’m tired of you!”
Death went to the Lord, and the Lord said to her:
- Why, death, have you become so thin?
- How skinny can you be, you gnawed oak trees for three whole years, broke all your teeth! But I don’t know why you, Lord, are so angry with me?
“What are you, what are you, death,” the Lord says to her, “why did you get the idea that I sent you to gnaw oak trees?”
“Yes, that’s what the soldier told me,” says death.
- Soldier? How dare he do this?! Angels, come and bring me a soldier!
The angels went and brought the soldier, and the Lord said:
“What makes you think, soldier, that I told death to gnaw oak trees?”
- Yes, this is not enough for her, the old one! I asked her for free money only for three years, but she didn’t even give me three hours. That’s why I ordered her to gnaw oak trees for three years.
“Well, go now,” says the Lord, “and fatten her up for three years!” Angels! Bring him out into the world!
The angels brought the soldier into the world, and the soldier found himself in the very place where death killed him. A soldier sees a bag, he takes the bag and says:
- Death! Get in the bag!
Death sat in a sack, and the soldier took more sticks and stones and put them there, and how he walked like a soldier, but death’s only bones crunch!
Death says:
- Come on, servant, be quiet!
- Here you go, be quiet, what else can you say, but in my opinion it’s like this: sit down if you’re imprisoned!
So he walked like this for two days, and on the third he came to the matchmaker and kisser and said:
- What, brother, give me a drink; I spent all the money, and I’ll bring it to you one of these days, here’s my bag, let it sit with you.
The kisser took the bag from him and threw it under the counter. The soldier came home; but the father is still alive. I was happy, and my relatives were even more happy. This is how the soldier lived happily and happily for a whole year.
A soldier came to that tavern and began asking for his bag, but the kisser barely found it. So the soldier untied the bag and said:
- Death, are you alive?
“Oh,” says death, “I almost suffocated!”
“Okay,” says the soldier. He opened the snuffbox with tobacco, sniffed it and sneezed. Death says:
- Servant, give it to me!
She kept asking what she would see from the soldier.
The soldier says:
- Why, death, after all, one pinch is not enough for you, but go sit in the snuffbox and sniff as much as you want; As soon as death entered the snuffbox, the soldier slammed it shut and carried it for a whole year. Then he opened the snuffbox again and said:
- What, death, sniffed?
“Oh,” says death, “it’s hard!”
“Well,” says the soldier, “let’s go, now I’ll feed you!”
He came home and sat her down at the table, and death ate and ate for seven. The soldier got angry and said:
- Look, you've eaten for seven! If you can’t fill you up, where can I go with you, damned one?
He put her in a sack and carried her to the cemetery; dug a hole to the side and buried it there. Three years have passed, the Lord remembered death and sent angels to look for it. The angels walked and walked around the world, found the soldier and said to him:
“Where did you put death, servant?”
- Where did you go? And he buried it in the grave!
a. One soldier served for twenty-five years, but there is no way he can retire! He began to think and wonder: “What does this mean? I served God and the great sovereign for twenty-five years, I have never been fined, but they won’t let me resign; let me go wherever my eyes look!” I thought and thought and ran away. So he walked a day, and another, and a third, and met the Lord. The Lord asks him: “Where are you going, service?” - “Lord, I served for twenty-five years with faith and truth, I see: they don’t give resignation - so I ran away; I’m going now wherever my eyes look!” - “Well, if you have served twenty-five years with faith and truth, then go to heaven - to the kingdom of heaven.” A soldier comes to heaven, sees indescribable grace, and thinks to himself: that’s when I’ll live! Well, he just walked, walked through heavenly places, approached the holy fathers and asked: will anyone sell tobacco? - “What a service, tobacco! This is paradise, the kingdom of heaven!” The soldier fell silent. Again he walked, walked through heavenly places, another time he approached the holy fathers and asked: are they selling wine somewhere nearby? - “Oh, service-service! what kind of wine is this! This is paradise, the kingdom of heaven!<…>- “What a paradise this is: no tobacco, no wine!” - said the soldier and left paradise.
He went on and on, and again found himself meeting the Lord. “What paradise,” he says, “have you sent me, Lord? no tobacco, no wine!” “Well, go to the left hand,” answers the Lord, “everything is there!” The soldier turned left and set off on the road. The evil spirit is running: “What do you want, Mr. Service?” - “Wait asking; Give me some space first, then talk.” They brought a soldier into the inferno Option: to hell.. “What, do you have any tobacco?” - he asks the evil spirits. - “Yes, servant!” - “Is there any wine?” - “And there is wine!” - “Give me everything!” They gave him an unclean pipe of tobacco and half a glass of pepper. The soldier drinks and walks, smokes a pipe, the little guy becomes: this is truly paradise - so paradise! Yes, the soldier didn’t have a long time, the devils began to press him from all sides, he felt sick! What to do? set out on an invention, made a fathom, trimmed pegs and let’s measure: he will measure a fathom and drive in a peg Option: I took the cord, took out a piece of chalk from the backpack, chalked the cord and began to measure the heat.. The devil jumped up to him: “What are you doing, service?” - “Are you blind! Don't you see? I want to build a monastery" Option: I want to build a cathedral: the report card will come, there’s nowhere to go to the parade!. How the devil rushed to his grandfather: “Look, grandfather, the soldier wants to build a monastery here!” The grandfather jumped up and ran to the soldier: “What,” he said, “are you doing?” - “Don’t you see, I want to build a monastery.” Grandfather got scared and ran straight to God: “Lord! what kind of soldier did you send into hell: he wants to build a monastery with us!” - “What does it matter to me! Why do you invite such people to you?” - "God! take it from you." - “How can I take it? I wished it myself." - “Wow! - the grandfather screamed, “what should we poor people do with him?” - “Go, rip the skin off the little devil and put it on a drum, and then come out of the inferno and sound the alarm: he will leave on his own!” The grandfather returned, caught the little devil, tore off his skin, and pulled the drum. “Look,” he punishes the devils, “how the soldier will jump out of the inferno, now lock the gates tightly, otherwise the ships will burst in again!” The grandfather went out the gate and sounded the alarm; When the soldier heard the drum boom, he began to run away from hell, headlong, as if mad; scared all the devils away and ran out the gate. As soon as he jumped out, the gate slammed and locked tightly. The soldier looked around: he saw no one and heard no alarm; went back and let's knock on the inferno: “Open it quickly! - screams at the top of his lungs, otherwise I’ll break the gate!” - “No, brother, you won’t break it! - say the devils. - Go wherever you want, but we won’t let you in; We survived by force of you!”
The soldier hung his head and walked wherever he could. He walked and walked and met the Lord. “Where are you going, service?” - “I don’t know either!” - “Well, where am I going to take you? sent to heaven - not good! sent to hell - and didn’t get along there!” - “Lord, place me at your door as a watch.” - “Well, stand up.” Became a soldier on his watch. Here comes Death. "Where are you going?" - asks the sentry Option: God placed a soldier at the doors of heaven: “Look, he orders, don’t let anyone through!” - “I’m listening; there is nothing to teach an old soldier.” Here he stands on guard, not letting anyone through. Death is coming. "Who goes?" - the soldier calls out. - "Death". - "Where?" - “To God.” - "For what?"…. Death replies: “I go to the Lord for a command, whom he orders me to kill.” - “Wait, I’ll go and ask.” He went and asked: “Lord! Death has come; Who do you want to kill? - “Tell her to starve the oldest people for three years.” The soldier thinks to himself: “Well, perhaps she will kill my father and mother: after all, they are old people.” He came out and said to Death: “Go through the forests and grind the oldest oaks for three years.” Option: Gnawing on an old forest that has been standing for a hundred years.. Death cried: “Why is the Lord angry with me, sending me to sharpen the oaks!” And she wandered through the forests, sharpening the oldest oaks for three years; and when time passed, she returned again to God for command. “Why did you drag yourself?” - asks the soldier. - “By command, whom the Lord orders to kill.” - “Wait, I’ll go and ask.” He went again and asked: “Lord! Death has come; Who do you want to kill? - “Tell her to starve the young people for three years.” Option: Average people.. The soldier thinks to himself: “Well, maybe she’ll kill my brothers!” He came out and said to Death: “Go again through the same forests and for three whole years whittle away the young oaks.” Option: Gryz the middle forest.; so the Lord commanded!” - “Why is the Lord angry with me!” Death cried and walked through the forests. For three years she sharpened all the young oaks, and when time was up, she went to God; I can barely drag my legs. "Where?" - asks the soldier. - “To the Lord for a command, whom he orders to kill.” - “Wait, I’ll go and ask.” He went again and asked: “Lord! Death has come; Who do you want to kill? - “Tell her to starve the babies for three years.” The soldier thinks to himself: “My brothers have children; this way, she’ll probably kill them!” He came out and said to Death: “Go again through the same forests and gnaw the smallest oak trees for three whole years.” - “Why is the Lord tormenting me!” - Death cried and walked through the forests. For three years she gnawed at the smallest oak trees; and as time passes, he goes back to God, barely moving his legs Option: She walks a little alive: as soon as the wind blows, she falls from the wind!. “Well, now at least I’ll fight with the soldier, and I’ll reach the Lord myself!” Why is he punishing me for nine years?” The soldier saw Death and called out: “Where are you going?” Death is silent and climbs onto the porch. The soldier grabbed her by the collar and wouldn’t let her in. And they made such a noise that the Lord heard and came out: “What is it?” Death fell at his feet: “Lord, why are you angry with me? I suffered for nine whole years: I dragged myself through the forests, for three years I sharpened old oaks, for three years I sharpened young oaks, and for three years I gnawed at the smallest oaks... I could barely drag my legs!” - “It’s all you!” - the Lord said to the soldier. - “It’s my fault, Lord!” - “Well, go for it, carry Death on your backside for nine years! (on the shoulders - see Russian Academic Dictionary).
Death sat on a soldier astride. The soldier - there was nothing to do - took her on himself, drove and drove and was exhausted; He pulled out a horn of tobacco and began to sniff. Death saw that the soldier was sniffing and said to him: “Servant, let me smell the tobacco too.” - “Here you go!” climb into the horn and sniff as much as you like.” - “Well, open your horn!” The soldier opened it, and only Death climbed in - at that very moment he closed the horn and tucked it behind his boot. Option: The Lord ordered the soldier to feed Death with nuts so that she would get better. The soldier went with her into the forest and argued: “You can’t fit into an empty nut!” Death foolishly climbed in, and the soldier plugged the hole (in the nut) with a peg, hid the nut in his pocket, and went to the old place.. He came back to the old place and stood at the clock. The Lord saw him and asked: “Where is Death?” - "With me". - “Where with you?” - “Right here behind the boot.” - “Well, show me!” - “No, Lord, I won’t show you until she’s nine years old: it’s no joke to wear her on her backside! it’s not easy!” - “Show me, I forgive you!” The soldier pulled out the horn and as soon as he opened it, Death immediately sat down on his shoulders. “Get off if you couldn’t ride!” - said the Lord. Death got down. “Now kill the soldier!” - the Lord ordered her and went - wherever he knew.
“Well, soldier! - says Death, - I heard - the Lord ordered you to be killed! - "Well? you have to die someday! just let me correct myself.” - “Well, correct yourself!” The soldier put on clean underwear and brought the coffin. "Ready?" - asks Death. - “Completely ready!” - “Well, lie down in the coffin!” The soldier lay down with his back up. "Not this way!" - says Death. - “But what about?” - asks the soldier and lay down on his side. “It’s not like that!” - “You won’t please me to die!” - and lay down on the other side. “Oh, what are you, really! didn’t you see how they die?” - “That’s it, I haven’t seen it!” - “Let me go, I’ll show you.” The soldier jumped out of the coffin, and death lay in his place. Then the soldier grabbed the lid, quickly covered the coffin and pinned iron hoops on it; as soon as he hammered on the hoops, he immediately lifted the coffin onto his shoulders and dragged it into the river. He pulled it into the river, returned to his original place and stood at his watch. The Lord saw him and asked: “Where is Death?” - “I let her into the river.” The Lord looked - and she was floating far on the water. The Lord released her. “Why didn’t you kill the soldier?” - “Look, he’s so cunning! You can’t do anything with him.” - “Don’t talk to him for a long time; go and kill him!” Death went and killed the soldier.
b. Once upon a time there was a soldier, and he lived a long time in the world; to put it simply, someone else’s life began to eat away. His peers are little by little leaving for the next world, but the soldier doesn’t even follow his lead; he drags himself from city to city, from place to place. But to tell the truth, I can’t lie: Death has been sharpening its teeth on him for a long time. So Death comes to God and asks him for permission to take the soldier; He has lived in the world for a long time, it’s time for him to know his honor, it’s time to die! The God of Death allowed him to take the soldier.
Death flew from heaven with such joy that it cannot be said in a fairy tale or described with a pen. She stopped at the soldier’s hut and knocked. "Who is here?" - "I". - "Who are you?" - "Death". - "A! Why did you come? I don’t want to die.” Death told the soldier everything as it should. “But if God ordered it, then it’s a different matter! You cannot go against the will of God. Bring the coffin! A soldier always dies at public expense. Well, turn around, toothless!” Death brought the coffin and placed it in the middle of the hut. “Well, soldier, lie down; Someday you have to die." - “Don’t melt away! I know your brother, you can’t fool him. Go to bed yourself first.” - “How are you?” - “Yes, so. I’m not used to doing anything without an article; that the authorities will show: it’s a frunk - or something else - then you do it. I’m so used to it, my dear! I can’t retrain myself: I’ve become an old man!” Death winced and climbed into the coffin. As soon as she settled down in the coffin properly, the soldier took it and slammed the lid on the coffin, tied it with a rope and threw it into the sea. And for a long, long time Death rushed along the waves, until the storm broke the coffin in which she lay.
Death's first order of business, as soon as she gained freedom, was again to ask God to allow her to take the soldier. God gave permission. Death has come to the soldier's hut again and is knocking on the door. The soldier recognized his former guest and asked: “What do you need?” - “Yes, I’m behind you, buddy! Now you can’t get out.” - “You’re lying, you old devil! I don't believe you. Let's go to God together." - "Let's go to". - “Wait, I’ll put on my uniform.” We hit the road. We reached God; Death wanted to go forward, but the soldier did not let him: “Well, where are you going? How dare you go without a uniform? I’ll go ahead, and you wait!” Now the soldier has returned from God. “What, soldier, did I tell the truth?” - asks Death. - “You’re lying, you lied a little. God ordered you to trim the forests and level the mountains first; and then take over for me.” And the soldier went to his winter quarters with free steps, and Death remained in terrible grief. No joke! Is it really a small job to cut forests and level mountains? And for many, many years Death worked at this work, and the soldier lived and lived.
Finally, for the third time, Death came for the soldier, and he had nothing to excuse himself with: the soldier went to hell. He came and saw that there were a lot of people. He pushed, then sideways, and where the gun was at an advantage, and got to Satan himself. He looked at Satan and wandered off to look for a corner in hell where he could settle down. So I found it; He immediately hammered nails into the wall, hung up his ammunition, and lit his pipe. There was no passage in hell from the soldier; doesn’t let anyone pass by his goods: “Don’t walk around! see, government things are lying there; and you may be dishonest. There are a lot of people here!” The devils tell him to carry water, and the soldier says: “I served God and the great sovereign for twenty-five years, but I didn’t carry water; why did you come up with this... Get away to your grandfather!” The soldier was dead; Even if it were to survive him from hell, it doesn’t work like that: “I feel good here too,” he says! So the devils came up with a trick: they pulled on the pigskin, and as soon as the soldier went to bed, they sounded the alarm. The soldier jumped up and ran; and the devils now closed the doors behind him, and were so happy that they had deceived the soldier!.. And from that time on, the soldier dragged himself from city to city, and lived for a long time in this world - but one day last week he just died .
(Recorded in Nizhny Novgorod).
c. The soldier served God and the great sovereign for twenty-five years, earned three biscuits and went home to his homeland. He walked and walked and thought deeply: “Oh my God! I served the king for twenty-five years, I was well-fed and clothed; and now what have you lived up to? both hungry and cold; “All I have is three crackers.” And a wretched beggar meets him and asks for alms. The soldier gave one cracker to the beggar and kept two for himself. I went further; a little later he comes across another beggar, bows and asks for alms. The soldier gave him some crackers, and he had only one left. Again he went further on his way and met a third beggar: the old man bowed to him and asked for alms. The soldier took out the last cracker and thought: “To give a whole cracker, there won’t be any left for himself; to give half of it, perhaps this old man will get along with the old beggars, see they have a whole cracker and be offended: it’s better to give him all of it, but I’ll get by somehow!” He gave away the last cracker and was left with nothing. So the elder asks him: “Tell me, good man, what do you want, what do you need? I’ll help you.” - "God be with you! - the soldier answers, “there’s nothing to take from you, old man: you yourself are a wretched man.” - “Don’t look at my wretchedness; just tell me what you want, and I will reward you for your virtue.” - "I need nothing; and if you have cards, give them as souvenirs.” The old man took the cards out of his bosom and gave them to the soldier: “Take this,” he says, “if you play these cards with anyone, you’ll beat everyone: and here’s a bag for you: whatever you meet on the road, whether it’s an animal, a bird, or If you want to catch it, just open the bag and say: “Climb here, animal or bird!” - and everything will be done your way" Option 1 . The soldier served for twenty-five years and earned three pieces of money. He goes to his homeland, and the Lord himself with the twelve apostles meets him. Christ approaches in a beggarly form and asks for mercy. “What should I give you, old man,” says the soldier, “I don’t have a piece of bread, here’s some money for you - accept it for Christ’s sake!” The soldier went his way, and the Lord came forward, met him and asked: “Tell me, soldier; what do you want? The apostles say: “Ask, soldier, for the kingdom of heaven!” And he responded: “I have served with my mind for twenty-five years, and now I don’t want to listen to someone else’s mind! Give me,” he says, “a pouch of tobacco.” The Lord gave him a pouch of tobacco. The next day Christ comes and still asks the soldier for alms; I gave him the soldier and other money. The soldier went his way, and the Lord came forward to meet him and asked again: “Tell me, servant, what do you want?” - “Ask for the kingdom of heaven!” - say the apostles. “I don’t want to live in someone else’s mind,” the soldier answered, “give me a wallet with money.” The Lord gave him a wallet with money. On the third day, Christ comes and again asks the soldier for alms, and gives him the soldier and the last money he deserves. And for the third time the Lord came to meet him and asked: “Tell me, servant, what do you want?” - “Ask for the kingdom of heaven!” - say the apostles. - “What are you teaching! - the soldier shouted angrily, - I told you that I don’t want to live by someone else’s mind - and don’t pester me! See, with my mind I begged for a pouch of tobacco and a wallet of money, and no matter how much tobacco I smoke, no matter how much money I take, it doesn’t go away!” The soldier had an empty bag, so he grabbed it and said to Christ: “Let it be full, according to my word, with whatever I wish!” - “Well, let me go!” - said Christ and went on his way with the apostles. Option 2. The soldier served three crackers and went home. He goes, and the Lord meets him with the Apostle Peter. “Servant, give us something to eat!” The soldier gave them a cracker each and kept the third for himself. "Thank you!" - and they went in different directions. So the Lord says to the Apostle Peter: “Go, catch up with the soldier and ask what he wants from God?” The Apostle Peter catches up with the soldier, and the soldier sees him and shouts: “What, brother, are you going for the third cracker? I have one left, and don’t ask, I won’t give it!” - “No, servant! Tell me, what do you want from God?” - “What do I want? Yes, just a deck of cards, and if I look at something and say: according to the Lord’s word, get into your backpack! - so that everything goes there.”
He walked close, far, long, short, and came to a lake, and on that lake three wild geese were swimming. So the soldier thought: “Let me try my bag!” He took it out, opened it and said: “Hey, you wild geese! fly into my bag." And as soon as he uttered these words, the geese took off from the lake and flew straight into the bag. The soldier tied the bag, lifted it onto his shoulders and set off on the road. He walked and walked and came to the city. He climbed into the tavern and said to the owner: “Take this goose and roast it for me for dinner, and I’ll give you the other goose for your troubles, and trade the third one for me for vodka.” Here is a soldier sitting in a tavern and treating himself: he will drink wine and eat some goose. And he decided to look out the window: there was a large palace on the other side, only in the entire palace there was not a single intact glass. “Listen,” he asks the owner, “what kind of palace is this and why is it empty?” “You see,” says the owner, “our king built this palace for himself, but you can’t live in it; It’s been empty for seven years now! The evil spirits drive everyone out! Every night a devilish crowd gathers there, makes noise, dances, plays cards and does all sorts of nasty things.” So the soldier went to the king. “Your Royal Majesty! “let me,” he says, “let me spend one night in your empty palace.” - “What are you doing, service! - the king says to him, - God is with you! There were such brave souls who agreed to spend the night in this palace, but not a single one was alive!” - “I suppose a Russian soldier neither drowns in water nor burns in fire. I served God and the great sovereign for twenty-five years, but did not die; Otherwise I’ll die in one night!” - “I’m telling you: a living person will go there in the evening, and in the morning they will find only bones.” The soldier stands his ground: let him go into the palace. “Well,” says the king, “go with God, spend the night if you want; I’m not taking away your freedom.”
The soldier came to the palace and settled down in the largest room; He took off his satchel and saber, put the satchel in a corner, and hung the saber on a nail; sat down at the table, took out a tobacco pouch, filled his pipe, and smoked for himself. So at exactly twelve o'clock - where did it all come from - the devils came running into the palace, visibly and invisibly; there was an uproar, shouting, dancing, music. “And you, servant, are here! - the devils shouted. - Why did you come? Would you like to play cards with us? - “Why not want to! Just don’t play with my cards.” Now I take out my cards and deal. They began to play; once they played - the soldier won, another time - the soldier won again; No matter how hard the devils contrived, they gave all the money to the soldier: he knows he’s raking in for himself! “Wait, servant,” say the devils, “we still have sixty fours of silver and forty gold, let’s play with you for this silver and gold!” - and they send a little imp to carry the silver. They began to play again, the soldier plays out everything: the little devil has been dragging and dragging, dragging all the silver, and says to the old devil: “Grandfather, no more!” - “Take it, shot, gold!” So he carried and carried gold, he filled up a whole corner, but there was no point, the soldier kept playing around with it. The devils felt sorry for their money; So let’s start attacking the soldier, and then they’ll roar: “Let’s tear him apart, brothers! Let's eat it!" - “We’ll see who will eat who!” - says the soldier, grabbed the bag, opened it and asks: “What is this?” “Torba,” say the devils. - “Well, according to God’s word, get into the bag!” As soon as he said it, the devils climbed into the bag; There are so many of them, they almost crush each other! The soldier tied the bag tightly and hung it on a nail on the wall; and he went to bed.
In the morning the king sends his people: “Go, check - what’s happening to the soldier? If he disappeared from evil spirits, then clean up his bones!” Here we go; they come to the palace - and the soldier cheerfully walks around the upper rooms and smokes a pipe. “Great, servant! We didn’t expect to see you alive! Well, how did you spend the night, how did you get along with the devils?” - “What the hell! Just look how much silver and gold I won from them, look what a heap!” The royal people looked and were astonished, and the soldier ordered them: “Bring, brothers, two blacksmiths as fast as possible, and take with you an iron plate and hammers.” They ran to the forge and quickly got the job done. The blacksmiths came with an iron plate and heavy hammers. “Come on,” says the soldier, “take off this bag and hit it like a blacksmith.” The blacksmiths began to remove the bag and said to each other: “Look, how heavy! The devils are crazy about her!” And the devils respond: “We, fathers! we, dear ones!” Now the blacksmiths put the bag on an iron plate and began to tap with hammers, as if they were forging iron. The devils had to endure it terribly, it became unbearable: “Have mercy! - they shouted, - release you, servant, into the free world, we will not forget you forever; and not one damn thing will set foot in this palace... we’ll order everyone, we’ll run a hundred miles away from it!” The soldier stopped the blacksmiths, and as soon as he untied the bag, the devils laughed and rushed without looking back into tartarars - into the underworld. And the soldier did not miss, he grabbed one old devil, cut his paw until it bled: “Give me,” he said, “a signature that you will serve me faithfully!” The unclean one wrote him a note in his blood, gave it to him and sharpened his skis. The devils came running into the inferno, alarming all the evil spirits - both old and young; Now they placed sentries around the furnace and firmly ordered them to stand guard so that somehow a soldier with a sack would not sneak in there.
A soldier came to the king. So and so, he says, he cleansed the palace from the devil’s obsession. “Thank you,” the king says to him, “stay and live with me, I will honor you instead of my brother.” The soldier remained to live with the king Option 1 . He lived and lived, and the time had come for him to die. The Lord sends angels to take out his soul. So the angels took the soldier's soul, carried him through the ordeal, and asked God: where will this soul go - to heaven or hell? “Plant her in eternal torment,” said the Lord, “she herself has abandoned the kingdom of heaven!” They put the soldier in eternal torment. So he looked around and saw: cauldrons with hot tar were hanging all around, and in the cauldrons sinful souls were tormented, crying and gnashing their teeth. The devils surrounded the soldier: “Well, soldier, it’s time for you to go to the cauldron!” - “Don’t frighten me with a cauldron, but let’s better play cards.” - “No, brother, that’s enough! We won’t play with you.” - “But you’re lying: you’ll start playing, just to show you the bag...” - “Is she with you?” - "With me". The devils got scared: “Come on, servant, cards!” So they began to play on sinful souls. The soldier beat. “Well, now you are the boss here!” - the devils told him. And he was glad of that, released all the sinful souls from the cauldrons, lined them up like a soldier in three ranks and led them straight to the doors of heaven. “Unlock the gate!” - the soldier shouts. The Apostle Peter says: “Wait, I’ll go and ask God.” - “What were you thinking about before?” The Apostle Peter went to God: “Lord! - he says, “a soldier came to the doors of heaven and brought with him from the heat many many sinful souls.” - “Take the bill from him, but don’t let him into heaven.” So the Apostle Peter opened the doors of heaven and began to receive souls - all one at a time. And the soldier: “Oh, brother, you don’t even know how to count! and here's how you count: one, two, three - go there! one, two, three - and I’m there!” - and went to heaven; The Apostle Peter grabbed him by the hand: “No,” he said, “wait!” You yourself didn’t want the kingdom of heaven, so blame yourself!”; He has plenty of everything, he doesn’t have a lot of money, and he’s planning to get married. He got married, and a year after that God gave him a son. So this boy fell ill, and it’s something that no one can cure; No matter how many doctors we’ve been through, there’s not a penny’s worth. And the soldier thought about that old devil who gave him the signature, and in the signature he wrote: I will forever be your faithful servant; got into his head and said: “Where did my old devil go?” Suddenly the same devil appeared before him and asked: “What does your grace want?” - “Here’s the thing: my little son has fallen ill, do you know how to cure him?” The devil pulled a glass out of his pocket, filled it with cold water, put it in the head of the sick man and said to the soldier; “Come and look at the water.” The soldier looks at the water, and the devil asks him: “Well, what do you see?” - “I see: Death is standing at my son’s feet.” - “Well, if he can stand on his feet, he will be healthy; and if Death had been in our heads, I would certainly have died.” Then the devil took a glass of water and splashed it on the soldier’s son, and at that very moment he became healthy. Give me this glass,” says the soldier, “and I don’t need anything else from you.” The devil gave him a glass, and the soldier returned the receipt. The soldier became a healer, began to treat boyars and generals; As soon as he looks into the glass, he will say: who should die, who should recover.
The king himself happened to fall ill; a soldier was called. So he poured cold water into a glass, put it on the king’s heads, looked and saw that Death was standing right there in the heads. And the soldier says: “Your Royal Majesty! no one can cure you. Death is already in our heads; You only have three hours left to live!” The king heard these speeches and became very angry with the soldier: “How is this possible? - shouted at him, - you have cured many boyars and generals, but you don’t want me? Now I will order you to be executed by death!” So the soldier thought and thought: what should he do? and began to ask Death: “Give,” he says, “my age to the king, and kill me; I’ll have to die anyway - so it’s better to die my own death than to suffer a cruel execution!” He looked into the glass and saw that Death was standing at the king’s feet. Then the soldier took water and sprinkled it on the king: he became completely healthy. “Well, Death! - says the soldier, “give me at least three hours, just go home and say goodbye to my wife and son.” - “Go!” - Death answers. The soldier came home, lay down on his bed and became very ill. And Death is already standing next to him: “Well, servant! say goodbye quickly, you only have three minutes left to live in the world.” The soldier reached out, took out his bag from under his head, opened it and asked: “What is this?” - Death answers: “Sack.” - “Well, if there’s a bag, then climb into it!” Death rustled right into the bag. The soldier - where the illness had gone - jumped out of bed, tied the bag tightly, threw it on his shoulders and went into the dense Bryansk forests. He came and hung this bag on a bitter aspen, at the very top, and returned home.
From that time on, people did not die: when they are born, they are born, and do not die! Many years have passed, the soldier does not remove all the bags. And it happened to him to walk through the city. He walks, and a kind of ancient old woman meets him: in the direction the wind blows, in that direction she falls. “Look, what an old woman! - said the soldier, - tea, it’s high time to die! - “Yes, father! - the old woman answers, - it’s time for me to die long ago, - even at the time when you put Death in a bag, there was only one hour left for my life in this world. I would be glad to retire, but the earth does not accept without Death, and for you, who serve, this is an unforgivable sin from God! after all, not one soul in the world suffers just like me!” So the soldier began to think: “Apparently, we need to release Death; let him kill me... I already have a lot of sins; It’s better now, while I’m still strong, I’ll suffer in the next world; But when I become very old, then the torment will be worse.” I got ready and went to the Bryansk forests. He approaches the aspen tree and sees: the bag is hanging high, high and is being swayed by the wind in different directions. “And what, Death, is alive?” - asks the soldier. She barely raises her voice from the bag: “She’s alive, father!” The soldier took off his bag, untied it and released Death, and lay down on the bed, said goodbye to his wife and son, and asked Death to kill him. And she runs out the door, God bless her legs: “Let him go,” he shouts, “the devils will kill you, but I won’t kill you!”
The soldier remained alive and well, and thought: “I’ll go straight into the heat: let the devils throw me into boiling tar and cook until I have no sins.” He said goodbye to everyone and went straight into the heat with the bag in his hands. He walked either close or far, low or high, shallow or deep, and finally came to the underworld. He looks, and there are sentries standing all around the inferno. As soon as he gets to the gate, the devil asks: “Who’s coming?” - “A sinful soul is coming to you for torment.” - “And what do you have?” - “Torba”. The devil screamed at the top of his lungs, the alarm sounded, all the evil spirits came running, let's lock all the doors and windows with strong locks. A soldier walks around the inferno and shouts to the inferno prince: “Please let me into the inferno; I came to you to suffer for my sins.” - “No, I won’t let you in! go where you know; There’s no place for you here.” - “Well, if you don’t let me suffer, then give me two hundred sinful souls; I will lead them to God, maybe the Lord will forgive me for this!” The Prince of Pekel replies: “I’ll give you fifty more souls from myself, just get out of here!” Now he ordered two hundred and fifty souls to be counted and taken out the back gate, so that the soldier would not see. No sooner said than done. The soldiers took the sinful souls and led them to heaven itself. The apostles saw and reported to the Lord: “Such and such a soldier brought two hundred and fifty souls from the hell.” - “Take them into heaven, but don’t let the soldier in.” Only the soldier gave his bag to one sinful soul and ordered: “Watch how you enter the doors of heaven - now tell me; get into the bag, soldier!” So the doors of heaven opened, souls began to enter there, a sinful soul entered with a bag, and forgot about the soldier out of joy. So the soldier stayed, he didn’t end up in any place. And for a long time after that he lived and lived in this world, but only the other day he died.
(All borrowed from the collection of V.I. Dahl).
Note to No. 16. Death is not an abstract concept here, but, according to the most ancient concept, it is alive, personified; We see it like this in another legend (“The Hermit” - No. 21), and in German fairy tales, which will be discussed in more detail below, and in the famous “Tale of Human Vigor” (beginning: “A certain man rode through a clean field, across an expanse of wide, the horse under it is covered with markings, beast-like..."). This story appears in many manuscripts of the 17th and 18th centuries; While compiling the favorite reading of literate people, she moved on to oral legends and popular prints. We present here the folk story about Anika the Warrior, in the form in which it is recorded in our collection:
Once upon a time there lived Anika the warrior; He lived twenty years and years, drank and ate, boasted of his strength, destroyed trade markets and markets, beat merchants and boyars and all sorts of people. And Anika the warrior decided to go to Jerusalem, the city of God, to destroy the churches; He took a sword and a spear and rode out into an open field onto a high road. And towards him is Death with a sharp scythe Option: Anika the warrior rode through open fields, through dark forests, didn’t run into anyone, didn’t have anyone to try his strength with. “Who should I fight? - thinks Anika the warrior, “if only Death would come.” Lo and behold, a terrible guest is coming to him: skinny, dry, bare bones! and carries in his hands a sickle, a scythe, a rake and a spade.. “What kind of monster is this! - says Anika the warrior, - are you a king, prince? Is the prince the king? - “I am not a king-prince, not a king-prince, I am your Death - I have come for you!” - “It’s not too scary: if I move my little finger, I’ll crush you!” - “Don’t boast, pray to God first! No matter how many brave, mighty heroes there were in this world, I defeated them all. How many people have you beaten in your lifetime! “And even if it wasn’t your strength, then I helped you.” Anika the warrior got angry, unleashes his greyhound horse on Death, wants to lift her on a damask spear; but the hand will not move. Great fear fell upon him, and Anika the warrior said: “My death is Death! give me one year." Death answers: “You don’t have even six months.” - “My death is Death! give me at least three months.” - “You don’t have time for even three weeks.” - “My death is Death! give it at least three days.” - “You don’t have even three hours.” And Anika the warrior says: “I have a lot of silver, and gold, and precious stones: if given just one hour, I would give all my property to the poor.” Death answers: “How did you live in the free world, why then did you not give away your property to the poor? You don’t have time for even one minute!” Death swung his sharp scythe and knocked down Anika the warrior: he fell from his horse and fell dead Compare with legend No. 21 (“The Hermit”)..
Russian folk beliefs represent Death as eternally hungry, devouring all living things; in the first list of the legend we printed - when a soldier forced her to gnaw at some forest trees for several years, Death became so emaciated that she could barely move her legs.
In hell, the soldier was so tired of the devils that for a long time they did not know how to survive him, and finally they called him out of this warm place, sounding the alarm.
There is a similar story about the sailor Pronka:
There was a sailor named Pronka; Throughout his service, he was known as a bitter drunkard: a glass for him was only half a sip, and he drained the end in two doses without rest. No matter what you say to him, all you will hear is: “Drink and mind your business!” drunk and smart - two lands in him! a drunkard will sleep it off, a fool never will!” Indeed, he understood the matter, did not refuse work, always spoke the truth, and everyone loved and took care of him. Once during Great Lent a priest began to tell him: “Pronka, you are not afraid of God! The hour is unequal - you will die drunk; because death is just around the corner! Well, what will you say then when you appear drunk before the Lord?” And he responded: “Father! What’s on the sober mind is on the drunk’s tongue: that means I’ll tell the whole truth before God.” As the priest said, this is what happened. From what joy - I don’t know - Pronka got very drunk, but apparently he relied too much on himself, climbed onto the mast and fell from there straight into the water. According to what was said, as well as what was written, he came to the next world drunk and doesn’t know where to go? and there, the matter is known, and for the sober it is dark; It's just a disaster for a drunk! Here comes the ranking and roll call of who goes where; miserable sailors - it is known that everyone is appointed to heaven, and Pronka was shouted out there. And he seethed to himself, got mixed up in the crowd, and ended up in hell; he makes more noise there than anyone else, only disturbing others... There was a lot of trouble to get him out of hell; they couldn’t cope with it for a long time; Yes, Nikola Morskoy guessed it, took the boatswain’s pipe, stood at the doors of heaven and whistled for the wine. As Pronka heard, he immediately rushed out of hell and at that very moment appeared where he should be.
(From the collection of V.I. Dahl).
Particularly interesting are the details in the third list of the legend about “Soldier and Death”. These details are completely similar to those found in the German fairy tale “Bruder hustig” (see Kinder- und Hausmärchen, part 1, no. 81); both here and there the story is the same about how a soldier receives a wonderful satchel, how he imprisons devils in it and frees an abandoned palace from evil spirits. But in the German fairy tale there is no trick with Death, as a result of which he ends up in a bag and hangs in the forest on an aspen tree for several years; and in addition, at the end we find the following change: a soldier comes to the heavenly gates and knocks. St. stood guard then. Peter. “Do you want to go to heaven?” - asks the apostle. “They didn’t accept me in hell,” says the soldier, “let me go to heaven.” - “No, you won’t come in here!” - “Well, if you don’t want to let me in, then take back the backpack; I don’t want anything from you.” And along with these words, St. thrust his knapsack through the heavenly bars. Peter took the backpack and hung it near his chair. Then the soldier said: “Now I wish to be in my knapsack myself.” And instantly he found himself there, and St. Peter was forced to leave him in paradise.
Further, in the Russian legend we come across an episodic story about how the devil taught a soldier to heal: he gave him a magical glass, in which - if you pour cold water into it and place it near the sick person - you will certainly see where Death stands, at the head of the sick person or at the feet : in the latter case, you just need to sprinkle him with water from a glass - and at that very moment he will get up healthy and unharmed. This curious episode is developed among the Germans in a special fairy tale “Der Gevatter Tod” (in the collection of fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, part 1, no. 44):
Once upon a time there lived a poor man who had twelve children; and he worked day and night to feed his family. When his thirteenth child was born, he no longer knew how to help himself in need; went out onto the high road and decided to take the first person he met as his godfather. The first person he met was the Lord himself; Knowing what was in his soul, he said: “I feel sorry for you, and I want to baptize your child, I will take care of him and make him happy.” - “But who are you?” - “I am the Lord.” - “No, I won’t take you as my godfather; You provide for the rich and leave the poor to starve.” The poor man said so because he did not know how wisely God distributes both wealth and poverty. He turned and walked on. The devil meets him and says: “Take me as godfather to your child; I will give him heaps of gold and all the pleasures of life.” - "And who are you?" - "I `m devil". - “No, you are tempting and deceiving a person.” I set off on my journey; bony Death comes and says: “Take me as godfather.” - "Who are you?" - asks the poor man. - “I am Death, who makes everyone equal.” - “Yes, you are fair; you do not distinguish between rich and poor, and you will be my godfather.” On the appointed day Death came and baptism was performed. When the boy grew up, he went one day to visit his godfather. Death led him into the forest, pointed to a certain grass that grew there, and said: “Here is a gift for you from your godfather. I will make you a glorious doctor. Every time they call you to a sick person, you will see me: if I stand in the head of the sick person, then boldly say that you can cure him; give him this herb and he will recover. But if I stand at the feet of a sick man, he is mine In Russian legend it’s the other way around: if Death is in the legs of a sick person, he will recover, and if in his head, he will die. The same is true in the story recorded by Mr. Maksimovich about “The Peasant and Death” (see below).. Then you must say that all help will be in vain, and that no medicine in the world can save him.” In a short time, rumors spread everywhere about a new glorious doctor, who only had to look at a patient to know for sure whether he would be healthy again or die. From all sides they called him to the sick, they gave him a lot of gold, and soon he became rich. Meanwhile, the king happened to fall ill. They called a doctor and asked if recovery was possible? When he appeared at the patient’s bedside, Death stood at his feet and no medicine could help him. “Can’t I outsmart Death just once? - thought the doctor. - Of course she won’t like it; but it’s not for nothing that I’m her godson, and she’ll surely turn a blind eye to it; Let me try.” He lifted the king and laid him down so that Death found himself in the head of the patient; He immediately gave him herbs, and the king arose completely healed. Death approached the doctor, her face was gloomy and angry; she shook her finger and said: “You deceived me; this time I forgive you because you are my godson; but beware! If you try to do the same thing next time, I’ll take you!”
Soon after, the king’s daughter fell ill with a serious illness: she was his only child, he cried day and night and ordered it to be announced everywhere: whoever saves the princess from death will be her husband and inherit the entire kingdom. The doctor came to the patient’s bedside and looked - Death stood at the feet of the princess. He remembered how his godfather had warned him; but the amazing beauty of the princess and the happiness of being her husband dispelled all fears. He did not see that Death was throwing angry glances at him and shaking her finger, he lifted the sick woman and put her feet to the head of the bed, gave her herbs - at that very moment a blush appeared on her cheeks, and life returned to her again.
Death, deceived a second time, approached the doctor and said: “Now your turn has come”; She grabbed him with her icy hand so tightly that he could not resist, and led him into an underground cave. There he saw in vast rows thousands and thousands of lit candles: large ones, half-burnt ones, and small ones. At every moment some of them went out, while others were rekindled, so that with these constant changes the lights seemed to fly from place to place. “Look,” said Death, “these are human lives burning. Large candles belong to children, half burnt candles belong to middle-aged people, small candles belong to old people. But it often happens that both children and young people are blessed with a small candle.” The doctor asked to show where his own life was burning. Death pointed out to him a small candle that threatened to go out soon; "Here look!" - “Ah, dear godfather! - said the frightened doctor, - light a new candle for me, let me enjoy life, be a king and the husband of a beautiful princess.” “This is impossible,” answered Death, “before lighting a new one, the old one must be extinguished.” - “And you put this burning residue on a new candle - so that it lights up as soon as it goes out.” Death pretended that he wanted to fulfill the wish of his godson, took a new large candle, but putting an old candle to it, deliberately, out of revenge, dropped it; the flame went out, and at that very moment the doctor fell to the ground and became the prey of death. (See also Deutsche Hausmärchen, von I. W. Wolf, p. 365: “Das Schloss des Todes”).
A similar story is known among the Hungarians (see Ungarische Volksmärchen. Nach der aus Georg Gaals Nachlacc herausgegebenen Urschrift übersetzt von g. stier, pp. 30-33); only the ending is different. Death baptizes a poor man's newborn baby; having drunk at the christening and having fun, she endows her godfather with the miraculous power to heal the sick, even if they were at their very last breath: he has only to touch the bed of a dying person or stand in front of his bed - and the sick person will immediately recover; he himself must die when he says amen. The former poor man becomes a doctor and soon becomes rich. Several years passed, and he decided to visit Death. I had just set off when I met a crying child; he took him to him and asked: “What are you crying about?” “Oh,” said the child, “how can I not cry? my father beat me because I didn’t know one word in prayer.” - “What word is this? Our Father?" - “No, that’s not it!” The doctor said the entire prayer to the very end, but there was only one answer: “No, that’s not it!” - “So it’s true: Amen?” - he said finally. “Yes,” said Death (it was she who appeared in the form of a crying child), “yes, amen!.., and to you, godfather, amen!” And he died immediately; His sons divided all the wealth among themselves, and if they did not die, they are still alive in this world.
Mr. Maksimovich wrote down a Russian folk story about a peasant and Death, in which the content is the same, but the setting and details are different (see Three fairy tales and one fable. Kyiv, in the typography of F. Gliksberg, 1845, pp. 45-48 ):
The man was mowing hay. Suddenly the scythe caught on something and rang. “I found a scythe on a stone!” - said the man. - “Yes, it seems like that!” - said the hummock. The man looks: the mound rises, it lights up - and Death becomes out of it. Out of fear, he swung his scythe at her. “Wait! - says Death, - don’t be naughty, I’ll be useful to you; I will make you a doctor; just be careful, take it upon yourself to treat those whose feet I stand at; you will certainly begin to cure; If you see me in anyone’s head, refuse.” Having said this, Death disappeared. The man went to Moscow and began to treat; No matter who he touches, he will take away the disease as if by hand! Fame spread about him, there was no end to the sick; he became rich and lived in a stone house. One day they call him to a rich merchant. He comes; sees that Death is in their heads, and does not undertake to treat. “Do me the favor of treating me!” take whatever you want...” - “I really can’t!” - “Here’s five hundred rubles for you now, and if you cure us, we’ll give you five thousand - here’s a bill of exchange!...” - “Five thousand is money! - the man thinks, - let me try!..” He gave me his medicine and left until tomorrow. The patient had just taken his medicine when the ghost walked out. The next day a man comes to the merchant for treatment; Only he himself was used there, and so skillfully that by evening he lay down in bed. He looks around - and Death is in his head. "That's bad! - the man thinks, “what should I do?” - and says to his friends: “It’s awkward for me to lie there; “Put me up against the headboard with my feet.” They moved it; he looks: Death is all in our heads. “Oh, everything is awkward! “he says, “pull the bed closer to the wall and lay me across.” They turned it like that; he looks, and Death is all in his head, and whispers in his ear: “Enough, brother! you can’t get away with it...” A day after the merchant’s funeral, the man was taken to the cemetery.
See also in the People's Slavic stories of I. Borichevsky (pp. 82-87) a story about a miser.
An urgent time passed, the soldier served the king and began to ask to go home to see his relatives. At first the king did not let him in, but then he agreed, gave him gold and silver and released him on all four sides.So the soldier received his resignation and went to say goodbye to his comrades, and his comrades said to him:
- Can’t you bring it on the sheets, but before we lived well?
So the soldier began to bring it to his comrades; He brought it and brought it - lo and behold, he only had five nickels left.
Here comes our soldier. Whether it’s close or far away, he sees: there’s a zucchini standing to the side; The soldier went into a tavern, drank for a penny, ate for a penny, and moved on. He walked a little, and an old woman met him and began to beg for alms; the soldier and handed her a nickel. He walked a little again, looked, and the same old woman again came towards him and asked for alms; the soldier handed over another nickel, and he himself marveled: how did the old woman find herself in front again? He looks, and the old woman is again in front and asks for alms; the soldier gave the third nickel.
I walked a mile again. He looks, and the old woman is again in front and asks for alms. The soldier got angry, the zealousness could not stand it, he pulled out the cleaver and wanted to cut her head open, and as soon as he swung it, the old woman threw the knapsack at his feet and disappeared. The soldier took the knapsack, looked and looked and said:
- Where am I going with this rubbish? I have enough of mine!
And he was about to quit - suddenly, out of nowhere, two young men appeared before him, as if from the earth, and said to him:
- What do you want?
The soldier was surprised and could not say anything to them, and then shouted:
- What do you want from me?
One of them came closer to the serviceman and said:
“We are your humble servants, but we obey not you, but this magic bag, and if you need anything, give orders.”
The soldier thought that he was dreaming all this, rubbed his eyes, decided to try, and said:
- If you are telling the truth, then I order you to immediately have a bed, a table, a snack and a pipe of tobacco!
Before the soldier even had time to finish, everything appeared as if it had fallen from the sky. The soldier drank, ate, fell on his bed and lit a pipe.
He lay there for quite some time, then waved the little bag, and when the young man (the little boy’s servant) appeared and said to him:
- How long will I lie here on this bed and smoke tobacco?
“As many as you like,” said the fellow.
“Well, put everything away,” said the soldier and moved on. So he walked after that, whether close or far, and in the evening he came to one estate, and here was a glorious manor’s house. But the master did not live in this house, but lived in another - in a good house there were devils. So the soldier began to ask the men:
- Where does the master live?
And the men say:
- What do you like about our master?
- Yes, you should ask to spend the night!
“Well,” the men say, “just think, he’ll send you to the devils for lunch!”
“It’s okay,” says the soldier, “and you can deal with the devils.” Tell me, where does the master live?
The men showed him the manor's house, and the soldier went to him and began to ask him to spend the night. The master says:
“I guess I’ll let him in, but it’s not quiet there!”
“Nothing,” says the soldier. So the master led the soldier to a good house, and when he brought him in, the soldier waved his magic bag and, when the young man appeared, he ordered a table to be prepared for two people. Before the master had time to turn around, everything appeared. The master, although he was rich, had never had such a snack before! They began to have a snack, and the master stole the golden spoon. We finished the snack, the soldier waved his bag again and ordered everything to be put away, and the fellow said:
- I can’t clean up - not everything is on the table. The soldier looked and said:
- Why did you take the spoon, master?
“I didn’t take it,” says the master.
The soldier searched the master, gave the spoon to the footman, and he himself began to thank the master for the night’s lodging, and he crushed him so badly that the master, out of anger, locked all the doors.
The soldier locked all the windows and doors from other chambers, crossed them and began to wait for the devils.
Around midnight he hears someone beeping at the door. The soldier waited a little longer, and suddenly so much evil spirits gathered and they started screaming so loudly that you had to close your ears!
One shouts:
- Push, push!
And the other shouts:
- But why push, if there are crosses!.. The soldier listened, listened, and his own hair stood on end, even though he was not a coward. Finally he shouted:
- What do you want from me here, barefoot?
- Let me go! - the devils shout to him from behind the door.
- Why should I let you in here?
- Yes, let me go!
The soldier looked around and saw a bag of weights in the corner, took the bag, shook out the weights and said:
- How many of you, barefoot, will come into my bag?
“Let’s all come in,” the devils tell him from behind the door. The soldier made crosses with charcoal on the bag, closed the door a little and said:
- Well, let me see if you were telling the truth that you would all come in?
Every single one of the devils climbed into the bag, the soldier tied it, crossed himself, took a twenty-pound weight and started hitting the bag. He hits and hits and feels: is it soft? Now the soldier sees that it has finally become soft, he opened the window, untied the bag and shook the devils out. He looks, and the devils are all mutilated, and no one moves from their place.
This is how the soldier shouts:
- Why are you lying down here, barefoot? Are you waiting for another bath, huh?
The devils all somehow ran away, and the soldier shouted after them:
- If you come here again, I’ll ask you something else!
The next morning the men came and opened the doors, and the soldier came to the master and said:
- Well, master, now go to that house and don’t be afraid of anything, but I need to give me money for the journey for my troubles!
The master gave him some money, and the soldier went on his way.
So he walked and walked for such a long time, and it wasn’t far from home, only three days’ walk! Suddenly an old woman met him, so thin and scary, carrying a bag full of knives, saws, and various hatchets, and propped up with a scythe. She blocked his way, but the soldier could not stand it, pulled out the cleaver and shouted:
- What do you want from me, old woman? Do you want me to open your head?
Death (it was she) and says:
- I was sent by the Lord to take your soul!
The soldier's heart trembled, he fell to his knees and said:
- Have mercy, Mother Death, give me only three years; I have served the king for a long time as a soldier and now I am going to see my relatives.
“No,” says death, “you won’t see your family, and I won’t give you three years.”
- Give it at least three months.
- I won’t give it even for three weeks.
- Give it at least three days.
“I won’t give you even three minutes,” said death, waved her scythe and killed the soldier.
So the soldier found himself in the next world and was about to go to heaven, but they didn’t let him there: he was unworthy, which means he was. A soldier left heaven and ended up in hell, and then the devils came running to him and wanted to drag him into the fire, and the soldier said:
- What do you want from me? Oh, you barefoot people, or have you already forgotten the master’s bathhouse, huh?
The devils all ran away from him, and Satan shouted:
- Where did you guys run to, kids?
“Oh, dad,” the little devils tell him, “the soldier is here!”
When Satan heard this, he himself ran into the fire. So the soldier walked and walked around hell - he became bored; went to heaven and said to the Lord:
- Lord, where will you send me now? I didn’t deserve heaven, and in hell all the devils ran away from me; I walked and walked through hell, I got bored, and I went to you, give me some kind of service!
The Lord says:
- Go, service, ask Michael the Archangel for a gun and stand guard at the doors of heaven!
The soldier went to Michael the Archangel, asked him for a gun, and stood watch at the doors of heaven. So he stood there, whether long or short, and he saw that death was coming, and straight to heaven. The soldier blocked her way and said:
- What do you need, old woman? Go away! The Lord will not accept anyone without my report!
Death says:
“I came to the Lord to ask which people he orders to kill this year.”
The soldier says:
“It would have been like this a long time ago, otherwise you’re interfering without asking, but don’t you know that I mean something here too; Hold the gun, and I’ll go and ask.
The servant came to heaven, and the Lord said:
- Why did you come, service?
- Death has come. Lord, and asks: what kind of people are you ordering to kill next year?
The Lord says:
- Let him kill the oldest!
The soldier went back and thought, “The Lord orders the oldest people to be killed; what if my father is still alive, because she will kill him, just like me. So, perhaps, I won’t see each other again. No, old man, you’re not.” She gave me free food for three years, so go ahead and gnaw the oaks!”
He came and said to death:
- Death, the Lord ordered you this time not to kill people, but to gnaw oaks, such oaks that are no longer alive!
Death went to gnaw the old oak trees, and the soldier took the gun from her and began to walk again at the doors of heaven. A year has passed in this world, death has come again to ask what kind of people the Lord tells it to kill this year.
The soldier gave her the gun, and he himself went to the Lord to ask which people he was ordering to kill this year. The Lord ordered the most seasoned to die, and the soldier again thinks:
“But I still have brothers and sisters and many acquaintances there, and as death kills me, I will never see them again! No, let another year gnaw the oak trees, and then, perhaps, our brother-soldier and will be merciful!"
He came and sent death to gnaw on the most vigorous, seasoned oaks.
Another year passed, death came for the third time. The Lord ordered her to kill the youngest, and the soldier sent her young oak trees to gnaw.
So, death came for the fourth time, the soldier said: “Well, old you, go, if you need to, on your own, but I won’t go: I’m tired of you!”
Death went to the Lord, and the Lord said to her:
- Why, death, have you become so thin?
- How skinny can you be, you gnawed oak trees for three whole years, broke all your teeth! But I don’t know why you, Lord, are so angry with me?
“What are you, what are you, death,” the Lord says to her, “why did you get the idea that I sent you to gnaw oak trees?”
“Yes, that’s what the soldier told me,” says death.
- Soldier? How dare he do this?! Angels, come and bring me a soldier!
The angels went and brought the soldier, and the Lord said:
- What makes you think, soldier, that I told death to gnaw oak trees?
- Yes, this is not enough for her, the old one! I asked her for free money only for three years, but she didn’t even give me three hours. That’s why I ordered her to gnaw oak trees for three years.
“Well, go now,” says the Lord, “and fatten her up for three years!” Angels! Bring him out into the world!
The angels brought the soldier into the world, and the soldier found himself in the very place where death killed him. A soldier sees a bag, he takes the bag and says:
- Death! Get in the bag!
Death sat in a sack, and the soldier took more sticks and stones and put them there, and how he walked like a soldier, but death’s only bones crunch!
Death says:
- Come on, servant, be quiet!
- Here you go, be quiet, what else can you say, but in my opinion it’s like this: sit down if you’re imprisoned!
So he walked like this for two days, and on the third he came to the matchmaker and kisser and said:
- What, brother, give me a drink; I spent all the money, and I’ll bring it to you one of these days, here’s my bag, let it sit with you.
The kisser took the bag from him and threw it under the counter. The soldier came home; but the father is still alive. I was happy, and my relatives were even more happy. This is how the soldier lived happily and happily for a whole year.
A soldier came to that tavern and began asking for his bag, but the kisser barely found it. So the soldier untied the bag and said:
- Death, are you alive?
“Oh,” says death, “I almost suffocated!”
“Okay,” says the soldier. He opened the snuffbox with tobacco, sniffed it and sneezed. Death says:
- Servant, give it to me!
She kept asking what she would see from the soldier.
The soldier says:
- Why, death, after all, one pinch is not enough for you, but go sit in the snuffbox and sniff as much as you want; As soon as death entered the snuffbox, the soldier slammed it shut and carried it for a whole year. Then he opened the snuffbox again and said:
- What, death, sniffed?
“Oh,” says death, “it’s hard!”
“Well,” says the soldier, “let’s go, now I’ll feed you!”
He came home and sat her down at the table, and death ate and ate for seven. The soldier got angry and said:
- Look, you've eaten for seven! If you can’t fill you up, where can I go with you, damned one?
He put her in a sack and carried her to the cemetery; dug a hole to the side and buried it there. Three years have passed, the Lord remembered death and sent angels to look for it. The angels walked and walked around the world, found the soldier and said to him:
- Where did you put death, servant?
- Where did you go? And he buried it in the grave!
“But the Lord demands her to come to him,” say the angels.
A soldier came to the cemetery, dug a hole, and death was barely breathing there. The angels took death and brought it to the Lord, and he said:
- Why are you, death, so thin?
Death told the Lord everything, and he said:
- Apparently, you, death, don’t get bread from a soldier, go ahead and feed yourself!
Death spread across the world again, but it didn’t dare to kill that soldier anymore.
An urgent time passed, the soldier served the king and began to ask to go home to see his relatives. At first the king did not let him in, but then he agreed, gave him gold and silver and released him on all four sides.
So the soldier received his resignation and went to say goodbye to his comrades, and his comrades said to him:
“Can’t you bring it on the sheets, but before we lived well?”
So the soldier began to bring it to his comrades; He brought it and brought it - lo and behold, he only had five nickels left.
Here comes our soldier. Whether it’s close or far away, he sees: there’s a zucchini standing to the side; The soldier went into a tavern, drank for a penny, ate for a penny, and moved on. He walked a little, and an old woman met him and began to beg for alms; the soldier and handed her a nickel. He walked a little again, looked, and the same old woman again came towards him and asked for alms; the soldier handed over another nickel, and he himself marveled: how did the old woman find herself in front again? He looks, and the old woman is again in front and asks for alms; the soldier gave the third nickel.
I walked a mile again. He looks, and the old woman is again in front and asks for alms. The soldier got angry, the zealousness could not stand it, he pulled out the cleaver and wanted to cut her head open, and as soon as he swung it, the old woman threw the knapsack at his feet and disappeared. The soldier took the knapsack, looked and looked and said:
– Where am I going with this rubbish? I have enough of mine!
And he was about to quit - suddenly, out of nowhere, two young men appeared before him, as if out of the earth, and said to him:
-What do you want?
The soldier was surprised and could not say anything to them, and then shouted:
- What do you want from me?
One of them came closer to the serviceman and said:
“We are your humble servants, but we obey not you, but this magic bag, and if you need anything, give orders.”
The soldier thought that he was dreaming all this, rubbed his eyes, decided to try, and said:
- If you are telling the truth, then I order you to immediately have a bed, a table, a snack and a pipe of tobacco!
Before the soldier even had time to finish, everything appeared as if it had fallen from the sky. The soldier drank, ate, fell on his bed and lit a pipe.
He lay there for quite some time, then waved the little bag, and when the young man (the little boy’s servant) appeared and said to him:
- How long will I lie here on this bed and smoke tobacco?
“As many as you like,” said the fellow.
“Well, put everything away,” said the soldier and moved on. So he walked after that, whether close or far, and in the evening he came to one estate, and here was a glorious manor’s house. But the master did not live in this house, but lived in another - in a good house there were devils. So the soldier began to ask the men:
-Where does the master live?
And the men say:
- What do you want about our master?
- Yes, you should ask to spend the night!
“Well,” the men say, “just think, he’ll send you to the devils for lunch!”
“It’s okay,” says the soldier, “and you can deal with the devils.” Tell me, where does the master live?
The men showed him the manor's house, and the soldier went to him and began to ask him to spend the night. The master says:
“I guess I’ll let him in, but it’s not quiet there!”
“Nothing,” says the soldier. So the master led the soldier to a good house, and when he brought him in, the soldier waved his magic bag and, when the young man appeared, he ordered a table to be prepared for two people. Before the master had time to turn around, everything appeared. The master, although he was rich, had never had such a snack before! They began to have a snack, and the master stole the golden spoon.
We finished the snack, the soldier waved his bag again and ordered everything to be put away, and the fellow said:
– I can’t clean up – not everything is on the table. The soldier looked and said:
- Why did you take the spoon, master?
“I didn’t take it,” says the master.
The soldier searched the master, gave the spoon to the footman, and he himself began to thank the master for the night’s lodging, and he crushed him so badly that the master, out of anger, locked all the doors. The soldier locked all the windows and doors from other chambers, crossed them and began to wait for the devils. Around midnight he hears someone beeping at the door. The soldier waited a little longer, and suddenly so much evil spirits gathered and they started screaming so loudly that you had to close your ears!
One shouts:
- Push, push!
And the other shouts:
- But why push, if there are crosses!.. The soldier listened, listened, and his own hair stood on end, even though he was not a coward. Finally he shouted:
- What do you want from me here, barefooted ones?
- Let me go! - the devils shout to him from behind the door.
- Why should I let you in here?
- Yes, let me go!
The soldier looked around and saw a bag of weights in the corner, took the bag, shook out the weights and said:
- How many of you, barefoot, will come into my bag?
“Let’s all come in,” the devils tell him from behind the door. The soldier made crosses with charcoal on the bag, closed the door a little and said:
- Well, let me see if you were telling the truth that you would all come in?
Every single one of the devils climbed into the bag, the soldier tied it, crossed himself, took a twenty-pound weight and started hitting the bag. He hits and hits and feels: is it soft? Now the soldier sees that it has finally become soft, he opened the window, untied the bag and shook the devils out. He looks, and the devils are all mutilated, and no one moves from their place.
This is how the soldier shouts:
- Why are you lying down here, barefoot? Are you waiting for another bath, huh?
The devils all somehow ran away, and the soldier shouted after them:
- If you come here again, I’ll ask you something else!
The next morning the men came and opened the doors, and the soldier came to the master and said:
- Well, master, now go to that house and don’t be afraid of anything, but I need to give me money for my troubles for the journey!
The master gave him some money, and the soldier went on his way. So he walked and walked for such a long time, and it wasn’t far from home, only three days’ walk! Suddenly an old woman met him, so thin and scary, carrying a bag full of knives, saws, and various hatchets, and propped up with a scythe.
She blocked his way, but the soldier could not stand it, pulled out the cleaver and shouted:
- What do you want from me, old woman? Do you want me to open your head?
Death (it was she) and says:
“I was sent by the Lord to take your soul!”
The soldier's heart trembled, he fell to his knees and said:
- Have mercy, Mother Death, give me only three years; I have served the king for a long time as a soldier and now I am going to see my relatives.
“No,” says death, “you won’t see your family, and I won’t give you three years.”
- Give it at least three months.
- I won’t give it even for three weeks.
- Give it at least three days.
“I won’t give you even three minutes,” said death, waved his scythe and killed the soldier.
So the soldier found himself in the next world and was about to go to heaven, but they didn’t let him there: he was unworthy, which means he was. A soldier left heaven and ended up in hell, and then the devils came running to him and wanted to drag him into the fire, and the soldier said:
- What do you want from me? Oh, you barefoot people, or have you already forgotten the master’s bathhouse, huh?
The devils all ran away from him, and Satan shouted:
-Where did you guys run to, kids?
“Oh, dad,” the little devils tell him, “the soldier is here!”
When Satan heard this, he himself ran into the fire. So the soldier walked and walked around hell - he became bored; went to heaven and said to the Lord:
- Lord, where will you send me now? I didn’t deserve heaven, and in hell all the devils ran away from me; I walked and walked through hell, I got bored, and I went to you, give me some kind of service!
The Lord says:
- Go, service, ask Michael the Archangel for a gun and stand guard at the doors of heaven!
The soldier went to Michael the Archangel, asked him for a gun, and stood watch at the doors of heaven. So he stood there, whether long or short, and he saw that death was coming, and straight to heaven.
The soldier blocked her way and said:
-What do you need, old woman? Go away! The Lord will not accept anyone without my report!
Death says:
“I came to the Lord to ask which people he ordered to kill this year.”
The soldier says:
“It would have been like this a long time ago, otherwise you’re coming in without asking, but don’t you know that I mean something here too; Hold the gun, and I’ll go and ask.
The servant came to heaven, and the Lord said:
- Why did you come, service?
- Death has come. Lord, and asks: what kind of people are you ordering to kill next year?
The Lord says:
- Let him kill the oldest!
The soldier went back and thought, “The Lord orders the oldest people to die; But what if my father is still alive, because she will kill him, just like me. So, perhaps, I won’t see you again. No, old woman, you didn’t give me free food for three years, so go ahead and gnaw the oaks!”
He came and said to death:
- Death, the Lord ordered you this time not to kill people, but to gnaw oaks, such oaks that are no longer alive!
Death went to gnaw the old oak trees, and the soldier took the gun from her and began to walk again at the doors of heaven. A year has passed in this world, death has come again to ask what kind of people the Lord tells it to kill this year.
The soldier gave her the gun, and he himself went to the Lord to ask which people he was ordering to kill this year. The Lord ordered the most seasoned to die, and the soldier again thinks:
“But I still have brothers and sisters and a lot of acquaintances there, and as death kills me, I won’t be able to see them again! No, let another year gnaw at the oak trees, and then, perhaps, our brother-soldier will have mercy!”
He came and sent death to gnaw on the most vigorous, seasoned oaks. Another year passed, death came for the third time. The Lord ordered her to kill the youngest, and the soldier sent her young oak trees to gnaw.
So death came for the fourth time, and the soldier said:
- Well, you old one, go and do it yourself if you need to, but I won’t go: I’m tired of it!
Death went to the Lord, and the Lord said to her:
- Why, death, have you become so thin?
- How skinny can you be, you gnawed oak trees for three whole years, broke all your teeth! But I don’t know why you, Lord, are so angry with me?
“What are you, what are you, death,” the Lord says to her, “why did you get the idea that I sent you to gnaw oak trees?”
“Yes, that’s what the soldier told me,” says death.
- Soldier? How dare he do this?! Angels, come and bring me a soldier!
The angels went and brought the soldier, and the Lord said:
“What makes you think, soldier, that I told death to gnaw the oak trees?”
- Yes, this is not enough for her, the old one! I asked her for free money only for three years, but she didn’t even give me three hours. That’s why I ordered her to gnaw oak trees for three years.
“Well, go now,” says the Lord, “and fatten her up for three years!” Angels! Bring him out into the world!
The angels brought the soldier into the world, and the soldier found himself in the very place where death killed him. A soldier sees a bag, he takes the bag and says:
- Death! Get in the bag!
Death sat in a sack, and the soldier took more sticks and stones and put them there, and how he walked like a soldier, but death’s only bones crunch!
Death says:
- Come on, servant, be quiet!
- Here you go, be quiet, what else can you say, but in my opinion it’s like this: sit down if you’re imprisoned!
So he walked like this for two days, and on the third he came to the matchmaker and kisser and said:
- What, brother, give me a drink; I spent all the money, and I’ll bring it to you one of these days, here’s my bag, let it sit with you.
The kisser took the bag from him and threw it under the counter. The soldier came home; but the father is still alive. I was happy, and my relatives were even more happy. This is how the soldier lived happily and happily for a whole year.
A soldier came to that tavern and began asking for his bag, but the kisser barely found it. So the soldier untied the bag and said:
- Death, are you alive?
“Oh,” says death, “I almost suffocated!”
“Okay,” says the soldier. He opened the snuffbox with tobacco, sniffed it and sneezed.
Death says:
- Servant, give it to me!
She kept asking what she would see from the soldier.
The soldier says:
- Why, death, after all, one pinch is not enough for you, but go sit in the snuffbox and sniff as much as you want; As soon as death entered the snuffbox, the soldier slammed it shut and carried it for a whole year. Then he opened the snuffbox again and said:
- What, death, sniffed?
“Oh,” says death, “it’s hard!”
“Well,” says the soldier, “let’s go, now I’ll feed you!”
He came home and sat her down at the table, and death ate and ate for seven. The soldier got angry and said:
- Look, the hell out of you, you ate it for seven! If you can’t fill you up, where can I go with you, damned one?
He put her in a sack and carried her to the cemetery; dug a hole to the side and buried it there. Three years have passed, the Lord remembered death and sent angels to look for it. The angels walked and walked around the world, found the soldier and said to him:
“Where did you put death, servant?”
-Where did you go? And he buried it in the grave!
“But the Lord demands her to come to him,” say the angels.
A soldier came to the cemetery, dug a hole, and death was barely breathing there. The angels took death and brought it to the Lord, and he said:
- Why are you, death, so thin?
Death told the Lord everything, and he said:
- Apparently, you, death, don’t get any bread from a soldier, go ahead and feed yourself!
Death spread across the world again, but it didn’t dare to kill that soldier anymore.
