The story of the orange tree.

Throughout Italy, the story of the three oranges is told. But surprisingly, in each locality it is told in its own way. But the Genoese say one thing, the Neapolitans another, the Sicilians a third. And we listened to all these tales and now we know how it really happened.

There once lived a king and a queen. They had a palace, they had a kingdom, there were, of course, subjects, but the king and queen had no children.

One day the king said:

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

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

Soon a very pretty boy was born to the king and queen. The happy parents fulfilled their vow, and two fountains were beaten on the square. In the first year, fountains of wine and oil rose above the palace tower. The next year they were lower. In a word, every day the royal son got bigger, and the fountains got smaller.

At the end of the seventh year, the fountains no longer beat, wine and oil oozed from them drop by drop.

Once the king's son went out to the square to play skittles. At the same time, a gray-haired, hunched-over old woman dragged herself to the fountains. She brought with her a sponge and two earthenware jugs. Drop by drop, the sponge soaked up either wine or oil, and the old woman squeezed it into jugs.

The jugs were almost full. And suddenly - bang! Both shattered into shards.

That's such a well-aimed blow! It was the king's son who was aiming a large wooden ball at the skittles, but hit the jugs. At the same moment, the fountains dried up, they no longer gave a drop of wine and oil. After all, the prince just at that moment was exactly seven years old.

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

“Listen to me, royal son. Because you broke my jugs, I will put a spell on you. When you blow three times seven years, longing will attack you.

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

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

Then we'll see what happens.

The old woman laughed wickedly and trudged away.

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

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

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

The father-king and mother-queen heard this and said:

“Surely we will regret for our dear son at least three, at least three dozen, at least three hundred, at least three thousand oranges!”

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

No, these are not those oranges. And what are those that I need, and I myself do not know.

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

“Hey, king’s son, be careful that your horse doesn’t trample on my house!”

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

- For a long time no one has visited me, no one has brought gifts.

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

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

“Where can I find the diamond key?” the king asked.

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

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

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

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

- Where is the casket? the young man asked.

“My older sister knows this,” the fairy replied. - She lives in a hazel.

The king's son sought out a hazel tree. The oldest fairy made herself a house in a hazelnut shell. The king's son removed the gold chain from his neck and presented it to the fairy. The fairy tied the chain to the branch and said:

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

How long the prince rode, we do not know. He just crossed three mountains, drove through three deserts and drove up to that very mountain. Then he dismounted, tied his horse to a tree and looked around. Here is the path. It is completely overgrown with grass - it is clear that no one has been in these parts for a long time. The king followed her. The path crawls, meandering like a snake, all up and up. The king does not turn away from her. So the path brought him to the top of the mountain, where the palace stood.

Flew past forty. The king asked her:

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

Magpie looked in the window and shouted:

- Sleep, sleep! His eye is closed!

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

He waited until night. An owl flew by. The king asked her:

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

The owl looked in the window and hooted:

- Uh-uh! The guard is not sleeping! His eyes are looking at me like that.

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

There he saw a one-eyed watchman. Near the watchman stood a three-legged table with a crystal chest on it. The prince lifted the lid of the chest, took out a diamond key, but he did not know what to open with it. He began to walk around the palace halls and try which door the diamond key would fit. I've tried all the locks and the key doesn't work. There was only a small golden door in the farthest hall. The king's son put a diamond key in the keyhole, it fit just right. The door immediately swung open, and the prince entered the garden.

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

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

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

Here he crossed one mountain, rides through the desert. The day is sultry, there is not a cloud in the azure sky. Hot air flows over hot sand.

The king was thirsty. He wanted so much that he couldn't think of anything else.

Why, I have three oranges! he said to himself. - Eat one and quench your thirst!

As soon as he cut the peel, the orange broke into two halves. A beautiful girl emerged from it.

“Give me a drink,” she pleaded in a plaintive voice.

What was the queen to do! He himself was burning with thirst.

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

Soon the desert ended, the young man drove up to the forest. A brook murmured affably at the edge. The prince rushed to the stream, got drunk himself, gave his horse plenty to drink, and then sat down to rest under a spreading chestnut tree. He took out a second orange from under his cloak, held it in his palm, and curiosity began to torment the prince as much as thirst had recently tormented him. What is hidden behind the golden skin? And the prince cut the second orange.

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

“Give me a drink,” said the girl.

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

The girl leaned against the stream and instantly drank all the water from the stream, even the sand at the bottom of it became dry.

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

The king was very upset and said:

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

And he spurred on his horse. Drove a little and looked back. What a miracle!

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

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

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

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

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

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

And my sisters were waiting too.

"Oh, poor things," the prince sighed. It's my fault for their deaths.

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

- Aren't you going to leave me? exclaimed the king.

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

The prince laid his hand on the hilt of his sword and swore that he would call no one his wife but the daughter of the king of the orange trees.

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

Already the palace turrets shone in the distance. The prince stopped his horse and said:

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

“I don’t need a carriage or clothes. Better not leave me alone.

“But I want you to move into my father's palace like a royal son's bride. Don't be afraid, I'll put you on a tree branch, over this pond. Nobody will see you here.

He picked her up in his arms, put her on a tree, and drove through the gate himself.

At this time, a lame-footed, crooked in one eye maid came to the pond to rinse clothes. She leaned over the water and saw the girl's reflection in the pond.

– Is it really me? the maid screamed. How beautiful I have become! It is true that the sun itself envies my beauty!

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

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

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

The maid thought: This is an opportunity to outwit fate.

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

The poor orange girl tried her best to hold on to the branches. But the maid shook the barrel more and more. The girl fell off the branch and, falling, turned back into a golden orange.

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

The maid did not wait until she was removed from the tree, and jumped to the ground.

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

The maid quickly said:

“Hey, little fiancé, don’t worry, this will all pass for me soon. I got a speck in my eye, and I spent my leg on a tree. After the wedding, I will be even better than I was.

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

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

Evening has come. The whole palace was ablaze with lights. The tables were lavishly set, and the guests were dressed to smithereens. Everyone had fun. Only the king's son was unhappy. He was tormented by longing, such a longing, as if he had never held three oranges in his hands. At least once again get on your horse and go no one knows where, no one knows why.

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

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

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

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

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

This is my real fiancee!

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

Throughout Italy, the story of the three oranges is told. But what is surprising is that in each locality it is told in its own way. But the Genoese say one thing, the Neapolitans another, the Sicilians a third. And we listened to all these tales and now we know how it really happened.

There once lived a king and a queen. They had a palace, they had a kingdom, there were, of course, subjects, but the king and queen had no children.

One day the king said:
- If we had a son, I would put a fountain on the square in front of the palace.

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

Soon a very pretty boy was born to the king and queen. The happy parents fulfilled their vow, and two fountains were beaten on the square. In the first year, fountains of wine and oil rose above the palace tower. The next year they were lower. In a word, every day the royal son got bigger, and the fountains got smaller.

At the end of the seventh year, the fountains no longer beat, wine and oil oozed from them drop by drop.

Once the king's son went out to the square to play skittles. At the same time, a gray-haired, hunched-over old woman dragged herself to the fountains. She brought with her a sponge and two earthenware jugs. Drop by drop, the sponge soaked up either wine or oil, and the old woman squeezed it into jugs.

The jugs were almost full. And suddenly - bang! Both shattered into shards.

That's such a well-aimed blow! It was the king's son who was aiming a large wooden ball at the skittles, but hit the jugs. At the same moment, the fountains dried up, they no longer gave a drop of wine and oil. After all, the prince just at that moment was exactly seven years old.

The old woman shook her crooked finger and spoke in a raspy voice:
“Listen to me, royal son. Because you broke my jugs, I will put a spell on you. When you blow three times seven years, longing will attack you.

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

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

Then we'll see what happens.

The old woman laughed wickedly and trudged away.

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

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

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

The father-king and mother-queen heard this and said:
“Surely we will regret for our dear son at least three, at least three dozen, at least three hundred, at least three thousand oranges!”

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

— No, these are not those oranges. And what are those that I need, and I myself do not know.

Saddle the horse, I'll go look for them. The prince saddled the horse, he jumped on it and rode. He rode, he rode along the roads, he found nothing. Then the prince turned off the road and galloped straight ahead. He rode to the stream and suddenly heard a thin voice:
“Hey, king’s son, be careful that your horse doesn’t trample on my house!”

The prince looked in all directions - no one was there. He looked under the horse's hooves - an eggshell lies in the grass. He dismounted, bent down, and saw that a fairy was sitting in a shell. The prince was surprised, and the fairy says:
- For a long time no one has visited me, no one has brought gifts.

Then the prince removed from his finger a ring with an expensive stone and put it on the fairy instead of a belt. The fairy laughed with joy and said:
“I know, I know what you are looking for. Get the diamond key and you will enter the garden. There are three oranges hanging on a branch.
— Where can I find the diamond key? asked the king.
“My elder sister probably knows this. She lives in a chestnut grove.

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

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

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

— Where is the casket? the young man asked.
“My older sister knows this,” the fairy replied. — She lives in a hazel tree.

The king's son sought out a hazel tree. The oldest fairy made herself a house in a hazelnut shell. The king's son removed the gold chain from his neck and presented it to the fairy. The fairy tied the chain to the branch and said:
This will be my swing. For such a generous gift, I will tell you something that my younger sisters do not know. The Crystal Casket is located in the palace. The palace stands on a mountain, and that mountain is behind three mountains, behind three deserts. The one-eyed watchman guards the casket. Remember well: when the watchman is sleeping, his eye is open; when he is not sleeping, his eye is closed. Go ahead and don't be afraid.

How long the prince rode, we do not know. He just crossed three mountains, drove through three deserts and drove up to that very mountain. Then he dismounted, tied his horse to a tree and looked around. Here is the path. It is completely overgrown with grass - it is clear that no one has been in these parts for a long time. The king followed her. The path crawls, meandering like a snake, all up and up. The king does not turn away from her. So the path brought him to the top of the mountain, where the palace stood.

Flew past forty. The king asked her:
“Magpie, magpie, look through the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.

Magpie looked in the window and shouted:
Sleeping, sleeping! His eye is closed!
“Eh,” the prince said to himself, “now is not the time to enter the palace.

He waited until night. An owl flew by. The king asked her:
- Owl, owl, look in the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.

The owl looked in the window and hooted:
— Uh-uh! The guard is not sleeping! His eyes are looking at me like that.
“Now is the time,” said the prince to himself, and entered the palace.

There he saw a one-eyed watchman. Near the watchman stood a three-legged table with a crystal chest on it. The prince lifted the lid of the chest, took out a diamond key, but he did not know what to open with it. He began to walk around the palace halls and try which door the diamond key would fit. I've tried all the locks and the key doesn't work. There was only a small golden door in the farthest hall. The king's son put a diamond key in the keyhole, it fit just right. The door immediately swung open, and the prince entered the garden.

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

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

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

Here he crossed one mountain, rides through the desert. The day is sultry, there is not a cloud in the azure sky. Hot air flows over hot sand.

The king was thirsty. He wanted so much that he couldn't think of anything else.

Why, I have three oranges! he said to himself. - Eat one and quench your thirst!

As soon as he cut the peel, the orange broke into two halves. A beautiful girl emerged from it.

"Give me a drink," she pleaded in a plaintive voice.

What was the queen to do! He himself was burning with thirst.

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

Soon the desert ended, the young man drove up to the forest. A brook murmured affably at the edge. The prince rushed to the stream, got drunk himself, gave his horse plenty to drink, and then sat down to rest under a spreading chestnut tree. He took out a second orange from under his cloak, held it in his palm, and curiosity began to torment the prince as much as thirst had recently tormented him. What is hidden behind the golden skin? And the prince cut the second orange.

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

“Give me a drink,” said the girl.
“Here is a stream,” answered the prince, “its water is clear and cool.

The girl leaned against the stream and instantly drank all the water from the stream, even the sand at the bottom of it became dry.

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

The king was very upset and said:
“Eh, no, now I won’t even take a drop of water in my mouth until I drink the third girl from the third orange!”

And he spurred on his horse. Drove a little and looked back. What a miracle!

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

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

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

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

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

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

And my sisters were waiting too.

"Oh, poor things," the prince sighed. It's my fault for their deaths.
“But they didn’t die,” said the girl. "Didn't you see that they had become orange groves?" They will give coolness to tired travelers, quench their thirst. But now my sisters will never be able to turn into girls again.
"Won't you leave me?" exclaimed the king.
“I won’t leave if you don’t stop loving me.”

The prince laid his hand on the hilt of his sword and swore that he would call no one his wife but the daughter of the king of the orange trees.

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

Already the palace turrets shone in the distance. The prince stopped his horse and said:
“Wait here for me, I will come back for you in a golden carriage and bring you a satin dress and satin shoes.”
“I don’t need a carriage or clothes. Better not leave me alone.
“But I want you to move into my father's palace like a royal son's bride. Don't be afraid, I'll put you on a tree branch, over this pond. Nobody will see you here.

He picked her up in his arms, put her on a tree, and drove through the gate himself.

At this time, a lame-footed, crooked in one eye maid came to the pond to rinse clothes. She leaned over the water and saw the girl's reflection in the pond.

“Is it really me? the maid screamed. How beautiful I have become! It is true that the sun itself envies my beauty!

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

"Hey, who are you and what are you doing here?" the maid shouted angrily.
“I am the bride of the king's son and I am waiting for him to come for me.

The maid thought: This is an opportunity to outwit fate.

“Well, it remains to be seen who he will come for,” she answered, and began shaking the tree with all her might.

The poor orange girl tried her best to hold on to the branches. But the maid shook the barrel more and more. The girl fell off the branch and, falling, turned back into a golden orange.

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

The maid did not wait until she was removed from the tree, and jumped to the ground.

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

The maid quickly said:
“Hey, little fiancé, don’t worry, this will all pass for me soon. I got a speck in my eye, and I spent my leg on a tree. After the wedding, I will be even better than I was.

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

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

Evening has come. The whole palace was ablaze with lights. The tables were lavishly set, and the guests were dressed to smithereens. Everyone had fun. Only the king's son was unhappy. He was tormented by longing, such a longing, as if he had never held three oranges in his hands. At least once again get on your horse and go no one knows where, no one knows why.

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

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

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

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

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

This is my real bride!

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

There once lived a king and a queen. And they had no children. “If a son were born to us,” the king once said, “I would put a fountain on the square. And a stream of good wine would have flowed from it for seven whole years. “And I,” said the queen, “would order another fountain to be placed next to it. And olive oil would spurt out of it. For seven years, women would come to the fountain and bless our son.”

Soon the king and queen had a boy.

The happy parents fulfilled their vow, and soon two fountains began to pour out on the square. For the first year, jets of wine and oil rose above the palace tower.

The following year, the fountains became lower... In a word, the fountains were getting smaller every year, but the royal son was bigger.

At the end of the seventh year, the fountains no longer beat: only wine and oil oozed from them drop by drop. The hunched old woman waited patiently for a long time for her clay jugs to be filled...

And suddenly - bang! - both vessels shattered into shards! It was the king's son who aimed at the skittles, but hit the old woman's jugs ... At the same moment, the fountains dried up: the prince was exactly seven years old.

Because you broke my jugs, - the old woman croaked, - I will put a spell on you. When you blow three times seven years, you will be attacked by longing and will torment you until you find a tree with three oranges ...

The old woman disappeared, and the prince immediately forgot about the spell and remembered him only on the day when he was twenty-one years old: he was attacked by a terrible longing. - “Oh, where can I find three oranges!” he moaned.

Mother and father poured a whole mountain of golden fruits in front of him, but the prince just shook his head: “No, these are not those oranges ... And I don’t know what kind of oranges I need!”

The king's son ordered the horse to be saddled and went to look for oranges. I traveled for a long time on the roads, but did not find anything. Finally turned off the road and galloped straight ahead.

And in the shell sits a fairy. - “For a long time,” she says, “nobody has been visiting me, I haven’t brought gifts ...”

The prince removed the ring from his finger and put it on the fairy instead of a belt. The fairy laughed and said: “I know what you are looking for! Three oranges grow in the garden, the door to which is opened by a diamond key. And where to get the key, I don’t know, ask my sister what lives in the hazel.”

The prince gave the walnut fairy a golden chain, from which she made a swing. - “For such a gift, I will tell you that the diamond key lies in a crystal casket, the casket stands in the crystal palace, and the one-eyed watchman guards the casket.

Remember well: when the watchman is sleeping, his eye is open; when he is not sleeping, his eye is closed. Go ahead and don't be afraid!"

How long the prince rode, we do not know. He crossed three mountains, drove through three deserts and climbed a steep path to the mountain peak on which the palace stood.

Flew past forty. The prince asked: “Look, magpie, through the window. See if the watchman is sleeping." - Magpie looked in and shouted: “Sleeping! His eyes are closed!" “Hey,” the young man said to himself, “now is not the time to enter the palace…”

He waited until night. An owl flew by. - "Owl," the prince asked, "look in the window, see if the watchman is sleeping." “Uh, uh,” the owl hooted. - Not sleeping. His eyes are looking at me like that!”

Now is the time, - said the prince and entered the palace. The one-eyed watchman was fast asleep. The prince lifted the lid of the chest and took the diamond key.

In the whole palace, the key came up only to a small golden door in the farthest hall. The king's son carefully put it into the well...

The door swung open, and the prince was in the garden. There was a tree in the middle of the garden, and only three oranges grew on it. Large, fragrant, with a golden peel... The prince picked the oranges and hurried back.

The watchman closed his only eye and woke up when the king's son was already far away.

He had already crossed the mountain and was driving through the desert. Incandescent air flowed over the incandescent sand. The prince was very thirsty... - "Why, I have three oranges!" - he thought, and cut the peel of the smallest.

The orange suddenly split into two halves, and a beautiful girl emerged from it. "Give me a drink," she pleaded in a plaintive voice.

What was the queen to do! He himself was burning with thirst. “Drink, drink,” the girl groaned, fell on the hot sand and died.

Soon the desert ended, and the prince rode into the forest. He drank plenty from the cool stream and sat down to rest. Now he was tormented not by thirst, but by curiosity. He took out the second orange and only cut its peel...

The orange opened, and a girl emerged from it, even more beautiful than the first. "Give me a drink," she whispered.

The prince pointed to the stream, and she pressed her lips to the stream. In an instant she drank all the water: even the sand at the bottom became dry. - "Drink, drink ..." - the girl groaned and fell dead.

The young man was very upset ... But when he drove off a little and looked back, he saw that orange trees had become a wall along the banks of the stream, and under their shadow the stream again filled with water and sang its song.

And the king's son again rode through the mountains and deserts, languished from the heat, suffered from thirst. And finally he reached the river that flowed near the castle of his father.

Here he cut the third orange - the largest and ripest, and from it appeared a girl of unprecedented beauty. - "Drink, drink!" - she said.

The king led her to the river. The girl bent down and began to drink. But the river was wide and deep. No matter how much the girl drank, the water did not decrease.

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

“Oh, poor things,” the young man sighed. - It's my fault for their death... - "They didn't die," said the girl. "Didn't you see that they had become orange groves?" They will give coolness to tired people, quench their thirst.”

- "Won't you leave me?" exclaimed the king. “I won’t leave if you don’t stop loving me,” answered the orange girl. And the young man swore on the sword that he would not call anyone his wife but her.

Wait for me here, - said the prince, - I will go to the palace and return for you in a golden carriage, so that you enter my father's house, as befits the bride of a king's son.

The girl did not want to be alone: ​​“I don’t need a golden carriage, don’t leave me alone!” - But the young man put her on a branch of a thick tree that stood on the shore. “No one will see you here!”

The king jumped off. And on the shore appeared an angry, lame-legged and crooked in one eye maid with a basket of laundry for rinsing.

As soon as she bent over the water, she saw in it the reflection of a girl sitting on a tree. “Is it really me! the maid screamed. - How beautiful I have become! The sun itself can envy my beauty!”

She raised her eyes to look at the sun, noticed a beautiful girl in the foliage and realized that she had not seen her reflection in the water ...

"Hey, who are you and what are you doing here?" the maid shouted rudely. - "I am the bride of the king's son and I am waiting for him to come for me."

- "Well, it's not yet known who he will come for," the maid muttered and angrily began to shake the branch. The orange girl tried her best to stay on the tree. But the maid shook the branch more and more.

The poor thing fell off the branch and, falling, turned back into a golden orange! The maid caught him and hid him in her bosom.

Then she climbed onto the branch where the orange girl had sat before. As soon as she managed to hide, the carriage with the prince appeared.

The young man recoiled when he saw his bride lame and crooked. - "Nothing, little groom, do not worry," said the maid. - It'll all be over soon. I got a speck in my eye, and I spent my leg on a tree.”

The royal son had no choice but to take her to the palace. After all, he vowed to marry her!

The king and queen were also upset when they saw the bride of their beloved son. It was worth driving for such a beauty to the ends of the world! But once the word is given, it must be kept...

It's the evening of the wedding. The palace was ablaze with lights. The guests danced and had fun. Only the prince was unhappy. He was again tormented by a terrible longing.

The servants brought the most delicious dishes to the guests. Only the bride got every bite stuck in her throat. She was thirsty, and no drink could quench her thirst. Then she remembered the orange.

But the orange fell out of her hands and rolled, saying in a gentle voice: "The crooked falsehood is sitting at the table, but the truth has entered the house with it."

The orange opened and the daughter of the king of the orange trees appeared before the prince.

The prince took her by the hands and led her to his parents. “Here is my real bride!” - he said.

And the evil deceiver was immediately driven out.

Kristina Solovieva The Tale of the Magical Orange In a fabulous southern kingdom, there once lived a little princess. She was so small that servants in the palace often stumbled upon her without noticing and complained that she was always getting in the way. The little princess was very offended and every day more and more dreamed of only one thing: to become big as soon as possible. And one day a kind, wise old wizard appeared in the palace. At least that's what the little princess thought as she looked at the old man in long shiny robes with a staff in his hand and a long white beard to the floor. The good wizard told the little princess the legend of the magic orange, which could not be found in her native land, because it grew far in the north, where snow covers the earth all year round, and large polar bears can be found more often than people. The legend said that whoever eats at least a slice of this orange will be able to make any wish, and it will certainly come true. The good wizard gave the little princess a magic compass to help her find her way to the orange tree where the magic orange grows. -Think carefully. You can only make one wish, - the good wizard whispered in the end and melted away, as if he had never existed. The little princess put on a fur coat, took a compass and her faithful shaggy dog ​​and went north to look for a magic orange. The road was difficult and dangerous. Making her way through the endless snow-covered deserts, drowning in snowdrifts, the little princess often thought about returning home to a warm bed. But she could not give up her dream, because more than anything she wanted to become big. The little princess climbed the highest mountain and in front of her was a valley, at the very bottom of which a river flowed. And in the middle of this river, a tree grew right out of the ice. When the little princess reached him, she plucked a single orange from it, peeled it with numb fingers, and, making her cherished wish, began to eat. And while she ate, she grew, and it seemed to her that she had not yet grown enough. The little princess ate the whole orange, and grew so big that the ice that bound the river could not stand it and cracked. The dark icy river began to inexorably drag the princess and her dog into its depths. And at that moment, the little princess desperately wished to become small, and that none of this would happen, that she would be at home again, safe, and that her legs would not be cramped from the cold. The world around her darkened... The little princess woke up in her bed from the fact that her shaggy dog ​​licked her face with his rough tongue. She remained small, and the servants continued to swear at her, but the little princess never again looked for the magic orange and did not dream of becoming a big one.

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Throughout Italy, the story of the three oranges is told. But it's amazing - in each locality it is told in its own way. But the Genoese say one thing, the Neapolitans another, the Sicilians a third. And we listened to all these tales and now we know how it really happened.
There once lived a king and a queen. They had a palace, they had a kingdom, there were, of course, subjects, but the king and queen had no children.

One day the king said:
- If we had a son, I would put a fountain on the square in front of the palace. And it would not be wine that would be beaten from it, but golden olive oil. For seven years women would come to him and bless my son.

Soon a very pretty boy was born to the king and queen. The happy parents fulfilled their vow, and two fountains were beaten on the square. In the first year, fountains of wine and oil rose above the palace tower. The next year they were lower. In a word, the royal son, every day, became larger, and the fountains became smaller.

At the end of the seventh year, the fountains no longer beat, wine and oil oozed from them drop by drop.
Once the king's son went out to the square to play skittles. At the same time, a gray-haired, hunched-over old woman dragged herself to the fountains. She brought with her a sponge and two earthenware jars. Drop by drop, the sponge soaked up either wine or oil, and the old woman squeezed it into jugs.
The jugs were almost full. And suddenly - bang! Both shattered into shards. That's such a well-aimed blow! It was the king's son who was aiming a large wooden ball at the skittles, but hit the jugs. At the same moment, the fountains dried up, they no longer gave a drop of wine and oil. After all, the prince just at that moment was exactly seven years old.

The old woman shook her crooked finger and spoke in a raspy voice:
“Listen to me, royal son. Because you broke my jugs, I will put a spell on you. When you blow three times seven years, longing will attack you. And she will torment you until you find a tree with three oranges. And when you find a tree and pick three oranges, you'll be thirsty. Then we'll see what happens.
The old woman laughed wickedly and trudged away. And the king's son continued to play skittles, and in half an hour he had already forgotten about the broken jugs and the old woman's spell.

The prince remembered him when he was three times seven - twenty-one years old. Anguish fell upon him, and neither hunting games nor magnificent balls could dispel it.
- Oh, where can I find three oranges! he repeated.
The father-king and mother-queen heard this and said:
- Shall we regret for our dear son at least three, at least three tens, at least three hundred, at least three thousand oranges!

And they piled a whole mountain of golden fruits in front of the prince. But the prince just shook his head.
- No, these are not those oranges. And what are those that I need, and I myself do not know. Saddle the horse, I'll go look for them. The prince saddled the horse, he jumped on it and rode. He rode, he rode along the roads, he found nothing.

Then the prince turned off the road and galloped straight ahead. He rode to the stream and suddenly heard a thin voice:
- Hey, royal son, see that your horse does not trample on my house!
The prince looked in all directions - no one was there.

He looked under the horse's hooves - an eggshell lies in the grass. He dismounted, bent down, sees - a fairy is sitting in a shell. The prince was surprised, and the fairy says:
- For a long time no one has visited me, no one has brought gifts.

Then the prince removed from his finger a ring with an expensive stone and put it on the fairy instead of a belt. The fairy laughed with joy and said:
- I know, I know what you're looking for. Get the diamond key and you will enter the garden. There are three oranges hanging on a branch.
- Where can I find the diamond key? asked the king.
“My elder sister probably knows this. She lives in a chestnut grove.
The young man thanked the fairy and jumped on his horse. The second fairy really lived in a chestnut grove, in a chestnut shell. The prince gave her a golden buckle from her cloak.
- Thank you, - said the fairy, - now I will have a golden bed. For this, I will tell you a secret. The diamond key lies in a crystal chest.
- Where is the casket? - asked the young man.
“My older sister knows this,” the fairy replied. - She lives in a hazel tree.

The king's son sought out a hazel tree. The oldest fairy made herself a house in a hazelnut shell. The king's son removed the gold chain from his neck and presented it to the fairy. The fairy tied the chain to the branch and said:
- This will be my swing. For such a generous gift, I will tell you something that my younger sisters do not know. The Crystal Casket is located in the palace. The palace stands on a mountain, and that mountain is behind three mountains, behind three deserts. The one-eyed watchman guards the casket. Remember well: when the watchman is sleeping, his eye is open; when he is not sleeping, his eye is closed. Go ahead and don't be afraid.

How long the prince rode, we do not know. He just crossed three mountains, drove through three deserts and drove up to that very mountain. Then he dismounted, tied his horse to a tree and looked around. Here is the path. It is completely overgrown with grass - it is clear that no one has been in these parts for a long time. The king followed her. The path crawls, meandering like a snake, all up and up. The king does not turn away from her. So the path brought him to the top of the mountain, where the palace stood.
Flew past forty. The king asked her:
- Magpie, magpie, look in the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.
Magpie looked in the window and shouted:
- Sleep, sleep! His eye is closed!
“Eh,” the prince said to himself, “now is not the time to enter the palace.

He waited until night. An owl flew by. The king asked her:
- Owl, owl, look in the palace window. See if the watchman is sleeping.
The owl looked in the window and hooted:
- Uh-uh! The guard is not sleeping! His eyes are looking at me like that.
“Now is the time,” the prince said to himself, and entered the palace.

There he saw a one-eyed watchman. Near the watchman stood a three-legged table with a crystal chest on it. The prince lifted the lid of the chest, took out a diamond key, but he did not know what to open with it. He began to walk around the palace halls and try which door the diamond key would fit. I've tried all the locks and the key doesn't work.