An old merchant had three daughters, the two elder ones were greedy and lazy but the youngest was good and wise. The elder girls called her Stupid. The merchant was going to a fair and asked his daughters what they wanted. The eldest wanted a necklace and the second one a golden dress. The youngest asked him for a silver saucer and a glass apple. He returned with all the gifts and the elder girls wore the necklace and the gown. Lily, the youngest, placed the apple in the saucer and spun it. Her sisters mocked her, but she was delighted to see faraway places and people in the spinning apple! The two elder sisters were so jealous that they hatched an evil plot to get the saucer and apple from her. “Stupid, we have to pick berries in the forest,” they said one morning, “Come along!” The girl went with them, wondering why they were carrying an axe.
The Wicked Sisters
At the end of the day, her basket was full, but they had very few berries in their baskets. They asked her to give them the saucer and the apple. “But I haven’t brought them here!” she said. This made them so angry that they killed her with the axe. They buried her under a birch tree and ran home crying to tell their father that their little sister was lost! The old merchant wept and said he would keep the saucer and the apple in her memory. A shepherd came to the forest one day, and found the birch tree with a mound near it covered with beautiful flowers and a reed growing out of it. He cut the reed and made the flute. As he put it to his lips and was about to play it, it began to sing, “Dear little pipe, go tell my father, All for the sake of a silver saucer, And a glass apple, I was killed.”
The Kind Tsar
The shepherd ran through the village with the flute singing its sad song. The merchant heard it and recognised the mention of the saucer and the apple. He asked the shepherd about his flute and went there with him. The merchant and the shepherd dug up the mound and found his daughter inside it, looking as if she were asleep! The flute kept singing, and told them about her sisters killing her. The song went on, “Dearest father makes me rise again; Water from the Tsar’s well will make me live again!” The merchant went to the Tsar and told him the whole story and requested for a cup of holy water from his well to revive his daughter. The Tsar was quite fascinated with the tale and gave him the water. “Come back with your daughter, and bring those two wicked ones too!” he ordered.
The Tsar Finds a Queen
The merchant promised and returned to the mound where the shepherd sat waiting. They dug it up and the merchant sprinkled the holy water on his daughter. The merchant’s daughter awoke as if from a sleep! He put her in his cart and with the two elder girls he went to the Tsar as promised. When he saw the merchant’s youngest daughter, the Tsar fell in love with her. He ordered that the two elder sisters be punished severely, but the kind girl begged the Tsar for mercy. He agreed to let them go and said he wished to marry her, for she would be a kind and good Tsarina. The merchant was very happy for his daughter. The shepherd loved her, but knew he could not speak before the Tsar. He was just happy to have helped bring her to life with his flute. There was a grand wedding and the merchant’s daughter lived happily with the Tsar.
