Читать книгу The story of Baba Yaga and Koschei the Immortal, their birth and life. You haven’t heard this story yet - - Страница 8

On the Night of the Devil, a child was born. But not in a village, but in a castle. The queen gave birth to a premature baby boy during the Witch’s Hour.

The royal physician had predicted that she would give birth in two months. When the king issued a decree to capture all infants born on the Night of the Devil, he had no idea that he was signing the death warrant for his own child.

When the queen gave birth, the learned men immediately demanded that the baby be handed over to them for execution, so that they could make sure that it would not be hidden or raised in secret. The king called a council and began to distract the learned men with the problems that had accumulated and their discussion. And his chief general, Arkady the Wise, disguised himself as a poor man, put on a torn, dirty cloak with a large hood to hide his face, and went to fulfill the king’s request.

They agreed that the general would kidnap a baby from a local orphanage, bring it to the queen’s chambers in secret, and quietly take the royal son away and hand him over to his distant friend in a nearby village. There, they planned to raise the prince, concealing his true identity, and later use him as a servant, eventually promoting him to the position of royal advisor.

Arkady stole the baby from the orphanage and brought it to the queen through a window. The Queen put an amulet with the family coat of arms around her newborn son’s neck, blessed him on his happy journey, kissed him on the forehead, whispered words of love to him, and handed him over to the general. As the general climbed out the window, he heard the loud and heart-wrenching cries of the prince’s mother behind him.

After a while, the queen was visited by the guards, who were ordered by the scholars. They took the baby and left with it. The queen prayed for her son’s health and for the return of the evil spirits until morning. She grew even more hatred for the evil world for taking her son away and for the suffering of so many children on that night.

As planned, Arkady walked through the forest along the river. A little further away from the kingdom, a boat was waiting for him, with warm clothes and food for the long journey. It took about an hour to swim against the current. The child cried all the way, and his cries echoed through the forest.

As soon as the general approached the boat, he immediately fell into the boat from the unexpected pain in his ribs. Looking at his chest, he saw an arrow sticking out of his body.

“So they’ve spotted you and me, little one…” said Arkady, addressing the baby. “Well, at least they didn’t hit you, and you’ll be on your way without me. Your life is now in your own hands. Don’t let me down, and live a long and happy life! Goodbye!”

Arkady put the baby in the boat and pushed it away with all his might, so that it would get into the current faster and move away from the guards. To prevent them from chasing him, he turned around and faced the guards, drew his sword, and charged at them. He knew that if he told them who he was, they would not believe him and would punish him as a criminal for hiding the baby. Even if they did believe him, he would be exposing the king’s secret and the king’s conspiracy against his own decree. And for the sake of the baby’s life, and for the sake of saving his king’s reputation, the general threw himself at the crowd of guards in silence and fought them off for a long time. He had to buy time and let the baby in the boat sail away so far that it would be impossible to find it again.

The general died in this battle, but he still said the last word to the guards before he died – You can’t tell about the fact that there was a baby in the boat and you missed him.… Then you will be punished yourself.… Let no one ever know what happened here.

Standing near the deceased, the guards thought for a long time and discussed his words. And then we agreed that it would remain a secret. They pulled the arrows out of the general’s body, removed all the evidence of the battle from the shore, and threw the general himself into the river and sent him adrift. They prayed and went back closer to the kingdom.

In the morning, the fishermen fished the general’s body out of the river and took it to the guards. It was different guards who identified the general, buried him with full honors, and reported his murder to the king. They believed that he had been killed by robbers, as he had no money on him and was dressed in tattered clothes that the killers could have exchanged for his fine attire.

And the king already had three mourns. The learned minds carried out the decree and executed the baby from the orphanage, thinking it was the prince. They declared mourning for the heir and the first child of the royal family. Then they declared mourning for the general. And when the king and queen realized that their real son had also been killed by the same bandits who had killed the general, they declared a secret mourning for their beloved firstborn.

Arkady’s wife, Galina, and his daughter, Vasilisa, who was not even a year old, were taken by the king and queen to live in the palace. Galina was made a lady-in-waiting, and their daughter grew up in abundance and luxury.