Russian Mythology: The Spring of Life

a long time ago, an old king was seriously ill and all three of his sons were anxious to get a lot of doctors to see him, but they couldn't.

later, an old doctor said, “only by drinking the spring of life can the king's disease be cured”.

but where is the spring of life? in order to be heirs to the throne, the prince wanted to find such a spring and cure the illness of his father.

so he asked the king, "father, let me find a spring of life!" the king answered the prince's request.

the prince was on a fast horse and left the palace in search of a spring of life.

he left a long time ago, and one day he met a dwarf, who said to him, "prince, where are you going?" the grand prince saw him as a dwarf, and he didn't look at him at all.

he said, "where i go, it's none of your business." after that, he kept driving him.

as a result, as soon as the prince entered the mountain, he became lost, standing in the middle of the road, neither entering nor retreating, nor knowing where to go.

the king's condition is increasing, but the prince has never returned.

the king let the princes find the spring of life.

soon after the prince left, he met the dwarf, who said to him, "where are you going? the princes, too, turned a blind eye to him and said with arrogance, “you are not in charge of this prince.” says he's on his way.

as a result, the prince is lost.

when they saw the two princes gone for a long time, the princes said to the king, “let me find a spring of life and see what happened to the brothers.” with the permission of the king, the three princes departed.

a few days ago, the prince met the dwarf, and the dwarf said to him, "where are you going? the three princes were very polite and said to him, “can you help me when my father is seriously ill and the doctor says he needs a spring of life to heal?” the dwarf said, "i'll give you two breads and a sword." the three princes said, "i don't want these, i just need a spring to heal." the dwarf said, “let me tell you, the spring of life is in a magical castle with two lions at the door.

it'll be useful if you take this with you." that's how prince san understood the dwarfs' intentions.

the dwarves then told the princes that when they reached the castle, they struck the gate with a sword, which would be opened automatically, and the lion would block his way and then feed the lion with two breads.

after talking about the way swords and bread are used, the dwarfs end up saying, “the spring of life is in the back garden, but you have to leave before midnight, or you will never come out of the gate when it closes”