Ukrainian folk story: Lake Carpathian
once upon a time, there was a commander named yang on the carpathian mountain, and everyone respected the old man, who had neither gold nor silver nor treasure, but not for his money or for his love, but for his intelligence, loyalty and courage.
commander yang has a daughter-- beautiful helena.
the red sun fell in love with helena's black eyes and golden braids, so it stayed in the sky.
the owls and the vagabonds of the forest are so clever, but they are jealous of helena's intelligence.
butterfly flew into helena's bright room and looked at helena's embroidery suit for herself, because helena's flowers embroidered with her hands on thick sackcloth were much more beautiful than the butterfly's wings.
helena is all right, but she's too proud, too greedy.
she complained that her father was too poor and that she only wanted to be able to wear silk and jewellery all night.
she used to sit in her window and repeat a song: "who could build me a coral palace, who could send me my precious shirt, who could embroidered it with a bright little star, who could send me a pair of gold shoes, and i would have a happy wedding with this man." commander yang heard her sing this song and said to her, "oh, boy, boy, can a man love for a beautiful dress and a golden pair of shoes? no, helena, remember: the most precious is the homeland, and the cutest is freedom.
you should love the most loyal man in the country." father said helena wouldn't even listen.
there are rumors everywhere about her beauty and intelligence.
the legend is like a wave rolling over polish land.
every day, a lot of strangers and proposers come to the house of commander yang.
but there is only one brave heart in the wealth of the suitors, and there is no copper in their pockets.
not a single person can give helena a coral palace, a gold shoe, a star-made dress.
helena turned down all the proposed people one by one.
beautiful spring is over, summer is over, autumn is over, helena is always singing her old song, waiting for her rich suitor.
one time, my father said to helena, "son, stop singing your old song.
don't you understand? in poland, no one will give you a coral palace and a coat of stars." suddenly, a very young voice came out of the window: "i can give whatever miss helena wants!" both the commander and helena ran to the window and only saw an old man, an old monk, standing in the garden.
the commander told him to let the dog go and get the old monk.
but no: the old monk is gone and the people did not catch him.
the commander said, "this man is definitely not a good man.
when a man is old, his voice is still young." but helena always remembers that old monk.
she thinks and guesses day and night.
a few weeks have passed, a month has passed.
on the carpathian mountain, the horn of the hunter was sounded, and the dog barked。the king of poland himself led his services from the forests of the carpathians to hunt.
every day, the king sets a happy table in the mountain palace.
the guests drink, eat, dance, sing until dawn.
on one occasion, the king invited the commander and his daughter to his party.
helena heard the king's invitation, and her feet shouted, "i can't go to the king's party in these heavy market nights! dad, you can buy me a dress, even a silk coat." but the old commander didn't even have the money to buy a silk coat.
the sun sank behind the clouds behind the mountains.
helena's not happy.
go back to her room.
as soon as she entered the door, she had one hand stretching out of the window, carrying a pair of gold shoes and a blue silk dress.
it's like a bright night sky with many bright little stars embroidered on it.
a man whispered to her in the garden, "o beautiful woman! please put this on! please don't forget, i've covered the coral palace for you." helena was so happy to have dressed, her shoes on, and a long cloak, where she sat in a carriage with her father to attend the king's banquet.
when she walked into the palace, her father saw helena's luminous dress, and he asked, "where did this dress and these shoes come from?" helena didn't answer anything to his father.
she ran to dance.
helena danced with a foreign guest, mr.
kikovic of redbeard.
helena heard from him, the man who gave her the clothes and the gold shoes of the stars.
mr.
kikovic danced with helena all night.
he danced and touched his heels with an swelling rhythm; he had a beard and told helena how much treasure he had in the basement of his coral palace.
the next morning, the media arrived at the commander's house in a carriage.
this is from the foreign guest kikovic.
but the commander replied, "dear guest, worthy matchmaker, you should not have said this.
i will never let my daughter marry a foreigner.” the matchmaker just went home with nothing.
the commander also asked them to bring back the set of stars with gold shoes.
at that time, the inevitable scourge came — the war began.
the old commander, yang, put on the army's armor and returned to the battlefield for his country.
he sent his daughter helena to a castle that was very difficult to break by the enemy and to his brother.
when they split up, the commander said to his daughter, "helena, remember, kikovic is not a good man.
he will not change his mask for no reason, and he walks around our land like a thief.
you know, if you marry kikovic, i must curse you.
the most terrible thing in the world is the curse of the father." helena's scared.
promise himYou must forget Kikovic.
Easy to say, hard to do.
A month passed, a year passed.
On one occasion, Helena walked in the garden of this difficult castle, and suddenly an old man who had to eat from some place came in and stood before her with a hole in her coat, with a big hat on her face and a straight beard.
"I'll meet you at the Iron Gate in the middle of the night." Helena immediately recognized him as Kikovic.
In the middle of the night Helena went to the Iron Gate.
Kikovic advised Helena to go with him to a foreign country, where he had the coral palace, where she had countless of the prettiest clothes and treasures to enjoy, and he said, "Don't be afraid of your father's curse.
I have seven witches living in coral palaces who can use magic to drive away any disaster.
I came here with their help.
They poisoned the dogs, they let the doorman fall asleep...” The foreign guest advised right and left in sweet words and finally persuaded Helena.
Shortly after, Kikovic and Helena went abroad.
As soon as they arrived abroad, they lived in that rose-coloured coral palace on a black hill.
Helena took off her blouse and her coarse dress, dressed in a beautiful dress embroidered with stars, and seven witch shifts served Helena and made her forget her country and her father with magic.
Seven years later, Helena had seven children。