Once upon a time, there was a boy who tended sheep. He was no bigger than a small insect.
One day, as he was walking his sheep across the meadows, he passed an egg seller. She was carrying a basket full of eggs to market.
Seeing her, he thought of a prank. He threw a stone at her basket, and with that single stone, all the eggs in her basket were broken.
This enraged the woman, who cursed the boy: "You will never grow any bigger until you find the beautiful Bargagalina of the three singing apples."
From that day on, the boy didn't grow any bigger; instead, he grew thinner and thinner. The more his mother cared for him, the thinner he became.
One day his mother asked him, "Son, what's wrong with you? Have you done something wrong to someone that they've cursed you? You never grow up."
Then he told his mother the story of his depravity, how he had broken all the eggs in an egg seller's basket with a stone.
And then he repeated the woman's words, "You'll never grow up until you find the beautiful Bargagalina of the three singing apples."
His mother said, "If that's the case, then you have no choice, son, but to find the beautiful Bargagalina of the three singing apples."
Hearing this, the boy set off in search of the beautiful Bargagalina of the three singing apples.
As he walked, he came to a bridge. There, a woman was sitting in a walnut shell, swinging. When she saw the boy, she asked, "Who's going there?"
The shepherd said, "A friend."
"Please lift my eyelids so I can see you."
The shepherd lifted his eyelids, and he looked in his direction and asked, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to find the beautiful Bargagalina of the three singing apples. Do you know her whereabouts?"
"No, I don't know, but take this stone with you. Maybe it will be useful to you." Saying this, he handed the shepherd a stone. The shepherd took it from him and continued on.
Going further, he came across another bridge where another little woman was bathing in an eggshell. She also asked, "Who is going this way?"
The shepherd replied, "A friend."
The woman said, "Please lift my eyelids so I can see you."
The shepherd lifted her eyelids too, and she looked at him and asked, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to find the beautiful Bargagalina of the Three Singing Apples. Do you know her whereabouts?"
"No, I don't, but take this ivory comb with you; it will be useful to you." He said this and gave the shepherd a comb. The shepherd put the comb in his pocket, thanked him, and continued on.
As he walked, he came to a stream where a man was standing by the stream, filling his bag with fog. The shepherd asked him if he knew about the beautiful Bargagalina of the Three Singing Apples. But he replied, "I didn't know her."
But the man gave the shepherd a pocketful of fog and told him to take it with him, as it would be useful to him. The shepherd took the fog from the man, thanked him, and moved on.
As he walked, he came to a mill that belonged to a fox. The shepherd also asked the fox if he knew the beautiful Bargagalina of the three singing apples.
The fox said, "Yes, I know who that beautiful Bargagalina is, but you'll have a hard time finding her. If you go straight from here, you'll find a house. The door to that house will be open.
Go inside that door and you'll see a crystal cage. There are many little bells hanging from it. The singing apples are kept in that cage.
Pick up the cage, but be careful of an old woman there. If her eyes are open, she's asleep, and if her eyes are closed, she's watching."
With this advice from the fox, the shepherd moved on and reached the house the fox had told him about. The door to that house was indeed open, so he went inside.
Going inside the house, he saw a crystal cage with bells attached to it, and an old woman sitting next to it with her eyes closed.
Because her eyes were closed, she was seeing everything as the fox had said. The old woman said to the shepherd, "Take a look at my hair to see if there are any lice."
He looked into the old woman's hair and saw some lice. He began to pick them out. As he was picking them out, the old woman's eyes opened. He realized that she had fallen asleep.
Seeing her asleep, the shepherd immediately took the crystal cage and ran. But as he was carrying the cage, its small bells rang, waking the old woman. He sent a hundred horsemen after the shepherd.
When the shepherd saw that the horsemen were approaching him, he took out a piece of stone from his pocket and threw it behind him.
Upon hitting the ground, the stone formed a huge mountain. Some of the old woman's horses collided with it and died, while others broke their legs. The horses were unable to proceed further, and the horsemen all turned back.
Seeing the horsemen return, the old woman sent 200 horsemen after them. Sensing a new danger, the shepherd took an ivory comb from his pocket and threw it behind him.
Where the comb had fallen, a glass-smooth mountain arose, and upon climbing it, all the horses slipped and fell to their deaths. So the 200 horsemen also turned back.
Seeing them return, the old woman sent 300 horsemen. Seeing so many horsemen, the shepherd took out a piece of fog from his pocket and threw it away. The fog spread everywhere, and all the horsemen were lost in it.
Meanwhile, the shepherd escaped, but he became thirsty on the way. He had nothing to drink, so he decided to take a singing apple from the cage and eat it.
He took an apple from the cage and bit into it. A small voice came from the apple, "Cut it slowly, or I'll be in great pain."
Hearing this, he bit into the apple very slowly. He ate half of it and put the other half in his pocket. Then he continued on his way.
While walking, he came to a well near his house. He reached his hand in his pocket to take out the other half, but he couldn't find the remaining apple. However, a little girl was standing there.
The shepherd was astonished by this. The girl said, "I am beautiful Bargagalina, and I love cake. I want to eat it. I'm very hungry."
The well had a wall around it, and in the middle was a hole for drawing water. So the shepherd made the beautiful Bargagalina sit on the wall and told her to wait there until he brought her a cake.
Just then, a maid named Ugly arrived. She had come to draw water from the well.
When she saw the beautiful little girl there, she thought to herself, "How is it that she is so small and so beautiful, and I am so big and so ugly?"
The thought of this made the maid so angry that she threw the little girl into the well. When the shepherd returned with the cake for the beautiful little Bargagalina, he saw that his beautiful Bargagalina was missing.
He was heartbroken. He had brought her with so much difficulty, and now, just when he had found her, she had disappeared.
The shepherd's mother also came to the same well to fetch water. One day, while she was fetching water, a small fish landed in her bucket.
She took the fish home and fried it to eat. The mother ate the fried fish herself and fed it to her son, and threw away its bones.
A tree grew where the fish bones fell, and over time, it grew so large that it blocked the light from the shepherd's house.
Seeing this, the shepherd cut down the tree and kept its wood inside to use for lighting the fire.
While doing all this, the shepherd's mother died, and now he was left alone in the house. He was becoming ever thinner. He tried everything to grow, but he couldn't.
Every morning, he went out into the grasslands and returned home only at night. When he came home, he was astonished to find that the dishes he had left dirty in the morning were all clean and his house was also clean.
He thought that to find out who was doing all this behind his back in his house, he would have to stay at home for a day.
So the next day, he set out to leave, but didn't. He hid behind the door and kept watching to see who was following him inside.
After some time, he saw a very beautiful girl emerge from the pile of wood. She cleaned all his dishes, swept the house, and made his bed. Then she opened the cupboard and ate the cake.
Just then, the shepherd jumped out from behind the door and asked him, "Who are you, and how did you get in?"
The girl said, "I am beautiful Bargagalina. The girl you found in the half apple in your pocket. When you left me there at the well, an ugly maid came and pushed me into the well. I fell into the well and turned into a fish.
After that, you people fried me and ate me, and threw my bones out. After falling there, I turned into a tree. You cut down that tree and kept the wood in your house. Now, when you are not home, I become beautiful Bargagalina."
The shepherd was overjoyed to hear that he had found beautiful Bargagalina again. The shepherd began to grow by leaps and bounds, and beautiful Bargagalina also grew with him.
Soon, the shepherd grew into a handsome young man, and beautiful Bargagalina also grew even more beautiful. They married and lived happily ever after.
Read more : - The Secret to Happiness
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