{"id":2537,"date":"2025-10-21T20:55:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:55:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/an.magicworld.com.ua\/?p=2537"},"modified":"2025-10-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T21:00:00","slug":"pokotygoroshko-ukrayinska-narodna-kazka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/an.magicworld.com.ua\/en\/folk\/pokotygoroshko-ukrayinska-narodna-kazka\/","title":{"rendered":"Pokotyhoroshko"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ukrainian Folk Tale<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Read by: Honored Artist of Ukraine Mykhailo Voichuk<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Once upon a time, there lived a man and a woman with two sons and a daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, the father sent his sons to plow the field.
\u201cWho\u2019ll bring us lunch?\u201d they asked.
\u201cYour sister,\u201d said their father.
\u201cBut I don\u2019t know the way,\u201d said the girl.
\u201cWhen you reach the hill,\u201d her brothers told her, \u201cyou\u2019ll see three roads. Follow the one with wood shavings on it \u2014 that\u2019s ours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a Serpent saw the brothers shaving sticks as they went. He gathered up the shavings and scattered them along the road that led straight to his cave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mother cooked lunch and sent the girl off with it. The girl climbed the hill and followed the road with the shavings. She came to the cave, and the Serpent grabbed her and dragged her inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brothers waited and waited for lunch. Then they unyoked the oxen, let them graze, and went home.
\u201cWhere\u2019s our lunch, Mother?\u201d they asked.
\u201cI sent it with your sister long ago,\u201d she said.
They waited for her all evening, but she never returned.
The next morning, they said, \u201cThat cursed Serpent must have taken her!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So they dressed and set out to find her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They walked and walked until they met a herdsman tending his cattle.
\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d he asked.
\u201cTo the Serpent\u2019s cave \u2014 to rescue our sister.\u201d
\u201cIf you want to defeat the Serpent,\u201d said the herdsman, \u201ceat my biggest ox.\u201d
But they refused and went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon they met a shepherd with his flock.
\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d
\u201cTo the Serpent \u2014 to rescue our sister.\u201d
\u201cThen eat my biggest ram, and you\u2019ll succeed.\u201d
They refused and went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then they met a swineherd tending his pigs.
\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d
\u201cTo the Serpent \u2014 to rescue our sister.\u201d
\u201cThen eat my biggest boar, and you\u2019ll succeed.\u201d
They refused and went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At last they came to the Serpent\u2019s house.
\u201cWell, well,\u201d said the Serpent, \u201cwhat brings you here?\u201d
\u201cWe\u2019ve come for our sister.\u201d
\u201cIf you want her back,\u201d said the Serpent, \u201ceat twelve oxen, twelve rams, and twelve boars.\u201d
They each ate a tiny bit and couldn\u2019t eat more. So the Serpent threw them into an underground pit and rolled a great stone over them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their mother wept bitterly \u2014 she had neither sons nor daughter. One day she went to draw water. As she poured it into a barrel, the barrel rolled away into the garden without her noticing. When she came home, the barrel was gone, and in the bucket she found a single pea. She ate it \u2014 and from that pea, a son was born. She named him Pokotyhoroshko, \u201cLittle Rolling Pea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He grew not by the day, but by the minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One evening at supper he asked,
\u201cMother, did you have other children?\u201d
\u201cI had two sons and a daughter.\u201d
\u201cWhere are they?\u201d
\u201cThe Serpent took my daughter, and my sons went after her \u2014 but none returned.\u201d
After supper, Pokotyhoroshko stood up.
\u201cThen I\u2019ll go find them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went to the blacksmith.
\u201cMake me a mighty mace,\u201d he said.
The blacksmith forged one. Pokotyhoroshko paid him and set out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He met the herdsman.
\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d
\u201cTo the Serpent \u2014 to rescue my sister.\u201d
\u201cThen eat my biggest ox, and you\u2019ll succeed!\u201d
Pokotyhoroshko ate it all, thanked him, and went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He met the shepherd.
\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d
\u201cTo the Serpent \u2014 to rescue my sister.\u201d
\u201cThen eat my biggest ram, and you\u2019ll succeed.\u201d
He ate it all, thanked him, and went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He met the swineherd.
\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d
\u201cTo the Serpent \u2014 to rescue my sister.\u201d
\u201cThen eat my biggest boar, and you\u2019ll succeed.\u201d
He ate it all, thanked him, and went on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At last he reached the Serpent\u2019s house. His sister was drawing water from a well.
\u201cHello, sister!\u201d he said.
\u201cWhat kind of brother are you to me?\u201d she asked.
\u201cYou\u2019ll soon see!\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the Serpent came out.
\u201cHello there!\u201d
\u201cHello,\u201d said Pokotyhoroshko.
\u201cWhy have you come?\u201d
\u201cFor my sister and my brothers.\u201d
\u201cThen eat twelve oxen, twelve rams, and twelve boars.\u201d
Pokotyhoroshko ate them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell done!\u201d said the Serpent. \u201cShall we fight or make peace?\u201d
\u201cWe\u2019ll fight,\u201d said Pokotyhoroshko. \u201cI want no peace with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen blow first,\u201d said the Serpent.
\u201cYou blow first,\u201d said Pokotyhoroshko. \u201cIt\u2019s your home, not mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Serpent blew, and his threshing floor turned to iron. Pokotyhoroshko blew, and his turned to copper. Then Pokotyhoroshko struck the Serpent with his mace \u2014 the Serpent sank knee-deep into the earth. He struck again and killed him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pokotyhoroshko chopped the Serpent into pieces, scattered his ashes, freed his brothers from beneath the stone, and took them and his sister home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their father and mother rejoiced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n