Once upon a time there lived a peasant in the mountain steppes. He lived with his wife and his son in a small hut - yurt. When his son grew up, he turned into a handsome young man who loved to have a rest in bed, especially to sleep. One day he had a wonderful dream.
When he woke up, he burst out laughing and said to his parents:
"I had such a wonderful dream that I want to take my chance. Father, let me roam about the world!"
His mother asked him:
"Tell us firstly your wonderful dream!" - But her son did not tell her.
His father also asked:
"Tell us your dream before you go away!"
But the young man knew that it is better to hide good dreams, and he was silent to avoid trouble or difficulties. However they continued to press the boy and then, because he always suffered from hunger, he said:
"I'm hungry! I'll tell you my dream, if you kill our yak!"
And his parents slaughtered their only yak, cooked the meat and fed their son. But after eating his fill, he did not tell them what happened in his wonderful dream! His mother got angry and banished her son from their yurt. His father put him in a large wooden box, nailed the cover and threw the box into the river.
For a long time, the box had been drifting down the river with the stream. The young man was close to death from hunger, cold and knocks of the mountain river. Finally, the box got to a big town, where it was fished out of water by guards, and the young man was taken to the court of the Khan (a ruler).
He asked the young man:
"How could it happen that you got in the box and was thrown into the river?"
And the young man told the Khan, what had been the case.
"What had you seen in your wonderful dream?" - asked the Khan.
"Your Grace, it's not a good thing to retell a nice dream!" - replied the young man.
The Khan became furious and ordered his guards to put this disobedient man in prison.
While the young dreamer had been in the prison, almost without food and drink, that country was attacked by another Khan, who conquered all and sundry. One day the young man was taken out of the prison, to the court of the new Khan.
He asked:
"Why were you kept in prison?"
And the young man told him, that he had seen a wonderful dream and what then followed.
"What was the dream? Tell it to me!" - demanded the Khan.
"Your Grace, it's considered a bad omen - to tell a pleasant dream," - replied the young man and stopped talking. The Khan was on tiptoe with curiosity: he was asking and threatening that stubborn "mule", but was unable to achieve anything. The angry Khan ordered to lock the silly dreamer in prison.
And again the unhappy guy was thrown into the prison and sitting behind bars. He was very saddened by his position, but one morning he recollected his wonderful dream and began to sing...
The youngest daughter of the Khan, having heard him by chance, was so pleased with his singing that she, who had never seen him before, fell in love with the young prisoner. She asked her father to let him out of prison. She insisted, begging the Khan, until he could no longer resist. Finally the terrible Khan realized her "heart's desire" and allowed the young man to marry her.
There was a big feast then, and the beautiful maiden became a wife of the handsome dreamer.
One day he was sitting in the meadow, in front of his new yurt worthy of a Khan, and three charming girls, daughters of the Khan, entertained him. The eldest sister was sitting by his head and combing his hair; the second sister was sitting beside him and singing for him; and the third of them and most beautiful was lying in his arms - that was his wife. Suddenly the young fellow burst out laughing. They asked him:
"Hey, boy, what are you laughing at?"
And he said:
"I couldn't help remembering that wonderful dream, which I had seen in my childhood." "And what was the dream?" - they asked.
Some time he tried firmly to evade the question, but the charming girls pressed him too hard that he began his story.
"Well, I had dreamt that I was sitting in a beautiful meadow. The sun - was my pillow, the crescent - was my armrest, and on my breast - a night star was having a rest. That is why I had a good laugh."
And as soon as he said that, he felt weak, fell down on the ground and lost consciousness...
When he came to himself, he found out that he was lying in his straw bed inside the squalid yurt of his parents.
![The Tale of the Wonderful Dream [Славянский Владимир Владимирович]](/img/s/slawjanskij_wladimir_wladimirowich/thetaleofthewonderfuldream/thetaleofthewonderfuldream-1.jpg)