Tsarevich Naydyonysh

In a certain kingdom there lived a kind elderly tsar. One evening, he heard a soft, unfamiliar sound in the stables. The tsar took a lantern and walked through…

In a certain kingdom there lived a kind elderly tsar. One evening, he heard a soft, unfamiliar sound in the stables. The tsar took a lantern and walked through the bright stalls with his faithful servant. They looked behind the neatly stacked hay and called out so that anyone who needed help would not be afraid to answer.

In the clean golden hay, they found a woven basket, and inside it was a calm, swaddled baby. A blue ribbon lay beside the baby, but there was no letter and no name. The tsar carefully lifted the basket and said, “Since we found you, we will take care of you.” At the palace, the boy was named Naydyonysh.

The palace nurse laid the baby in a carved wooden cradle and covered him with a soft blanket. The boy grew up surrounded by love, learned to read, helped in the garden, and always asked what the right thing to do was. The tsar did not hide the story of how they had met. He said that a person’s deeds, not their origins, made them worthy of respect.

Many years passed. When Naydyonysh grew up, the tsar invited him into a bright palace hall and asked him a riddle: “What makes a ruler strong?” The young man answered, “The ability to listen, tell the truth, and protect those who are having a hard time.” The wise adviser nodded, and the tsar asked Naydyonysh to explain his answer to everyone gathered there.

The answer showed both the young man’s intelligence and his kind heart. The tsar named him Tsarevich Naydyonysh and promised to keep teaching him how to care for the kingdom. A young tsarevna who was visiting the palace gave him a small laurel wreath. Everyone went out into the garden beneath a flower-covered arch, where the tsar and the young man he had raised as a son stood side by side.