Once upon a time there were once a long time ago - the king and queen. The king was blond, with blond hair, just handsome. And the Queen was dark-skinned, with black hair and black eyes. And also very beautiful, the eyes do not tear! They loved each other very much, went out for a walk every day, rode their kingdom on horses: the King on a black horse, the Queen on his white favorite horse. They reached the very borders of their possessions, everyone he met smiled and bowed to them, greeted them. Peace reigned in the Kingdom. But the King and the Queen had no children.
Everyone knew that they had such grief. There is no one to leave the kingdom, but no one could help.
One day, an old witch who worked in the royal palace as a cook made of wheat and rye flour two small figures, black and white, and presented to the Royal Family.
- Your Majesty, here is my humble gift for you - two test-boys. If you want, I will infuse human souls in them, and they will come to life. I will give them human qualities: kindness, generosity, intelligence. If during life they lose these human qualities, they will again turn into small worms. And then no one will help them, they will remain toys forever.
The king and the Queen agreed with pleasure. The boys grew by leaps and bounds. The king and the Queen spoiled them: they were all allowed, they didn’t know the word “no”. Such handsome men grew up: one dark, the other light-colored, but so capricious and envious. Now and then they swore, and even fought. Years passed: the boys got married, started their own family. Each family wanted to live separately from each other, to have their own state, their own army.
While the King and the Queen were alive, they tolerated each other, but one day the King and the Queen did not become ... Everyone wept, grieved for a long time. Everyone knew that these two brothers would not get along together. And so it happened; they divided the big royal possession into small squares, the black prince painted his territory black, and the white prince painted white. Everyone had their own army, their own horses, their own border, live and rejoice! But no, they lost the qualities that the old witch-cook presented them, all the time raising war against each other, did not live in peace and quiet
And in one winter sunny morning they woke up with small figures, hard as a stone,. Could not help but move, nor did the blink of an eye predict the old sorceress — beautiful handsome princes, with all the royal retinue, army, possessions, turned into toys.
Since then, much water has flowed under the bridge, but people still play with these fancy figures, far resembling living people.
