Week Fourteen Storytelling: Kindness

“You don’t have to work out here, Katya.” Prince Nikita handed me a piece of his lunch. “My father could provide you with a dowry and arrange a husband for you.”

I snorted. “No thanks. I am more than happy here.”

“You are not paid well, and we both know it.”

“I am given room and board. Three kopecks beyond that is enough.”

“You are worth more than that.” Prince Nikita shook his head before getting back on his horse and riding away.

*

An hour later I was running an errand in town. A frightened screech echoed out from the alley I was passing.

Inside was an old man holding a tiny cat in an even tinier cage.

“Release it at once!” I shouted.

“For three kopecks, he is yours.” The old man’s eyes glinted mysteriously.

I threw my salary at the man and freed the poor animal from its prison, scooping it up into my hand. I turned to berate the man, but he had vanished.

*

Slowly, I nursed the kitten back to health, keeping it inside my pocket while I worked. Each day, he grew stronger and bigger, his black fur becoming glossy.

And Prince Nikita didn’t return, so I spent my lunch break alone in the orchard for the first time in years. According to a rumor, his father had sent him away to a coastal boarding school.

*

As Chernysh grew bigger, it became harder to keep him with me. He outgrew my pocket quickly. Leaving him home failed, so he stayed by my side in the fields. Although he never strayed far from me, I heard the murmurs of my coworkers. Some whispered that his black coat was cursed, while others muttered that Chernysh was getting too big and would soon attack someone.

But he was too loyal for that. I knew that unless I was endangered, he was docile and laid patiently at my feet. He kept me warm at night, and I gave him half of my food, unwilling to let him go without again.

*

“Katya, your pet is scaring the other laborers. Get rid of it or you’re fired,” my boss glared at Chernysh who was almost as tall as my hip now.

“Goodbye then.”

*

We wandered by the side of the road for awhile, Chernysh brushing up against my legs almost as an apology.

“Don’t worry.” I scratched behind his ears.

“Miss!” an old woman called. “Think that big cat of yours can catch some mice?”

*

After Chernysh exterminated all of the pests from the woman’s house, she let us stay the night.

And this is how we traveled. Helping people from town to town, I saw so much of the country. Citizens heard stories of Chernysh and flocked to see us. There were rumors that I was a sorcerer who enslaved a wild panther or that I had been raised by animals.

Almost three years had passed by the time we reached the ocean.

But just as we arrived, a huge rumble echoed from the cliffs as chunks of rock broke apart.

“Landslide!” Someone sprinted past me.

“Let’s go, Chernysh!” Instead of turning around, we headed for the crushed structures as soon as the dust had settled.

Chernysh loped ahead of me, searching the remains for signs of life.

“Head to the academy, Lady Katya!” a fleeing villager shouted, pointing to a mass of timber sticking out of a cluster of rocks.

“Understood!” As soon as I got to the wreck, Chernysh stopped in front of a pile of rubble. As he pushed rocks with his paw, I rolled some of the larger rocks away before finding a sturdy pole for leverage.

As I removed the last boulder, I saw the boy trapped in a hollow space.

“Can you move?” I offered him a hand, and he took it, nodding. “Head to the village.”

Chernysh and I worked for hours, slowly freeing students from the remains of their institution with the occasional aid of volunteers.

By the time night fell, I was beginning to think we wouldn’t find anymore survivors.

Just as I was about to give up, Chernysh stopped.

After I dug through the rocks, I found a man about my age whose legs were partially crushed under a stone.

I’m not sure he’s alive. I worked quickly, motioning for the physician on standby.

“Prince Nikita!” She shouted, desperately feeling for a pulse. “He’s still alive!

With our combined strength, Chernysh and I freed the prince’s legs, and the women whisked away my old friend before I could speak to him.

After that, we found no more survivors.

*

Despite the numerous skills I had learned in my years traveling, I had never mastered medicine. Instead, Chernysh and I worked fixing the damaged buildings and farmland.

As I worked, I heard numerous stories about the prince’s steady recovery and the king’s possible visit.

And one day, he was just there, dressed in beautiful finery. “I hear you are the one who saved my son?”

I knelt. “It was my honor.”

“My son’s hand in marriage is yours if you want it. An enchantress princess beloved by all would make a fine queen someday.” He smiled before leaving.

Marry Prince Nikita? We were friends years ago, but now?

Chernysh rubbed against the side of my legs, and I scratched his ears. He nudged me towards where Prince Nikita was being treated.

“Fine.” I sighed, temporarily abandoning my work.

As I got closer, I could see Prince Nikita resting outside and hear his agitated voice.

“You promised me to an enchantress?!”

“She saved your life. Do not forget that.”

“I was your friend first before I was this enchantress you speak of.” Chernysh followed as I walked towards him.

“Katya?” His eyes widened. “You’re the enchantress?”

“At your service, my prince.” I smirked, and Chernysh purred.

Author's Note: For this retelling, I mostly based it off the story of "The Three Copecks" in which at the beginning, a boy says if he truly serves his master well, let the kopeck he throws into a well float at the end of the year. It doesn't until the third year when all three of them come to the surface. He goes into town and then sees children torturing a cat who he then buys for the three kopecks. The cat brings him fortune but not quite in the same way I wrote it. I knew I wanted the cat to grow big and powerful, but I was going to keep the hero a male until I read a story about an enchantress princess. So I switched to a heroine and decided to try to get her to become a princess somehow due to her cat friend.
Thus led to Katya whose name I must have picked subconsciously. Besides her cat adventures, I added in the king giving away the prince's hand in marriage. This happens to princesses all of the time in fairy tales, and readers mostly don't bat an eye. Yet it felt so strange gender swapped.

As for her feline friend, Chernysh is a diminutive form of the Russian word for "black" and is one of the most popular cat names in Russia.

Bibliography: "Russian Folktales" by W. R. S. Ralston.

Image Information: "black-panther" by LetsCountTheWays