Once upon a time, there lived two handsome but poor brothers who survived by fishing. One day, after a long and fruitless effort, they caught only a tiny fish. The elder brother wanted to eat it, but the younger pleaded for its life. The fish promised them good fortune in return for its freedom: two magnificent horses with armor, swords, and gold would await them on the shore the next morning. Skeptical but persuaded by his brother, the elder agreed to release it.
The next day, the promise was fulfilled. The brothers equipped themselves, agreed to use a magical fig-tree to signal their well-being (milk for safety, blood for danger), and set off on separate adventures.
The elder brother journeyed to a foreign kingdom where a seven-headed serpent terrorized the land, demanding a daily human sacrifice. The king's daughter was chained to a rock as the next victim. The brother fought and slew the monster, freeing the princess. She promised to marry him, but he asked her to wait seven years and seven months while he continued his travels. As proof of his deed, he took the serpent's seven tongues.
A slave arrived, saw the dead serpent and the freed princess, and threatened to kill her unless she credited him with the slaying. Forced to comply, the princess returned home, where the slave was hailed as a hero and promised her hand in marriage. She begged for a delay of seven years and seven months, which the king granted.
At the end of that period, the true hero returned just before the wedding. He presented the tongues and the princess's embroidered cloth as proof. The slave's treachery was exposed and punished, and the hero married the princess.
They lived happily until the hero saw a bright light on a distant mountain. Ignoring his wife's warnings about a powerful witch who lived there, he rode off to confront her. The witch turned him to stone with a single hair from her head.
Meanwhile, the younger brother, concerned, checked the fig-tree and saw blood flow from its bark. He raced to find his brother and arrived at the princess's city. Mistaken for his identical twin, he was welcomed as the returning husband but respectfully kept his distance from the grieving princess. From her words, he deduced his brother's fate and set off to rescue him.
An old man advised him that the witch's power resided in her hair. The younger brother bravely confronted her, seized her by the hair, and forced her to lead him to his petrified brother. After making her apply a life-restoring ointment, he beheaded her. The brothers revived other victims, shared the witch's treasure, and set off for home.
On the journey, the younger brother innocently remarked how foolish it was to leave such a beautiful wife. Enraged by misunderstanding, the elder brother slew him on the spot. Overcome with remorse upon returning home and learning from his wife how his "double" had behaved honorably, he realized his brother's loyalty. He rushed back, used the witch's ointment to revive his brother, begged for forgiveness, and they were joyfully reunited, never to part again.