River of fairy tales. Unprofessional translation from Russian. Viktor Gitin
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СКАЧАТЬ his teeth disgustingly. He saw Clara and laughed nastily and loud, saying in his strident voice:

      «Now the forest is your house! You will appease me all my life. And if you don’t obey, I will punish you and give you to fierce wild animals.»

      The chieftain ordered the bandits to prepare a wedding celebration. And then everything happened in the way Clara had wished in her dream for her younger sister. It was so because she did not remember the words of the old lady who had given them the cushion. The old woman warned: you will get what you wish. A good dream will come to a good person, and his life will be good, too. And a bad person, doing bad deeds, will have a bad dream and trouble will come.

      When the young prince brought Alena to his palace, he made a nice wedding. The feast was so marvelous that you couldn’t tell in a tale or write with a pen. Guslars were playing, traveling minstrels were dancing, singers were singing. And the guests celebrated for three days and three nights.

      And as for the magic cushion, it should have perished in the fire when the bandits burned the house. Or perhaps it did not. It is magic anyway. Who knows, probably it exists somewhere in the world. People have new dreams on it. And they are not just dreams, they are prophetic ones – they always come true! Kind people have good dreams. And wicked people have the dreams they deserve!

      Two Seeds

      Once upon a time there was a ship which sailed in the sea. But the storm blew up and the ship sunk. Only two people got saved, two castaways, the farmer and the merchant. They found themselves on a desert island. Nobody to be seen for miles and miles around… only a thick forest grows, and the fields spread. How to survive in such unpopulated place? The only luck it happened in the beginning of summer. There were mushrooms and berries in the forest, all kinds of fruits ripened on the trees. They were glad to find food for the first time and rejoiced they would not die of hunger.

      Thus, they looked around, sat on an old log and started to think how they would survive on this island. Suddenly an old raven appeared as if from nowhere. He sat on a branch, bowed his head slightly on the side, and stared at the people. The merchant wanted to drive the bird away with a stick. He was so very angry and frustrated because of the shipwreck and the fact that all his merchandise sank in the sea. He flourished a stick at the raven when the bird croaked and then said with a clear human voice:

      «I am the owner of this island. You are my guests now, so I will help you a bit. In the very center of the island there is a big tree stump. There is a casket on it. It holds two magic seeds. One seed is common, the other one is gold. Go and plant them in the field. As man sows, so he shall reap!»

      Upon having spoken these words the raven flew away. The Farmer and the Merchant were surprised at what happened but went to where the raven had shown. There they found the tree stump and the casket.

      The Merchant said:

      «I will take the gold seed! I will plant it and will grow the gold wheat. I will be rich again. Gold is always useful; one can live everywhere if one has gold. I know this from my own experience. One can buy everything with gold.»

      «I don’t know how to live with gold. I have never chased riches in my life,» the Farmer retorted. «All my life I’ve been growing wheat. I think I will take the ordinary seed and plant it.»

      «You are a fool,» the Merchant scolded him. «You understand nothing in life that is why you are so poor. Take your ordinary seed. And don’t even look at my gold one!»

      The Merchant grabbed the gold seed and ran away before the Farmer changed his mind. He was hoping for the future but forget about the present, as many people do. The most intolerable thing for him was other people’s wealth.

      Thus, they went every which way. On the opposite sides of the island, they have built huts where they lived. Near each hut each one of them spotted a good lot to plant their seeds.

      The Merchant dug a hole in the field and planted his gold seed. He tried to hide and cover where he did it so that the Farmer wouldn’t see it so well that instantly forgot where he planted his seed. First, he was worried, and then calmed down. «That was a smart idea of mine,» he thought. «The seed is magic; it’s made of gold, so one doesn’t need to take care of it. It doesn’t need any work. The only thing I have to do is to wait till the gold wheat grows.»

      Usually, the more stupid is the person the cleverer he thinks he is. In fact, everybody has some human stupidity but not everybody shows it and boasts it.

      So, by day the Merchant went to the forest to gather mushrooms, berries, and fruits – to have something to eat. The rest of the day he just slept, lounged away, and basked in the sun. He was dreaming how he would get rich with his harvest of gold wheat, how he would live rich and wealthy doing nothing. He was so happy thinking this he even envied himself.

      The ordinary seed was magic, too, but still required a lot of work. To grow wheat in the field one has to plow it, drag it, fertilize it, weed it away, water it… Everything what a farmer does when he grows normal wheat.

      Thus, the Farmer started to plow and drag his field. It was a difficult task for one person. He had neither horses nor oxen. Food he had to gather in the wood took much time, too. He’s been working night and day fearing he would be late with preparing the land.

      So, he came to the Merchant.

      «Please, help me to plow the field. I won’t be able to do it myself,» he said.

      «What for?» the Merchant was indignant. «I have a lot of things to do, too!»

      Meanwhile he was only basking in the sun, eating the sweet berries heartily. The Farmer only sighed sadly and went to his field – to go on working. He went on working on his land without any sleep or rest.

      The Merchant only looked at him and thought: «I don’t believe this beggar. I have to hide my field from him. When my gold wheat grows, he’ll get envious and will most definitely coma and try to steal it!»

      Thus, the Merchant started to make a fence around his hut and his field, trying to hide his crops from the Farmer.

      The time passed, the Farmer planted his seed. Now the land should be fertilized to get a good harvest from it afterwards. Again, he came to the Merchant.

      «Please, neighbor, could you help me to fertilize my field,» he asked. «It’s so difficult to do it alone, and you just lay behind your fence doing nothing.»

      «Don’t be stupid,» the Merchant snapped back. «I work just as hard. I protect my field from birds and wild animals. Can’t you see I’ve built a fence? Go away and do everything yourself!»

      The Farmer went away. He gathered some manure and bird droppings and threw it evenly in the field. It was quite difficult, but he did fertilize the entire field by himself.

      The Merchant spied on him from behind his fence and thought: «My fence is too small. The Farmer could easily get over it. I will gather more pricks and burrs in the forest tomorrow and will throw them around my fence. Thus, he will never steal my crops.»

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