River of fairy tales. Unprofessional translation from Russian. Viktor Gitin
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СКАЧАТЬ so well that I can easily drive anyone crazy. If I have profit, I will wrap around my fingers any devil or Satan himself.»

      «And I am so strong that I fear nobody. If need be, I will beat anybody and take away what I like,» the middle brother boasted. «Nobody will contest my power!»

      And they hurried to the cave. The younger brother could not leave them and dragged behind.

      When the travelers entered the cave, they saw a big flat rock. It was lying in the middle of the cave. It was half black and half white. On this unusual rock there were huge scales. One scale was light, bright and shining. It hurt to look at it – so blinding it was. The second scale was dark, and it emanated terrible cold. It was so powerful that fear reached your bones.

      «Who will fulfill our wishes?» the elder brother shouted menacingly.

      He liked to command and order everybody about. He was a rich owner and a noble merchant and did not want to rely upon somebody’s mercy. He was used to taking everything he needed using strength, money, slyness, or tricks.

      As soon as he said that a huge rock closed the entrance to the cave. The walls and the vaulting started shaking, and the travelers found themselves in a trap. A column of fire water appeared above the black and white rock lying in the middle of the cave. It was not clear whether it was flowing fire or burning water. Then the Wish Fulfillment Spirit appeared out of this unusual column. It was strange, huge, and black and white, like the rock.

      The Spirit rolled in a thunderous voice:

      «Welcome, strangers! The one who comes to me always has his wish fulfilled. I can do anything you want. But just one wish each and with a condition.»

      «What condition?» the middle brother asked, fearlessly stepping forward.

      He wanted to show his bravery and courage to his brothers very much. Moreover, he was a bully and liked all kinds of brawls and skirmishes.

      «The condition is simple,» the Spirit roared. «Each of you will get what you deserve. All years and affairs in your life will lie on these scales. The time you lived perfectly, and your good deeds will fall on the light scale. And all the years lived in vain and unworthily and your bad deeds will be gathered on the black scale. If most of your life was good and kind and the light scale is heavier, your wish will be fulfilled to this extent. And if the lesser part of your life was good and kind and the black scale is heavier, you will lose even what you have. If you have more bad things than good things in your life and affairs, you may lose everything».

      The elder and middle brothers agreed at once without much thinking. Each person considers himself to be good and kind. Everybody thinks highly of himself and is ready to blame others for bad deeds, but not himself. A person is more likely to justify himself than to admit his guilt.

      The brothers decided that they have nothing to fear. They thought they had done many perfect things in their life. And even if they did something not quite good, there was not much of it. Their good deeds will cover over and above all the mistakes, minor faults, and bad deeds.

      The elder brother was the first to approach the scales. Like most people, he was convinced of other people’s depravity and his innocence. He did not think much; he said that he wanted to have an enormous wealth. I wish to be richer than overseas merchants with whom I met and traded some time ago. He started to describe how much gold and semiprecious stones he wanted and what house he wished to have. He said in detail how many doors, windows, and rooms he would like it to have. He also remembered to describe the shops and goods he wanted to have. He wanted very much to be richer than all the merchants he knew. In a nutshell, he took explaining his wish seriously. It was quite understandable: he was a merchant, so he was used to counting and recounting everything. He counted every coin, every trifle.

      The middle brother was not very modest, either. Confidence in his rightness and impunity replaced his conscience and shame a long time ago. He stepped forward and wished to be the strongest man on earth, so that nobody could ever beat him, and so that the story of his great strength would be spread all over the world. He said what swords, spears, armor and boots he needed for that.

      Then he said how many kilos he wanted to lift with each arm and how accurately he wanted to shoot. And in the end, he ordered his favorite wine which sustained his power in revelries.

      The younger brother smiled and said that he did not need anything. He had no great wishes, and as for those he has, he will fulfill them himself. And he started to persuade his brothers to leave the cave as soon as possible. He did not like it here; his heart felt that something was wrong.

      This elder brother’s life was the first to fall on the scales. Wonderful balloons started to fly down from the sky. Each balloon contained a story from his life. The white balloons which fell on the light scale contained a good story from life, some good deed, or a well-meant initiative. And the dark balloons that fell on the black scale displayed bad deeds and evil thoughts of the elder brother.

      He had few kind and good deeds in his life. Several times he donated some money to the temple. But during the next three years he mentioned how much he was donating to church. He wanted to convince everybody that it is only thanks to him that there is holiness and faith in their town. He gave a few coins to the poor, but he boasted everybody long after that and claimed to have spent a whole fortune on the poor and the needy.

      As for evil deeds, he had ten times more of them. He cheated people while selling, replaced good products with bad ones. He dismissed a servant who had five children, and she nearly avoided starvation to death. He scolded his workers for no reason or fault. He told lies and cheated every day. In the end, the scales lopsided to the side of sins and evil ten times more than to the side of good.

      And the brothers saw through the walls, in a magic mist, that their caravan and all the goods disappeared. They looked on the other side and were terrified: the elder brother’s house and the shop with all his possessions were burning in the town where they lived. In an instant, all his wealth disappeared. And even his clothes turned into rags. He was standing in the middle of the cave in wretched rags, poor and penniless. The elder brother burst into tears, started to yell, and tremble. He sniveled and fell to the ground, helpless and paralyzed.

      The middle brother came to the scales and started to enumerate his good deeds. Brave and impudent though he was, he became more tense and serious when he saw what happened to his elder brother. But there was no backing space. And he really wanted to become the strongest person in the world.

      It was difficult for him to remember good deeds. He remembered that once he defended an old lady from a drunkard. He helped a girl to carry a heavy pitcher to the house. He liked the young beauty and wanted to get acquainted with her, so he helped her. He hardly remembered a couple of other good deeds, and he could recollect no more. But he had four times as many evil deeds. He fought, stirred up trouble wishing to make a parade of his strength, and offended people who were weaker than him. And he spoiled so many other people’s things when he was drunk that it would take long to enumerate them. Dark balloons were falling and falling from the sky. In the end, the scale with bad deeds became much heavier than the light scale.

      The middle brother instantly turned into an infirm old man. A bonny and strong young man became feeble, humped, and miserable. His legs failed and grew weak. He sat down on the ground, put his head into his hands and burst into bitter tears.

      The СКАЧАТЬ