River ofВ fairy tales. Unprofessional translation from Russian
Viktor Gitin
In this book the surprising and wonderful fairy tales written in Russia are collected. They are interesting and clear for adults and children. Because they tell us about simple and eternal problems. These fairy tales are about good and evil, truth and lie, bravery and cowardice, unselfishness and greed, about hatred and love. They will be interesting for everyone who wants to think and is able to, reflects and feels.
River ofВ fairy tales
Unprofessional translation from Russian
Viktor Gitin
Illustrator Tatiana Zavialova
© Viktor Gitin, 2022
© Tatiana Zavialova, illustrations, 2022
ISBNВ 978-5-0055-9690-1
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Prophetic Cushion
Once upon aВ time there lived two sisters. The younger sister was kind, nice and hardworking. Her name was Alena. The elder sister was wicked and envious. Her name was Clara. Their parents died, and the two sisters lived together inВ aВ house byВ the side ofВ the road.
Once a poor old lady was passing by, and she stopped to spend the night in the girls’ house. Alena gave the lady something to eat and drink, and then prepared a soft featherbed for her to sleep on. She always treated guests and old people with deference and tried to appease them and make them comfortable.
The elder sister was not happy with the old lady’s presence. She was grumbling the whole evening, looking at her discontentedly, and did not even say good night to the old woman. She was too greedy to give the stranger food or shelter. The biggest wealth that Clara had amassed was her greediness. She was too greedy even to share the sunrays from her yard for free.
InВ the morning, when the guest was about toВ leave, she decided toВ thank the young girls. She took aВ soft embroidered cushion out ofВ her bag and gave it toВ the sisters. When leaving, she smiled and said:
В«This is not an ordinary cushion. When you sleep on it, you have prophetic dreams, and they come true when you wake up. You will see inВ your dream whatever you think ofВ before sleeping. And whatever you see inВ your dream, will happen toВ you. AВ good person will see aВ good dream and his life will be good. And aВ bad person will see aВ bad dream, and it will be only fair that he will have trouble and misfortunes.В»
The elder sister did not believe aВ word and accused the old lady ofВ lying and telling cock-and-bull stories. And the younger sister accepted the gift with gratitude and wished the old woman aВ nice trip and aВ good day. So, they parted.
On the first night, Alena said:
«Sister, tomorrow we will go to the forest to pick berries and mushrooms. It’s good if we are lucky to find a lot of berries and mushrooms. We will bring them home and store them to use in the winter.»
With these thoughts Alena fell asleep. InВ her dream, she saw aВ forest and aВ wonderful meadow spangled with berries and mushrooms. They were walking around with her sister and picking them, and they had full baskets, too heavy toВ carry. Fortunately, they saw aВ man riding on aВ cart. He agreed toВ help the girls. They put their supplies inВ the cart, occupying all the space, and brought them home.
When Alena woke up, she told Clara her dream at once. But the elder sister started toВ make fun ofВ the youngerВ one:
«Silly you are! How can this be that two girls picked a whole cartful of berries and mushrooms? And met a man with a cart in the dense forest? And he helped them absolutely for free? Such things don’t happen in our life!»
Clara did not like her sister first of all because other people loved her, and she was better than her. Of all her relatives, she loved only herself. That’s why Clara laughed at the sister and her dream, and they went to the forest. But a miracle happened – they really happened to stumble upon a wonderful meadow. And there were so many mushrooms and berries there! You could pick them with a spade. And there were plenty of berries on the bushes, all of them ripe and juicy. Put a basket under a bush, shake the branches several times, and the basket is full of berries. Just one problem – where to put all this wealth? But suddenly they saw, just as Alena did in her dream, a man riding on a cart. He saw the sisters and said:
В«Beautiful girls, shall IВ help you? IВ can bring everything you have gathered toВ your house.В»
Clara did not believe in the man’s kindness and wanted to drive him away. But Alena accepted his help before her sister managed to do anything. On the contrary, she thanked him heartily. They loaded the whole cart with supplies and brought them all home. There were so many of them that the man got his share, too, in reward for his help. It’s only the greedy elder sister who did not want to share the supplies. She was walking about and grumbling that the man transported their berries and mushrooms too carelessly and mashed them on hollows and sloughs. But Alena gave the kind man his share of mushrooms and berries on the sly. He was thankful to her for that and promised to help her in the future, should an opportunity arise.
InВ the evening Clara thought about the magic cushion the old lady had given toВ them. What if it is really prophetic? The elder sister decided toВ see for herself and told Alena before going toВ sleep:
В«Now IВ will sleep on the cushion and wish aВ dream toВ have.В»
But Clara could not imagine what dream toВ wish. She was envious the whole day that the younger sister had such aВ good dream last night and everything turned out toВ as be promised. As on the next day the girls were going toВ the forest again toВ pick healing herbs and roots, Clara wickedly decided: В«We will collect those herbs anyway! May wolves attack my sister inВ the forest and scare her very much!В» Thinking so, she fell asleep. She dreamt ofВ fierce wolves inВ the dense forest: they were running and chasing, snapping their teeth, and sputtering.
InВ the morning the elder sister sprang up terrified, inВ cold sweat. But she saw inВ her dream what she had wished. She did not tell Alena about her dream.
The sisters went to the forest and lost their way. They found themselves in a dark thicket. Sunrays could not get through; the huge trees covered the sky with their tops. Then fierce wolves appeared all of a sudden. The girls started to run, and the animals chased them. Everything happened just like in Clara’s dream. The sisters hardly managed to escape from wolves, their dresses were torn to pieces. Their hands and legs were scratched, bruised and bleeding, but they found their way in the forest and got away from trouble.
They came home and the elder sister said:
«That’s a bad cushion! I don’t want to sleep on it anymore. Sleep yourself on this bewitched cushion!»
She threw it toВ Alena. The younger sister agreed and asked:
«What shall I ask the cushion for to see in this night’s dream?»
Clara took offence at the cushion, but decided toВ make fun ofВ her sister:
«It’s time we got married, but we have no dowry at all! We have no smart clothes or jewelry. Ask your cushion for luxurious outfits and beautiful jewelry.»
В«Right, sister,В» Alena replied.
Before going toВ sleep she sat down near the cushion and thought:
«It would be nice if we could have a new dress each and girls’ trinketry. Not much – just a little bit.»
Thinking so, she fell asleep. InВ her dream she saw Clara and herself walking inВ smart dresses. The earrings inВ their ears were glistening, and pearl necklaces on their necks were sparkling. Alena woke up and told her sister:
В«Sister, inВ my dream IВ saw that we will have new dresses made ofВ brocade, turquoise earrings and pearl necklaces.В»
Clara started toВ scold her sister as she was offended and envious that she had had such aВ wonderful dream:
«You are silly and featherheaded! Where can we get all this? Will it fall from the sky? You believe this stupid cushion! And this is nothing, but the old woman’s lies!»
InВ the evening, foreign merchants returning from aВ fair were passing byВ their house. They sold their goods at great profit and were returning home merrily. The merchants asked the sisters toВ stay inВ their house overnight.
Clara met the guests angrily as she usually did. She did not take care ofВ them, just mumbled something rude. And Alena welcomed the unexpected guests with aВ smile, gave them something toВ eat and drink and put them toВ bed. InВ the morning, before leaving, the merchants agreed toВ thank the younger sister for such aВ hearty welcome. They searched through the remains ofВ their goods and gave her two brocade dresses, aВ pair ofВ turquoise earrings and aВ pair ofВ white and blue pearl necklaces. They liked the kind girl very much: she welcomed them heartily, gave tasty food, said kind words. And they did not want toВ take these goods home anyway. It was aВ relief for the merchants and aВ delight for aВ nice girl. The guests said good-bye and left inВ aВ good mood.
Clara saw that and moved toВ complain:
В«IВ asked the dowry for myself, and the wretched and ungrateful merchants gave all the gifts toВ you! Where is the justice? IВ am deprived and offended!В»
«Don’t be angry, my dear sister. If you like these dresses, earrings, and necklaces, take them all for yourself!» Alena offered her the gifts with a smile.
The younger sister was not greedy and loved her grumbling sister. She had no other relatives in the world. And Alena’s heart was pure and light. She felt bad if her elder sister was grieving or angry. That’s why she always tried to appease Clara and make her feel good.
The elder sister took away all the merchants’ gifts at once and started to scold Alena again:
«You are so unsophisticated! Why did you ask the cushion for so little? These dresses and jewelry are not sufficient. I want more – and more luxurious, too!»
Now Clara clearly understood that the cushion was really magic. The dreams come true for the third time inВ succession. She took away the cushion and said:
В«This night, IВ will dream ofВ our wealth myself. Go toВ bed, and IВ will think what toВ wish.В»
In the evening Clara sat down and started to ponder: «I wish a lot of gold and silver for myself, and my sister will get shards and pieces of glass. She shouldn’t dress and look better than me!»
Clara went so deeply into her dreams, wishing toВ offend and humiliate her sister as much as possible, that she fell asleep with these thoughts. InВ her dream she saw aВ barrel ofВ broken shards and aВ chest ofВ glass pieces.
On the next day, aВ glassblower with his goods and aВ potter with pots were passing byВ their house on their way toВ the fair. They asked toВ stay inВ their house overnight. The elder sister looked at the guests and saw that they were not rich, and no profit could be obtained from them. She told them toВ go toВ the shed and spend the night there. She was so angry that she failed toВ get gold and silver as aВ dowry that she was walking about on the jump.
At night, when everybody fell asleep, she went out and inВ anger smashed some jugs and glassware that belonged toВ the craftsmen. InВ the morning they woke up and saw that somebody had done the smashing. The glassblower and the potter turned sad. But they had nothing toВ do, they picked up the remains ofВ goods and cleaned the yard before leaving. They put the shards and pieces ofВ glass inВ the barrel and inВ the chest, so that the sisters would not have toВ sweep so much after them.
When Clara woke up and went out, she saw that everything happened exactly as she had seen in her dream last night. She realized that the younger sister’s dreams were better when they came true and started to hate Alena even more because of that. Clara did not know her real value, so she considered herself to be priceless. As for her sister, she treated her as an obstacle in her life.
В«This night we will sleep on the cushion together,В» Clara decided toВ dodge.
«It’s time we thought about handsome fiancés. So, we will act in this way – you will wish a fiancé for me in your dream, and I will wish one for you.»
«Let’s do as you say, sister,» Alena agreed obediently.
They went toВ sleep side byВ side and put their heads on the edges ofВ the cushion.
Alena dreams before going to sleep: «It would be nice if a good-hearted young man on a white horse came to us. He would be so dashing, handsome and well-built…»
She fell asleep and saw exactly what she thought inВ her dream. And she also saw aВ palace and aВ great feast. Singers were singing, musicians were playing merry tunes, guests were dancing boldly. Everybody around was celebrating aВ wedding.
And Clara thought before going toВ sleep: В«May my sister have an old, ugly and wicked fiancГ©. May she live inВ the thicket, drudge with her husband all her life and appease him!В»
That’s what she saw. A dense forest and an old terrible bandit sitting on a crumbly stump. Around him, his terrible companions were feeding a fire, roasting meat, drinking home brew, swearing, and fighting – thus celebrating their chieftain’s wedding.
On the next day, early at sunrise, aВ squad ofВ brave warriors was passing byВ the house. It was headed byВ aВ young and dashing prince. The younger sister was hardworking, and she always set about her duties inВ the yard since early morning. She woke up at dawn and was working inВ the vegetable garden when the warriors were passing byВ along the road.
