A long time ago, a husband and wife lived in the same village. They lived poorly. That husband was lazy, he didn’t like peasant labor, and all he did was wander around the yard all day. And his wife worked in the field from morning to night - but her wealth did not increase in any way! It happened one evening. The wife looked into the barn, and there was nothing there except a handful of barley at all. She sighed and decided to cook barley porridge.
“Are you thinking of feeding me barley again?” the husband got angry. “I don’t want to eat this porridge!”
- What should we do now? - the wife answered. “There is no rice in the house for a long time, and there is very little barley left.” But this barley grew in our field, and we should thank the gods for it.
- You are stupid, and your head is full of holes! — the husband continued. “I don’t want to eat barley porridge anymore!”
He threw the bowl away.
- Poor! All you do is idle, it would be better if you worked! — the wife sighed and began to eat.
- Don’t you dare contradict me, you worthless thing! - the husband shouted and kicked his wife out of the house.
She wandered wherever she looked: there was a village behind her, and a field. The wife went out onto the mountain path. “I’ll go to the mountains and die there,” he thinks.
She walked and walked - quietly all around, only occasionally somewhere an owl would hoot gloomily. Suddenly he sees a dim light burning among the trees, as if a window is glowing. The wife came closer - and indeed: there was a dilapidated house between the rocks. She looked into the house, and there a bearded man was sitting by the fire, cooking boar meat.
“Forgive me for disturbing you,” said the woman. The man turned around and said:
“People don’t come to the mountains on a night like this!” Maybe you’re a werewolf?!” He grabbed a long hunting knife from his belt.
- Have mercy on me! — the poor woman begged. “I am a peasant woman from a village right under the mountain.” Let me spend the night.
“Yes, I see, you really are a living person,” said the bearded man. “Well, come in, since you came.”
The wife opened the straw door and entered the house.
- Tell me, what trouble brought you to the mountains at night? - the owner began to question her.
The wife had nothing to hide from him; she told him everything.
“We need to teach your husband a lesson for laziness,” said the owner. “Live here for now.” You'll see - need will force him to work.
And the husband waited and waited for his wife - he didn’t believe that she could leave home for a long time. And then he went to look for her. I walked around the village until the morning, looked at every corner, looked into every nook and cranny, but I still couldn’t find my wife.
A day passed, another. The husband is wandering around the yard; he doesn’t know how to work. On the third day, I no longer had the strength to endure hunger. Then my husband had to learn how to weave bamboo baskets. If he gossips, he sells it, and that’s how he begins to live.
So ten years flew by like a dream. The husband came to terms with the fact that his wife had died long ago and rarely thought about her. He lived poorly, worked poorly, and completely deteriorated.
One day my husband was carrying bamboo baskets through mountain villages. He walked and walked, and finally came to the very house that stood between the rocks.
- Baskets! Baskets! Buy beautiful bamboo baskets! - he shouted, coming closer.
A woman came out of the house, looked at him, and almost screamed in surprise. But she decided not to show that she recognized her husband.
“You are welcome, Mr. Trader, come into the house,” he says, “we really need bamboo baskets.” Yes, you are probably tired from the road - rest, eat.
But the husband became blind over the years and did not recognize his wife right away. She placed a bowl of barley porridge in front of him and began to treat him:
- Eat, don’t be shy!
The husband was hungry, he instantly swallowed the treat and began to praise: “What kind of porridge! Oh, how delicious!” - Since when did you love boiled barley so much? — the woman suddenly laughed. “I remember that before you couldn’t stand him!”
The husband looked at her and recognized his wife.
- Ah! - he just screamed.
He suddenly felt so ashamed that he grabbed a large basket, pulled it over his head and rushed out of the house.
- Hey, wait! - the wife screamed, rushing after her. “Wait, stop!” I've been waiting for you for a long time! Let's go back to the village and live in peace and harmony!
But the husband ran and ran until he saw a fast mountain river. He stopped to take a breath, but suddenly he felt: the basket began to slowly slide from his head to his back. He became small and small, and then - once! - and turned into a mountain turtle!
- Oh, what happened to you?! - the wife screamed. She ran to the river, picked up the turtle in her arms and cried bitterly. And the turtle pulled its head into its shell out of shame.
Since then, they say, the shell of turtles in Okinawa began to resemble a bamboo basket, and capricious children who do not obey their parents and eat poorly were told: “Eat well, otherwise you will turn into a mountain turtle!”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru