In ancient times, behind a high snow-white mountain there was a large village. An old man and an old woman lived here. They lived together for forty years, but had no children. The old man sowed sorghum brooms all his life, sold brooms at the market in winter, and gardened in the summer.
One day at lunchtime the old man and the old woman decided to rest. But suddenly they heard the sound of a stick with bells on the ends and the loud cry of a small merchant.
– I sell goods to whom goods. Young women, come for satin materials, pretty girls - for silk threads...
A stick with bells at the ends rang incessantly. If someone did not have money, then the merchant gave the goods on credit, but remembered the house where the owners lived.
One fine day, when the merchant was shaking a stick with bells on the ends and calling people, a beautiful girl who looked like the moon came out of the old man's house. She approached the merchant and, without hesitation, chose two skeins of silk thread and two bright red flowers to decorate her head. And, heading towards the gate, she quickly said:
- This is where I live. But no one is home yet. I'll give you the money next time. The merchant agreed. A month has passed since then. A merchant came to that house to collect a debt. He knocks on the gate and shouts, but no one answers. Suddenly, out of nowhere, that beautiful girl appeared from the house. She again borrowed two skeins of thread and two pink flowers from him.
Two months passed unnoticed. The merchant again came to the old man’s house and began knocking loudly on the gate and shouting:
- Honorable people, your daughter took the goods from me. She said you will pay for everything. Pay me back.
An old man came out of the house in response to the incessant shouting and asked in bewilderment:
- Hey merchant, you probably got the house wrong. All my life I have been idle, and this greatly saddens me. If I had a daughter, as you claim, I would be in seventh heaven.
The merchant was greatly surprised.
- How is this so? After all, a beautiful girl came out of the same gate and took goods from me twice as a debt. Very beautiful, like a delicate bud of maodang, only there are a few pockmarked spots on her snow-white face. The first time she wore a red dress, the second time she wore a green silk one. I am not deceiving you, but I am telling you the pure truth. She also said that you are her parents.
“But the old woman and I never had children,” the old man continued. But after paying the debt to the merchant and letting him go, he began to think deeply...
And it was like this.
As you know, in ancient times various miracles were performed: things could turn from one thing to another. And so it happened with this house where the old man and the old woman lived. Very often, when no one was home or the old man and woman were resting at lunchtime, someone would clean the yard for them, weed the beds and do other work. The old man and the old woman were surprised at what had happened, but could not find out anything.
One day the old woman says to the old man:
- Go to the oil mill and bring back brooms from four years ago. We will sell them.
The old man went to the butter shop, opening the door, he was very frightened and backed away. He shouted to the old lady.
“Hey, old lady, come here quickly and see what’s going on in the creamery.” The old woman quickly ran and, together with the old man, went into the oil mill.
- Hey, old man, look, instead of our brooms, there are so many beautiful girls! If only one of them would come to life, she would become my beloved daughter!
- Don't talk nonsense, old woman. If people hear, they will drive us out of the village.
“I know what to tell people, and no one will do anything to us.”
The old man took a broom and removed flowers, threads, and beads from them. I scalded everything with boiling water. It seemed to him that the brooms were swelling more than usual. When they dried, he sold them at the market.
And the old woman, unnoticed by the old man, kept one for herself, the fluffiest one, which she really liked. She took it and put it in the kitchen, meanwhile this same broom began to turn into a beautiful girl with long braids. Everything happened as the old woman wanted.
And then, when she went into the kitchen to drink some cold water, she saw a beautiful, elegant girl sweeping the floor. When she saw the old woman, she turned away in fear, the old woman quickly took off her right shoe and, tapping the girl’s right shoulder three times, said:
– If you are human, stay, if you are not pure force, leave!
But the girl did not answer, she stood motionless. The old woman approached her from the front. She looks at a beautiful girl with big eyes, a thin figure, fluffy long braids, but only pockmarked spots on her white face. The girl sat down and cried bitterly.
– Don’t cry, stay here, don’t go anywhere! You will be our daughter. And if anyone asks where you came from, let’s say that you are our niece, you came from far away. “So they lived peacefully for several months.”
But the people living in the village could not believe it. And yet they learned the story of the broom-genie and drove all three out of their village.
They say that in a foreign land, one rich man liked a genie girl and he married her. And they began to live well and make good.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru