Once upon a time there was a little corn. She, along with other corn plants, sat in a sack and waited for spring.
“Spring will come, they will plant me in the ground, I will sprout, become a tall stem and put out leaves. In the fresh air, I will breathe freely and enjoy life,” the corn girl dreamed.
But one day, together with other corn farmers, they poured it out of the bag into a hot cauldron standing on the fireplace, and began to stir it with a slotted spoon.
The boiler was very hot, the corn shells quickly fried and burst.
The dreaming little corn also began to brown along with the others, but she continued to think: “If I stay even a little longer in the cauldron, I will be completely fried, burst and die. We must somehow escape from here."
So reasoning, the corn suddenly jumped up and jumped out of the red-hot cauldron, but in its haste it fell at the very edge of the fireplace.
Rejoicing that she was saved, the corn girl decided to go traveling. But as soon as she moved, I saw her smoldering coal from the hearth and asked:
- Hey, corn, where are you going?
“I just saved myself from death, now I’ll go to the spacious fields, where there is fresh air and moisture...
“Will you take me with you?” asked the ember. “If I stay here a little longer, I’ll completely burn out and turn into ashes!”
“If you want, let’s go!” agreed the corn girl. The coal jumped out of joy and jumped out of the hearth. Rolling and waddling, the coal and the corn went together.
Here they come, and a straw saw them and asked:
-Where are you going together?
“We almost died, but we saved ourselves and ran away.” Now let’s go look for a good place and live there,” said the coal. Corn Little, shaking her head, confirmed Coal's words.
“Oh, dear friends, take me with you!” the straw begged. “Otherwise they will sweep me out with a broom and throw me in the trash!” Or they will make kindling out of me and throw me into the fireplace! Just like that, they’ll do something and destroy me.
“If you want, come with us!” they suggested in one voice the coal and corn.
So the three of them went further.
The corn and coal were rolling and waddling, and the straw was bouncing and swaying.
They walked and walked, came to a stream and stopped. The stream flowed, sparkling and babbling, reflecting in its water the rays of the sun illuminating the world.
“How do we get through the stream?” asked the straw.
“Let’s walk along the bank of the stream, reach the bridge and cross the stream along it!” suggested the coal.
“No,” said the corn, “there is no need for us to look for a bridge.” We can go like this. Straw, you will be a bridge, you will cross from one bank to the other, and the coal and I will cross you to the other bank. Then we’ll drag you there too.
Straw agreed and became the bridge. The corn quickly rolled along it to the other side. Coal, in thought, stood on this bank and did not cross.
“Are you scared?” the cornflower said mockingly to the coal. “It turns out that you are a coward, but I didn’t know and took you as a companion!”
The maize man's ridicule had such an effect on the ember that it flared up brightly with resentment and stepped on the straw to cross it.
“No, corn, I’m not a coward!” he said, walking along the straw, becoming even more inflamed by the rapid movement. But as soon as the hot coal reached the middle of the straw, it suddenly flared up and burned out. The poor coal immediately fell into the water, hissed and died.
Kukuruzinka, frightened and amazed by the death of her companions, began to cry and reproach herself:
- Oh, I’m stupid, I didn’t think that the path I had chosen was dangerous for my friends! Now she’s lost them! - that’s what the corn girl said and was very, very sad about her dead companions.
Now she didn’t want to go further alone. She remained on the bank of the stream and began to bury herself in the ground.
Summer passed - autumn came, the greenery along the bank of the stream dried up and bent to the ground. It was raining and snowing - autumn gave way to winter - the water in the stream froze. Then it began to get warmer - spring came. The snow has melted, and the grass along the bank of the stream has turned green. Yellow and red tulips bloomed, and the aroma of mint and ginger wafted through.
Among the greenery and flowers, in the place where a corn plant had been buried in the ground, a tall stalk came out. It grew quickly, became taller and taller and began to produce long leaves. When the corn grew tall, it bore several cobs. The cobs were overgrown with many grains, the grains were filled with juice. Now the cobs were ripe, and each grain—the fruit of a corn plant that had escaped from a hot cauldron—constantly remembered with kindness the dead coal and straw.
Many years passed, both banks of the stream turned into corn thickets, but not a single grain of corn ever forgot the straw and the coal.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru