In one of the valleys of Northumberland County, on a small farm lived the Wilson family, consisting of husband and wife, their son Ned and daughter Amy.
Just opposite the Wilson house, at a distance of twenty fathoms from it, lay a large granite. Every evening, as soon as it began to get dark, the figure of an old woman appeared near this piece of rock, wrapped in an old gray cloak. She bent down, took a hammer out of her pocket and began to pound the stone with all her might, as if she wanted to crush a strong block of granite.
She worked so fruitlessly all night and left as soon as the first weak rays appeared in the sky. They called her crazy Nellie, and no one knew how old she was. The inhabitants of the farm were accustomed to the constant knocking of the old woman’s hammer and did not pay attention to it. Late servants in the moonlight always saw her in the same dress in winter and summer, in heat and cold.
However, when the farmer's children grew up, they began to be occupied with the thought of the old woman who worked so hard and so uselessly every night.
One day on a clear moonlit evening, Ned and Amy approached her and asked why she was trying to break off a piece of granite, but Nellie turned such an angry face towards them, and her sunken eyes sparkled so angrily in the moonlight that Amy recoiled in horror and began to cry. The brother had to take her aside and calm her down for a long time, saying that Nellie was only an unfortunate patient who could not do anything bad to them. Amy calmed down, but when Ned invited her to return to the stone, she flatly refused, and the brother and sister went home.
Nevertheless, Ned decided to find out the secret of the mad woman, and the next day, at dusk, he again went to the granite, although the weather had completely deteriorated: dark clouds hung in the sky and a fine, frequent cold rain was drizzling. “Is the unfortunate woman sitting over her stone again,” thought Ned, walking along the slippery clay path. And as if in response to his thought, at that moment the measured blows of a hammer were heard. Mad Nellie was in her usual place and minding her own business. Ned stopped next to her. She, not paying attention to the young man, worked with a hammer. A dim lantern placed on a stone illuminated her exhausted face. The wind pushed her hat to one side and ruffled her gray hair. Drops of the intensifying rain flowed down her wrinkles like large tears, and the wet cloak stuck to her old, thin shoulders. “No, I can’t stand this,” thought Ned. “Nelly,” he said loudly, “what are you doing?” Why are you hammering this stone to no avail? Give it up! Come with me, I will take you to our house. If you want, we'll walk through the kitchen porch and no one will see you. The old woman looked at him angrily and continued to bang with the hammer. “Listen, come on,” Ned repeated, “spend the night in our kitchen, we'll dry you and warm you up.” Spend at least one night like a good Christian woman should. The old woman was silent. Then the annoyed Ned, a tall and strong fellow, leaned over Nellie, picked her up and, not paying attention to the fact that she was trying to hit him with a hammer, carried her into the house.
He entered the kitchen with her, lit the lamp, and lit the stove. Finding herself in the house, the old woman calmed down, dropped the hammer... She sat on the chair on which Ned lowered her, closing her eyes, as if dead. Ned quietly, so as not to wake up his parents, called his sister, and Amy, overcoming fear, took off her wet cloak and trampled wet shoes from the mad woman. She shod her old feet in her mother's carpet shoes and wrapped her in her large shawl. The old woman did not resist, she drank the warm milk, but did not say anything. Soon Amy brought an armful of straw and her old pillow and laid Nellie on them, who fell asleep like the dead. Fearing that their parents would scold them if they left one crazy beggar in the kitchen, the brother and sister decided not to go to bed and dozed all night on uncomfortable wooden stools near the kitchen table.
As soon as it became light, they woke up. The old woman also woke up and, still half asleep, as if stretching, said: “Oh, how good!” After that, she quickly stood up, looked around in surprise and asked: “Where am I?” Amy approached her with a cup of warm milk. The old woman smiled tenderly at the young girl. The strange thing is that there was not a trace left on her face of the severity that had so recently frightened Amy. Old Nellie drank the milk and said: “Thank you, children, you gave me a night of rest, and another, even more desirable rest is approaching for me.” But you also remember Nellie with a kind word. Tonight, come to the stone... And here’s what, son,” she turned to Ned, “bring workers or try to destroy or move that heavy granite that I tried to break for so many years. You won't regret it. The old woman wrapped herself in her dried cloak, put on her old shoes and left.
Having told his father everything, Ned, with his permission, went to the neighboring town and bought a drill, gunpowder and fuse there. Together with his father and a worker (whom Ned did not tell why he was doing this), the young man drilled the stone and blew it up in the evening. The granite block split into several pieces. When these fragments were moved, there was a large hole underneath them. Ned did not allow anyone to go down into it. He asked everyone to leave, and at night, around twelve o’clock, he and Amy returned to the place where the stone had previously lain. Nellie was already waiting for the young people. In her hand was the same small lit lantern. In its weak light, the old woman began to descend underground along a ladder that ended up in the hole. Brother and sister followed her.
When the stairs ended and they went down into the dungeon, the old woman took three wax candles from her pocket, kept one for herself, gave one to Amy and one to Ned. By their light, the brother and sister saw that they were in a large underground hall full of the most extraordinary things. There were huge golden jugs, golden dishes, goblets, plates, weapons studded with precious stones, precious gold and silver belts and headdresses, ancient golden shields and gilded helmets, fans made of ostrich feathers and, finally, chests with gold coins and beautiful boxes full of diamonds, emeralds, rubies and pearls. “Sit down,” said Nellie, pointing them to the antique chairs, and she herself sat down on one of the chests. - Now listen to the story of old Nellie.
A long time ago, when this entire country was almost entirely covered with dense forests, there was a mountain here, and on it stood the proud castle of Lord Lembert. A happy family lived in it: Lord Lambert, his wife, the beautiful Lady Helen, and their son Archie, charming and kind as a ray of sunshine. But happiness does not last forever. When Archie was sixteen years old, he and his father went hunting and did not return home: evil people killed them. Only their bodies were brought to Lady Helen. The huntsmen and the rest of the servants accompanying the lord were confused in their explanations, talking about some kind of ambush, about masked robbers who attacked them, and assured that they could not help either the lord or their son, since they were too far away and did not have time to gallop in time. But Lady Helen did not listen to them. Misfortune befell her so suddenly that her heart hardened. She locked herself in a castle with the people most devoted to her and stopped all relations with her neighbors. She shot the servants who could not protect her son and husband with a bow with her own hands, and then decided to acquire enormous, unheard-of wealth in order to drown out the melancholy that was consuming her with this luxury. She ordered chain mail, a helmet, armor, a spear and a headdress for her horse to be made for herself, and with people loyal to her, she went into the forest to the high road, attacked passing merchants, robbed and killed them without pity.
So the years passed. Lady Helen had accumulated enormous wealth, but everything seemed not enough to her. Now she simply fell in love with gold and continued to take it away, despite the admonitions of her relatives and the bishop’s letters. Greed awoke in her, and she became stingy. No one ever received a single penny from her, and if any poor man came into the castle courtyard, she mercilessly ordered her servants to throw him out.
One day, having returned from robbery and putting on a gray house dress and a gray cloak, she sat on the porch, watching as her new red young horse was ridden. And so, despite the fact that the castle bridge was raised, a wanderer in long clothes entered the courtyard and stopped in front of Lady Helen. “Remove the tramp,” she shouted. The obsequious servants rushed to the stranger, but as soon as they touched him, their hands dropped powerlessly. “Enough crimes, Helen,” he said. - The hour of your punishment has come! The castle and its decoration, stained with blood, will go underground. Your dishonest servants will perish, and you yourself will wish in vain to regain your lost treasures. In the wind and in bad weather, under the rays of the sultry sun and under the streams of freezing rain, you will strive to penetrate to where your riches lie. Many years will pass, and death will still not want to calm you down. The curse that will now fall on your head will end only at the moment when you, somewhere, someday, feel happy and contented at least for a minute, despite the unsatisfied thirst to return the lost treasures, despite all the suffering endured.
The wanderer's face shone with a wonderful light, the sky darkened, underground noise was heard, and with a crash and roar the castle collapsed and fell underground into a wide-open abyss. The whole mountain collapsed there... When the abyss closed again, and the dust that had risen from the terrible destruction dissipated, she, who until recently had been the owner of the proud castle of Lembert, saw in front of her a pile of fragments and a huge stone. It lay just above the entrance to the dungeon, which once housed the cruel lady's wealth.
And so proud Helen became a poor beggar. Having retained only a flashlight and a hammer from her previous possessions, she began to pound stone in the hope of getting her riches.
Time passed. People who knew Lady Helen have died. Forests were cut down, wars broke out. The name of Lords Lembert was forgotten. Everything changed, and only crazy Nelly still knocked on her dungeon every night. “I endured a lot of suffering, children,” the old woman continued her story, “but insatiable greed tormented me, and I could not think about anything else except the lost gold.” Finally, the hour of joy has come for me. Yesterday in your house, when you warmed and caressed me, I felt content, and today I woke up completely happy. The old woman pointed to the treasures and added: “It’s all yours.” Build a church, give gifts to the poor, and then live richly and happily, doing good to people and praying for the soul of the calmed Nellie Lembert. Having said this, the old woman crossed herself, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When Ned and Amy leaned over her, wanting to bring her to her senses, they saw an expression of happiness and peace on her face. She died.
The Wilsons became rich people. They buried Nellie, built a church, did everything she told them, and lived happily ever after, doing good.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru