There lived a peasant and his wife in the village of Katano. They had a daughter - a kind, cheerful girl.
And then one day the girl’s mother became seriously ill and died. A year later, my father married an angry, ugly neighbor.
The stepmother disliked her stepdaughter, constantly scolded her and forced her to do the hardest work.
One summer, her stepmother ordered the girl to weed a rice field that was flooded with water. When the girl approached the field, she saw that some boy had caught a loach with a net and was going to take it home.
“Why do you need this fish?” asked the girl.
“And I’ll feed it to the cat.”
The girl felt sorry for the loach, and she asked:
- Give it to me.
“Look at you,” the boy got angry. “I didn’t catch the loach to give it to you.”
“Well, if you don’t want to give it back, then we’ll switch,” the girl suggested. “I’ll give you a handful of beans, and you’ll give me a loach.”
“I agree,” said the boy. “Give beans, get fish.”
And they changed.
The girl took the dying loach and let it into the stream. The loach came to life, moved its antennae and sank to the very bottom.
Soon the stepmother again sent the girl to weed the field. But as soon as the girl approached the stream, she saw the loach she had saved. He swam merrily near the shore, jumped out of the water, dived and reappeared on the surface. The girl threw him a handful of rice and moved on.
Since then it has been like this. Every day the girl came to the stream and threw half a handful of rice to the loach.
One day, the stepmother saw her stepdaughter throwing grains of rice to the loach.
- Oh, you wretch! she screamed. “I’ll show you how to feed rice to some ugly fish!”
And right there on the bank of the stream she beat the girl so much that she could not get to her feet for a long time.
Vyun saw it all. “An evil woman punished a girl because of me,” he thought sadly, lying on the bottom. “Now I will never see her again.”
How surprised the loach was when a few days later a girl came running to him at dawn, threw a few grains into the stream and said:
- Don't be angry, but I don't have any more. My stepmother now gives me one handful for three days.
The stepmother must have decided to starve the girl to death. But the girl collected edible roots in the field and ate them at night, when her stepmother fell asleep.
Then the stepmother decided to get rid of her stepdaughter in another way. She knew that beyond the distant forest there was a deep pool, at the bottom of which lived a fierce river dragon.
And so the stepmother said in a gentle voice:
- Listen, honey, I really love chrysanthemums. Behind the distant forest, on the shore of a pool, beautiful flowers grow. There are so many flowers there! Please, pick me a bouquet of red chrysanthemums. And on the way back, buy yourself a silk kimono. Here's your money.
The obedient girl went to the pool. Her path lay through the forest. When the girl entered the forest, she saw a hunter. The hunter was aiming his bow at a small monkey sitting on top of a hi-noki.
- Don't kill her, don't kill her! - the girl screamed.
- Here's another! - said the hunter. “They will give me money for the skin of the killed monkey.”
The girl hastily took out her money and handed it to the hunter.
- Here you go, just don’t touch the poor monkey!
- That's another matter! - said the satisfied hunter and went home.
And the girl waved her hand to the monkey and went further - to the pool.
From a distance she saw many flowers on the shore of the pool. Red chrysanthemums grew near the water.
And the fierce dragon was just waiting for a human shadow to appear on the surface of the quiet lake.
And so the girl approached the pool itself. Another second - and her shadow will fall on the water. And then no one will save her from the dragon.
But as soon as the girl approached the pool, a flock of loaches appeared on the surface of the water. They scurried about the shore, beat the water with their tails, lifted silt from the bottom and muddied the water. The transparent water became so black that it was impossible to discern the girl’s shadow on the surface of the pool.
And the girl, not even suspecting the danger, began to slowly pick chrysanthemums. By evening she was already home.
The stepmother saw that the girl had returned alive, and completely lost her head from anger. And then she decided to poison her stepdaughter.
A few days later, the stepmother baked nigirimesi (Nigirimeshi - rice buns), put a grain of poison in each bun and said in a gentle voice:
- My dear daughter! I became completely ill. I don't know if I'll live until the morning. You alone can save me. Medicinal herbs grow on the southern slope of the mountains. Collect and bring me a bunch of medicinal herbs.
Without wasting time, the girl began to get ready for the mountains. When she had already tied a bow on her belt, the stepmother said:
- Your path is long. I baked nigirimesi for your trip. When you feel hungry, eat them.
The girl thanked her stepmother and went to the mountains. At noon she picked a bunch of medicinal herbs and hurriedly went home. She was in such a hurry that she didn’t even notice how she ended up in the very forest where she had just recently saved a little monkey from a hunter. It was still a long way from home, and the girl was very hungry. But she remembered her sick stepmother and thought: “I’ll eat when I get home, but now I have to hurry. I’ll get drunk and run quickly!” The girl approached a forest stream, bent down and... saw her old friend - a loach. The loach opened its mouth wide and did not take its eyes off the girl.
- You are obviously quite hungry. “What should I feed you?” asked the girl.
Then she remembered the nigirimesi and threw them to the loach.
The buns calmly began to sink to the bottom, and the loach didn’t even touch them. He just happily hit the water with his tail and swam away somewhere.
When the girl drank from the stream, she suddenly wanted to sleep. Her eyelids were sticking together. “I’ll rest for a minute,” she decided and sat down under a tree. And as soon as she leaned against the tree, she fell asleep at the same moment.
The girl woke up from some pleasant ringing. She opened her eyes and saw yellow leaves falling from the tree under which she had fallen asleep. Falling to the ground, the leaves turned into gold coins and rang.
The surprised girl looked up and noticed a small monkey on the tree. It turns out that it was the monkey who was throwing yellow leaves at the feet of his savior.
The girl took a few coins, again waved her hand welcomingly to the monkey and went home.
When the stepmother saw that the girl was standing in front of her alive and unharmed, she turned white with anger and asked:
— Did you eat nigirimesi?
Then the girl remembered how her stepmother beat her for throwing rice grains to the vine. Therefore, the girl did not dare admit that she fed the buns to the fish, and said:
- I ate Nigirimeshi.
- Well, what happened to you then? - the stepmother asked impatiently.
“Then I drank from the stream, sat under a tree and fell asleep. And when I woke up, the entire ground under the tree was strewn with gold coins. I even grabbed a few of these coins. Here they are...
The stepmother grabbed the coins, and she thought: “If you eat a poisonous bun and drink it with water from a forest stream, you will remain alive and become rich.”
The next day, the evil woman baked a poisonous rice ball and went into the forest. Arriving at the stream, she ate a bun, drank water from the stream, sat down under a tree and fell asleep.
She fell asleep so soundly that she never woke up again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru