In the old days, in an unknown land, I grew up in a forest, dense and dense. I don’t even know how many days, how many nights it takes to go from end to end. There are so many trees in that forest! The pines and cypresses are green all four seasons. Wild nuts and utuns bear flowers in the spring, maples and oaks cover themselves with red leaves in the fall, hawthorns and pears bear fruit. You can’t count them all! Three nights, three days are not enough. An old acacia tree grew in that forest. The branches on the top are crooked, curved, either branches or a dragon, in the trunk there is a hollow - a whole house. The spirit of the tree lived in that hollow. He was wise and knew everything. His bed is made of huge dry leaves, the door curtain is made of gold and silver vines entwined around the tree. I'll tell you what happened to that spirit one day. Yes, that’s not what we’re going to talk about at first.
Far, far from the forest there was a small village. There was a big elm growing in that village. A small bird with golden feathers frolicked and chirped on the elm tree. There were two houses standing next to the elm, roof to roof, with a thin adobe wall between the houses. To the west of the wall lived a poor man nicknamed Liu Chun-tian. As they say, he has nothing to poke a finger into. He and his wife got up at dawn, at the fifth watch, and began turning millstones and making soy cheese. They themselves eat the bean husks, skim the foam from the soy cheese, and earn money—they feed their old mother, who is almost eighty years old. To the east of the wall a rich man lived - he had mules and horses. Wang Yu-feng was nicknamed Wang Jade Peak. Rich people always give their children beautiful names. Wang Yu-feng had an old mother, more than eighty years old. She's a little hard of hearing and a bit blind in her eyes. Weak and feeble, she cannot get off the kana. And Wang Yu-feng only knows that he can lend grain and money to his fellow villagers, collect interest and rent. And his wife matches him: she opens her mouth and talks about money. He closes his mouth and thinks about money. Not only do they take care of the old woman, but she also grumbles: that she is getting in the way under their feet, that she is eating bread in vain, and that she will not die.
There is a saying: frost froze the grass in a hollow. That year, at the very end of spring - the huge elm was already covered with soft green leaves - Liu Chun-tian's mother fell ill. Liu and his wife are grieving and sad. They would like to borrow money, but the poor, as they say, are always at a loss. Liu Chun-tien took off his shabby clothes, his wife pulled out bronze hairpins from her hair - they sold them as soon as they scraped together enough money for medicine. But it didn’t help the old woman. The unfortunate one has died. Here Liu Chun-tian remembered how much torment his mother endured while raising him, and he never gave her a day to live happily. His heart hurts, as if someone was tearing it out of his chest. The husband and wife wept bitterly.
Suddenly the wind died down, rain poured from the sky, and the elm branches drooped. The golden bird saw how the poor creatures were being killed, and heard crying. She opened her beak, closed it again, did not chirp - she was sad. Light tears sparkle in her black eyes; she flies away through the rain, through the gray, through the shallow rain. And for a bird to leave the forest is the same as for a person to leave his native village. The bird flew, flew, and unexpectedly flew into that same forest, huge, thick, hidden by fog, and landed on an old acacia tree. The wind blew, the rain stopped, drops sparkled on the leaves, on the poplars the fresh skin of the poplars showed through the white bark, soft green. Cuckoos are calling, pheasants are flying, and the golden bird has light tears shining in its black eyes. The clouds cleared, the sun came out, the grass shone - precious pearls. Lianas entwined the old acacia tree, flowers bloomed on the vines - gold and silver moths. Dewdrops fall to the ground, a wonderful aroma spreads in all directions, bees hum over the flowers, butterflies flutter. Only the golden bird is sad. She couldn’t resist and began pecking at the delicate shiny flowers. If he pecks, he drops a tear; if he pecks again, he drops another tear.
Golden and silver flowers moved and spread all over the tree, moved apart on both sides, a hollow opened, and a kind old man came out of it: long hair, up to his shoulders, shining like the feathers of a white stork bird; the face is ruddy, fresh, the eyes are lively, clear, like a baby’s. More than once, not twice, the bird flew through the forest, and immediately realized that the very spirit of the tree was in front of it. Before she had time to open her beak, the spirit said to her:
“I have lived in the forest a thousand times a thousand years, but I have never seen the tears of a bird.” People say that birds cannot cry. Why did you, golden bird, cry today, stir up the old man’s heart with tears?
A small bird chirped here, so sadly:
- Good grandfather! That's what I saw today, that's why I was saddened.
The forest elder understood the bird's language, and the golden bird told him everything in order. How Liu Chun-tien lived poorly, how he looked after his old mother, how he got medicine for her, how he and his wife killed themselves when their mother died. The old man listened to the bird and said nothing. He stands, is silent, and thinks. And the bird says:
- Believe, good grandfather! They are good people, Liu Chun-tien and his wife, fair!
The old man shook his head and said:
“I’ll tell you what, little bird!” To find out whether a person is good or bad, you still need to see how he treats strangers.
The bird shook its head and answered:
- Yes, go and see for yourself, then you will find out how fair and good they both are.
The old man moved, turned into a skinny old woman - his dress was patched and patched, there was no living space.
The old woman says:
- Bird of golden feathers! I’ll actually go and have a look at them!
And Liu Chun-tien and his wife, just as they buried their mother, are sitting in the house, grieving, and they can’t take a bite out of their throats. Suddenly they look - an old woman is standing at the gate, skinny and emaciated, the wind blows and knocks her off her feet. They feel sorry for the old woman - there is no urine.
And the old woman says to them:
- Good people, at least give me some dry flatbread to eat!
Liu Chun-tien jumped up, quickly chose the best flatbread, and gave it to the old woman. The wife is more sad than ever and says to the old woman:
- Mother! At your age, to get over ravines and steep slopes! Probably my legs can't even walk!
The old woman answers her:
“I’m alone in the whole world, no son, no daughter, nowhere to lay my head, where I fall, death will take me.”
Liu Chun-tian looks at the old woman, remembers her mother - the deceased, and this unfortunate woman, apparently, has not had a single happy day in her life. Is it unheard of to beg in such and such years - beg a handful of rice from one person, a piece of flatbread from another.
And Liu Chun-tien says to the old woman:
- Stay with us, mother, if you don’t disdain our poverty!
And his wife echoes him:
- Our mother died, you will be in the house as the eldest.
The old woman agreed and began to live with Liu Chun-tien and his wife. They looked after her so much, they courted her so much that it’s hard to tell.
Liu no, no, yes, and will say to his wife:
- Make sure you don’t let your mother do anything. Old and small, weak and infirm.
He and his wife do not give themselves rest either day or night. The old woman sees this, how can she sit on the cane? So he tries to help: he either starts the fire, or strains the soy cheese through a sieve. And as soon as they prepare the food, the first thing they do is give it to the old woman to taste.
The wife, no, no, and will quietly say to her husband:
“Rice gives an old man strength.” But a young man already has strength; he can go hungry.
To tell the truth, life was difficult for them. But all three helped each other and lived in harmony.
It is true what they say: if you live many days, you will understand a person. A year passed, then another year. Liu Chun-tien and his wife fell deeply in love with the kind woman. The third year is coming to an end. But one day the old woman called them both and said:
- The time has come for me to leave you, children!
The husband and wife did not expect, they did not guess that such a thing could happen. Liu Chun-tien says sadly:
- Why haven’t we pleased you, mother? Or have we become disgusted with our bitter life?
The wife asks:
“Did I inadvertently say some bad word to you or hurt your heart in some other way?”
The woman shook her head and answered:
- Don’t torment yourself with vain thoughts. With you, bitter days will seem sweet, the wound on the heart will heal. I just can’t stay here any longer, I have to leave.
Liu Chun-tien does not let the old woman go, and so persuades and exhorts. Pity overcame him. Who will feed the unfortunate, who will give him something to drink?
Liu Chun-tien tells her:
- If you leave, the house will be empty. If you go to unknown lands, where will we look for you?
The wife cries and bursts into tears:
- We lived together - the roots of a bitter vine intertwined. We endured wind and frost for three years together. If you leave us, we will never see peace.
The old woman thought, thought and answered:
“You don’t need to persuade me, you don’t need to beg me, I have to leave.” Better go to the tree and dig up some clay at the very roots. I'll make you a little man who looks like me. If you feel sad, look at the little man.
The husband and wife see: there is no way to persuade the old woman. We went to the tree, dug up clay, and brought it home. The old woman took the clay, let’s knead it. He thinks and says:
There is an elm tree in the village, and Liu Chun-tien lives by the elm tree.
I lived with him, lived, lived for three years.
Today I’m leaving, but I have nothing to leave him.
I'll mold a man out of clay,
The little man spits and throws away the silver coin.
The old woman said so, and the little man was already ready, just like the old woman. If he opens his mouth, silver coins will fall out of his mouth. The husband and wife were staring, but did not notice how the old woman disappeared. Only then did they realize that this old woman was immortal. A husband and wife live - they don’t know grief. The neighbors who lived to the east of the wall, Wang Yu-feng and his wife, found out about this and were amazed. Previously, when Liu Chun-tien and his wife lived in poverty, the neighbors never set foot near them, but now they suddenly decided to visit them. Wang Yu-feng entered the house, not to start a conversation, to say a kind word, he scoured all corners with his rat eyes, then he glanced to the east, then to the west, he looked, looked and spotted a clay man. A little man is standing on a table, silver coins are falling out of his mouth and ringing. Is there any talk here? Wang Yu-feng saw the little man and asked:
-Where did you get this treasure?
Liu Chun-tien and his wife don’t know how to lie, so they laid out the whole truth. Wang Yu-feng ran home and told his wife everything. They took a rope and strangled the mother. Now, they think, there are fewer mouths in the house and they can even get a clay man. A profitable business has been snatched up! They sat in the yard, began to cry, but there were no tears - it was sickening to listen to. The wind flew in, made noise, hummed, just so as not to hear these villains. The sun became even yellower with anger. An elm branch swayed angrily. The golden bird saw the villains, heard their heart-rending screams, became angry, opened its sharp beak, and looked at them with round eyes angrily. She was disgusted with listening to their feigned crying. The bird shook off its feathers, spread its wings, and flew away with the sand and the wind.
In trouble they look for a friend. And the little bird went to look for the good spirit, the one that lives in the hollow. It flaps its wings - it flies, it twirls its tail - it hurries. She flew and flew, flew into a dense forest, and sat down on an old acacia tree. She just couldn’t stay on the branch; she was blown away by the wind. The wind is getting stronger, tearing leaves from the trees and driving them across the sky. The small bird is trying, completely exhausted, and can’t land on the big acacia tree. The wind tousled all her shiny feathers and broke all her claws. How to cling to branches now? The wind blew on the vine, mixed up all its branches, and knocked the silver and gold flowers into a heap. The bird wanted to cling to the vine, but the wind threw it aside. The bird hit a dry trunk, it would have been killed, but it didn’t even feel it. It was the spirit who stuck his hand out of the hollow and took the bird. The good old bird feels sorry for him, and he is overcome with vexation.
The elder says:
- Small bird, golden feathers! The wind blows, and you fly around the world! Or what trouble has brought you? Or don’t you know that good spouses have long lived in contentment and know no need?
The golden bird answers:
- Good grandfather! The anger is boiling inside me. You don’t know what things are going on these days! And once you find out, you’ll understand why I flew, I wasn’t afraid of the wind, you won’t blame me.
And the little bird told everything, as it is, in order, how Wang Yu-feng lived richly, how he did not honor his mother and offended him, how he coveted a clay man, how he strangled his mother with a rope. As he cried in the yard with his wife afterwards, he didn’t shed any tears. The little bird told the old man everything, and then said:
- Believe, good grandfather! They are evil people, Wang Yu-feng and his wife! Unfair!
The old man shook his head and said:
- Small bird, golden feathers, I don’t believe that there are such scoundrels in the world! Is it unheard of to bring your own mother to death!
The bird shook its head and answered:
“Go and see for yourself, then you’ll find out how greedy and malicious they are!”
The old man moved, turned into a skinny old woman - his dress was patched and patched, there was no living space.
The old woman says:
- Small bird, golden feathers! I’ll actually go and have a look at them!
And Wang Yu-feng and his wife, as they buried their mother, only think about how the immortal would come sooner. They’ll start wailing, their eyes are dry, they’ll look outside the gate, they’ll start wailing again, and they’ll look outside the gate again. I don’t know how many hours they sat like that. Suddenly they looked - the wind blew, the sand began to swirl, an old old woman appeared at the gate, somehow got to the gate, and stopped. The wife wanted to drive away the unfortunate man, but her husband didn’t let him, the old woman looked exactly like the clay man he saw at Liu Chun-tian’s. He ran to the gate and shouted:
- Good mother, immortal! Come into the house quickly. We will treat you to glory! Not like Liu Chun-tian!
The old woman shook her head and said:
“I’m not immortal, I’m just a poor old woman.” Have pity on me, give me some dry flatbread to eat!
Wang Yu-feng's wife went into the house to get some flatbread, and she grumbled:
- Why on earth should a poor old woman be treated like an immortal?
The wife searched and searched and found a dry cake, which she saved for the dog and threw to the old woman.
Wang Yu-feng says to the old woman:
- Mother! At your age, can you get over ravines and steep slopes? Probably my legs can't even walk!
“I’m alone in the whole world, no son, no daughter, nowhere to lay my head.” Where I fall, death will take me.
Wang Yu-feng heard this and was delighted. This old woman is probably immortal. She spoke exactly the same words to Liu Chun-tian.
And that’s all Wang Yu-feng needs. He says to the old woman:
- Stay with us and live. There is a free room in the house.
The wife heard this, became alarmed, could not stand it and said in a loud voice:
“We didn’t have time to get rid of one mouth, you found a hole where to dump the food.”
The old woman did not say anything and followed Wang Yu-feng into the house. Just then lunch arrived. Wang Yu-feng always has plenty of food, as if for a holiday. The husband and wife took the old woman to an empty room, and they themselves left, ate, drank, and took the leftovers to the old woman - some vegetables and cold rice. The same thing was served for dinner.
They went to bed, woke up on the third watch - the misers' hearts ached with greed.
The wife mutters:
- A poor man is a poor man. We're wasting food in vain.
Wang Yu-feng began to doubt: “What if, he thinks, the old woman is really not immortal, then this is a direct loss.” He thought and thought and then hit the table with his fist:
“Okay,” he says, “I came up with one way!”
The wife listened to her husband, was delighted and said:
- You can’t imagine anything better! If she really is immortal, we will have a clay man who sprinkles silver coins, if she is just a poor old woman, we will kick her out, and that will be the end of the matter.
They saw that they could no longer sleep, they got up and went to the old woman. The old woman is sleeping soundly. Her husband and wife woke her up and forcibly lifted her up. Wang Yu-feng tells her:
“If you really are immortal, but just turned into an old woman, blind us a clay man with silver coins pouring out of his mouth.” If you blind me, I’ll feed you for three years.
The old woman looks at them, is silent, and does not understand what is going on. The wife got angry and couldn’t stand it, but she screamed:
“I knew it, she’s not immortal, she’s just poor and poor!”
The old woman was not afraid, she was not angry, she smiled and said:
- It's time for me to leave you. Go to the tree, dig up clay from under the very roots. I’ll make you a little man, it’s not in vain that I came to you!
The husband and wife heard this, they couldn’t remember themselves with joy, they went to dig clay, dug it up, and returned to the house. The old woman took clay and began to sculpt. He sculpts and says:
There is an elm in the village, Wang Yu-feng lives by the elm,
Yesterday I came, I stayed until the third watch, it’s time to leave,
Today I’m leaving, but I have nothing to leave him.
I'll mold a man out of clay,
The little man spits and a gadfly flies out of his mouth.
The old woman said so, and the little man was already ready. He looks either like Wang Yu-feng or like his wife. The little man opened his mouth and gadflies began to fly out of his mouth, huge ones, one larger than the other, three fingers thick. The gadflies rushed to the lamp, buzzing. And the old woman suddenly disappeared. The filthy creatures surrounded Wang Yu-feng and his wife. One is slammed - the second stings, the second is driven away - the third bites. Soon both their faces became swollen and they couldn’t open their eyes. The husband and wife began to roll on the ground in pain.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru