At a time when the oldest old people in our parish were still running around without pants, Agnes Depe lived with her husband in a secluded house, where the road to Corbières began. This road passed by the fairy grotto, and its entrance was clearly visible from the sea. In the stillness of the night, Agnes often heard the sound of a spinning wheel clattering, and its dull sound seemed to come from under a stone near the hearth. Sometimes a rooster crowed under a stone, a child cried, and sometimes you could hear butter being churned in a churn. But neither Agnes nor her husband were afraid of these underground sounds, because they knew that they came from the fairies who lived in the Corbières grotto - these fairies were not evil, and no one could say anything bad about them.
One night, a fisherman came to pick up Agnes’s husband so that they could go together to the shore of the Mary to fish. While Agnes's husband was getting dressed, she, lying in bed, asked the fisherman:
- Do you know what time it is?
“No,” he answered, “I don’t know for sure.”
Before he had time to utter these words, a voice came from underground:
- It's two o'clock in the morning now.
The people who were present did not even flinch, they only laughed, since they were already accustomed to the sounds coming from under the stone by the fireplace. They knew that the answer was none other than the fairy, and they said loudly:
- Thank you.
After some time, Agnes’s child fell ill, so seriously that it seemed that he was about to die.
His mother, not knowing how to help him, was very sad.
“Oh, my God,” she wailed, “my poor baby is dying!”
Suddenly she heard a dull noise in the chimney, as if someone was knocking on a stone near the fireplace, and at that very moment someone said:
- Your child has croup. Get up and come here, I will give you medicine and he will get well.
This time Agnes was frightened and quickly ducked under the blanket. But, remembering her sick child, she gathered her courage, jumped out of bed and lit a candle. Then she saw that the stone under the hearth had moved and began to slowly rise. Agnes helped lift it, and when the stone stood on its edge, a hand stuck out from the opened hole and handed Agnes a small bottle.
“Rub the child’s throat and chest with this tincture,” said a voice coming out of the ground, “and hide the bottle well.”
The stone lay back in its original place, so now there was no way to guess that it had been moved. Agnes hastened to rub the boy with medicine; he immediately stopped complaining and very soon recovered. Agnes, overjoyed, blurted out everything to her neighbor. Passing from one to another, the news spread through the villages. Helpful Agnes began to give her bottle to everyone whose children were sick, and they recovered very quickly.
A lot of time passed, and one day Agnes’s husband developed colic; he was writhing in pain, they were so strong. Agnes ran to her neighbor to get a bottle - there was still a little tincture left at the bottom. But the neighbor accidentally dropped the bottle, and it broke into pieces.
The poor woman returned home heartbroken because her husband’s pain was getting worse and she was afraid that he was already dying. She sat down by the fire and said, sobbing:
- Fairy benefactor, you gave me a bottle that cured my boy and many other people - will you really allow my husband to die?
Nobody answered. Then she lifted the stone with an ax and, kneeling in front of the opened hole, began to cry and beg for help. Finally a hand appeared, and the fairy handed her a bottle with the words:
“Be careful, Agnes, this is the last bottle I can give you.” Make sure you don’t give it to anyone and don’t tell a single living soul about it.
As soon as the woman rubbed the tincture on her husband, he immediately recovered, and this time Agnes carefully hid the bottle in the closet.
Some time later, Agnes heard a song sounding from underground. The song was so tender and melodic that Agnes was delighted. Three or four voices sang in chorus, and she called her neighbor to listen. The next night they played the violin for a long time underground.
All these miracles made Agnes think, and she said to herself: “Someday they will all come up here and enter my house through the hole in the hearth.”
But at the thought that the inhabitants of the grotto had done nothing but good to her, she perked up. Immediately she remembered the cow and two sheep that had been stolen from her pasture.
“I’ll have to ask the fairies,” she thought, “who is stealing the cattle. Surely the fairies can tell me this if they wish.”
Another time at night she heard the voice again:
- Gossip, do you have a light?
“Yes,” answered Agnes, “at your service.”
And then the stone by the hearth rose. Agnes took the burning torch, brought it to the hole and saw how a beautiful female hand with sparkling rings on each finger reached out to her.
“Oh, madam,” said Agnes, “can you tell me where I can find my cow and both sheep?” I would be very grateful to you, because now I have nothing for my poor children.
“Okay,” answered the fairy. “Here’s a small box for you, containing ointment made from sheep and cow horns.” Lubricate the ropes with which you tied your animals with it, and you will again have sheep and a cow.
The stone fell into place, and the next day, as soon as it was dawn, Agnes oiled the rope left over from the stolen Pestrushka, and immediately a beautiful cow appeared in front of her. She lubricated the ropes on which she led the sheep to graze, and she had new sheep, even better than the stolen ones.
Agnes was very happy, she only regretted that she had not asked for bread. Without stopping to think about it, she kept repeating:
- How nice it would be to ask the fairy to give our family a magical piece of bread that would always remain whole!
One night, when there was not a crumb of food in the house, Agnes's child began to cry from hunger and ask for bread. Agnes heard a noise underground and, placing the hammer in her boy’s hand, said:
“Knock firmly on the stone by the hearth and ask for bread from the merciful lady who has done us so much good.”
She spoke very loudly - on purpose to be heard. The boy took a hammer, began to hit the stone with all his might and said touchingly:
- Good lady, give me some bread, I’m hungry!
They heard something hit the stone: knock-knock! The stone rose, a hand placed a loaf of bread on the hearth, and someone’s voice said:
- Take this bread, baby. If you treat my gift with care and share it only with... by your parents, it will last you for the rest of your life.
The loaf always remained intact, no matter how much it was cut off. This went on for ten years. But one evening, Agnes’s husband, having had too much bread, brought a friend with him and, taking the bread given by the fairy from the cupboard, cut off a large slice for the guest. The magic bread disappeared in an instant, and no matter how Agnes and the children prayed to the fairies from the grotto to give them another loaf, the fairies remained deaf to these requests.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru