At the edge of the village, near the outskirts, stood a lonely, rickety little house. A husband and wife lived there with their only daughter, and her name was Grete. They lived in great poverty, although they worked from morning to evening.
Grete was a hard-working and beautiful girl. One thing was bad: she didn’t know how to keep her mouth shut. She chatted incessantly about what was needed and what was not needed. And just to say: her father and mother also had a tongue without bones.
In the same village there was a rich estate, and a young handsome guy Hans lived in it. His father died and gave up all his goods to his son. Hans lived with his mother; The old woman was a housekeeper, and Hans did all the men's work on the estate. Hans was in his twentieth year, and there was no richer groom in the whole parish. And Hans was so handsome! The first handsome guy in the whole area!
And it’s no wonder that the girls were crazy about him. Grete used to stare at him too.
One morning, just before dawn, Hans comes to the kitchen where Grete was cooking and says:
- Listen, my dear Grete! You are a modest, kind girl and I really liked you. I decided to take you as my wife. Just make sure you don’t tell anyone about this for the time being.
Hans was afraid: if he hadn’t visited his mother ahead of schedule, what the hell? he thought of wooing a girl from the poor. She wanted a daughter-in-law who was richer and more knowledgeable. So Hans asked Grete to keep quiet.
“Thank you,” Grete answers, “I won’t spill the beans.”
He left, and Grete got back to cooking - preparing milk jelly for breakfast. She poured a handful or two of flour into the pot, mixed it with milk... Grete cooks, but only Hans is on her mind. So she accidentally poured ash into the jelly instead of sugar. Greta stirs the jelly with a ladle, and she feels like the sun is shining with happiness.
The mother waited and waited for breakfast, didn’t wait and went to see why her daughter was so late in the kitchen. She entered the kitchen, saw her daughter’s cooking and screamed:
- What are you doing, Grete? Why do you pour ash into jelly?
“Oh, mother,” Grete answers, “I don’t remember myself for joy.”
- Why are you so happy? - asks the mother.
“Hans was here and said that he would take me as his wife, but only with an agreement to keep silent about it for the time being.”
“Well, we won’t spill the beans,” says the mother. - Here's to happiness!
She began stirring the jelly with a ladle and completely knocked over the pot.
And the father waited and waited for breakfast, didn’t wait and went to see why his daughter and mother were hanging around in the kitchen. He enters the kitchen and sees: the pot has been overturned, and the jelly has spilled all over the table.
- What have you cooked up here? - asks the owner.
- Oh, father, we don’t remember ourselves with joy! - mother and daughter answer in one voice.
- Why are you so happy? - asks the father.
“Hans was here and said that he would take Grete as his wife, but only with an agreement: to remain silent about it for the time being.”
- Well, that won’t be the case! - says the owner.
In his joy, he forgot about breakfast. I went out into the yard and let’s harness my horses backwards to the cart. And Hans was just passing by. He saw what the owner was doing and marveled:
- Why do you put the horses facing the cart?
“Oh, Hans,” the father answers, “I don’t remember myself for joy.”
- Why are you happy? - asks Hans.
- Like what? You said that you want to take our daughter as your wife, right? - The owner was also surprised.
Hans got angry and said:
- Yes, I wanted to, but now I take back my words. She failed to keep her mouth shut, let her blame herself.
Hans went his way, and Grete was left with nothing.
From then on, Hans didn’t even set his nose to her.
And then one day a rumor reached Greta that Hans had wooed the daughter of a rich farmer and that on Sunday there would be an announcement in the church. On Sunday Grete tells her mother.
“I’ll go to church today and have a word with my betrothed.”
Hans and his bride entered the church, and Grete took the time, called him aside and whispered:
“Even though you left me, I didn’t throw you out of my heart.”
The bride sees that some girl is whispering with her groom, and so she asks Hans:
- Who and what? And why was she whispering in your ear?
“Yes, there’s one here,” Hans replies, “I promised to take her as my wife if she didn’t spill the beans for the time being, but she couldn’t keep her mouth shut.”
- Have you heard of this? — the bride grinned. “She really couldn’t keep quiet!” Who was pulling her tongue? I deceived seven suitors and never uttered a single word about it to a single living soul. Just now it accidentally rolled off my tongue.
How did Hans hear such words, how did he start running! Only the bride saw him.
Hans later reasoned: “Still, Grete is a modest and hard-working girl.”
Hans and Grete got married and lived happily ever after.
And now they still live, if they haven’t died.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru