There lived an old man with his son and daughter. The father and son were weaving bamboo baskets, and the girl, having prepared dinner and done housework, helped them. The whole family worked hard all day and even night.
At that time, neither cotton, from which warm clothes were made, nor lamps burning in oil were known. Clothes were made from the skins of wild animals or from tree bark, and light and warmth were provided only by the flames of a fire.
And the family worked at night under a smoky, flickering flame, from which the eyelids turned red and the eyes festered. So months and years dragged on.
One day, when the whole family was sitting at work, the brother suddenly said:
“If the moon shone as brightly as the sun, and even appeared every night, that would be good!”
- Is this possible? - asked the sister. And the father, after thinking a little, said:
“They say that somewhere far, far away, there is Mount Yunti.” On this mountain lives an old gardener, gray-haired like a harrier. His white beard is so long that it drags along the ground. When the moon passes over the top of Yunti, he often climbs onto the moon to rest for a while. If I could talk to this old man, let him ask the moon to shine brighter and appear every night. People could then work at night.
“We’ll ask the old gardener about this,” the brother and sister said in one voice.
“It’s not that easy,” the father said sternly. “They say that the path to Mount Yunti is long and difficult, and the mountain itself is very high and covered with snow.
But the brother and sister answered with determination:
“In order to prevent people from suffering from the cold and damaging their eyes by working at night in the dark, we are ready to endure any difficulties and overcome any dangers.”
The next day, as soon as dawn broke, the brother set off. And this path was indeed not easy: the young man had to cross rivers, climb mountains, and wade through dense thickets. When his legs refused to walk from fatigue, he crawled on all fours, and when his knees were raw and bleeding, he wrapped them in skin, which replaced his clothes.
He walked for nine whole months and finally climbed the snow-covered Yunti Mountain.
A gray-haired, long-bearded old man was sitting on a stone and combing his magic beard with a large comb.
The young man approached him and explained why he had come. But the elder, as if not noticing him, continued silently combing his beard.
“Grandfather, not for my own sake, but for everyone’s sake!” For the sake of those people who work at night and suffer from cold and darkness, I ask you! - the young man persuaded him.
Finally, the old man slowly raised his head and looked at the newcomer, who was blue from the cold and could barely stand on his feet from fatigue.
“Wait a little, son,” he said tenderly. And then the moon appeared above the top of Yunti. The old man put aside his comb, wrapped his beard around his neck and, with the agility of a monkey, climbed to the top of the mountain, and from there jumped to the moon.
Soon he returned.
- The moon says - you can’t! It cannot shine as brightly as the sun. And she can’t appear every night either, since sometimes she has to go down to the sea to wash herself. After all, she shouldn’t appear with a dirty face - then she won’t be able to shine at all!
The poor young man was very sad - he thought about the people who were suffering so much and whom he could not help. And he cried bitterly.
The old man felt sorry for the young man from the bottom of his heart.
“Son, nothing will work out with the moon.” But don’t worry—we’ll figure something out ourselves on earth.
- What can we come up with? - the young man asked through tears.
- But listen! If there is a person who agrees to become a tree, we will get oil for lamps and get cotton so that people can make warm clothes from it. Then they will not freeze and will not damage their eyes.
“If it benefits people, I’m ready to turn into a tree,” said the young man.
The old man, seeing that the young man was sincerely striving to help people, combed his beard and took out a pearl the size of a chicken egg. He handed it to the young man:
“Swallow this pearl, son, and you will turn into a tree.”
The young man did as the old man ordered, and in the blink of an eye he turned into a tree with long branches and dense foliage. Another moment - and flowers bloomed on the tree, and soon large fruits appeared.
“Son, now you are called a tung tree (tung (wood) oil is extracted from the fruits of the tung tree," said the old man.
And as if in response to his words, the foliage swayed joyfully under the light breeze that came.
Meanwhile, father and daughter eagerly awaited the young man's return. A whole nine months have passed since he left, and he was still missing.
Then the sister said:
“Now I will go to Yunti Mountain.” I’ll ask the old man to have a good talk with the moon and at the same time I’ll bring my brother home.
The next day, as soon as it was dawn, the girl set off. She encountered many obstacles along the way, but nothing stopped her, and she finally came to Mount Yunti.
The old man sat on his stone and combed his long gray beard. The girl crawled up to him with difficulty and began to ask:
- Grandfather, talk to the moon, let it warm and shine like the sun, let it appear every night!
The elder looked at the girl - her body was blue from the cold, her legs were giving way from fatigue. He sympathized with her with all his heart and answered sadly:
“Recently a young man came here and he asked me the same thing.” I spoke to the moon then, but she couldn't do anything.
- How can this be? - said the upset girl. - Is it still possible to come up with something?
- Can! - answered the old man. “We need to light lamps and make warm clothes from cotton.” He pointed to the tree.
“Not long ago he was a young man, but for the sake of people’s happiness he became a tung tree.”
The girl walked up to the tree and gently stroked the trunk.
- Hello, brother! So you turned into a tree to give people oil for their lamps? Grandfather, let me do something useful for people!
Seeing that she was saying this from the bottom of her heart, the elder combed his beard again, took out a pearl from it and gave it to the girl. She, without hesitation, swallowed it and immediately turned into a lush bush with short branches and green foliage. Beautiful flowers immediately bloomed on the bush, and a moment later large fruits with fluffy white fiber inside appeared.
“Now you have become a cotton plant, girl,” said the old man.
And as if in response, the foliage let out a gentle “jing-jing-jing!” - as if someone laughed quietly.
And far, far from Mount Yunti, the old father waited another nine long months, but neither son nor daughter returned. And the father decided: “Now I’ll go!” I’ll see the old man, and at the same time I’ll bring my children home.”
The father made the same difficult journey and reached Mount Yunti. He saw an old man sitting on a stone and combing his beard. The father began to ask the elder to talk to the moon. But the old man replied that he could do nothing to help him, that a young man and a girl had already come to him with the same request, and the only thing he could do was to turn the young man into a tung tree and the girl into a cotton plant.
- I also want to become a tree! - the father begged, immediately guessing who these young man and girl were.
-This is impossible! — the old man hastily answered. “I don’t have any more magic pearls.” But you have come just in time: take the seeds of the tung tree and the cotton tree and plant them when you return home. Tell people that oil can be used to fuel lamps and cotton can be used to make warm clothes. At this time, a light breeze blew, and the seeds fell into the basket.
The father returned home with a basket full of seeds. He scattered the seeds along the slopes of the mountains, and soon they were all covered with wonderful trees and bushes.
And from that time on, every house had plenty of oil and cotton. In the evenings, people lit lamps, and on cold days they put on warm clothes. They no longer suffered from cold or darkness.
Since then, the moon began to shine brighter at night. And when the fifteenth day of the eighth month arrived, she sent her fairies to earth. They brought the father of the boy and girl to the moon and transplanted wonderful plants there from the top of Mount Yunti.
Well, what about the gray-bearded old man? They say that he, too, moved to the moon long ago.
From those distant times to the present day, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the moon is completely round and especially bright. And if you look closely, you can see an old man working hard on his bamboo baskets.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru