Once upon a time there was a girl, her name was Lachchi. One day she and her friends went out on the water. The girls came to the well and started talking about grooms and weddings.
“My father bought me an expensive wedding dress,” said one.
“And the groom’s relatives are sewing an elegant wedding dress for me,” said another.
The girls began to brag one to another, but Lachchi remained silent. She was very poor, her parents died long ago, and there was no one who would take care of her and marry her off. She really wanted to insert a word into this conversation, and she said:
- Girlfriends! I have news! My uncle is returning from distant lands. He brings me a lot of expensive clothes and jewelry.
And not far from the girls there was a seller of glass bracelets; he heard the entire conversation. In fact, it was a thief. He only sold penny trinkets for show, and he himself looked for rich buyers, and then seized the moment and robbed them. This thief changed his clothes and, as soon as it got dark, came to Lachchhi. He took with him an expensive dress, jewelry and various other things.
“I am your uncle!” he said to Lachchi. – I lived in foreign lands, accumulated a lot of wealth, and now I came to my homeland. Now I want to marry you off. I have in mind one rich young man - the son of my friend. Come with me!
Lachchi believed that this was really her uncle. She collected all her things and went with him to see the groom. They went out onto the road and heard a crow caw:
Woe, woe to our Lachchha!
Where has your mind gone?
After all, you and the thief are on your way!
“What is this crow screaming?” asks Lachchi. And “uncle” answered:
“You know what rattlers these birds are.” Don't pay any attention to them!
They moved on. A peacock meets them. He saw Lacchi and sang:
Woe, woe to our Lachchha! Where has your mind gone? After all, you and the thief are on your way!
Even further they met a jackal. He repeated what the crow and peacock had said, but “uncle” managed to convince Lachchhi that all this was empty chatter.
He brought Lacchi to his house and said:
“Listen to me, girl, I’ll tell you everything honestly: you captivated me with your beauty, and I want to marry you.” This is my house. Stay in it and be my wife.
Lachchhi heard this and burst into burning tears, but what can you do? She stayed with the thief in the house.
Every day the thief went to prey, and ordered his mother, a scary, wrinkled and bald old woman, to look after Lachchhi. And Lachchha had beautiful hair: long, black, shiny. The old woman really liked them. Once, when her son was not at home, she asked Lacchi:
-Where did you get such beautiful hair?
“I have to thank my mother for this,” answered Lachchhi. “She used to put my hair in a mortar and then start pounding it with a pestle.” This is why my hair grew so long. Everyone in our village does this.
“You see, my hair is all coming out,” said the old woman. “Maybe it will grow back if I put my head in the mortar.”
- Why not?
As soon as the old woman lowered her head into the mortar, everything swam before her eyes and she fell down dead. Then Lachchhi dressed her in her wedding attire and sat her on the bed, and she took everything that was better and more expensive in the house and set off to run. Suddenly he sees a thief coming towards him and carrying two stolen millstones. Lachchhi hid in the bushes so that he would not notice her. But the thief, from afar, saw that some woman had slipped into the bushes, and out of fear that she might notice the stolen goods and make a noise, he walked around the bushes.
When the thief came home and called Lacchi, no one came to his call. The thief got angry and threw a millstone at the woman who was sitting in a wedding dress! He didn’t know that it was not Lachchhi at all, but his own mother. When the thief looked closely and recognized the mother, he realized that he himself was to blame for her death. And he wanted to take revenge on Lachchhi.
And Lachchi came to her native village and settled with her friend. So a month passed, and Lachchi decided that now the thief would not look for her. She began to spend the night at home. But just in case, every time she put a sharp dagger under her pillow.
One night, when Lachchi was sleeping deeply, that thief entered her house, and with him three of his friends. They tied the sleeping Lacchi to the bed and carried her and the bed out of the house. Lachchi woke up, but did not show it - she lay quietly. When they brought her into the forest, she carefully took out the dagger and cut off the heads of two of the thief’s friends who walked ahead, and then the third. The thief himself managed to climb the tree. Then Lacchi set fire to the tree and the thief died in the flames.
This is how brave Lachchhi got rid of the evil thief. Then she went to his house, took all the goods and took them to her place. She became very rich. The rumor about her courage and wealth spread throughout the area, and suitors from the best families began to woo her.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru