Once upon a time there lived a woman. She had one only daughter and her name was Guri. This Guri was such a lazy person, such a slacker and a white-handed person that all she did all day was do nothing:
Why should I work? Why should I work? It won’t be useful to me in life. I don’t need all these worries at all, I won’t earn happiness from this. If it were my will, I would walk. If it were my will, I would dance. I would sit on the bench, and dangle my legs! I would eat and drink what I like. And I would sleep, - When sleep copes with me.
For this behavior, the neighbors nicknamed the girl – Lazy Guri. As soon as her own mother praised her idle daughter to everyone:
She is skilled at all sorts of things, My daughter, a needlewoman: And she knits and spins, And she cuts and sews, And she knows how to cook deliciously, And she will warm you up with a kind word. And whoever marries her will certainly not be lost!
The young merchant heard these words and thought: “This is just the kind of girl I would marry.” He went to Guri’s house and wooed her. They got married and he brought his young wife to his house.
After some time, he brought a large bale of cotton and asked Guri to knead it thoroughly, comb it and spin the yarn while he went about his merchant business. He told Guri that he would take the yarn she spun with him to other countries and sell it there. “If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll get rich.” - He said so and left.
After his departure, Guri began to do her favorite thing: idle. One day she was walking along the river bank. Suddenly he hears frogs croaking: “Kwa-a-a, qua-a-a...” Hey, little frogs! – Lazy Guri shouted to them. “If I bring you a bale of cotton, maybe you will comb it and spin the threads?” “Kwa-a-a, qua-a-a...” The croaking of the frogs seemed affirmative to Guri. And she, rejoicing that there was someone who would do her work for her, ran home.
Guri returned to the river bank with a bale of cotton that her husband had left for her and threw it into the water. “Here’s a job for you: comb this cotton and spin yarn.” And I will come here in a few days, take the threads and go sell them at the market. Several days have passed. Guri came to the frogs. The frogs, of course, croak: - Kwa-a-a, qua-a-a.. - What are these frogs, you all “kva-a-a” to “kva-a-a”. Where are my threads?
The frogs only continued to croak in response. Guri looked around and noticed green mud and algae on the rocks near the shore. “Oh!” What have you done? You not only combed my cotton and spun yarn from it, you also wove yourself a carpet! Guri grabbed her rosy cheeks with her hands and began to cry. “Okay, so be it: keep the carpet for yourself, and give me the money for the cotton.”
She screamed, demanding money from the frogs, and got so carried away that she climbed into the water. Suddenly, her foot stumbled upon something hard. She bent down and picked up a gold nugget from the bottom. Guri thanked the frogs, took the gold and went home. The merchant returned from his trip. He looks: there is a large piece of gold on the shelf at home. He was surprised and asked: “Listen, wife!” Where did this piece of gold come from on our shelf?
Then Guri told him about how she sold the cotton to the frogs and how she got gold for it. The husband was simply delighted. To celebrate, he invited his mother-in-law home, gave her many different gifts and began to praise her and thank her for raising such a smart handicraft daughter.
And the mother-in-law was a shrewd woman. She immediately realized that something was wrong here and quickly guessed how things really were. She was immediately afraid that now her father-in-law would give her daughter some other job. And everything that is so hidden will come out. And then a beetle flew into the room where the celebration in honor of Guri was taking place. It flew back and forth over people's heads and buzzed loudly. Then the mother-in-law suddenly stood up and greeted the beetle: “Hello, hello, dear auntie!” My poor aunt, you are always busy with business and worries, working tirelessly. And why do you need all this, why?
These words simply struck my son-in-law like lightning: “Mom, are you okay?” What are you saying here? How can this beetle be your aunt? And the mother-in-law says: “Listen to me, son.” You know that I have no secrets from you, because you are like my own son. Imagine, but this is so - the beetle is my aunt. The fact is that she had to work day after day. And the more work she had, the harder she worked, the smaller and smaller she became, until she turned into a beetle. This can happen to everyone in our family, because we are very hardworking. But those of us who overwork become small and turn into bugs.
When the son-in-law heard this, he immediately forbade his wife to do any work, so that God forbid, she would not turn into a beetle, like her aunt.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru