Once upon a time there lived two brothers. One was rich and the other was poor. The rich man could not stand his poor brother. It happened one day, the poor man had run out of all his bread, and he would have been glad to buy bread, but the problem was that he didn’t have a penny to his name. He went to his rich brother for help. But only the rich man saw that his brother was approaching his house, threw a moldy pork ham through the window and shouted to the poor man to get out of hell:
“If you sell a ham there, you’ll make money!”
“And thank you for that,” said the poor man, took the ham and with tears went to look for the inferno. On the way he met a gray-haired old man.
- Why are you crying? - asks the old man. The poor man told him about his misfortune: his brother sent him into the hell to sell a ham, but he didn’t even know the way there.
- Well, there’s no need to shed tears in vain! - the old man consoles him. – Follow this path, don’t turn anywhere, and you will reach the very inferno. Don’t forget: don’t take money for a ham in the heat, ask for the chalk that’s lying in the corner.
The poor man thanked the old man and went his way.
He walks and walks, but there is no end to the path. But then he reached the inferno, and there was no way further - a big, big gate in front of him. The poor man knocked on the gate. A damn servant with three heads comes out and asks:
-What do you want?
“Yes, I’m selling pork ham,” says the poor man. The damn servant was happy.
- How much do you want for it? - asks.
“I won’t sell the ham for money,” the poor man replies. “I’ll give it for the chalk that’s lying in the corner.”
But the three-headed one doesn’t even want to hear about the chalk.
- Ask for whatever you want, just not chalk! - speaks.
The poor man noticed that the devilish servant could not take his eyes off the ham, he kept licking his lips and did not yield: give me some chalk! - and that’s all. Finally I gave him the three-headed chalk.
That's where they parted. The damned servant with the ham in the heat disappeared and locked the huge gate behind him, and the poor man with chalk was hurrying home as fast as he could.
On the way, he meets the old man again.
- Well, did you get the chalk? - asks the old man.
“I got it,” the poor brother replies, “I just can’t imagine what I should do with it, I don’t even have anything to grind.”
“But this chalk is magical,” says the old man. “As soon as you tell her to grind, she will crackle, spin and grind you everything you want.”
The old man also told the poor man what words would stop the little one, and told him not to tell these words to anyone. The old man said all this and disappeared.
From then on, the poor brother lived happily and richly. Every day Melenka gave him the most delicious food and drink. She ground all kinds of chalk and so much gold that he built himself a golden palace.
The rich brother saw the golden palace and almost lost his mind. He ran to the poor brother and asked:
- Where did you get such wealth?
The poor brother said that the melenka made him rich. The rich man began to pester the poor man to sell him some chalk.
- Why not sell it? - says the poor man. “Now I have plenty of good things, I can give them to my brother.”
As soon as the rich brother heard this, he immediately grabbed the chalk and, puffing and panting, ran home. He came running and was even shaking with joy. And his wife looks at him and wonders: what happened to her husband?
The next morning the rich brother and his farmhands gathered to mow hay. The wife wanted to stay at home and cook porridge, but the husband said:
“You go mow with us, and when it’s time for breakfast, I’ll run home and the little chalk will whip up some porridge for me in no time.”
The wife did not argue and went with everyone to the meadow.
When it was time for breakfast, the owner threw down his scythe and hurried home to get some porridge. I ran home and got my chalk. The chalk is grinding and grinding, all the pots are already filled with porridge. And there would be no need for more, but the chalk is grinding for itself. The owner shouts that there’s enough porridge, but his baby doesn’t listen. The whole hut is already full of porridge, and the chalk keeps grinding and grinding. The owner was seriously scared and threw the chalk out the door, but that didn’t help either. The porridge keeps getting more and more, and soon the whole yard will be filled with porridge. It was as if a little baby had gone mad. The rich brother doesn't know what to do with her. Finally he grabbed the chalk and took it to his brother: they say, put it where you know.
The brother heard about what the little girl had done and just laughed. He whispered the magic words, and at that same moment all the porridge disappeared, as if it had never happened at all.
Once the sailors were sailing past the shore and saw something sparkling in the sun. They got off the ship to see what was shining. They approach: there is a golden palace in front of them, the roof on it is burning with pure gold. Sailors ask:
– Whose palace is this and where did it come from here?
“This palace is mine,” the poor brother answers them, “and it came from this very chalk.”
The sailors are amazed, they cannot be surprised, they ask if they can take a closer look at the chalk. And they liked the chalk so much that the next night they stole it.
The next morning the poor brother is looking for his chalk, but he can’t find it: the sailors have it, and the sailors have been at sea for a long time! The sailors got together and thought, what would they order the chalk to grind first? While they were thinking, someone shouted that they needed to grind some salt: they forgot the salt at home. Well, salt is salt. And the chalk has been ground here - only the dust stands in a column!
She grinds and grinds, she has already ground a full bowl of salt, as if that’s enough. The sailors want to stop the chalk, but no matter: the chalk grinds tirelessly. The sailors huddled around the chalk, trying to stop it with their hands, but to no avail. Soon the ship was filled with salt and sank along with the sailors and the fish. And the chalk was still grinding at the bottom of the sea and is still grinding to this day, which is why the water in the sea is salty.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru