A husband and wife lived in the same village. They had only one daughter. They loved and cherished her so much, they blew away specks of dust from her, that the neighbors nicknamed her “mama’s daughter.” The mother and father worked tirelessly from morning to evening, but their daughter did nothing. In the morning she lay in bed for a long time. When she got tired of lying around, her mother came to her, braided her hair, spoon-fed her like a little child, and then spread a soft felt by the fireplace so that her daughter could sit there, swaying from side to side, and doze. When she felt cold, she uttered just one word:
- Pull it up!
Hearing this word, father and mother rushed to their daughter, lifted her by the arms and sat her down closer to the fire. When she got hot, she lazily said the second word:
- Pull me away!
And the old people put her away from the hearth.
Today it’s like that, and tomorrow it’s like that, until my mother’s daughter grows up and becomes a bride. Matchmakers began to visit them. The bride's mother greeted them with the words:
“We’ll give her to you, why not, but just know that we have the only daughter.” She needs care. Can you take care of her like we do?
And she told how their daughter loved to doze by the fire, how she was seated either closer or further from the fire, how she was spoon-fed.
- This girl is not for us! - The matchmakers shook their heads and left.
Many matchmakers came to them, but no one dared to take their mother’s daughter as their bride. And then one day a guy showed up to them - it was immediately obvious that he was a hard worker, his hands were calloused, his shirt was soaked with sweat. He came straight from the field.
When the mother told what kind of daughter she had, he replied:
“That’s the kind of wife I need.” We will live like doves. I will carry her in my arms, just give her to me.
“Okay,” the old men agreed. They dragged their beloved daughter away from the stove, took off her dirty dress, put her on her wedding dress and sat her in the cart.
The guy took the bride to his home, sat her down on the rug closer to the fireplace, went to the barn, chopped wood, brought it into the house and lit a fire.
As soon as the logs flared up and the young woman felt hot, she shouted:
- Pull me away!
But the groom scratched his head, pretended not to hear, and went out into the yard. The logs burned even hotter.
- Pull me away! - Mama’s daughter squealed because the flames licked her stocking, but when she saw that no one was there, she jumped up and rushed to the door. It’s good that she at least thought to soak the smoldering stocking in a large wooden dog drinking bowl, otherwise she would have burned her leg.
It was late autumn. A cold wind was blowing. The bride sat and sat and became so cold that she began to lose teeth.
- Pull it up! - she shouted once. - Pull it up! - the second one shouted, and realizing that no one heard her, she stood up and trudged to the fireplace.
There was no one to cook dinner and the young people had to go to bed hungry.
The next day the young husband got up at dawn and began to punish the mattress on which his hungry wife lay:
- Listen, mattress, I’m going to plow, and you prepare dinner. Leave half of the lunch for my wife, and bring the other half to the field. Just be careful not to be late, otherwise my stick will dance on your back.
The plowman has gone to work, and his wife is lying there, recovering. When dinner time came, she said to the mattress:
“Get up, little mattress, didn’t you hear what my husband punished you?” Prepare something to eat, otherwise I’ll die of hunger. But the mattress was silent.
- Well, you won’t be happy! - the young woman threatened and moved closer to the fire.
In the evening the plowman returned cold and hungry.
- Hey, mattress, why didn’t you bring me lunch? - he shouted. - Why didn’t you remind him, little wife? - he reproached the young
“I told him, hubby, but he pretended to be deaf and didn’t listen to me,” the young woman began to justify herself.
Then the hungry plowman grabbed the mattress, threw it on his wife’s back and, well, beat it with a stick.
“Oh-oh-oh, hubby,” she screamed, “you’re hitting the mattress, and it hurts me!”
- Be patient, little wife, be patient! “I’m hitting him so that he’ll listen to you,” the plowman said and began to hit him even harder.
Again they went to bed hungry. On the third day the same thing happened again. On the fourth day, her mother’s daughter, seeing that the mattress was lying there and couldn’t breathe, got up, rolled up her sleeves, cleaned the house, cooked a pot of beans, baked a loaf, changed her clothes, pinned a flower to her hair and took lunch to the field. The newlyweds sat down and ate well.
“Finally, the mattress listened to me,” said the husband, having had his fill.
- So I listened! Didn't budge! Know yourself to be basking by the fire.
- Who prepared dinner then?
- I!
- If so, throw the mattress out when you get home! I don't want to see him anymore.
In the evening, the young plowman, seeing how clean and tidy everything in the house was, said to his wife:
“Don’t let the mattress bask by the fire anymore, otherwise my stick will dance again.”
“I won’t let him into the house,” answered the young woman. - And then look, my back will turn blue again. I don't want to suffer because of a lazy mattress.
That's how the young people lived. The plowman worked in the field, and his wife looked after the house. One day her mother came to visit them and shouted from afar:
- I decided, daughter, to see how you live. Are you happy here, does your husband take care of you, does he feed you with a spoon, does he push you towards the fire, does he move you away when you are hot?
“Oh, mummy, if you only knew what happened to me,” my daughter began to tell. “We had a nasty little mattress, so lazy that there are no words.” Every day his husband beat him with a stick, and he still pretended that he didn’t understand a word.
And the young woman told her mother about everything.
- Oh, that's how it is! - the mother seethed. “So he makes you cook for him and clean the whole house.” Are these handles for a broom, my dear, beloved child? Oh, how unlucky you and your husband are. You will no longer live in this house. Where is your dowry, daughter? Quickly pack your things and let's get out of here.
-Where are we going, mummy? - my daughter asked.
- To our home. I will take care of you just like before. I won’t allow you to stress yourself out from working here.
The young woman is accustomed to obeying her mother. She collected the dowry, tied everything in a bundle, put it on her mother’s back and they went home. They just went outside when a plowman comes back from the field to meet them.
-Where did you take her? - He blocked his mother-in-law’s path.
- I'm taking it from you. You tortured her with work, but she is not used to such a life.
- Return home immediately before I take the stick! - the plowman shouted and forced the women to turn back.
They entered the house.
- Collect for the table, I’m hungry like a wolf! - the husband ordered his wife. - Pour the stew into two bowls and give me a loaf.
The young woman obediently poured the stew into two bowls and brought a ruddy loaf. The husband took the loaf, broke it into two halves, handed one to his wife and said:
- Eat!
- What about me? - asked the mother.
- You? - The son-in-law turned to her, - Your golden lips, which teach your daughter not to work, are entitled to completely different food.
The plowman got up from the table, went to the hayloft, filled the bag with straw, and then hung it around his mother-in-law’s neck and said:
- Eat!
The mother turned green with anger, jumped up, threw the bag and shouted:
“I won’t set foot in your house anymore!” Just know!
The mother slammed the door and started running down the road.
Returning home, she shouted to her husband:
- Take the rod and bring my daughter back. I taught her to be a lady, but she became a servant. Go without delay!
The father got ready and went to his daughter. He asked her about life, and realizing what was what, said:
“Daughter, I came for you, but I see that it’s better for you to stay with your husband.” Do your job and don't come home. Your mother and I are getting old, it’s time for us to get ready for the next world. There will be no one to move you away from the hearth, and you will end up burning. Is your job hard?
- No, father, because I’m healthy, young, I can handle everything.
“Then work, child, help your husband and don’t listen to your mother’s advice.” Now go, greet your working husband with a kind word, help unharness the oxen, take them to the barn.
The young woman jumped up and rushed into the yard. The plowman saw that his wife was meeting him, was surprised and asked:
-Who sent you? Until now you have never met me.
“Father,” answered the young woman, “he came to visit us.”
The delighted plowman entered the house, greeted his father-in-law, sat him down at the table, fed him, gave him something to drink, put him to sleep on a soft bed, and in the morning he threw a sheepskin coat over his shoulders and cordially escorted the old man to the outskirts.
The old woman came out to the gate to meet her husband and, seeing him from afar in a sheepskin coat, began to lament:
- Oh-oh-oh, elder, what has our damned son-in-law done! He forced me to eat straw, and he beat you so hard that he tore off all your skin.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru