Once upon a time there lived two brothers. The elder Nor Bu was rich and evil. He hated all people, especially the poor. He offended the weak and crippled, spat and threw rubbish into his neighbors' wells. And most of all he offended his younger brother Heung Bu.
Heung Bu was a poor man, but kind and friendly. He had many children. It was cramped and hungry in his dilapidated house, but the whole family lived together in harmony.
One day Heung Bu went to his elder brother to ask for some seeds for sowing.
The elder brother, as soon as he saw Heung Bu, immediately guessed that he had come with a request. He attacked his younger brother with abuse and drove him away.
Heung Bu did not say a word to his rich brother and returned home sadly.
The wife saw that he came empty-handed, but did not complain or reproach her husband.
“Don’t worry, someday we will live well,” she consoled him.
Spring has soon arrived and the first swallows have appeared. One swallow began to build a nest under the roof of poor Heung Bu.
“Why are you building a nest under my poor roof?” - Heung Bu said to the swallow. It will not protect your nest from the cold wind, and you will not find any grains or crumbs in my yard.
But the swallow made a nest and brought out the chicks. The chicks grew, and the swallow tirelessly obtained food for them and chirped merrily.
One day a snake crawled up to the nest and began to devour the chicks.
Heung Bu saw this, shouted, and knocked. The snake got scared by the noise and crawled away. But it was too late: only one chick survived from the entire swallow family. He fell out of the nest, broke his legs, but still did not get to the snake.
Poor Heung Bu picked up the chick and began to treat it. He pulled out the threads from his dress and bandaged his broken paws. I made a soft nest for the chick. I fed him midges.
The chick recovered and grew up. And in the fall, Heung Bu released him into the wild.
- Fly, swallow, and be happy! - he said.
The swallow fluttered, circled, as if saying goodbye, over Heung Bu’s hut and disappeared into the blue sky.
Winter has passed and spring has come again. The swallows returned to the village where the brothers Heung Bu and Nor Bu lived.
Heung Bu sat sadly near his house. The time had come to sow rice and chumiza, but he had nothing - no seeds, no land.
Suddenly a swallow flew in, circled over his head, chirped its cheerful song and dropped something at his feet.
Heung Bu was very surprised when he saw an ordinary pumpkin seed on the ground. He took this seed and planted it near his house.
Heung Bu's entire family carefully looked after the pumpkin. The pumpkin grew quickly and soon covered the entire roof with its stems. First, three white flowers bloomed, then the ovary appeared. By autumn, three huge pumpkins grew on the roof. Heung Bu and his wife were happy: after all, their harvest.
When all three pumpkins were ripe, they carefully picked them and decided to saw them to make jugs for water. But as soon as they sawed the first pumpkin, all sorts of dishes fell out of it - so tasty that they simply melted in their mouth. All a hundred diseases were cured from these foods - that’s what they were!
They sawed the second pumpkin and different clothes appeared from it. There were so many clothes here! Heung Bu's entire family was dressed from head to toe.
They sawed the third pumpkin - piles of gold, silver, and precious stones sparkled in front of them.
But the most amazing thing was that the treasures in the pumpkins did not decrease, no matter how much they were taken. There seemed to be even more of them.
Now Heung Bu and his family did not need anything and were happy. They built themselves a new spacious house under the tiles. They didn’t forget the swallows - they built cozy cornices on the roof, curved at the edges for their nests. Everyone in Korea has been doing it ever since. Heung Bu now had land and gardens. His wife, children and he himself worked diligently, since they all loved work and were not accustomed to idleness. In the fall, the roof of their house turned red with pepper and yellow with pumpkins.
Happy Heung Bu willingly helped all the poor people who asked him for help.
And Nor Bu, the elder brother, stopped sleeping out of greed and anger. How is it so: the beggar Heung Bu became rich! And then the grumpy wife gave me no rest. And so she went to Heung Bu to find out where he got such wealth.
I entered his new, elegant house and began to shake with greed. She purses her lips and turns her head from side to side. Heung Bu's wife treated her, and Heung Bu himself - a simple-minded man, and he had nothing to hide - told her the whole story with the swallow.
Nor Bu's wife almost burst with anger. She hurriedly returned home and told her husband about everything. At the same time, she added how much work it took her to find out everything. Heung Bu, they say, was arrogant and not only didn’t let her come close to the house. But still, she found out where his wealth came from.
Here they sent a thousand curses to Heung Bu, his wife, and children.
Elder brother Nor Bu began to look forward to the coming of spring.
But now spring has come. The swallows have arrived again. A swallow made a nest under the roof of the Nor Bu house.
Soon chicks appeared in the nest.
One day a swallow flew away to get food and the chicks were left alone. The rich man Nor Bu climbed into the nest and killed the chicks. Nor Bu left only one chick, but broke its legs... Then he began to treat it. And when he cured him, he released him and said:
- Fly wherever you want, just don’t forget: after all, I treated and fed you. For my kindness you must pay me generously. Also, make sure that Heung Bu becomes a poor man again, and his wealth passes to me.
The chick flew away to its country. There he told the swallows about everything, and they decided to punish the evil Nor Bu. Spring has come again. Swallows flew to the village where the brothers Heung Bu and Nor Bu lived. Nor Bu has been sitting outside his house for a long time. He doesn't need to work - he's rich. And here he sits in his hairy black cap and smokes a small copper pipe on a long, thin chibouk. His face is shiny, his small eyes, swollen with fat, close with pleasure... Nor Bu dreams of new riches.
Suddenly a swallow flew in and circled, threw a pumpkin seed in front of him and flew away.
Nor Bu hastily grabbed the seed with trembling hands and, looking around so that no one would see, planted it near his house. He tied dogs around on chains so that no one could get close to the pumpkin sprout.
The pumpkin grew very quickly. Just like Heung Bu’s then, she covered the entire roof of the house with her stems and leaves, entwined everything around her.
Autumn has come, and three huge pumpkins ripen on the roof of Nor Bu. Nor Bu picked them in the dark night and began sawing them. Right there, trembling with greed, stood his wife.
Nor Bu sawed the first pumpkin - huge, monstrous caterpillars crawled and began to devour his fields and gardens.
Before he had time to saw the second pumpkin, sea robbers jumped out, took away all the wealth of Nor Bu and quickly sailed overseas.
Nor Bu hurriedly sawed the third pumpkin - and suddenly a terrible fiery flame burst out of the pumpkin. The greedy rich man Nor Bu and his evil wife burned in this flame.
This is where the fairy tale ends.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru