One family received a small farm as a wedding gift, located far from the village in the middle of a wide steppe. Not far from the farm there was a low hill, on top of which lay a pile of stones.
The happy husband and wife immediately after the wedding moved to live on their farm. But after a while they noticed that there was not a soul around and that they were completely cut off from other people. Not a single villager came close to their farm for fear of being near the hill on which, according to rumors, scary steppe men lived.
Although none of the villagers had ever seen these little men, much less spoken to them, everyone was sure that they were scary and evil, or at least very unpleasant. But the young couple paid little attention to all these rumors, enjoying the happiness and peace of their secluded life.
One evening, as they sat by the fireplace, someone knocked. Then the door opened, and a small man with a long beard, no higher than knee height, appeared on the threshold. He was wearing a red cap and a leather apron. A moment later, the husband and wife realized that it must be one of the steppe men. But he did not seem at all angry or at least unpleasant to them. Despite his difference from ordinary people, he seemed very friendly.
And then the husband and wife invited him to come in and sit next to them by the fireplace.
“Good evening,” said the visitor.
“Our people living on the hill saw that you came to live here next to us. If you do us no harm and treat us kindly, we will not do you any harm either.
- Calm down, we won’t do anything bad to you. We have enough space here and we won't cramp you in any way. I don’t see any reason that could prevent us from living in friendship and harmony with you,” said the husband, and his wife invited the steppe man to share dinner with them.
“Thank you,” the little man said quietly, “but the king sent me to you, and I don’t want to make him wait and worry.” Good night.
And the little steppe man disappeared as instantly as he had appeared.
From that moment on, the young couple and the steppe men became friends. At first, the steppe men were afraid of their neighbors and disappeared as soon as they saw them. But soon, making sure that this family really wouldn’t do them any harm, they stopped hiding and calmly went about their business. Whenever a husband or wife met their neighbors anywhere, they smiled friendly and greeted them with kind words. The young family was happy when, after the birth of their daughter Ingrid, the steppe men placed a basket of delicacies on the threshold of their house.
Some time later, the wife became seriously ill. The husband was very scared, thinking that she would soon die, and ran to the village in the hope of finding help. But none of the villagers knew how to cure his wife’s illness. Finally, he was advised to turn to an old woman who knew how to heal with herbs. But she flatly refused to go to the patient for fear of meeting the steppe men. The saddened husband had no choice but to return home.
Every day his wife became worse and worse. One day, sitting by his wife's bed, the husband fell asleep. Suddenly he woke up and saw that the whole room was filled with steppe men. Some were cleaning the room, others were mending clothes, others were rocking the child, and others were preparing herbal tea, which they soon gave to the sick woman.
When the steppe people noticed that their husband had woken up, they rushed to run from the house as fast as they could. The very next day the patient felt better. And soon she completely recovered and began to do her work.
Years have passed. Ingrid has grown up. And all these years the steppe people continued to help their neighbors. Very often, in order to somehow thank them for their kindness, Ingrid and her mother treated their neighbors to oatmeal and freshly baked bread.
One spring, Ingrid and her parents were very surprised that all the stones scattered in their field were neatly stacked in one place. And in the fall, when it was time to harvest, they saw that all the grains had been collected, threshed, and that they themselves no longer needed to do anything. Many evenings, sitting near the fireplace, the family remembered all the good things that the steppe people did for them. Ingrid and her parents thanked God every time during their evening prayers for sending them such wonderful neighbors.
One evening someone knocked and a steppe man entered the room, the same one who visited them for the first time. Only he was wearing an elegant suit instead of ordinary clothes. In his hands he held a stick. The steppe man looked very sad and saddened.
“Our king asks you to come to our hill this evening,” he said and did not add a word.
In the evening, Ingrid and her parents went to a cave on a hill where the steppe people lived. They opened a small door and went inside. The family found themselves in a spacious hall, decorated with colorful steppe flowers and bunches of fragrant herbs. In the middle of the hall there was a large long table.
The king invited them to take the most honorable places at the table. After dinner the king said:
“I invited you this evening to express to you the gratitude of me personally and all my people for your friendly attitude towards us. Unfortunately the time has come for my people to leave this place and follow those of us who have long since crossed the waters of Norway. We wanted to say goodbye to you.
And one after another the steppe men began to approach them to say goodbye. Each person who approached Ingrid bent down, took a small pebble from the floor and handed it to the girl. Then they all left their cave and, led by the king, walked through the wide expanses of the steppe. Ingrid and her parents watched them from the top of the hill until the last steppe man disappeared from sight.
The next morning, Ingrid decided to look at the stones that the steppe men presented to her. These stones, which seemed the most ordinary in the dark, now looked completely different. They sparkled and shimmered in the morning sun. Some were brown, others were purple, black, green and blue. So that Ingrid would never forget about the steppe people, they gave her stones of all colors and shades of their eyes.
Since then they say that precious stones sparkle and shimmer so magnificently because the steppe men once gave them the color of their eyes as a gift to their good neighbors.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru