She was fast and strong. And her name was River. She carried her mighty waters far to the north. She was often praised and given gifts in the form of wreaths of meadow flowers. She was creepy!
“How can I not be proud,” she thought, “if everyone praises me.” After all, I bring a lot of benefit. My water nourishes the land of the surrounding villages. People and animals fish in me. My cool water is so nice to drink on a hot day!
The River carried these thoughts for many years. But then one fine day, it seems it was Friday, the River suddenly thought.
- Why does everyone use my water for free?
And instead of a stormy stream, she decided to become a thin stream so that she would be needed even more. And so, gradually the River began to become shallower. But the people who lived along its banks did not leave. They began to make sacrifices to the river in the form of animals and ask it to become full again. The river really liked it.
And she became even more proud of herself. After all, she had a wonderful reason!
“Oh,” she sighed, “what a clever move I came up with to make people need me even more.”
“No one is smarter than me,” she exclaimed.
Naturally, the River was not going to return to its previous size.
She was happy with her current situation. But gradually people began to leave their homes and go in search of another place where another river would be more full-flowing. Bears and moose left its banks, and lynxes also left it. The fish, of which there used to be a huge amount in the River, are gone. Reka was very upset by this.
She wanted more attention to her person. And so I decided to do the following. Instead of returning to its previous state, it stopped flowing altogether, forming a small lake.
But because of this, the people who remained on its banks, who still hoped that the River would return, also left. She was left alone.
All alone. Only crows occasionally flew in to drink water, and jackals running past graced her with their presence. True, every night she was visited by the stars reflected in her water.
But they were silent and admired only their reflection in her. The river was in despair. She was stifled by anger and hatred towards everyone.
“They betrayed me,” she shouted into the void.
But no one heard her. Gradually She began to turn into a swamp. It was no longer possible to drink water from it, and the stars left it because... they could no longer admire their reflection. The river became indifferent to everything. Its banks were overgrown with reeds, and the water was covered with a dirty green crust. Some more time passed like this. One day, people decided to visit the River, which they loved and remembered, but in its place there was a dried-up swamp.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru