In the very depths of the Czech Republic, in one village, there lived a peasant farmer. He married a rich woman, but his wife turned out to be such a lazy person that they reached the extreme poverty, bitter need. And with this bitter need they had seven sons. The sons grew up, graduated from school and scattered around the world - they say, why should we stay at home?
- Well, if you don’t want to, leave!
Six sons left, and the seventh son Gonza stayed at home to help with the housework. The mother died out of frustration and grief, and the man lived together with Gonza. Because of their poverty, not a single farmhand would come to live with them, so they did everything themselves. They had a couple of unshod mares, cows and several goats and sheep. As soon as the land appeared, Gonza drove the cattle out to pasture. The old man plowed, Gonza helped. And so it went year after year. During the harvest season they hired a female worker. To do this, they borrowed money from a Jew, and instead of interest, they poured him a jug of fresh milk every day.
Gonza was already twenty-two years old. Every morning he drove the cattle out to the meadow, let them graze, and he ran off into the forest to pick mushrooms. Meanwhile, my father was plowing. At noon, old Pea made a fire, placed a clay pot on two stones, cooked mushroom porridge and baked potatoes in the ashes. Gonza dined with him, and then went into the forest again.
Once Gonza went into the forest and saw: at the edge of the forest a girl was collecting grass and berries. She spoke to Gonza, he complained about his poverty. From then on she began to meet him often; They would talk, and then go their separate ways, she into the thicket, he into the meadow.
One day, a father and son were having lunch in a field. Father poured mushroom porridge into a wooden bowl, placed it on his lap, and he and Gonza began to eat. Then some old woman approaches them, and with her is the same girl. The grandmother asks the man:
“Will you give me something to eat too, father?”
- There will be a lot of them! I won't give you anything. I get everything with difficulty.
And Gonzik says:
- Why are you so angry, father? Why not share with them? Even though you work, you still have nothing.
He got up and gave these women a pot of porridge. They sat down on the edge, took the slivers in their hands and ate every last bit. The old man finished his porridge and reached into the ashes for potatoes. Gonzik scooped up the potatoes and put them in his father’s bowl. But there were still a lot of potatoes left in the ashes, so he gave them to the old woman - let her enjoy them, they say. The grandmother and the girl ate and said to each other:
“But the young man will have more luck in his affairs; he is not greedy.”
The old man got angry and lay down on a strip of clover where the horses were grazing. Gonza went to the cattle in the meadow. When the old man woke up and took up the plow again, Gonza was already in the forest. There’s nothing at home for dinner, he thinks he needs to pick more mushrooms. And he came across so many good whites, he had never had such luck before. “Well, he thinks, today we’ll cook the porridge thicker.”
The sun was already leaning towards the mountain, the old man plowed, mowed the vetch, and hung it on the cart. And the wheels are heavy: four solid round pieces, sawn off from the trunk, only held together with hoops. The cart creaks in different voices. Gonza came, brought a bag of mushrooms, threw the pot into the clover and drove the cattle home. He gave the mares food, tied up the cows, goats and sheep in another barn and locked them up. Old Pea took the milk pan and went to milk. Then he lit a fire under the taganka, outside, and began to prepare dinner: he put the potatoes in the ashes, cooked the stew, and poured the milk from the milk pan into the tub. I collected from all the cows, but there was very little milk - at the bottom.
Now a girl with a basket behind her back comes into their room and asks if they need a worker. Old Pea says:
“I would be glad to take you, my dear, but no one is making a living here, we are poor people, we have no money.”
The old man, understandably, wanted a woman in the house. He was tired of milking cows, but Gonza didn’t know how to do that at all. Gonza, when he saw the girl, immediately recognized her - it was the same one with whom he talked in the forest and whom he treated to mushroom porridge in the field. Only she was dressed differently. He began to persuade his father:
- Hire! We need a worker. After all, I’m already twenty-two years old, and I walk around so dirty that everyone laughs at me. Every day I carry this soldier's jacket. Everyone makes fun of me.
- Well, stay, but we can only pay you after the harvest, when we harvest the grain. The girl happily agreed.
“I have nowhere to live,” he says, “and death doesn’t bother me, my only salvation is to get hired somewhere.”
Old Pea asks:
- What is your name?
“I’m ashamed to say it, my name is painfully rude.” - Why are you embarrassed, the name is just a name. After all, we have to call you something.
- My name is Cinderella.
The old man pushed his hat back on his head:
- Cinderella, Cinderella... I once heard about Cinderella... She was lucky, she achieved everything from nothing.
They invited Cinderella to have dinner with them. She sat down next to Gonza, and he had never eaten so deliciously as this time.
After dinner, she cleaned the room and provided food for the cows and horses. We sat down on the porch. I want to smoke peas, and so does Gonza, but not a crumb of tobacco. They sit and hang their heads. She ask:
- Why are you ruffled like wet chickens?
They turn their old tubes in their hands and blow them out. Cinderella took off and soon returned with a large bundle of tobacco. The baby is fresh, what happiness! Both began to smoke with might and main. Old Pea says to her:
- Be the complete mistress of our house. And Gonza agrees.
We sat. Then Gonza asks:
- Well, where will anyone sleep? We have no bed, no feather bed, nothing at all!
Cinderella says:
“I’ll go to sleep in the barn, there’s a lot of straw there.” They wished each other good night, the farmhand went to the stable, the men went to the upper room, and lay down on the bench by the table.
The old man took off his jacket and lay down on one side, Gonza on the other.
In the morning the old man went out into the hallway, and there stood a tub full of milk. The cows and goats have already been milked. He and his hands apart - what is it? And Gonza says:
“You see, dad, what happiness has come to our house, now we can save some pennies.”
Here comes a Jewish woman, bringing a large jug:
- Pour it full today.
Old Pea doesn't know how to take it. Gonza calls:
- Come on, new mistress, pour it.
She poured it, but it wasn’t noticeable at all: it didn’t seem like there was any less in the tub. The old man and Gonza simply don’t know what to do with the milk, there’s so much of it. We decided to just take off the tops. On the ceiling there are tubs and basins piled up in a heap. Cinderella washed them and scrubbed them. She milked twice a day and kept the milk warm.
Gonza was only annoyed that she had such a bad name.
“The villagers will laugh at us.” And she answers:
- Don’t worry about it, the time will come, I will have a different name.
This is how day after day passed. Gonza drove the cattle to pasture, the old man plowed, and the new mistress did everything around the house. The old man became happier. And more and more milk was added.
- What, they say, are we going to do with sour cream?
“I’ll harvest it on Saturday, let there be butter in the house.”
On Saturday she found an old butter churn, evaporated it, and the three of them began churning. Three times she had to pour sour cream into the churn! I washed it, folded it - the tub was full of oil! The old man was simply bewildered and couldn’t believe his eyes.
They grabbed it, but there was no salt. She takes a coin out of her pocket, hands it to Gonza - some kind of money is not ours, he has never seen anything like it - and says:
- Go buy five pounds of salt.
Gonza brought it, she immediately poured the salt on the table, took the hatchet, and crushed it with the butt of it. I weighed the oil—thirty pounds. The old man almost went crazy - what was going on in the house! I took the oil to the cellar to freeze, and in the evening, they say, when I’ve rested, I’ll take it to the city and sell it. Gonza took the chalk and began to count how much he could gain, but he couldn’t even count it.
- Now I need a basket, something to carry it in.
Gonza immediately ran, dragging a grass basket. The old man grabbed his head:
“Are you crazy, or something, this is a grass basket, not for butter!” You see,” he says to Cinderella, “not everyone is at home with our Gonza.”
She laughed, and Gonza turned, grabbed the basket from the closet in the hallway and dragged it straight into the room with the hen.
- Well, this is a blessed man! Don’t torment him, otherwise he’ll go completely crazy, you see, he’s rushing around, absolutely mad. There’s a basket hanging in the attic, left over from the old woman, go go yourself.
But Gonza doesn’t hesitate, he ran to the attic and brought a basket. Cinderella opened it, and it was full of mouse nests. She ran into the yard, washed it in slurry, rinsed it in the river and carried a clean basket into the room.
“Now,” they say, “give me a piece of clean calico for the oil.”
- What are you talking about, dear, what kind of calico we have. There are no shirts either. Since the old woman died, there has not been a single thread of linen left in the house.
Cinderella wrapped herself up, didn’t say a word to anyone, and instantly brought a bundle of white calico under her arm. I tore off three pieces to wrap the butter, and removed the rest.
And our Gonza is hovering around Cinderella:
“Don’t refuse,” he says, “to sew me a shirt from this piece for a walk on Sunday.” After all, all the guys wear shirts and laugh at me that I don’t even have a shirt.
- Okay, okay, just wait a minute, I’ll sell the butter and whip up something for you.
In the evening she went into town, and an hour later she tossed and turned and dumped a bunch of pennies on the table. Old Pea almost went crazy. So much money! He wants to give it to Cinderella for some calico, but she won’t take it:
“No, no, no, you’ll give it back later when you’re richer.”
And that evening, when Cinderella went to the city, some old woman hobbled to their house:
- Let me in, good people, to spend the night. Maybe give me a piece of bread, I haven’t eaten anything.
And old Pea, ever since he got a clever worker who knew how to get him out of any trouble, no longer grumbled as he used to.
- Gonzik, give her something to eat, I guess we won’t die of hunger, we’ll get by.
And the old woman immediately entered their house, and so boldly, as if she had lived with them all her life, she knew everything where to go.
- Whose will you be, where are you from?
- I am Cinderella's grandmother.
“Oh, that’s it,” says Pea. “Well, she’s a smart, dexterous girl, but when she gets down to work, everything goes smoothly with her, I would like my son to get engaged to her.” I got countless thousands for my wife, but what’s the point, she was stupid and lazy, everything went to dust. So if only Cinderella got engaged to my Gonza, how glad I would be!
Grandmother seized on this:
- I don't mind, I don't mind.
An hour later, Cinderella came, poured money onto the table, and the old man almost went crazy with joy. OK. So Cinderella says:
- Tomorrow is Sunday, we need to sew shirts by tomorrow.
She lit the bowl and sat Gonza down to pull threads from the calico. They do this because they are poor! He found three rusty needles in the window, cleaned them with ash, and the grandmother and girl sat down to sew, hurrying like crazy. The men have long since fallen asleep, but they are still sewing and sewing. In the morning, father and son woke up, and next to each of them there was a shirt with strings - these are ribbons that are pulled through holes and tied.
The old man says:
“Cinderella, cook something for breakfast, while Gonza and I go and cut the grass, there’s a lot of it left on the edges.” This week has been successful, I want to celebrate Sunday today, I won’t go to work.
The men returned from the field, a pot of coffee was waiting for them. Old Pea hasn't drunk it since his wife died.
- But we don’t have bread!
“Don’t worry about that,” says the grandmother, “and pours a bunch of buns with poppy seeds out of her apron onto the table.” Peas haven’t had a sieve crumb in their mouth for many years, and Gonza even more so. They devoured them with such gusto that their eyes popped out of their heads. The old man keeps asking Cinderella where she gets the money for everything.
“Don’t worry about this, this is my concern, and you eat and drink, and you, Gonzichek, eat too.”
Our Peas ate to their fill. Now Gonza says:
— Early mass will begin at eight o’clock, it won’t be long. If only I had good pants, a sleeveless jacket, and a Svitavsk jacket, I would go to the early one.
It's seven o'clock. Cinderella rushed through the door, and before we knew it, she was carrying good leather pants, a red sleeveless vest with large buttons, a black wide hat, a red neckerchief and a beautiful woolen Svitavsky jacket. This is how they dressed in the old days, but now they don’t wear it anymore. Gonza dressed up.
“Now,” he says, “I’ll go to the early one.” And he keeps revolving around Cinderella.
- Why are you, they say, still clinging to me?
- Change clothes and come with me.
Cinderella was just waiting for him to invite her, turned around and dressed up in a minute, picked up some book wrapped in a white handkerchief.
“Well, let’s go,” says Gonzik.
We went together through the whole village to the city itself, to the church. No one recognized them, they stared from all the windows: “What a beautiful couple! Who is this tall fellow?
What kind of elegant young lady is standing next to you on the left hand?” They overtake them and look into their faces:
- Yes, this is young Pea with a young mistress.
And Gonza paces so decorously and cheerfully smokes from her pipe. We approached the church, he put the pipe in his pocket, took off his hat, entered and stood in the crowd, among other men. Cinderella remained on the porch.
Why didn't she come in with him? Here's why: evil sorceresses stole her from her mother when she was not yet baptized and enchanted her. That’s why she shouldn’t cross the threshold of the church. You can recognize such a wonderful woman by the fact that she never dances the entire circle, but only half a circle.
Gonza's father told him not to force Cinderella and that this matter could be corrected later.
The service is over. Gonza left. He had a few pennies in his pocket and went into the tavern with Cinderella. He steps forward sedately, like an old man, and ordered a glass of beer to be poured for himself, and he ordered a bottle of wine for Cinderella. We had something to eat, he paid five pennies, and went home happily. There were already a lot of good guys hanging around Cinderella, praising her - they say, how you are dressed to your face, and all sorts of such words, so on the way back, Gonza led her by the hand so that no one would beat her off.
We returned home, and there was already food prepared, sieve bread. For lunch, they say, there will be meat. Old lady says:
- I can eat everything except pork. Divya women can’t do this, they don’t even touch pork.
Peas gave Gonza money and sent him to buy beef. Everyone was tempted to eat the carnage - after all, since their old goat died last year, they had not smelled meat. When Gonza brought the beef, they immediately cooked it outside, in a stove made of unbaked bricks. We had lunch, cleaned up, Cinderella brought some tobacco, old Pea lit his pipe and decorously led his grandmother through his fields. He smokes and tells her how much grief he suffered through his lazy wife, how he worked all his life, how his six sons ran away from him and only Gonza remained his consolation, he suffers grief and need with him.
“If Gonza marries a smart girl, I’ll give him the whole farm.” Let him just pay off the debt to the Jew.
He examines his fields and sees that the rye is already ripening. What should we do now? No one will help you for free, and you don’t want to get into new debts.
The old woman says to him:
- You, Pea, don’t worry, don’t be sad about anything, but this year you’ll cope well with the harvest. Beat off the braids, and tomorrow we’ll get to work happily.
Pea knocked off the braids and said:
“You women, prepare some food for tomorrow, some crumpets, flatbreads, and I’ll go look for the urchins and put them in handfuls.”
And the old one to him:
- Don’t go, I’ll handle it alone.
“Is the matter conceivable,” thinks Pea, “this is an impossible thing.” And in the field I saw that she really kept up with two people. Gonza walked in front, and the old man lagged behind so that at the end of the row they could separate without cutting off their heels. Here Gonzik is mowing, he has mowed a row, and the old woman has already picked up everything after him, she goes to pick up after the old man. The old man reached the end, sharpened the scythe with a whetstone, started a new row, passed a piece, looked back - and some beautiful young woman was picking up after him. “Okay, he thinks, pick it up, pick it up, I’ll feed you for it.” They mowed like this for an hour, the old man walked past the end and looked:
- Hey, how quickly this year is going by, it’s just amazing! And the ripples are so thick now!
In our country, when they pick up rye, they put it in handfuls, like the kind of cradle in which children are rocked: that’s what they call shaky.
Gonzik dispersed along his row, swung his arms, and suddenly saw two young women in front of him: one mows, the other picks up. And I remembered my Cinderella:
- Oh, if only she would bring a nine now! Is that nine? breakfast at nine o'clock.
And as soon as he thought, their young hostess Cinderella was right there, carrying a large jug of drink, a full basket of bread and calling:
- Father, Gonzichek, have breakfast! And everyone who is here, go.
Gonza stuck his scythe into the ground, and the old man threw his into the rye and ran, rejoicing that the young mistress brought a nine. And these three new young women squeezed in, the old man didn’t even know who they were, but he didn’t say a word, he was glad that they helped. He took a large flatbread, divided it into equal shares for everyone, and ate it all under a whisk.
Pea got up and didn’t remember where he left his braid, so he ate and drank. For the first time in my life, my mind was a little stirred. He expected that the rye would be mowed for three days, but by lunchtime the whole field was finished. His mind simply went wild—he was lost in joy. Now he looks - it’s going to rain. He groaned:
- Oh, it'll get wet! The rye is so beautiful these days, there will be more than a hundred rumps of it. It’s a shame to leave her in the field!
And he forgot that he had no straw, nothing to make straw out of. His poor cart was no good, he ran to the village and borrowed two carts from his son-in-law. This is all I needed:
- And she’s re-tied! No re-tied! And grandma says:
- Nothing! Before you know it, the ties will be done!
She went, opened the gates of the barn, threw out several armfuls of straw and tied the rope up. And these three women disappeared in the afternoon, the jester knows where they went! The man calls Cinderella to come and help. And when he arrived in the field, there were already two rows of sheaves tied together. Gonzik and Cinderella began to carry the sheaves and place them on the cart. The old man is setting up the beds. They loaded a huge cart and drove straight through all the boundaries, didn’t get caught anywhere, didn’t turn over. The old man is sitting on the front, Gonza is running behind, supporting. They put him in the barn, the old man explains:
“Two women can’t handle it, we need to hire more.”
But where can we look for workers now? Let’s go back to the field, and there everything is already connected! The old man grabbed his head, and Cinderella screamed:
- Live, live, move, by the evening it will rain, no matter how wet we get!
By evening everything was safely removed, no one even had time to eat. Now everyone is hungry. Cinderella says:
“Today, guys, we’ll cook you a better dinner.” She made some newfangled coffee and brought a loaf of bread and a half-pound lump of butter. The old man loves it all and devours it on both cheeks. Gonza too. He says:
- Oh, I wish I could spend my whole life like this! And so that there is always such order in work.
And Cinderella answers:
“If you’re smart, don’t ask questions about anything, don’t be curious, that’s how it will be.” Just don't pester me with questions. Don't be pushy.
In the morning the old man comes from the field, rubbing his hands with joy:
- Well, guys, the wheat is ripe! And she was a good girl! It will be twice as much as in those years. Yes, one thing is bad - the weather is unreliable, it’s almost like it’s going to rain, we need to remove it quickly, but where can we get mowers?
“Come on, don’t worry about it,” says Cinderella, “we’ll clean everything up in time.”
They mowed the wheat all day, there was a lot of grub, they ate and drank to their fill, and they mowed it well. With joy, the old man couldn’t remember how well everything was turning out and how many cheap workers came, helping you to live well. Again the same young women who mowed the rye. He is curious: who are they? Gonza asks:
“Ask,” they say, “Cinderella where she hired them.”
And Cinderella responds:
“Tell your father to never ask anything.” Things are going well, that’s enough for him.
The old man didn’t ask any more; what did he care about that? After all, it was Cinderella who paid them. Two hundred rumps of wheat were collected, this is according to the old count, then there were still sixteen sheaves in the rump. Before evening everything was cleaned up and taken away. Every day they ate heartily, each time something different - this was the peasant custom in the old days. And old Pea was pleased. After all, when he eats and drinks, he is always cheerful.
A little later the barley was ripe. Both rye and wheat grew well, but barley was even more successful. And they cleaned it up well too. There's a lot of everything. The big old barn is full. Where should the oats go? Peas? Therefore, it is necessary to thresh.
Old Pea scratches his head:
- Where can we get threshing workers? And Cinderella to him right now:
- Don’t worry about it! Let's thresh it.
- Well, if so, fine.
The old man prepared several flails, tied them with strong ropes, and stood with Gonza to the lek. They began to beat with two flails, well, this is not a cheerful way! Suddenly they see: out of nowhere, two girls stood up with them, and it went like this, all right, in four strokes: with pi r-r o-g a-mi, with pi r-r o gg a-m i, r r a-t a-t a-t a. Well, this is the way the old man likes it. During this time, Cinderella and her grandmother prepared a good breakfast. At nine o'clock Cinderella went out onto the porch and called:
- Gonza, father, come here! And call those two women.
They served as much bread, cheese and beer as they wanted on the table. The old man ate eagerly and rushed off to thresh again. The old man was seventy-five years old, and not yet sick, but he was strong - apparently, the mushroom porridge did him good. He threshed in a few days, didn’t care about grub, everything was ready for him. First of all, I poured a bag of grain:
“Here, Gonza, take it to the city, sell it, we’ll pay our owner, she’s a good girl, we need to give it to her, pay her.”
The old man winnowed the grain and cleaned it in the wind. There were as many sacrums as there were quadruples. I figured out everything, where it goes. I sold a hundred bags. The baker paid him fifty groschen more for the sack than the others—the grain was so good.
Pea began to settle accounts with Cinderella.
- How much did you spend?
- No, no, I don’t need anything, it was I who lovingly treated you to everything. I ask you for only one reward.
- Which one?
- Gonzika!
“Hey, he thinks, this is water for my mill!”
- I will be glad with all my heart! I fell in love with you, girl. Take it for yourself! I had all the failures and grief, but you, apparently, will be lucky.
She had been living with them for five weeks now. And Starostin Antonin had already found out about everything and was jealous of Gonza - she was too pretty. I was thinking about how to fight her off.
They sold the grain successfully and finished with this matter, so Gonzik says:
- Why is it that we don’t sleep well, we lie on the benches - we have no beds, no feather beds.
I was very upset about this. And old Pea to him:
- Eh, son! But where can we get so many pens at once? There are two or three chickens clucking in the yard, there are no geese left in sight.
The old grandmother listens to them:
- Yes, Gonzik, pour some grain in the yard! Do you hear geese cackling behind the village, a large flock; we pluck them, and that will be the feather.
Before she had time to utter a word, Gonzik was already running, climbed onto the barn, poured grain and called:
- Tag, tag, tag!
A countless number of geese rose from the pond, flew into the yard and, well, pecked. And grandma says:
- Open the gates of the barn.
Gonza opened the door, grandmother went into the barn, and the geese kept following her. Cinderella and grandmother and let’s pluck them one by one - they’ll pinch them and set them free. A large pile of feathers was plucked. The old man cannot be surprised:
- What a miracle! Well, women!
“This,” they say, “father, is nothing!” Whatever you say, we'll do everything.
As soon as the last goose was released from his lap, the old man again became concerned about where to get covers and pillowcases. Grandma didn’t think long, after dinner she went to the city and brought back a bundle of printed calico under her arm. We sewed covers. The feathers from wild geese are small - they don’t tear. We made six feather beds for two large beds. Gonza asks:
- Father! Put those two beds that are lying around in the attic in order, let's put them up!
Peas took the croakers and fixed the beds. Cinderella wiped them down and laid them in a pile right up to the ceiling. The old man is happy - he’s tired of lying on the hard bench.
In the evening, they can’t wait to see what it will be like to sleep on the new beds. The old man lay down on one, Gonza on the other, and took Cinderella with him. They kissed until the morning. He was playing around with her, of course, there’s nothing to laugh about - people are living. The guy got drunk with happiness, Cinderella became even more beautiful for him. And she flared up like fire, because she had never loved anyone before.
In the village, the headman also reaped a rich harvest and announced that he would celebrate the glorious harvest. Both young and old, poor and rich - he invited everyone to his yard; He provided the food, and the beer and wine were provided by the guests. His Antonin liked Cinderella, I already told about this, so they invited Gonzik, and Cinderella too. And they gathered for dozhinki after Vespers, at three o’clock.
Cinderella knew nothing about all this. So, when they had lunch, Gonza said to her:
- Listen, you and I need to get ready for a party with the headman. There will be nice dozhinki there.
Cinderella agrees.
- Why not go? I wouldn’t go alone, but since you’re going, I’ll go too. But don’t go anywhere without me either. If we get together without each other, we will ruin our happiness.
Gonzik washed, changed his clothes, dressed himself up, thoroughly cleaned his meerschaum pipe so that it would shine; Cinderella also got ready, they held hands and came to the headman’s yard almost the first.
And some of the neighbors are already sitting at the table under the mighty linden tree. They immediately greeted Gonzik cheerfully, treated him to beer in advance and smiled at his young hostess; After all, she has no equal in the village - she is such a beauty. They were immediately seated at the table.
- Well, you, Goroshki, have gained a lot of weight this year with your farming. What thick ripples they collected, even the old people will not remember them.
The musicians came with a barrel organ, a violin, and a zither, and began to play as usual. The young people came running after Vespers. Starostin's son was the first to go into the circle, grabbed Cinderella, danced three dances with her and started sweating. “I’m tired, I’m not going to dance with her anymore,” she said, “that’s how she urged him. The father saw this and said:
- Sit down, Tonda! You won't be able to keep up with this girl. There was another Voinar there, an experienced guy. This one also looked and thought: “Well, she can’t outrun me, maybe it’s in vain, I served as a soldier for fourteen years, I can handle her.” He approached Gonzik and asked him:
- Let me dance once with your Cinderella. - Yes, go, - they say, - dance.
Voinar bowed and she went with him. I danced one circle with her and was so out of breath that I barely survived. All the best dancers took turns dancing with her and everyone almost suffocated. Now let's move on to Gonza:
- Go and join the circle!
And he fights back.
“I,” he says, “can’t.”
Gonza ate his fill there, got thoroughly drunk, and so did the hostess. We stayed until the evening. Then Gonza thanked him, paid for the beer as much as he was due, and went home with the hostess. The father asks them how they went for a walk, Gonzik praises and laughs:
“I haven’t had so much fun in my life!”
The old man was still afraid that someone might take the girl away from his son: after all, she really had golden hands. I decided to finish this matter today. As soon as everything was tidied up in the barn and in the yard, old Pea says:
- Come here. Here's what you need to think about: isn't it time for you to get married?
Cinderella immediately kissed his hand and directly, without any doubt, said that she wanted to become Gonz’s wife.
Dad immediately went to the priest and told him what kind of thing they had ground. And he answered him:
“This girl you have, apparently, is not simple, but I will do what is necessary and marry them.”
The next day Pea says to Gonzik:
- Come on, children, go to the priest to write a protocol so that you can be announced. I’m already old, you will feed me, and I’ll hand over the farming, everything as it is, to you.
They went to the priest. He immediately came out to them and said:
- Before the wedding, you need to be baptized. You, Cinderella, are from ordinary people, like everyone else, but unbaptized. Otherwise, it will affect the case, you will run away from the church!
- Yes, yes, I know that. Divya Baba stole me from my mother before I was six weeks old.
One aunt from the village became godparent. They gave Cinderella a new name - Christina, and three weeks later they were married. They had a rich wedding, something the old people didn’t remember. They always had luck in everything, and they lived gloriously on this farm until their death.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru