In Nuala Mac Cluskey's silly stories you can sometimes find common sense if you dig deeper into them. But since we did not want to dig (we had already gotten to the bottom of more than we would like), and with common sense we simply did not know what to do, Nual’s story about Pynam, Panama, Mara-Fanama and Calliah-Aranam for us, reckless tramps, was both “science and entertainment,” as the fox says, having climbed into the henhouse.
Pinam, Panam, Mara-Fanam and Kalliah-Aranam owned one wheat field.
When the wheat is ripe:
- She's mine! - Pinam said.
- But no, mine! - said Panam.
- To hell with both of you, she's mine! - said Mara-Fanam.
- Screw you all three, she's mine! - said Kliah-Aranam.
And they went to resolve this dispute with the lord, the owner of the estate. And he ordered them to divide the field along the furrows and take everyone equally, so that there would be a fair division.
They returned home and did as they were told. But those are the times! When they divided all the furrows equally, there was one extra left.
- She's mine! - Pinam said.
- But no, mine! - said Panam.
- To hell with both of you, she's mine! - said Mara-Fanam.
- Screw you all three, she's mine! - said Kalliah-Aranam.
And they again went to resolve their dispute with the landlord. And he ordered them to divide the furrow into heaps.
They returned home again and did as they were told. But those are the times! When they divided all the haystacks equally, there was one extra left.
- She's mine! - Pinam said.
- But no, mine! - said Panam.
- To hell with both of you, she's mine! - said Mara-Fanam.
- Screw you all three, she's mine! - said Kalli-ah-Aranam.
And they went to resolve their dispute with the landlord. And he ordered them to divide the heap into sheaves.
They returned home and did as they were told. But those are the times! When they divided all the sheaves equally, there was one extra left.
- This is mine! - Pinam said.
- But no, my! - said Panam.
- To hell with both of you, he's mine! - said Mara-Fanam.
“Go to hell, all three of you, he’s mine!” - said Kalliah-Aranam.
And they went to settle their dispute with the landlord. And he ordered them to divide the sheaf into ears of corn.
They returned home and did as they were told. But those are the times! When they divided all the spikelets equally, there was one extra left.
- This is mine! - Pinam said.
- But no, my! - said Panam.
- To hell with both of you, he's mine! - said Mara-Fanam.
“Go to hell, all three of you, he’s mine!” - said Kalli-ah-Aranam.
And they went to resolve their dispute with the landlord. And he ordered them to divide the spikelet into grains.
They returned home and did as they were told. But those are the times! When they divided all the grains equally, there was one extra left.
- This is mine! - Pinam said.
- No, it’s mine! - said Panam.
- To hell with both of you, it's mine! - said Mara-Fanam.
- Screw you all three, it's mine! - said Kalli-ah-Aranam.
And they went to settle their dispute with the landlord, and took the grain with them. The lord took the grain and said:
– Follow me!
And he took all four to the river, to the place where there were terrible whirlpools, and threw the grain into the water.
All four dived after him and disappeared.
This was the end of Pinama, Panama, Mara-Fanama and Kalliah-Aranama.
In the old days they said:
The house burned down, but the gate was intact.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru