Once upon a time there lived a very poor man who had a small bean field on the bank of a river. But when the harvest ripened, not a single bean fell into the hands of the owner: on the very first night all the beans disappeared somewhere. Finally, he got tired of working for unknown people, and he decided to find out who was stealing his beans.
One day, while guarding his field as usual, he suddenly saw a girl as beautiful as love itself. She walked between the stems, bent down and picked off all the beans. He crept up to her carefully and grabbed her hand.
- Oh, so you're the one carrying my beans? Now you will come to my house and be my wife. The girl screamed and struggled:
- Let me go, I won’t pick your beans anymore! I never will!
But the peasant did not let her go. Finally the girl reconciled:
- Okay. I'll marry you. But be sure never to curse those who live under water.
The peasant promised and brought her to his house and married her. After the wedding, his fortune began to grow as if by magic. He built himself a good house, bought slaves; he got a lot of livestock, a lot of land, a lot of money.
As time passed, his wife became more and more thoughtful and absent-minded. Well, so absent-minded that you can’t even imagine. As if on purpose. She forgot to give the children something to eat, and they walked around dirty and ragged. The house was always not tidy, there was a lot of garbage everywhere. The slaves, without a kind master's eye, shirked work and did nothing but quarrel among themselves. And the hostess herself, barefoot, in a torn dress, with disheveled hair, slept all day long.
The poor peasant felt calm only when he left home to do his business. But as soon as he crossed the threshold of the house, curses and complaints fell upon him, and he felt that he was going crazy.
The children were crying from hunger:
- Father, I’m hungry... Father, I’m hungry... And the slaves complained to each other:
- Senor, intercede, so-and-so deceived me. Senor, intercede, so-and-so hit me.
Pure hell! He was so depressed by all this that he tried to be at home less often. One day, completely exhausted by such a life, he quietly said:
- I curse those who live under water... And the young woman had been waiting for these sacred words for a long time and had long dreamed of leaving here, because she was the Queen of the Waters and she desperately wanted to return to her river. She quickly got up and ran out the door singing:
For everything we've seen here,
Kalunga,
For the way we were offended,
Kalunga,
Who serves me with honor,
Kalunga,
Come along with me,
Kalunga,
To my dear home,
Kalunga,
Deep underwater
Kalunga...
You forgot your promise
Kalunga,
Doomed to desecration
Kalunga,
Living underwater
Kalunga,
In my native river,
Kalunga...
The peasant shouted in horror:
- Don’t go, my wife, don’t go!
But can you hold her back? She left, and immediately children, slaves, bulls, horses, sheep, pigs, ducks, chickens, turkeys - everything, everything. And the poor owner, clutching his head, shouted:
- Don’t go, my wife, don’t go! But she didn’t even look back and continued on her way, singing:
For everything we've seen here,
Kalunga,
For the way we were offended,
Kalunga...
Following the people and animals, furniture, dishes, clothes, chests and everything that was bought with her money came out of the house. And the peasant ran behind him, dressed in his old rags, and shouted:
- Don’t go, my wife, don’t go!
But it was all in vain. Finally, the house, calf sheds, chicken coops, sheds, stables, arable land, trees and everything else moved behind her. Arriving at the river bank, the young woman with everything that was with her disappeared under the water and disappeared.
And the peasant began to live poorly, as he once did, cultivating his bean field. But the Queen of the Waters no longer touched his beans.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru