Once upon a time there lived a rooster and a hen. One day they went for a walk. They walked and walked and didn’t notice how far they were from home. On the way, they were suddenly caught by a rainstorm. The rooster and hen got wet and were cold. And then evening came, and they had nowhere to hide from the bad weather.
A rooster and a hen wander along and see a mill standing on the bank of a mountain river. The rooster knocked on the door.
-Who's there? - asks the miller.
“It’s us, the rooster and the hen,” the rooster answers. “We’re wet and cold, let us spend the night.” We'll pay for your overnight stay: when the chicken lays an egg, we'll leave it for you.
“I don’t need anything,” answered the miller. “And I won’t let you spend the night, go away.”
The rooster and hen wander further; there is another mill standing by the river. The rooster knocked on the door. Who's there? - asks the miller.
“It’s us, the rooster and the hen,” the rooster answers. - We are wet and cold, let us spend the night, we will pay for the night: when the chicken lays an egg, we will leave it for you.
“Get out of here,” answered the miller. - I won’t let you spend the night.
The rooster and hen wander further and see a third mill standing by the river. The rooster knocked.
“It’s us, the rooster and the hen,” the rooster answers. - Let us spend the night, we are cold and wet. We'll pay for your overnight stay: when the chicken lays an egg, we'll leave it for you.
The miller turned out to be a kind and caring person. He opened the door, let in a rooster and a chicken, lit the fire, sat them down, warmed them up, and fed them grain. The rooster and hen dried off, warmed up, ate and went to bed. The miller blew out the fire and also lay down to rest.
But the rooster and hen could not sleep. They felt sorry for the egg; they didn’t want to give it to the miller. And they decided to slowly get up and leave. We got up at the end of the night, opened the door and went to our home.
In the morning the miller wakes up and sees: there is no rooster and hen. “Probably,” he thinks, “the chicken has gone into the hayloft, she wants to lay an egg for me, and the rooster is guarding her.” He lit the fire, sat down and waited. Time passes, the sun is already high, but there is still no rooster and hen. Then the miller got up, walked around the mill, looked into the hayloft - there were no guests.
“Okay,” the miller thinks, “I’ll go to their village, let them give me the promised egg.”
When the rooster and hen saw that a miller was coming down to their village from the pass, they quickly broke all the eggs they had in the house, poured the yolks and whites into a jug and hid it well, and threw the shells into the fireplace and covered it with smoldering coals on top. Then they stuck several needles into the towel and hid themselves.
The miller entered the house, looked around, but did not see the eggs anywhere.
“Okay,” he thought, “I’ll sit by the fire and wait. The rooster and hen will probably come soon.”
As soon as he leaned over the coals to fan the fire, the shell cracked, burst, and the miller was covered in soot all over his face and hands. He jumped up, went and washed himself with water. As soon as he took hold of the towel, the needles pierced his fingers.
“This is how the rooster and hen thanked me for doing so much good to them,” said the miller and went back to his mill.
Since then, no one in that region opens the door to an ungrateful rooster and hen if they ask to spend the night.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru