Once upon a time there lived an old woman. She had no one in the world, and she lived very poorly. The old woman spun cotton wool from morning to evening. She would spin a ball and sell it - she lived on this money.
The old woman ran out of cotton wool, and had nothing to buy new ones with. The old woman sat and cried bitterly, complaining about her lot. The old woman cried so much that her tears flowed in streams and turned into a river...
It seemed to the old woman that the mills were spinning quickly on this river, and from the lush cotton bolls her yard turned into a white, white field...
A magpie flew up to the old woman and said:
- Shak-shak-shak! Mother, will you take me to guard your cotton field?
- What will you take for this? - asked the old woman.
- Shak-shak-shak! Half the harvest from your field is enough for me,” said the magpie.
- Leave! I don't need you!
The next day a raven flew up to the old woman.
- Kar-kar-kar! Mother, will you take me to guard your cotton field?
“What will you take for this?” asked the old woman.
- Kar-kar-kar! Half the harvest from your field is enough for me,” said the raven.
- Leave! I don't need you!
The raven flew away and the sparrow flew up to the old woman.
Chirping “chuk-chuk,” he sat down here and there.
- Why are you chirping “chuk-chuk”? What do you want from me? - asked the old woman.
“Mother, will you take me to guard your cotton field?” - asked the sparrow.
- What will you take for this? - asked the old woman.
- Chuk-chuk! Give me cotton wool for a suit, and that’s enough! - said the sparrow. The old woman gave the sparrow some cotton wool.
The sparrow grabbed the cotton wool with its beak, carried it to the spinner and said:
- Take some cotton wool and spin some thread. If you don’t spin the cotton wool, I will destroy your house and make your children cry!
The spinner put the spinning wheel in front of her and spun a ball of thread. The sparrow took the threads and flew to the weaver.
- Take these threads and weaves! - he said to the weaver. “If you don’t weave, I’ll destroy your house and make your children cry!”
The weaver took the threads and wove a piece of canvas. Sparrow took the canvas to the cutter and said:
- Cut this canvas! If you don’t cover it, I’ll destroy your house and make your children cry!
The cutter cut the canvas according to the height of the sparrow. Sparrow took this canvas, took it to the seamstress and said:
- Seamstress, sew me a suit! If you don’t sew it, I’ll destroy your house and make your children cry!
The seamstress sewed a beautiful suit for the sparrow. The sparrow put it on and flew to the old woman. He flew to her and said:
- Chuk-chuk! Now I will guard your cotton field!
- Okay, stay and watch! - said the old woman.
A sparrow flew from place to place for a long day: “chuk-chuk” he said, he would sit here, “chuk-chuk” he said, he would sit there. So he guarded the old woman’s field.
One day the padishah’s path passed by this field. He saw a white, white cotton field, stopped his horse and said to his soldiers:
- Collect all the cotton, don’t leave a single box behind!
Sparrow saw that the padishah's soldiers entered the cotton field and began to pick cotton. He started shouting loudly:
- Chuk-chuk, poor old woman, the padishah took away your cotton!
The padishah ordered to catch the sparrow. His soldiers left the cotton picking, began to catch a sparrow and caught it.
- Pluck all his feathers! - the padishah commanded. The soldiers plucked the sparrow.
- I was feathered, now I’m plucked! - shouted the sparrow.
- Fry him! - ordered the padishah.
His warriors roasted the sparrow.
- I was raw, I became fried! - the sparrow shouted as if nothing had happened.
- Let me eat it! - said the padishah.
The warriors brought him a sparrow. The padishah put it in his mouth and swallowed it.
“I was outside, now I’m inside!” Chuk-chuk, poor old woman, the padishah took away your cotton! — the sparrow continued to scream from the padishah’s stomach. The sparrow screamed so much that the padishah's stomach ached. Then the padishah gathered his soldiers and went home. And the sparrow from his stomach screamed even louder:
- Chuk-chuk, poor old woman, the padishah took the cotton from you!.. The sparrow screamed so much that the padishah could not stand the pain and ordered the soldiers:
“I’ll spit out the sparrow, and you’ll cut it down with your sabers.”
The padishah spat out the sparrow. As soon as his head appeared from the padishah’s mouth, the warriors hastily struck with their sabers. But their sabers did not hit the sparrow, but cut off the padishah’s nose.
The soldiers began to burn felt felt and apply it to the padishah’s wound.
The sparrow flew everywhere and shouted:
- Chuk-chuk, poor old woman, the padishah took away your cotton! A padishah with a cut off nose, with a piece of burnt felt attached!..
The disgraced padishah hastily left wherever he could and never returned to his country.
A rumor spread among the people: the padishah wanted to take the cotton from the old woman, but he did not have enough strength to cope with even one sparrow.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru