Once upon a time, a friendly married couple lived in the world - Sparrow and Sparrow. When the time came for Sparrow to lay eggs, she called her husband and said:
– Dear husband, I am tormented by an irresistible desire to peck ripe rice grains from that very field that is located high in the mountains.
Sparrow was alarmed:
- What are you planning, wife! I have many enemies in those parts, so it is dangerous for me to appear there.
Sparrow's ruffled feathers:
- Not good. You say that because you don't love me at all. If you do not immediately fulfill my request, I will die.
– Don’t be upset, dear! - Sparrow reassured her. “I will immediately fly to the mountains and bring you what you ask for.”
He pecked Sparrow on the cheek and soared into the sky like an arrow. Arriving at the field, he collected the juiciest ears and flew back. But the ears of rice were very heavy, and Sparrow, tired, sat down on an iron tree to rest. Then a falcon attacked him and ate him.
Sparrow waits and waits for her husband, but he is still not there. And then she decided that her Sparrow husband had left her, and she died of grief. And when the due date passed, Sparrow and Sparrow appeared again in this mortal world, only now in the guise of Deer and Deer. And the couple began to live in the forest again.
One day the Deer called her husband and said: – Dear husband, I’m expecting a child. I really want to eat the young shoots of the nato tree, which grows near the village. Won't you go get them?
- What did you come up with, wife! Are there not enough trees in the forest? Ask for any escape, and your desire will be immediately fulfilled. Just don’t send me to those parts, it’s dangerous for me to appear there.
“Oh, dear husband, you don’t feel sorry for me at all,” the Deer whined. “If in my situation I don’t feast on the shoots of the natura tree, then I will die immediately, and your future children will die with me.”
- Nothing can be done. Deer had to agree. “So be it,” he said. - Let it be your way.
And he went to the nat tree that grew not far from the village.
The deer had almost reached his goal when he met a hunter. – Seeing a young slender Deer, the hunter raised his bow and sent an arrow straight at him.
Meanwhile, Deer was waiting for her husband at the appointed place. She waited for a long time, but it never came. She thought that the Deer had left her, and immediately died of grief.
And when the due date passed, the Deer and the Deer again appeared in this mortal world, but now in the guise of a Wild Boar and a Wild Boar. They lived happily in the forest, and finally the time came for Kabanikha to become a mother. And then she turned to Boar with these words:
– Dear husband, I am due to give birth soon. I hope you won't refuse me one small favor. I would love to eat fresh bamboo shoots. Look for them, please.
“Okay,” agreed the Pig, “just don’t go anywhere, wait for me in this place, I’ll be back soon.”
Before the Boar had time to go deeper into the thicket of the forest, lo and behold, a hunter was coming towards him. He raised his gun, fired, and the Boar fell dead. Meanwhile, the Kabani woman waited and waited for her husband, and when she got tired of waiting, she decided that her husband, the Pig, had left her, and died of grief.
The due date passed, and the couple returned to this mortal world again, only now Kabanikha was the daughter of a rich city dweller, and Kaban was the son of a poor village man.
When the time came for the rich man's daughter to get married, she not only did not think about choosing a favorable day for the wedding, but she flatly refused to meet men. She was convinced that in her previous births her husbands had been unfaithful to her, and in her present life she wasted away from melancholy and spent all her time in the monastery, of which her father was a trustee.
Meanwhile, the poor man's son lived quietly and modestly with his lonely mother-hunter. He was diligent and hardworking, and did not shy away from any work. And since he was considered a smart young man, he realized from a young age that education would make his life easier, and one fine day he decided to go to school. The mother did not immediately agree to let her son go. It was difficult for her to part with her only child. However, time took its toll, and the young man went to the city. He diligently studied all kinds of sciences from the best teachers, acquired great knowledge, and in the end his fate led him to the very monastery of the Great Ascetic, whose trustee was the girl’s father, the most learned and richest man in those places. Once in his youth, a rich man completed his education in this monastery.
Having perfectly mastered the science of urban planning, not far from the monastery, the son of a poor man built a magnificent house in one night. On the inner walls of this house he painted pictures from his previous lives: how he was a Sparrow, then a Deer and, finally, a Boar and what troubles haunted him in all his rebirths. He also depicted his difficult human life, all the numerous worries and adversities that always accompany a poor man. In a way only he could understand, he said that he would willingly go in search of his wives, but his poverty was an obstacle to this.
The next morning, the rich man and his daughter, as usual, went to the monastery of the Great Ascetic, and the rich man’s daughter saw the house, marveled at how quickly it was built, and wanted to inspect it immediately. She went inside, looked at the walls and saw drawings depicting her former life. And she wished to see the artist immediately.
The father was surprised:
– What happened to my daughter? Why did she suddenly want to see the artist who painted the walls of the house?
The rich man bowed respectfully to the Great Ascetic and asked:
-Who built this wonderful house?
“My beloved student,” answered the ascetic, “he was the one who painted these walls.” He is poor, but diligent, and he will make a real scientist.
– I want to see this man! – exclaimed the rich man’s daughter.
The Great Ascetic ordered to immediately call his disciple.
When the poor man's son appeared, the rich man's daughter, pointing to the drawings, said: . .
– Everything in these drawings is true. I pestered my husbands with my whims and unwittingly became the cause of their premature death. I didn’t know where they had disappeared to, and I myself was dying of longing for them. Only now I realized how cruelly I treated them. The wife you are looking for is me!
The rich man's daughter asked for forgiveness from her betrothed, and her father, having received the blessing of the Great Ascetic, gave her as a wife to the artist. They took their mother-hunter into their house and lived together in happiness and prosperity until they were very old.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru