Once upon a time there lived a gypsy woman. She was so old that she could no longer roam, but lived in the village. She had no money, and therefore she huddled in the attic, right under the roof. Her son, a fool, lived with the old woman. Every morning the gypsy went to beg: where she would beg for bread, where she would tell fortunes. So I struggled. And the fool stayed at home, playing his stupid games. The old woman will come home and hang all the provisions that she collected during the day out of the window so that the breeze blows, otherwise it’s hot in the attic, there’s no breeze, and just in case the bread goes stale and the lard spoils.
And under the ridge of this house, swallows built a nest for themselves. It is a well-known fact that the swallow is a house bird and sacred to the home. God forbid someone destroys a swallow’s nest - there will be no life in the house. And then, as luck would have it, the birds got into the habit of pecking at grandma’s food. What to take from the bird? No demand from poultry. The old woman endured, endured, but could not bear it. “How is it possible,” she thought, “with the last of my strength I get this food, and then foolish birds carry it away?!” The old woman took a stick and destroyed the swallows' nest.
The next morning, before the old woman had time to leave for the village, a swallow flew into the attic, fell to the ground and turned into a brownie, a small man. The brownie approaches the old woman and says:
- You, old woman, put this nest in its place, otherwise you will not live in this world!
The old gypsy woman got scared, covered her face with her hands, and when she opened it, she looked: there was no one. The old woman called her fool son.
“Son, so and so, so and so, do me a favor and put the swallow’s nest in its place.”
The fool laughed. He didn’t believe his mother’s words and didn’t hang up the nest. The next morning the same thing happened again: the swallow flew in again, hit the ground and turned into a brownie:
“I told you, old man, that you should hang up the nest in its place.” But you didn't listen to me.
“Darling, I asked my son to hang him, but he won’t listen to me.” Forgive him, fool.
“Okay, but I’m warning you for the last time: if you don’t put the nest back in place, it will be bad.”
The brownie said so and disappeared.
The old woman took the nest and tried to hang it from the ridge herself, but she almost fell off the roof. The nest fell out of her hands, fell to the ground and crumbled.
The next morning the swallow flies again, again it turns into a little man and says:
“I warned you, old woman, but you didn’t listen to me.” So now know your deadline: you only have one week left to live in this world!
The old woman ran to church and told the priest everything. The priest became sad and said:
“Nothing will help you, old woman.” This is your destiny. And so it happened: the old gypsy woman died a week later.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru