Kosuke and Otsukiti lived next door. The Kosuke family was greedy and dishonest, but in the Otsukiti family everyone was honest and kind. Kosuke was very rich and Otsukiti was very poor. It was spring. Under the roof of Otsukiti's house, a swallow built a nest for itself and hatched three chicks.
And then one day one of the chicks fell out of the nest and broke its leg. Otsukiti noticed this. He took pity on the chick and bandaged its paw. Soon autumn came, and all the swallows flew to the southern regions. Among them was a swallow with a broken leg.
When the birds flew south, this swallow told the king of swallows about how Otsukiti helped her. The King of Swallows listened carefully to her story and said:
- This is a very kind person. When you fly there next spring, you'll have to do something to thank him.
Spring has come again, and the swallows have returned to their nest under the roof of Otsukiti's house. One day, when Otsukiti went out into the yard, the swallow he had helped last spring dropped a seed in front of him. Otsukiti picked it up and planted it in the corner of the garden.
Soon the planted seed sprouted, a vine grew from it, white flowers bloomed on it, and then two huge gourd pumpkins ripened.
Otsukiti cut one of them. It turned out to be so fragrant that Otsukiti decided to try it. The pumpkin also had an unusually pleasant taste, and the kind Otsukiti called all the villagers to treat them.
All his fellow villagers ate the pumpkin with pleasure and said: “How delicious, how delicious!” Otsukiti laid the second gourd to dry in the sun. When the pumpkin was dry, he broke it and saw that it was filled with gold coins.
“That’s good!” - Otsukiti thought and began to move the coins from the pumpkin to another place. But it's amazing! No matter how much he shifted them, the pumpkin again rose with coins. So Otsukiti immediately became a rich man. Kosuke's neighbor found out about this and was filled with envy. He went to Otsukiti and took one swallow's nest from him. Soon the chicks hatched in it, but no matter how much Kosuke waited, not one of them fell from the nest.
Then, burning with impatience, Kosuke threw a stone into the nest. One of the chicks took off in fright, fell to the ground and injured its paw. Kosuke was happy and bandaged it. Autumn has come, and the swallows again flew to the southern regions. And Kosuke thought: “That’s good! Spring will come, and probably the swallows will thank me like Otsukiti.” When the swallows flew south, the one who injured her paw due to a stone thrown into the nest told the king of the swallows about this incident.
“Such a bad person should be punished,” said the king. In the spring, the swallows returned to the nest under the roof of Kosuke’s house. One day, Kosuke went out into the yard and saw a swallow with a damaged leg, which threw some kind of seed in front of him.
“Finally, I will receive a reward!” With these words, Kosuke picked up a seed and planted it in the corner of his garden. Soon the planted seed sprouted, a vine grew from it, white flowers bloomed on the vine, and then two huge gourd pumpkins ripened.
Then Kosuke, imitating Otsukiti, cut one of them and invited the villagers to treat them. But the pumpkin turned out to be so bitter and tough that everyone’s mouth ached from the very first bite, and the guests became very angry.
But the greedy Kosuke thought: “Okay, even if the first pumpkin was bitter and hard, but if there are gold coins in the second, everything will be fine.” And he put the second gourd to dry in the sun.
“When this gourd dries, I will receive a countless number of gold coins; perhaps I need to prepare a place for them,” decided the greedy Kosuke. And while the gourd was drying, he prepared many such huge boxes that they could not even be dragged into the house.
Soon the gourd was completely dry, and Kosuke, anticipating joy, split it. But instead of gold coins, black smoke came out of it. It was so unexpected that Kosuke fell face down on the ground in shock.
Lying face down, the greedy Kosuke became worried: “Lest because of this smoke, a fire would happen and my house and all my property would burn!”
Soon the smoke cleared and Kosuke stood up. The house was intact. But it's amazing! Jewels and gold, safely hidden in the house, disappeared along with this strange smoke.
So the honest and kind Otsukiti became a rich man, and the dishonest and greedy Kosuke turned into a poor man.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru