One Wark had a pshitl and this pshitl had an evil, despising wife. He will say a word, and she will say two, and even swing a poker at him. In a word, he could not live from her; he tried in every possible way to get rid of her, but he never succeeded.
One day he went into the forest for firewood and on the way back he noticed a deep hole off the road. “It would be nice to send your villainess there!” - thought the pshitl. Near the pit, an apple tree with ripe sweet apples hanging over it caught his eye. “Here’s the bait! - the pshitl involuntarily came out of his mouth. “She loves to eat apples.” First of all, he covered the opening of the pit with brushwood and covered it with hay; then he began to shake the apple tree, causing a hundred or two apples to fall down; He collected the apples and put them on the cover, and when everything was ready, he put a few apples in his pocket and drove home.
- Why did you disappear for so long in the forest, so-and-so! – the grumpy woman began to nag him, as soon as she noticed him from afar sitting on a cart with firewood. - It fell apart like some kind of war!
This is not enough: she also raised the poker to try whether her husband was sitting firmly on the cart when he brought several apples to her mouth:
- Look how rosy they are! You love them so much! - said the quick-witted husband and stopped his wife’s already raised hand.
– Where did you get them from, dear hubby?
- Found it in the forest! I picked a lot of them, but I had to throw them away: I had nowhere to hide them. Do you want me to show you where these apples are?
- Please drive, even tomorrow at dawn!
No sooner said than done. At dawn, the husband and wife sat down on the cart and went into the forest to pick apples. My dear wife was in excellent spirits. The husband also became amused and began to brag to his wife about how prudent he was:
- You know what, my dear! I didn’t throw away the apples somehow; they could get damp on the ground and spoil. I collected brushwood and hay and carefully laid out the apples one next to the other on this bedding. I remembered everything about you, and you will be pleased!
When they arrived at this place, the wife, seeing a bunch of beautiful apples, rushed there with the words:
-What nice apples! Yes, there are so many of them! They will last for a whole month!
As soon as she stepped onto the flooring with the bag and greedily extended her hand for the apples, it all flew down, and along with the flooring and the apples, the evil wife!
Standing on the edge of the cliff, the pshitl heard very well how his wife fell to the bottom of the hole and how her curses were heard from there. But he doesn’t give a damn about himself; he doesn’t even think about helping her out of there. A little later he turned the bulls home and lived happily ever after without his wife.
At the bottom of the pit where the evil wife fell, there lived a monster. As soon as she saw him, she immediately attacked him with abuse:
- Damn scum! Why on earth are you sprawled here: I have nowhere to step. Step aside already! - and began to saw and saw him, forgetting that this was not her husband, but a monster. At times the monster also objected. Thus, the swearing did not stop for whole days; the monster became quieter and quieter, curled up in half, and the voice of the evil wife rose and became so loud that the peasants who came for firewood heard it, but, of course, not knowing where this frantic scream was coming from and explaining all this by supernatural reasons, moved away.
The screaming at the bottom of the pit did not stop. One day an old peasant came to the forest to get firewood. He heard a scream and decided to come closer to the pit. Looking there, he shouted; -What are you yelling there, devils?
- Help, good man! – the monster begged. - The evil wife is completely fed up!
- Why not help? I will help; Just swear an oath that you won’t offend me!
“Not only will I not offend you, but even in trouble I will be useful,” the monster said in a pleading voice.
The peasant cut down a long, very long branch and lowered it to the bottom of the hole. The monster grabbed it with its claws, and the old man pulled him out of the abyss. The evil wife remained at the bottom of the pit; She wanted to grab the branch herself, but the monster shook its tail, and she jumped to the side. And the old man was in too much of a hurry: he, too, was afraid of his evil wife.
Finding itself on the surface of the earth, the monster rose into the air and then sank to the upper reaches of the river flowing through the nearest village. The terrible monster blocked the river with its body so that not a single drop of water could flow. What is it like for the unfortunate residents of the village! They, the poor, are suffering from thirst, the cattle are roaring, there is groaning and crying in the village! Only the old man, who pulled the monster out of the hole, did not suffer from thirst: no matter how many times he goes to the place where the monster dammed the water, he brings full buckets of water. The neighbors see that the monster does nothing to the old man, while he eats all the others who come close to him for water, and they tell the whole village community about this; Society asks the old man to help his grief and offers him a purse of gold as payment for his work. The old man agreed, took the money and went to the monster.
- Do me a favor, monster! - the old man began to ask. - Let the water through; It’s not for nothing that I ask: I received a purse of gold. What more will you take from you?
- That's what I got; Now we're even. Look, don't come again!
- Yes, if you don’t play any more pranks!
The water rushed in like a stormy stream: it almost flooded the village. All the residents are happy that there is something to quench their thirst and water their livestock.
Having released the water, the monster rose into the air and sank to the upper reaches of the river in another village. And there is groaning and crying there, since there is no water for either people or livestock. Having heard that in a neighboring village there is an old man who knows a monster who has dammed the water, the whole community of residents turn to him with a request, for which they offer him two purses of gold. The old man is not averse to helping; Taking the money, he went to the monster:
- Have mercy! Why are you torturing people? Give them some water!
“I told you not to pester me anymore.” We've already gotten even!
“What would it be like if you were sitting at the bottom of a hole?”
- Well, don’t remember, please! I'll skip the water already. But look! If you come again, don’t blame me: I’ll eat you, like the others.
- Yes, if you don’t torture people anymore, you won’t see me!
The water began to flow, and a joyful cry arose in the village: both people and cattle quenched their thirst.
The monster rushed to the third village and dammed the water there too. From there, people come to the old man with a request to help the grief and offer not two, but three purses of gold. The old man agreed, but knowing that the monster would not let go of the water of his own free will, he decided to finally deal with it: he runs to the monster, throwing off his extra dress, with disheveled hair and signs of terrible fear on his face, and shouts from afar:
- Save yourself, monster! The evil wife miraculously got out of her hole and dispersed the whole people with a scream; I ran away in what I was wearing to warn you: she’s looking for you!
- Well, if this damned woman got out of her hole, then the two of us cannot live together in the world!
With these words, the monster rushed off the nearest cliff and killed itself to death. The water, of course, continued to flow, and thanks to the resourcefulness of the old man, the entire area was freed forever from the danger that threatened it. The old man, with the money he received, built himself a beautiful hut, got bulls, horses and a whole sheep and lived a great life.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru