One day, four people were digging a grave in a cemetery; some say it was at Reikhowlar. All four were cheerful people and loved to laugh, but one young, perky guy had the most fun. When the grave was almost ready, they found many human bones in it, including a femur of unprecedented size. The cheerful gravedigger grabbed this bone, looked at it from all sides and put it to himself. They say that it reached his waist, and he was of average height. Then he takes it and says jokingly:
“He must have been a noble warrior!” I wish such a guest would come to my wedding!
The others agreed with him, but they themselves were not joking, and in the end the merry fellow put the femur back into the grave.
How the next five years passed, nothing is said, but that same merry fellow was about to get married. He got engaged, and two announcements have already been made in the church. After the second announcement, his bride had the same dream for three nights in a row. She dreamed of a hero of unprecedented height who asked her if her fiancé remembered how he joked several years ago. For the last time, the hero warned the bride that whether her groom wanted it or not, he would still come to their wedding. The bride did not answer, but she felt uneasy, and no wonder: he was very tall. In the morning she asked the groom:
-Who are you going to invite to our wedding?
“I haven’t thought about it yet,” answered the groom. “Let’s wait for the third announcement.”
“So you haven’t invited anyone yet?”
“No, no one,” the groom answered, but became thoughtful. “I didn’t invite anyone, that’s for sure,” he said finally. “However, several years ago I said as a joke about the huge femur that we found while digging a grave, that I would like to see such a hero at my wedding.” But, in my opinion, this cannot be considered an invitation.
The bride frowned and noticed that the joke was inappropriate.
“Do you know,” she added, “that the one you joked about intends to come to our wedding?”
And she told the groom about her dreams. The groom became alarmed and admitted that it would be better for him to hold his tongue that time.
The next night he dreamed of the hero himself. He was as tall as a giant and looked menacing and gloomy.
- Have you ever thought about refusing your invitation? - he asked the groom. “Remember, five years ago you invited me to your wedding?”
The groom was seriously afraid, but said that he would not take back his words.
“Well, whatever you want, I’ll show up anyway,” said the hero. “You laughed in vain at my bone, now pay for it.”
With these words, the ghost disappeared, and the groom slept peacefully until the morning. And in the morning he told his dream to his bride and asked her for advice on what to do.
“Here’s what you do,” said the bride. “Hire carpenters and build a house for the man who visited us in a dream.” So that he could stand in it at full height. The width of the house must be no less than the height. The walls should be decorated as in a wedding hall, the table should be covered with a white tablecloth and refreshments should be served - a plate of consecrated earth and a bottle of water. Ghosts do not eat any other food. You need to place a chair in front of the table and lay a bed next to it, in case the guest wants to rest. Three candles should be burning on the table. And you will have to escort the guest there yourself. But just remember, you cannot enter the house ahead of the guest, and also stay under the same roof with him. The living must refuse everything that the dead man offers him, and generally speak less to him. Invite him to taste what is on the table, and then bolt the door and leave.
The groom did everything as the bride ordered.
The wedding day approached, the bride and groom were married, and the guests sat down to the table to feast. It was already dark, and yet nothing special had happened. The guests sat and talked, and the bride and groom were there, as custom required. Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. Nobody wanted to go open it. The bride pushed the groom in the side, he turned pale. The knocking was repeated, louder. Then the bride took the groom by the hand, led him to the threshold, although he resisted, and unlocked the door. Behind the door stood a huge man. He said that he came to their wedding. The bride told the groom to receive the guest and pushed him out of the wedding hall, then she prayed for him and locked the door again.
They say that the groom led the guest to the house, which was built especially for him, and invited him to go inside. The stranger asked the groom to enter first, but he flatly refused. Eventually the guest entered the house.
- I will discourage you from laughing at dead bones! - he muttered.
The groom pretended that he had not heard anything, asked the guest to refresh himself and not be offended that the owner did not have time to be with him.
- Come in for a minute! - asked the guest.
The groom again resolutely refused.
“Well, if you don’t want to sit with me now, come and see me later,” said the ghost.
But the groom refused this too, slammed the door and bolted it.
Then he returned to the guests. Everyone sat in silence - the arrival of an unusual guest upset the conversation. Only the bride remained cheerful. Soon the guests left and the young people went to bed. In the morning, the groom wanted to go look at yesterday's guest, but the bride said that he should not go there alone, and they went together. The bride was the first to open the door. There was no guest in the house. He poured out all the water and scattered the soil from the plate on the floor.
“That’s what I thought,” she said. “And if you had entered first and touched this ground with even the tip of your shoe, you would have been at the mercy of a ghost and would never have returned to people.” There will be no harm to me from this land. Now I'll sweep and clean here.
And others say that before leaving, the ghost came to the door of the wedding hall - or maybe to the bedroom of the bride and groom - and sang:
- I won’t thank anyone,
because I haven't tasted anything,
except pure water
and black earth.
After the wedding, the ghost never visited the couple again. They lived happily ever after and loved each other very much.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru