“Grandfather, ah, grandfather,” the old woman said one evening, “what are we going to do? Our eyes can’t see well, our legs are tangled, our arms are weak.” How will we get our own bread without help?
“I don’t know,” the old man answered and sighed heavily.
- If only we had a daughter, it would be a different matter! - The old woman lowered her head.
Luna heard their conversation and felt sorry for the old people.
“Come on, old man,” says the old woman, “let’s try our luck one last time.” Maybe we'll get lucky. Go to the river and put up the old top you use to catch fish. Whatever the water brings us, we will take it with us, and it will be our child.
The old man got ready and went to the river, put the top down, lay down on the bank and dozed off. When the third rooster crowed, he got up and went into the water to search. He found it, picked it up, and what he saw was a duckling with colorful feathers, a golden beak and silver paws. The old man hurried to take it home and, running, shouted to the old woman:
- Look, old lady, what happened to us at night!
- Oh, what a beautiful duckling! — the old woman was delighted and began to stroke the guest’s wet wings. “He can’t do anything, but at least he’ll share his leisure time with us.” Everything is a living soul! Let him swarm around me, I’m painfully bored alone. Say something, darling!
The duckling raised its head up, opened its beak and quacked:
- Ha!
- Be alive and well! - said the old woman. “No one in the world can quack so well.”
The old woman took a holey sieve from the attic, put the duckling in it and said:
- This is your place!
- Ha! - the guest grunted again.
As soon as it was dawn, the old woman mixed the bran, poured water into a bowl and said to the duckling:
- We are going into the forest to pick mushrooms, and you sit here, guard the house. Don’t go out anywhere, you’re now our daughter instead of a daughter.
And the old men locked the door and slowly went into the forest. As soon as their steps died down, the duckling crawled out of the sieve, spread its wings, flapped them three times and quacked four times. At that same moment, all the feathers fell off him, and the duckling turned into a slender girl with golden hair and silver shoes on her feet.
- Well, now let's get to work! - said the girl and took up the broom.
She swept the whole house, made the old people's wooden bed, brought two buckets of water, watered the flowers in the garden in front of the house, chopped wood, lit a fire, hung a pot over the fire, took out a bunch of dried mushrooms from the attic and put them to boil. While the mushroom soup was cooking, the nimble girl took a piece of white linen from the old woman’s chest, cut out two shirts and sewed them together. She worked all day. And as soon as the sun set, she flapped her arms three times, like wings, quacked four times and again turned into a duckling.
The old men returned. They were amazed to see a tidy house, hot soup and new shirts. They started asking the duckling:
-Who was here?
-Who started the fire?
- Who made the shirts?
And the duckling lies in the sieve and is silent. The tired old men had a good dinner, slept well, and the next morning they went into the forest again. We returned in the evening, and everything was tidy in the house, beans were bubbling in the pot, and two new padded jackets, knitted from soft wool, were hanging on hooks.
“I’ve never eaten such delicious beans before!” - said the grandfather, swallowing the first spoon.
The old men did not sleep a wink all night. They turned around in bed and whispered:
- There's something wrong here. Someone comes when we are not there!
“We need to find out who cleans, cooks and sews new clothes for us here.”
- How?
- How? - asked the cunning old woman. - Tomorrow, instead of going into the forest, we will climb onto the roof and look into the chimney.
No sooner said than done. In the morning, the old men closed the door behind them, and they themselves quietly placed the ladder against the wall of the house, climbed onto the roof and began to look into the chimney. A little later, the duckling stood up, flapped its wings three times, quacked four times, turned around as a girl and said:
- Now let's get to work! First I’ll sweep, then sift the flour, knead the dough, light the stove and set the bread to bake.
She rolled up her sleeves and got to work, and the old people were sitting on the roof, and their hearts were ready to jump out of joy.
- Oh, what happiness we have had! We won't have any worries in our old age! - they whisper to each other.
When the girl lit the stove and went out into the yard to get a broom, the old woman said:
“I don’t want our daughter to turn into a duckling again.” I want her to remain a girl!
- What can we do? - asked the old man.
- If we burn her duck clothes, she will remain as she is!
- Right! - the old man exclaimed and went down through the pipe.
The old woman followed him down. Looking around, she grabbed the duck clothes, and, without hesitation, threw it into the burning stove. At that same moment a girl came in to them.
- What have you done? - she cried when she saw her duck outfit in the oven. -You burned my wings. Now I will no longer be able to walk in the sky, because I have no wings!
- Why do you need to walk in the sky? - asked the old woman.
- Ah, - you don’t know anything. I'm not a duckling, I'm the one who shines in the sky at night. I'm Luna! One evening I looked into the open window of your house, heard what you were talking about, and I felt sorry for you. Then I went to the healer, who collects various herbs and uses them to heal all living things, and asked her what I should do to help you. The healer told me that at night I should shine in the sky, and during the day, if I want, I can go to earth and help you, but for this I need duck wings. And, clapping her hands three times, the healer gathered all the forest birds and said:
“Our Moon wants to come down to earth during the day to visit lonely old people.” To do this, she must have duck wings on her shoulders.
Do me a favor, pluck a feather from your wings, and a piece of fluff from your neck, and I will give the Moon wings.
All the birds gave the healer a feather and a piece of fluff, and in one night she made duck wings, which are now burning out in the oven! Giving them to me, the healer said:
- Take care of your wings like the apple of your eye! If you lose them, you will never be able to rise into the sky, and at night there will be impenetrable darkness across the entire earth.
- What should we do now? - The old woman blinked her eyes in fear.
- Go with the old man to the forest and collect fluff and feathers from the wings. Ask each bird for one feather and one piece of fluff. When you collect it, go to the Tililean forests, there, in a thatched hut, a healer lives. Kneel before her and ask her to make two duck wings. When you receive them, bring them to me in the cave. I will hide in the very depths of it and, until you bring me wings, I will not show myself to people.
Having said these words, the girl ran out of the house, slammed the door behind her and disappeared.
Hanging their heads, the old men went into the forest. From bird to bird, from nest to nest, they walked through the forest thickets, stretching out their hands for feathers and fluff. From fatigue, in the evenings they fell asleep wherever they had to, and before that they looked at the sky for a long time - maybe they would see their Moon. But the sky was covered with black clouds. They asked all the birds for a feather and a piece of fluff.
All day the old people walked into the Tililean forests. They found a healer and told her everything. She winced, but still took the feathers and fluff and made a new pair of duck wings overnight. From the Tililean forests, the old people went to a stone cave. Late at night they approached the entrance to the cave and began to call to the Moon:
- Come out, come out, Luna!
The girl came out to the call, waved her hands, turned into a duckling, quacked, flew into the sky and began to shine.
All the people went out into the street to look at her, because they had never seen such a beautiful Moon.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru