Once upon a time there lived Puck with his wife Lak. They had an adult daughter - she had enough beauty, but not enough intelligence.
The neighbors saw the beauty and told everyone about her. According to this rumor, one day matchmakers came to the house of Lak and Pak.
“Daughter,” said Lak, “they have come to woo you, quickly go and bring a jug of water from the house and set it to boil!” Yes, do it quickly to please the matchmakers, so that they can see how agile you are.
The daughter took the jug and ran to the house, but, having scooped up some water, she suddenly thought: “If the matchmakers like me, there will be a wedding. Then my son will be born, he will grow up, and I will come with him to visit my parents, and my mother will say: “Dear granddaughter, you have already become an assistant, go get some water, let’s put the tea to boil!” My child will go to the house, and as soon as he bends down for water, his feet will slip, he will fall into the water and drown... What will I do then? What will I tell his father? Oh, I’m unhappy!!!”—and, sitting by the hauz, she raised such a cry and cry that her tears flowed in six streams...
- Lak, Lak!
- What, dear Puck!
-Where is the tea? - asked Puck.
“Our daughter went to fetch water, but nothing was heard from her... A little time passed.”
- Lak, Lak!
- What, dear Puck!
— Has our daughter come? - asked Puck.
- I haven’t arrived yet! - Lak answered.
- Go find out what's wrong with her! - Puck ordered.
Lak got up and went to the house. She came and saw that her daughter was sitting by the house and shedding tears in streams.
- Hey, daughter, what happened to your water? Oh, why are you sitting and crying?
- Oh, mom, don’t ask! - said the daughter. “Here I sit and think that suddenly the matchmakers will like me, there will be a wedding, then my son will be born, he will grow up, and I will come to visit you with him, and you will say: “Dear granddaughter, you have already become an assistant, go get some water, let’s put the tea to boil!” - and send him to the hauz. My child will go to the house, and as soon as he bends down for water, his feet will slip, he will fall into the water and drown... What will I do then? What will I tell his father? Oh, I'm unhappy!!!
- Oh, may I be a victim of your mind! - Lak exclaimed and, sitting down next to her daughter, also began to cry.
Puck waited a little - nothing was heard about his daughter and wife. He waited a little more - again nothing was heard. “Oh, what happened to them?” - said Pak and went to the house himself. He came up and saw that both of them were sitting near the house and crying bitterly.
- Hey, what happened? Why are you crying so much? - asked Puck.
“Oh, dear Puck,” said Lak, “look at our clever girl, oh, may I be a victim of her intelligence!”
- Come on, what is she saying? - asked Puck.
“She says that if the matchmakers like her, there will be a wedding.” Then her son will be born, he will grow up, and she will come to visit us with him, and I will say: “Dear granddaughter, you have already become an assistant, go bring some water, let’s put the tea to boil!” Her child will go to the house, and as soon as he bends down for water, his feet will slip, he will fall into the water and drown... What, he says, will I do then? What will I tell his father?
- Oh, and I will be a victim of your mind! - said Puck and, sitting down next to them, also began to cry bitterly.
So the parents and daughter sat near that house and shed bitter tears. The crying and sobbing of the owners of the house was heard by the matchmakers.
- What's happened? - they exclaimed and ran to the house. They came running and saw that the parents and their daughter were sitting near the house and crying bitterly.
- What's happened? - asked the matchmakers.
- Lak, Lak!
- What, dear Puck!
- Tell them what our smart daughter says!
- Oh, dear guests! - Lak began. - Our smart daughter says: “Suddenly the matchmakers will like me, there will be a wedding, then I will have a son, he will grow up, and I will come to visit you with him, and you will say: “Darling granddaughter, you have already become an assistant, go bring some water, let’s put the tea to boil!” - and we will send him to the house. Her child will approach the hauz, and as soon as he bends down for water, his feet will slip, he will fall into the water and drown... What, he says, will I do then? What will I tell his father?
The matchmakers heard this and said:
“And in fact, this girl has enough beauty and intelligence!” And they matched Lak and Puck’s daughter, took her with them and arranged a wedding.
- Lak, Lak!
- What, dear Puck!
“Let’s go see how our daughter lives,” said Puck.
“Okay,” said Lak, “just you, Puck, go and buy a pound of butter, let’s fry a dish of pies, then we’ll go.”
Puck took the bowl and went to the butter seller. The seller weighed a pound of butter and poured it into Puck's bowl. The bowl was full and there was still some oil left.
“There is some of your oil left, what should I do with it?” asked the seller.
“Here, pour it here!” said Paki, turning the bowl over and offering the bottom to him.
Puck brought the oil on the bottom of the bowl home.
- Puck, Puck!
- What, dear Lak!
“You didn’t bring enough butter!” said Lak.
- No, not a little! There’s also one in the bowl!” answered Puck.
Lak wanted to see what was in the bowl and turned it over. A little oil from the bottom also spilled onto the ground.
Lak and Puck consulted and decided that you couldn’t fry the pies without butter and that they would carry a bundle of hot cakes.
“Pak, then, while I knead the dough, you will heat the tanur stove!” said Lak.
Pak brought firewood, looked into the tanur stove and saw that it was red. And the stove was red from the sun's rays.
“She’s already hot, isn’t she?” thought Puck, went and calmly fell asleep.
So Lak rolled out some flat cakes and brought them to the tanur. Looks - it is red-hot. She placed flat cakes on the tanura.
Puck has arrived. Lak and Puck sit and look at the cakes, but they don’t blush. They stare for an hour, they stare for two, but they still don’t blush.
- Lak, Lak!
- What, dear Puck!
“Are we really just going to sit and watch?” Let's dig a tanur, take it on our shoulders and go - the cakes will be baked along the way!
The relatives of the son-in-law saw that the father and mother of the daughter-in-law were walking and were carrying a tanur stove on their shoulders, they ran towards them, took off the stove and put it aside, and brought the guests into the house and treated them well.
Night has fallen. Luck and Puck were made a bed in the same room. They lay and looked around the room.
- Lak, Lak!
- What, dear Puck!
- Look at the wall, it’s cracked everywhere.
“It’s dry and cracked!” said Lak. “Our poor daughter, she didn’t think to anoint her with oil.” Then she wouldn't dry out.
“Well then, let’s rub it with oil ourselves!” suggested Puck.
Lak and Puck got up, found a piece of butter on the shelf and smeared it all over the wall. “Well, we’ve done this job, now we’ll sleep!” they said, but at that time Puck saw two jugs in the closet.
- Lak, Lak!
- What, dear Puck?
“You’re not telling the truth, that our daughter is stupid!” Look how smart she is; parents came from afar and everyone dusted themselves off, let them shop! - you see, she prepared two pots of water for us.
Lak and Puck started swimming.
- Oh, what sweet water! - said Puck.
“Apparently the water in these places is sweet!” Lak responded.
But it was not water, but grape molasses. Lak and Puck bathed in molasses and went to their beds to sleep.
Dawn broke, dawn broke, the sun rose. The owners of the house spread a carpet in the yard, spread blankets along the edges, unrolled the dastarkhon, prepared tea and sat waiting for the guests. But Luck and Puck didn’t get up. The owners were forced to enter the room and saw that the guests were stuck to the blankets and could not move.
“Eh,” said the owners, “we thought that only their daughter was stupid, but it turns out that the parents are even stupider!”
One day, the relatives of Lak and Pak’s daughter went far away to visit. The daughter was left alone in her husband's house. Getting out of bed in the morning, she did not want to wash her face, and so, with an unwashed face, she took bread and began to eat.
Suddenly she noticed that the calf stuck his head out of the barn and mumbled: “Bah.”
“Oh, damned one, I finally saw that I was eating bread unwashed! Now he will tell everyone about this and disgrace me! What should I do?” the daughter thought and ran home to her parents.
- Lak, Lak!
- What, dear Puck!
“And indeed, it didn’t turn out well for my daughter!” said Puck. “Well, okay, daughter, don’t be sad, this problem can be fixed.” We will go to the judge and petition him to prohibit telling people about this.
Luck and Puck and their daughter came to the judge.
“It depends not only on me,” said the judge, laughing to himself at these fools, “if, for example, I forbid talking about this in my city, then I cannot ban it throughout the country!” It depends only on the padishah, go to him!
Lak and Pak and their daughter came to the padishah. He listened to them and ordered: “Forbid anyone from talking about breakfast to the unwashed daughter of Lak and Puck!” The heralds announced this order of the padishah throughout the country.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru