There once lived in Muny-du-Our a weaver, a slacker like few. No one had ever heard his machine knock. And yet, this weaver had no equal and managed to weave as much fine and beautiful fabric as was ordered for him on time.
He never dug up his garden. I have never worked the land. I have never tended a vineyard. And yet, every year his harvest was thirteen times greater than that of his neighbors.
The weaver's wife was amazed at how he could do it.
Day and night she questioned him, watched him. But even seven years after the wedding, she knew no more than on the first day.
One morning, on St. Martin's Day, the weaver woke up and said to his wife:
— Wife, I need to go to Lektur to the fair. Guard the house until I return.
- Be calm, hubby, I’ll take good care of you. The weaver left. And his wife slowly followed him, hiding behind trees and hedges. When the weaver reached the grove, he took something out of his pocket, put it under a juniper bush, and walked on. Less than five minutes had passed before the wife found the hidden thing - it was a nut the size of a turkey egg, and someone was buzzing in it:
- Well, open the nut! Well, let's get to work! Well, open the nut!
The wife grabbed the find and ran back home. All the time she heard:
- Well, let's get to work! Well, let's get to work! Well, open the nut!
Finally the wife opened the nut. And immediately thirteen flies flew out of it and circled around the room:
- Well, let's get to work! Well, let's get to work! Well, let's get to work!
Then the wife, frightened, ordered:
- Flies, return to the nut.
Thirteen flies immediately returned to the nut. But they continued to buzz:
- Well, open the nut! Well, let's get to work! Well, open the nut!
Having lost patience, the wife took the nut under the juniper bush where the weaver had hidden it. In the evening, when the husband returned, his wife told him at dinner.
“Hubby, now I know the workers who do everything for you: these are thirteen flies, and they sit in your nut the size of a turkey egg.”
- Wife, you guessed right. Well, since you know my workers, order them whatever you want. They will obey you, just as they obey me.
From that day on, the weaver's wife could only sit back, open the nut and give orders. Whatever the work, thirteen flies completed it in one minute.
Then they returned to the nut, which the hostess hid under her pillow, and buzzed:
- Well, open the nut! Well, let's get to work! Well, open the nut!
The weaver's wife often lost her temper from this constant buzzing. Out of anger, she gave the thirteen flies the most difficult assignments. But whatever the work, they did it in a minute.
Then they immediately returned to the nut, which the hostess hid under her pillow, and began to buzz.
- Well, open the nut! Well, let's get to work! Well, open the nut!
One day the weaver's wife couldn't stand it. She opened the nut and shouted:
- Flies, here are six sieves, six sieves and a leaky barrel. Fly to the Zher River and bring all the water here.
In one minute the river Gers dried up to the bottom, and the whole Moine du Ours was covered with water, and immediately thirteen flies returned to the nut, which their mistress hid under her pillow, and buzzed:
- Well, open the nut! Well, let's get to work! Well, open the nut!
“Hubby,” shouted the wife, turning green with anger, “these flies will drive me into a coffin!” Take them away!
-Have it your way, wife. Flies, fly away!
- Well, well, pay for the work! Well, we'll fly away! Well, well, pay for the work! Well, we'll fly away!
- Flies, thirteen ravens are flying, thirteen ravens are flying over the Ramier forest. Take them as a reward for your efforts.
The thirteen flies flew away, taking with them the thirteen ravens, and the weaver and his wife never saw them again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru