In one village - who knows which - lived - who knows when - two people, two neighbors: Akhsar and Aslan. Akhsar was a kind, hard-working man: as soon as he gets up early in the morning, he immediately goes to work, and works tirelessly until late in the evening. If anyone asks him for help, he will not refuse, he will be the last to share.
Aslan was a calculating, cunning and greedy man. He himself did not like to work, but always strived for others to work for him. And he thought about only one thing - how to capture more of everything and get rich. Aslan used to come to the poor hut of Akhsar and ask:
- Neighbor, dear, bring me some firewood! Dear neighbor, help me fix the shed!
You can't help but help your neighbor! Akhsar will put aside his affairs and go to Aslan. And the rich man will not even think of thanking him. Where there! He trembled over every coin, over every piece.
This is how they lived year after year. They would have lived their whole lives like this if one outlandish event had not happened.
Once on a cold autumn day, poor man Akhsar went to the forest to get firewood. He worked there for a long time and became hungry. He thinks about only one thing: how to get home as quickly as possible, eat, and warm up. He laid the firewood on the cart, tied it tightly with rope and finally set off.
home. The horse has difficulty climbing up the hill. Akhsar will shout: “But! Let's go!" - let him remember that the horse also has a hard time - and he himself will begin to push the heavy cart.
Akhsar drove up to his village and suddenly heard a bird squeaking pitifully somewhere, with a very small voice. Akhsar listened and went to where the squeak was coming from. He looked and saw a swallow sitting on the fence with a broken wing, all trembling from the cold... Akhsar took her, carefully
put it in his bosom and said:
“Let the one who broke your wing have no happiness in life!” Now if only you could fly to warm lands and be happy...
Akhsar arrived home and, together with his wife, carefully bandaged the swallow’s broken wing. He put the stern in front of her and said:
- Don’t worry, you won’t die! And in the spring you can fly wherever you want!
All winter, Akhsar and his wife looked after the sick swallow as if it were their beloved child, and by spring she had completely recovered. And when the birds returned from the warm regions, Akhsar took the swallow out of his hut and released it into the wild. A swallow soared up, chirped, and then descended and began to build a nest under the roof of the Akhsar hut. Both Akhsar and his wife look at the swallow’s nest - they rejoice, as if they have received a precious reward for their care.
In the autumn, when it was time to fly to warmer lands, the swallow chirped loudly - as if saying goodbye to good people - and flew away...
“Will she come to us next spring? - Akhsar and his wife think. “Will he remember us?”
The swallow did not forget them. As soon as spring came, she flew straight to her nest and chirped cheerfully. The poor people heard her voice - they came out and said:
- Our swallow has arrived! She hasn't forgotten us!
And a swallow flew over them and threw some grain at their feet.
Akhsar picked up the grain, put it on his palm, examined it and said to his wife:
- Look at the grain, I’ve never seen anything like it!
“Let’s plant it in the ground,” says the wife, “and see what grows!”
They planted the swallow seed in the garden bed and began to wait.
The grain did not lie in the ground for long. Soon it sprouted, wide leaves unfurled, a whip crawled along the ground, an unprecedented flower blossomed, and a round pumpkin appeared. This pumpkin began to grow and grew so big that people gathered from everywhere, looked at it and marveled.
The rich neighbor Aslan also came. He looked at the pumpkin and said:
- You, neighbor, be sure to give me the seeds from this pumpkin! I want such big pumpkins to grow in my garden!
When the pumpkin was ripe, Akhsar and his wife could barely roll it into the barn - it was so heavy! Akhsar brought a knife and wanted to cut the strange pumpkin, but he couldn’t - the knife was bent. He brought an ax, hit it - the ax broke.
"What to do?" - Akhsar thinks.
Suddenly the strange pumpkin opened by itself, and gold coins fell out of it. Everyone who was there was petrified in surprise, and then came to their senses and ran around the village to tell what a miracle had happened.
Aslan heard about this and was the first to run into Akhsar’s yard and shout:
- Where, where is the gold? Show me soon!
And when he saw a pile of gold, he turned green with envy - he became greener than grass. He began to ask Akhsar in a sweet voice:
- Tell me, dear neighbor, be a friend, where did you get such a wonderful seed?..
Akhsar that - he is a truthful, honest person - told everything as it happened, from whom he received this wonderful seed.
Aslan ran out of his yard and rushed to look for swallows. He looks - swallows are sitting on the fence, chirping merrily, gathering for warmer climes. Aslan crept up, picked up a stone, contrived and threw it at the swallow. The swallows flew away screaming, but one, with a broken wing, remained... Aslan grabbed her, clutched her in his fist and brought her home.
Aslan hastily bandaged the swallow's wing and put it in an empty chest. All winter he fed her and kept saying:
- I wish spring would come sooner!
By spring, the swallow recovered, its wing healed, and when Aslan released it, it soared into the clouds and flew away. Aslan raised his head, looked and thought:
“Isn’t it in vain that I fussed with this swallow all winter? Maybe she will never come to me again..."
Summer has passed, autumn has passed, winter has come again. This time it seemed long to the greedy Aslan. He can't wait for spring to come, for the swallow to fly in and bring him a gift. But spring has finally arrived. Aslan does not know peace - he walks near the house all day long, looking at the sky - is there a swallow flying?.. He almost completely dislocated his neck.
One day Aslan hears a swallow chirping above his head. He trembled with joy, put his beshmet on the floor and shouted:
- Throw it, throw it quickly!..
The swallow threw grain. Aslan grabbed him and immediately buried him in the garden in a prepared bed.
Day and night Aslan guarded the garden bed, and when the flower fell and a pumpkin appeared, he even moved his bed here and began to sleep in the garden bed.
He watches the pumpkin grow, rejoices, and whispers:
- Bigger, grow bigger! Twice, three times more than Akhsar grows!..
The pumpkin grew and grew, and finally it grew - it was ripe, yellowed, and you can pick it up. At night, when the people went to bed, Aslan called his workers and ordered them to roll the pumpkin into the house. “So,” he thinks, “it will be better, our onlookers will not be able to find out how much gold I have, otherwise they will ask for a loan!..”
When the workers hardly rolled the pumpkin into the farthest room, Aslan shouted:
“Now get away, everyone, go to bed and don’t even think about peeking!”
The workers left, and the greedy Aslan quietly walked around the house, checking to see if his wife and children were fast asleep, and whether they would interfere with his counting the gold coins. After that, he locked the door, sat down near the pumpkin and waited for it to open. He sits, shakes with impatience, and thinks:
“I will now be the richest! I won’t, like that fool Akhsar, give away my gold left and right! I won’t give a single coin to anyone!”
Suddenly a huge pumpkin swayed, a loud crack was heard - it opened... Only, not gold coins fell out of the pumpkin, but black snakes crawled out - hissing, wiggling. They pounced on the greedy Aslan and began to bite him... Aslan screamed and began to call for help, but no one heard him...
No wonder there is a proverb: “As life is, so is death.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru