One hunter wandered through the forest all night in search of prey, but all in vain. He was getting ready to go home when he suddenly heard the sounds of a drum and a lute coming from the thicket of the forest. He walked in the direction where the melody was coming from. He looks, and there, in the clearing, the forest spirits are playing a wedding. Just in case, holding his gun at the ready, the hunter got closer to the action and began to observe.
Meanwhile, the forest spirits danced wedding dances. When the fun was in full swing, the hunter noticed that one of the forest spirits was wearing a dress exactly like his wife’s dress. After the dancing, the forest spirits sat down at the tables, which were simply bursting with various dishes. Noticing the hunter, the forest spirits began to treat him. They gave him pilaf, fried ox rib and other dishes. The hunter accepted all the treats, but did not touch any of them.
After the feast was over, the forest spirits approached the hunter and asked him to return the bull's rib. But he refused. Having collected all the bones of the eaten bull, with the exception of the rib that the hunter did not give away, the forest spirits began to revive it. But since one rib was still missing, the spirits replaced it with a walnut sprig. Seeing a bull emerge from the folded bones, the hunter fired his gun - and everything disappeared.
Returning home, he carefully checked his wife's dress, which was similar to what he had seen on one of the forest spirits. And he realized that everything that happened in the forest was true. The hunter also never tired of repeating to the owner of the bull the story that instead of a rib the bull had a walnut branch, which was inserted instead of a bone by forest spirits.
And when the time came, and that bull was slaughtered, everyone saw that one of its ribs resembled a curved nut branch.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru