River of fairy tales. Unprofessional translation from Russian. Viktor Gitin
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The roof and the walls fell on the owner, and that was how he died.
His fellow villagers thought that Frol died because the house fell down on him. And only the old woman, his neighbor, knew that Frol died because of his greediness, not because the roof fell down. Because he did not follow the elder people’s advice and ate too much GreediBerry in the forest. He was too nosy. In reality, the poor Frol lost in this controversy between greediness and stupidity. And only his death cured him of greediness.
Scales of Life
It happened so that a caravan with goods from far-away countries was walking on the road. It was led by three brothers.
The elder brother was the caravan’s owner. Their father left him all his wealth in his will, because he was grown-up and was better versed in trading. His business was going well, he was sly and enterprising. He successfully made others work for himself and did not overstrain himself. He did not blow off his father’s fortune, but he increased it and managed to accumulate a lot of money. He became a rich and notable merchant in his town.
He was dressed smartly and looked neat. He was used to luxury and magnificence. He became fat because of easy life, and prosperity made him arrogant and presumptuous. A real self-complacent nobleman and master.
The middle brother was strong and nimble. He had a lot of heroics daring and brave agility. However, he did not like to work himself, either. He did not learn any good craft. He could not trade for this you should have intelligence and trickery, while nature gave him nothing but strength and dexterity. What he really liked was drunken parties and fights. That’s why he helped his elder brother in protecting goods and accompanied him in travels to defend him from highwaymen. He had beautiful shining armor on, a sword attached to his belt, and a beautiful shining helmet on his head. A real bully of a warrior.
The younger brother had nothing out of the ordinary. No skills of a merchant, no trickery, no strength, no military skills. But he was a kind, modest, easy-going, and hard-working youth. That’s why elder brothers always sent him on errands and let him do all hard and dirty work. He had to make a fire, put up a tent, cook some food and then clean up afterwards – that’s how they used him and ordered him about as they wished. And he did not mind. He did everything he was told well and with a smile. The elder brothers often sneered at the younger one, but he took no offence as he was peaceful and kind-hearted. And he loved his brothers, even though they were sometimes unjust to him. They gave him a lot of work to do, but never thanked him. He wore rags, ate what was left after his brothers and slept where he could. It was like he was not their brother, but a stranger whom they did not know. And he had to serve them like a slave – free of charge, at their first demand. Sometimes the middle brother, using his great strength, could give the younger one a cuff or offend him in another way. And he did that for no reason, just for fun.
The caravan had been returning home for many days. They passed the dry desert and dense forests, overcame high mountains. And once they stopped near a cave and decided to stay a night there. But this cave was not an ordinary one. The inscription on it said that there is a magic wishing rock inside. The elder and the middle brothers read it and got excited. They wanted to enter the cave at once to get what they dreamed of.
The younger brother tried to dissuade them:
«Don’t go there! What if there is something terrible there? It’s impossible to get something without giving anything back!»
«You are young and silly!» the elder brother retorted. «While I was trading, I learnt to dodge and trick so well that I can easily drive anyone crazy. If I have profit, I will wrap around my fingers any devil or Satan himself.»
«And I am so strong that I fear nobody. If need be, I will beat anybody and take away what I like,» the middle brother boasted. «Nobody will contest my power!»
And they hurried to the cave. The younger brother could not leave them and dragged behind.
When the travelers entered the cave, they saw a big flat rock. It was lying in the middle of the cave. It was half black and half white. On this unusual rock there were huge scales. One scale was light, bright and shining. It hurt to look at it – so blinding it was. The second scale was dark, and it emanated terrible cold. It was so powerful that fear reached your bones.
«Who will fulfill our wishes?» the elder brother shouted menacingly.
He liked to command and order everybody about. He was a rich owner and a noble merchant and did not want to rely upon somebody’s mercy. He was used to taking everything he needed using strength, money, slyness, or tricks.
As soon as he said that a huge rock closed the entrance to the cave. The walls and the vaulting started shaking, and the travelers found themselves in a trap. A column of fire water appeared above the black and white rock lying in the middle of the cave. It was not clear whether it was flowing fire or burning water. Then the Wish Fulfillment Spirit appeared out of this unusual column. It was strange, huge, and black and white, like the rock.
The Spirit rolled in a thunderous voice:
«Welcome, strangers! The one who comes to me always has his wish fulfilled. I can do anything you want. But just one wish each and with a condition.»
«What condition?» the middle brother asked, fearlessly stepping forward.
He wanted to show his bravery and courage to his brothers very much. Moreover, he was a bully and liked all kinds of brawls and skirmishes.
«The condition is simple,» the Spirit roared. «Each of you will get what you deserve. All years and affairs in your life will lie on these scales. The time you lived perfectly, and your good deeds will fall on the light scale. And all the years lived in vain and unworthily and your bad deeds will be gathered on the black scale. If most of your life was good and kind and the light scale is heavier, your wish will be fulfilled to this extent. And if the lesser part of your life was good and kind and the black scale is heavier, you will lose even what you have. If you have more bad things than good things in your life and affairs, you may lose everything».
The elder and middle brothers agreed at once without much thinking. Each person considers himself to be good and kind. Everybody thinks highly of himself and is ready to blame others for bad deeds, but not himself. A person is more likely to justify himself than to admit his guilt.
The brothers decided that they have nothing to fear. They thought they had done many perfect things in their life. And even if they did something not quite good, there was not much of it. Their good deeds will cover over and above all the mistakes, minor faults, and bad deeds.
The elder brother was the first to approach the scales. Like most people, he was convinced of other people’s depravity and his innocence. He did not think much; he said that he wanted to have an enormous wealth. I wish to be richer than overseas merchants with whom I met and traded some time ago. He started to describe how much gold and semiprecious stones he wanted and what house he wished to have. He said in detail how many doors, windows, and rooms he would like it to have. He also remembered to describe the shops and goods he wanted to have. He wanted very much to be richer than all the merchants he knew. In a nutshell, he took explaining his wish seriously. It was quite understandable: he was a merchant, so he was used to counting and recounting everything. He counted every coin, every trifle.
The middle brother was not very modest, either. Confidence in his rightness and impunity replaced his conscience and shame a long time ago. He stepped forward and wished to be the strongest man on earth, so that nobody could ever beat him, and so that the story of his great strength would be spread all over the world. He said what swords, spears, armor and boots