>River of fairy tales
Unprofessional translation from Russian
Viktor Gitin
Illustrator Tatiana Zavialova
© Viktor Gitin, 2022
© Tatiana Zavialova, illustrations, 2022
ISBN 978-5-0055-9690-1
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Prophetic Cushion
Once upon a time there lived two sisters. The younger sister was kind, nice and hardworking. Her name was Alena. The elder sister was wicked and envious. Her name was Clara. Their parents died, and the two sisters lived together in a house by the side of the road.
Once a poor old lady was passing by, and she stopped to spend the night in the girls’ house. Alena gave the lady something to eat and drink, and then prepared a soft featherbed for her to sleep on. She always treated guests and old people with deference and tried to appease them and make them comfortable.
The elder sister was not happy with the old lady’s presence. She was grumbling the whole evening, looking at her discontentedly, and did not even say good night to the old woman. She was too greedy to give the stranger food or shelter. The biggest wealth that Clara had amassed was her greediness. She was too greedy even to share the sunrays from her yard for free.
In the morning, when the guest was about to leave, she decided to thank the young girls. She took a soft embroidered cushion out of her bag and gave it to the sisters. When leaving, she smiled and said:
«This is not an ordinary cushion. When you sleep on it, you have prophetic dreams, and they come true when you wake up. You will see in your dream whatever you think of before sleeping. And whatever you see in your dream, will happen to you. A good person will see a good dream and his life will be good. And a bad person will see a bad dream, and it will be only fair that he will have trouble and misfortunes.»
The elder sister did not believe a word and accused the old lady of lying and telling cock-and-bull stories. And the younger sister accepted the gift with gratitude and wished the old woman a nice trip and a good day. So, they parted.
On the first night, Alena said:
«Sister, tomorrow we will go to the forest to pick berries and mushrooms. It’s good if we are lucky to find a lot of berries and mushrooms. We will bring them home and store them to use in the winter.»
With these thoughts Alena fell asleep. In her dream, she saw a forest and a wonderful meadow spangled with berries and mushrooms. They were walking around with her sister and picking them, and they had full baskets, too heavy to carry. Fortunately, they saw a man riding on a cart. He agreed to help the girls. They put their supplies in the cart, occupying all the space, and brought them home.
When Alena woke up, she told Clara her dream at once. But the elder sister started to make fun of the younger one:
«Silly you are! How can this be that two girls picked a whole cartful of berries and mushrooms? And met a man with a cart in the dense forest? And he helped them absolutely for free? Such things don’t happen in our life!»
Clara did not like her sister first of all because other people loved her, and she was better than her. Of all her relatives, she loved only herself. That’s why Clara laughed at the sister and her dream, and they went to the forest. But a miracle happened – they really happened to stumble upon a wonderful meadow. And there were so many mushrooms and berries there! You could pick them with a spade. And there were plenty of berries on the bushes, all of them ripe and juicy. Put a basket under a bush, shake the branches several times, and the basket is full of berries. Just one problem – where to put all this wealth? But suddenly they saw, just as Alena did in her dream, a man riding on a cart. He saw the sisters and said:
«Beautiful girls, shall I help you? I can bring everything you have gathered to your house.»
Clara did not believe in the man’s kindness and wanted to drive him away. But Alena accepted his help before her sister managed to do anything. On the contrary, she thanked him heartily. They loaded the whole cart with supplies and brought them all home. There were so many of them that the man got his share, too, in reward for his help. It’s only the greedy elder sister who did not want to share the supplies. She was walking about and grumbling that the man transported their berries and mushrooms too carelessly and mashed them on hollows and sloughs. But Alena gave the kind man his share of mushrooms and berries on the sly. He was thankful to her for that and promised to help her in the future, should an opportunity arise.
In the evening Clara thought about the magic cushion the old lady had given to them. What if it is really prophetic? The elder sister decided to see for herself and told Alena before going to sleep:
«Now I will sleep on the cushion and wish a dream to have.»
But Clara could not imagine what dream to wish. She was envious the whole day that the younger sister had such a good dream last night and everything turned out to as be promised. As on the next day the girls were going to the forest again to pick healing herbs and roots, Clara wickedly decided: «We will collect those herbs anyway! May wolves attack my sister in the forest and scare her very much!» Thinking so, she fell asleep. She dreamt of fierce wolves in the dense forest: they were running and chasing, snapping their teeth, and sputtering.
In the morning the elder sister sprang up terrified, in cold sweat. But she saw in her dream what she had wished. She did not tell Alena about her dream.
The sisters went to the forest and lost their way. They found themselves in a dark thicket. Sunrays could not get through; the huge trees covered the sky with their tops. Then fierce wolves appeared all of a sudden. The girls started to run, and the animals chased them. Everything happened just like in Clara’s dream. The sisters hardly managed to escape from wolves, their dresses were torn to pieces. Their hands and legs were scratched, bruised and bleeding, but they found their way in the forest and got away from trouble.
They came home and the elder sister said:
«That’s a bad cushion! I don’t want to sleep on it anymore. Sleep yourself on this bewitched cushion!»
She threw it to Alena. The younger sister agreed and asked:
«What shall I ask the cushion for to see in this night’s dream?»
Clara took offence at the cushion, but decided to make fun of her sister:
«It’s time we got married, but we have no dowry at all! We have no smart clothes or jewelry. Ask your cushion for luxurious outfits and beautiful jewelry.»
«Right, sister,» Alena replied.
Before going to sleep she sat down near the cushion and thought:
«It would be nice if we could have a new dress each and girls’ trinketry. Not much – just a little bit.»
Thinking so, she fell asleep. In her dream she saw Clara and herself walking in smart dresses. The earrings in their ears were glistening, and pearl necklaces on their necks were sparkling. Alena woke up and told her sister:
«Sister, in my dream I saw that we will have new dresses made of brocade, turquoise earrings and pearl necklaces.»
Clara started to scold her sister as she was offended and envious that she had had such a wonderful dream:
«You are silly and featherheaded! Where can we get all this? Will it fall from the sky? You believe this stupid cushion! And this is nothing, but the old woman’s lies!»
In the evening, foreign merchants returning from a fair were passing by their house. They sold their goods at great profit and were returning home merrily. The merchants asked the sisters to stay in their house overnight.
Clara met the guests angrily as she usually did. She did not take care of them, just mumbled something