a hearty welcome. They searched through the remains of their goods and gave her two brocade dresses, a pair of turquoise earrings and a pair of white and blue pearl necklaces. They liked the kind girl very much: she welcomed them heartily, gave tasty food, said kind words. And they did not want to take these goods home anyway. It was a relief for the merchants and a delight for a nice girl. The guests said good-bye and left in a good mood.
Clara saw that and moved to complain:
«I asked the dowry for myself, and the wretched and ungrateful merchants gave all the gifts to you! Where is the justice? I am deprived and offended!»
«Don’t be angry, my dear sister. If you like these dresses, earrings, and necklaces, take them all for yourself!» Alena offered her the gifts with a smile.
The younger sister was not greedy and loved her grumbling sister. She had no other relatives in the world. And Alena’s heart was pure and light. She felt bad if her elder sister was grieving or angry. That’s why she always tried to appease Clara and make her feel good.
The elder sister took away all the merchants’ gifts at once and started to scold Alena again:
«You are so unsophisticated! Why did you ask the cushion for so little? These dresses and jewelry are not sufficient. I want more – and more luxurious, too!»
Now Clara clearly understood that the cushion was really magic. The dreams come true for the third time in succession. She took away the cushion and said:
«This night, I will dream of our wealth myself. Go to bed, and I will think what to wish.»
In the evening Clara sat down and started to ponder: «I wish a lot of gold and silver for myself, and my sister will get shards and pieces of glass. She shouldn’t dress and look better than me!»
Clara went so deeply into her dreams, wishing to offend and humiliate her sister as much as possible, that she fell asleep with these thoughts. In her dream she saw a barrel of broken shards and a chest of glass pieces.
On the next day, a glassblower with his goods and a potter with pots were passing by their house on their way to the fair. They asked to stay in their house overnight. The elder sister looked at the guests and saw that they were not rich, and no profit could be obtained from them. She told them to go to the shed and spend the night there. She was so angry that she failed to get gold and silver as a dowry that she was walking about on the jump.
At night, when everybody fell asleep, she went out and in anger smashed some jugs and glassware that belonged to the craftsmen. In the morning they woke up and saw that somebody had done the smashing. The glassblower and the potter turned sad. But they had nothing to do, they picked up the remains of goods and cleaned the yard before leaving. They put the shards and pieces of glass in the barrel and in the chest, so that the sisters would not have to sweep so much after them.
When Clara woke up and went out, she saw that everything happened exactly as she had seen in her dream last night. She realized that the younger sister’s dreams were better when they came true and started to hate Alena even more because of that. Clara did not know her real value, so she considered herself to be priceless. As for her sister, she treated her as an obstacle in her life.
«This night we will sleep on the cushion together,» Clara decided to dodge.
«It’s time we thought about handsome fiancés. So, we will act in this way – you will wish a fiancé for me in your dream, and I will wish one for you.»
«Let’s do as you say, sister,» Alena agreed obediently.
They went to sleep side by side and put their heads on the edges of the cushion.
Alena dreams before going to sleep: «It would be nice if a good-hearted young man on a white horse came to us. He would be so dashing, handsome and well-built…»
She fell asleep and saw exactly what she thought in her dream. And she also saw a palace and a great feast. Singers were singing, musicians were playing merry tunes, guests were dancing boldly. Everybody around was celebrating a wedding.
And Clara thought before going to sleep: «May my sister have an old, ugly and wicked fiancé. May she live in the thicket, drudge with her husband all her life and appease him!»
That’s what she saw. A dense forest and an old terrible bandit sitting on a crumbly stump. Around him, his terrible companions were feeding a fire, roasting meat, drinking home brew, swearing, and fighting – thus celebrating their chieftain’s wedding.
On the next day, early at sunrise, a squad of brave warriors was passing by the house. It was headed by a young and dashing prince. The younger sister was hardworking, and she always set about her duties in the yard since early morning. She woke up at dawn and was working in the vegetable garden when the warriors were passing by along the road.
The prince saw Alena and liked her so much that loved her at first sight. He jumped down from his horse and asked her to marry him. The girl liked the prince very much, so she agreed at once, without much thinking. She was modest and was not used to flirting and dallying. The young man put her on the horse and took her to his palace to celebrate a wedding.
And Clara liked to sleep until midday, but the noise in the yard woke her up. She looked out the window and froze. Her sister was going away with a young handsome prince and his men. And she could see that the youth was looking at Alena with loving eyes and she was looking at him in the same way.
The elder sister rushed out in her night gown. She wanted to shout that Alena was taking away her dream, her fiancé, her happiness. But it was too late – they had vanished into thin air.
Clara returned to the house and started to cry and smash anything that got into her hands – out of spite, envy, and offence. She was raging until the evening and could not stop. Closer to nighttime, some forest bandits suddenly came to her house. They saw a girl rushing about in anger, smashing, and throwing everything around. They laughed and said:
«Such a wicked hostess! She will suit perfectly for our bandit affairs. She is quite like us. She will make a good wife for our chieftain.»
They seized Clara and took her to the forest. And they also burned the house where the sisters lived and all the constructions there, so that she would have no desire to run away and return home.
The bandits brought the girl to the forest and gave her to their chieftain. He was old and ugly. He was sitting in the middle of the meadow on a crumbly stump and picking his teeth disgustingly. He saw Clara and laughed nastily and loud, saying in his strident voice:
«Now the forest is your house! You will appease me all my life. And if you don’t obey, I will punish you and give you to fierce wild animals.»
The chieftain ordered the bandits to prepare a wedding celebration. And then everything happened in the way Clara had wished in her dream for her younger sister. It was so because she did not remember the words of the old lady who had given them the cushion. The old woman warned: you will get what you wish. A good dream will come to a good person, and his life will be good, too. And a bad person, doing bad deeds, will have a bad dream and trouble will come.
When the young prince brought Alena to his palace, he made a nice wedding. The feast was so marvelous that you couldn’t tell in a tale or write with a pen. Guslars were playing, traveling minstrels were dancing, singers were singing. And the guests celebrated for three days and three nights.
And as for the magic cushion, it should have perished in the fire when the bandits burned the house. Or perhaps it did not. It is magic anyway. Who knows, probably it exists somewhere in the world. People have new dreams on it. And they are not just dreams, they are prophetic ones –