Russian Tale
In a certain village there lived a poor old man and his wife all alone. The old woman was so short-tempered that people avoided her company. Not a day passed without her scolding her husband and calling him names. He had no peace or comfort at all, and really hardly knew how to bear it.
One day, when his wife had been particularly unkind, he strolled slowly into the fields, and as he could not endure to be idle he spread out his nets. He caught a crane in his net, and the crane said,
“Let me go free, and I’ll show myself grateful.”
The old man answered,
“No, my dear fellow. I shall take you home, and then perhaps my wife won’t scold me so much.”
Said the crane:
“You had better come with me to my house,” and so they went to the crane’s house. When they got there, the crane took down from the wall a bag, and said:
“Bag Men, get to work!”
Instantly two lively lads sprang out of the bag. They brought in oak tables, which they spread with silken covers, and placed all sorts of delicious dishes and refreshing drinks on them. The old man had never seen anything so beautiful in his life, and he was delighted. Then the crane said to him,
“Now take this bag to your wife.”
The old man thanked him warmly, took the bag, and set out. His home was a good long way off, and as it was growing dark, and he was feeling tired, he stopped to rest at his cousin’s house by the way. The cousin had three daughters, who laid out a tempting supper, but the old man would eat nothing, and said to his cousin,
“Your supper is bad.”
“Oh, make the best of it,” said she, but the old man only said:
“Clear away!” and taking out his bag he cried, as the crane had taught him:
“Bag Men, get to work!”
And out came the two lively boys, who quickly brought in the oak tables, spread the silken covers, and laid out all sorts of delicious dishes and refreshing drinks. Never in their lives had the cousin and her daughters seen such a supper, and they were delighted and astonished at it. But the cousin quietly made up her mind to steal the bag, so she called to her daughters:
“Go quickly and heat the bathroom: I am sure our dear guest would like to have a bath before he goes to bed.”
When the old man was safe in the bathroom she told her daughters to make a bag exactly like his, as quickly as possible. Then she changed the two bags, and hid the old man’s bag away. The old man enjoyed his bath, slept soundly, and set off early next morning, taking what he believed to be the bag the crane had given him. All the way home he felt in such good spirits that he sang and whistled as he walked through the wood, and never noticed how the birds were twittering and laughing at him. As soon as he saw his house he began to shout from a distance,
“Hallo! old woman! Come out and meet me!”
His wife screamed back:
“You come here, and I’ll meet you with the poker!”
The old man walked into the house, hung his bag on a nail, and said, as the crane had taught him:
“Bag Men, get to work!”
But not a soul came out of the bag. Then he said again, exactly as the crane had taught him:
“Bag Men, get to work!”
His wife, hearing him chattering goodness knows what, took up her wet broom and the old man took flight and rushed off into the field. There he found the crane marching proudly about, and to him he told his tale.
“Come back to my house,” said the crane, and so they went to the crane’s house, and as soon as they got there the crane took down a bag from the wall and said:
“Bag Men, get to work!”
And instantly two lively lads sprang out of the bag, brought in oak tables, on which they laid silken covers, and spread all sorts of delicious dishes and refreshing drinks on them.
“Take this bag,” said the crane.
The old man thanked him heartily, took the bag, and went. He had a long way to walk, and as he presently got hungry, he said to the bag, as the crane had taught him:
“Bag Men, get to work!”
And instantly two rough men with thick sticks crept out of the bag and began to beat him well, crying as they did so:
“Don’t boast to your cousins of what you have got!”
And they beat on till the old man panted out:
“Bag Men, into the bag!”
The words were hardly out of his mouth, when the two crept back into the bag. Then the old man shouldered the bag, and went off straight to his cousin’s house. He hung the bag up on a nail, and said:
“Please have the bathroom heated, cousin.”
The cousin heated the bathroom, and the old man went into it, but he neither washed nor rubbed himself, he just sat there and waited. Meantime his cousin felt hungry, so she called her daughters, and all four sat down to table. Then the mother said:
“Bag Men, get to work!”
Instantly two rough men crept out of the bag, and began to beat the cousin as they cried:
“Greedy pack! Thievish pack!
Give the old man back his bag!”
And they went on beating till the woman called to her eldest daughter:
“Go and fetch your cousin from the bathroom. Tell him these two ruffians are beating me black and blue.”
“I’ve not finished rubbing myself yet,” said the old man.
And the two ruffians kept on beating as they sang:
“Greedy pack! Thievish pack!
Give the old man back his bag!”
Then the woman sent her second daughter and said:
“Quick, quick, get him to come to me.”
“I’m just washing my head,” said the old man.
Then she sent the youngest girl, and he said:
“I’ve not done drying myself.”
At last the woman could hold out no longer, and sent him the bag she had stolen. Now he had quite finished his bath, and as he left the bathroom he cried:
“Bag Men, into the bag!”
And the two crept back at once into the bag. Then the old man took both bags, the good and the bad one, and went away home. When he was near the house he shouted:
“Hallo, old woman, come and meet me!”
His wife only screamed out:
“You come here, and I’ll meet you with the poker!”
The old man went into the cottage, hung the good bag on a nail, and said, as the crane had taught him:
“Bag Men, get to work!”
Instantly two lively lads sprang out of the bag, brought in oak tables, laid silken covers on them, and spread them with all sorts of delicious dishes and refreshing drinks. The woman ate and drank, and praised her husband.
“Well, now, old man, I won’t scold you anymore,” said she.
When they had done eating, the man carried off the good bag, and put it away in his storeroom, but hung the bad bag up on the nail. Then he lounged up and down in the yard. Meantime his wife became thirsty. She looked with longing eyes at the bag, and at last she said, as her husband had done:
“Bag Men, get to work!”
And at once the two rogues with their big sticks crept out of the bag, and began to belabour her as they sang:
“Would you torment your husband true?
Now we’ll beat you black and blue!”
The woman screamed out:
“Old man, old man! Come here, quick! Here are two ruffians pummelling me fit to break my bones.”
At last her husband took pity on her, and cried:
“Bag Men, into the bag!”
He had hardly said the words before they were back in the bag again.
From this time the old man and his wife lived so happily together that it was a pleasure to see them, and so the story has an end.
