The Golden Girl

One man’s wife passed away and he married again. As soon as her stepmother came home, she saw that there was not only the step-daughter, but a bell, left from the first woman.

She looked at her husband and called him:

– I don’t want this girl at home!

“Where should I put her?” Don’t you see she’s still little and foolish? Replied the father.

“Take her whenever you want – in the woods, in the sea,” he said, “As long she is not infront of my eyes’’.

Today, a conflict, tomorrow, a conflict.. finally the father decided to remove his first child from home.

– Make a bread! He ordered his wife.

The stepmother mixed a bread out of millet, dropped it into the bag and handed the bag to her husband. He slipped the bag over his shoulder, took the girl and led her into a terrible forest. There was a small hill there. He took the child to the hill, took the bread out of the bag, rolled it down the hill and said,

“Run, child, catch the bread.

The girl laughed after the cake and caught it in the grass. At that time, the father went back into the woods and went out of sight.

– Dad, I got the cake! “The girl turned back. – Dad, where are you?

Once again, hurrying up the hill, looking аround, but not a living soul could be seen. Her eyes poured down. She traveled under the old trees to look for a trail. A trail here, a trail there – no trail could be seen. The whole day the girl ran. And when the sun sunk down behind the dense forest noise and darkened, it was frightened that she started crying aloud.

Inside the woods in a wooden hut lived a grandmother. When she heard a human voice, she went out and shouted into the darkness:

– Who’s crying there? Girl or boy? If you are a girl, come to your grandmother, if you are a boy – go away!

“I’m a girl, Grandma,” said the poor girl.

“Then come on!”

As she approached, the girl asked,

“Why do not you want a boy, Grandma?”

“Because I need somebody to clean my house and the boys do not know how to do it.

The girl entered the hut. The grandmother put her in bed, and she fell asleep. After a while, the grandmother also layed down. In the morning, the girl woke up before the grandmother, she cleaned the house and brought water from the well. When the old woman woke up and saw what her guest had done, she smiled, but she did not say anything. She dressed and walked out for mushrooms. On leaving she instructed the nimble girl:

“In the cellar I have badgers: snakes, lizards, tortoises. You should feed them. You should not be afraid of them because they do not bite.

The girl burned the bran, allowed them to cool down, took them to the cellar, fed the nests well, and had nothing else to do, strung necklaces and tied one to each chick. At noon the grandmother asked. The natives rushed to meet her and began to praise:

“Grandma, the cow wears necklaces!” Grandma, we cant eat sweet food!

“And your grandmother will tie a necklace!” Replied the grandmother and smiled again.

\A wonderful river flowed near the hut. She changed her paint every hour. After the noon the grandmother brought the girl on the riverbank, lying on the grass and saying:

“My grandmother, I’ll be up on the grass, and you’ll sing me because it does not hunt me without a song.

The girl sat next to the grandmother’s head and quietly sang. His song was as silent as a buzz of a bee. Before sleeping, the grandmother spoke sleepy:

– Watch the water. First, blue water will flow, then red, then black. Black will be set to yellow. Wake me up when the yellow water comes!

And she was sleepy. The girl watched the river wonderfully. The river was changing its water every hour, now blue, then red, then black. At one point the yellow water was set and it awoke the grandmother. The grandmother jumped up, grabbed the girl and dipped it into the river.

“Hang on, Grandma,” she said, “catch what you can!

The girl clutched, and when the old woman pulled it out, she saw she was holding a box.

– What’s in it? Asked the girl.

“When you go home, you will unlock it with that key, and you will see what it is,” said the grandmother, giving him something that had taken him out of the woods, showed him the path to their house, and led him to come with health.

The girl went home, and the whole house shone, because the yellow water was gold and it became gold. The groom biting her lips from envy.

“What do you wear in the box?” Asked the father.

The girl unlocked the box, opened it, and gasped: the box was full of gold.

– Tell me where you were? The stepmother asked.

The gold girl told me everything.

“Rather take my girl in that forest too!” Her husband’s stepmother called out.

– You mess with a cake, that’s it!

The stepmother turned around and mixed a wheat bread. The father led the stepped girl, led him to the hill in the woods, rolled the cake, and when the girl ran after her, he fell down.

All day the girl in the woods wandered and yelled in the evening.

– Who’s crying? The same grandmother from the darkness asked again. – Girl or boy? If you are a boy, go away if you are a girl, come on!

– I’m a girl! Said the lead, and walked into the hut.

The forest grandmother had put it on and waited for him to sleep. In the morning, when the sun was soaking, the grandmother got up and her guest still slept. She frowned at the hostess, but she did not say anything. She woke the girl and told him:

“I’m going to mushrooms, and you dig up at home, scavenge and feed my little ones. They are in the cellar. Do not be afraid of them because they do not bite.

The girl got up, took the broom, began to sweep, without sprinkling the ground with water, a smoked smoke. He burned bran, taking them hot on snakes, lizards, and turtles. The ladies faded and when the grandmother returned from the forest at noon, they began to complain.

“Grandmother, you fuck us with the bran.” It has evaporated us a lot. Hurry, Grandma!

“And your grandmother will blow your hat!” Said the grandmother, and walked into the hut.

After noon, she took the girl to the wonderful river and commanded him:

– I will take a nap, and you will see the river – when blue water passes, it does not wake me when it passes yellow – it does not wake me again, the red one does not wake me up again. When the black comes – wake me up! Come on now, sing me a song until I’m asleep!

The girl cried, but she sang so badly and badly that the grandmother interrupted it.

Stop it! She told him. “You can not sleep with this song.

The girl was silent. The grandmother was asleep, and the river started to shake and began to change her paint. When the black water came, it awoke the grandmother. The old lady jumped up, grabbed the girl’s hair, sank it into the water, and shouted:

– Hang on, grandmother, whatever you can, hold on! The girl touched a box and gripped it. The grandmother pulled the girl down to the shore, giving him a key to unlock the box when she came home, took him out of the woods and showed him the way to his father’s house. The stepmother waited for him near the village. It was overnight. When she saw that she had become black and ugly, yellowed by anger, she said,

– I hope the box is full of gold.

You went home, unlocked the box and what to see – only snakes, lizards and crabs inside. Everyone was screaming, they fled. The golden girl fled to the street.

“Run to get his golden clothes to put on my stepped girl!” She cried her husband’s stepmother.

The man rushed after his girl. He ran, he ran, he ran, he ran, he ran, he ran, until at last, when he saw that the father would overtake him, the golden girl spread her arms and ran like a bird. It climbed up over the houses, over the gardens, above the mountain peaks. It turned into a golden moon and shone.

The father remained open. Such a miracle he had never seen.

Since then, the golden girl has appeared in the sky at night, the whole earth shines and looks for its birthplace.