The orisons
Once, when a child was born, the first night came the orisons to determine what would be his luck when he grew up.
There was a trader who once froze on a road near a small village where he had not walked and did not know anyone. That’s why he knocked on the first gate, the house was withered and shabby, but the merchant only wanted to spend the night. The people who lived there were poor, but good and hospitable. The host opened the door:
– Good evening! He greeted the merchant.
– God gave you good! The peasant replied.
– I am a merchant and, as you can see, I have frowned on the road, so that I may spend the night with you.
– Maybe, said the host, “why cannot he?” But we are poor, and we have nothing to do give you to eat.
– Do not worry about it. I will only spend the night and leave early in the morning.
On the same day, the host’s wife had given birth to a girl, so she did not come out of her room to meet the guest. He lay down next to the fireplace and soon fell asleep. At midnight, the orisons came to determine the newborn’s luck. The merchant woke up, and when he saw the orisons, he said:
“Now I will hear what they call the child.
The first said:
-Let’s get him to die tomorrow!
The second added:
– No, let him live seven years, and then die!
But the third said:
-This poor child will grow up, become a good lady and marry the son of this merchant who has come here to sleep!
This was said and gone, and the merchant could not sleep all night. He was thinking, “Is it really what the old lady says? I have some money saved until my son gets married, I will get even richer. These people are poor and their girl will have only one shirt on the back. How will she be my daughter-in-law? I have to do something!
Earlier in the morning the trader stood up and saddled his horse for a trip. Then he slowly took the child from the mother who slept and rushed as much as he could. As he entered a forest, he left the child by the road and went on to his home. Shortly after, a wagon with a man and a woman in it, who had no children for nine years, passed on the road. The woman heard the baby crying down from the cart and took the baby, which was hungry and crying as much as she could. The two carried the found child home, and as they were wealthy people, they took it up as their own child. The girl grew up good and hard-working, so many people wanted it for her daughter-in-law.
The merchant soon forgot both the child and the orisons. He bought cheaply, sold expensive and year after year he was richer. Once again it happened that he froze on the road. He went back to a village where he did not know anyone and knocked on the gates of a Chorbadji house. A girl opened, but so beautiful that he had never seen such beauty before.
– Good evening! Said the merchant.
– God gave you good! She replied. The merchant asked her if he could spend the night in the house.
– You can! – added the girl and he came in.
They invited him to dinner. They laid a table, groaned and drank the merchant as it fits rich people. And the girl who invited him, did not sit all night. She took care that the table has everything – and most of the dishes were prepared by her. The merchant liked her very much and, as they sat with the girl’s mother and father, he boasted that he had a son for marriage. The old ones were still talking – who they were, what they were – and finally the merchant asked for their daughter to be his son’s wife. The mother and father agreed if their daughter liked the boy.
A few days later, the merchant came with his son – the young ones loved each other at first glance and the old ones started preparing for a wedding. Both families were rich, so they did not spare money for anything.
As they wore them in the church, the mother of the bride always cried. As they went out, the trader asked her why she was shedding so many tears.
-Weeps of joy, she said,
-when I saw how we found the child thrown by the road, starving and hungry. They had left it for the wolves to eat it, but it was written to it to live a rich life.
The merchant asked where exactly they found the girl, and when he heard the answer, he caught his head.
-Whatever the orisons say, it happens.