Chapter 25 24. Three Cabins

There was a poor woman, when she was dying, she called her three daughters to her side, and said to them: "My children, I will die soon, leaving you to live alone. After I die, you will go to your relatives. Uncle, let them build a hut for each of you, and you three sisters will take care of each other. Farewell." Then he died.The three girls left the house crying. They went on the road and found an uncle who was a straw mat maker.The eldest daughter Katerina said: "Uncle, our mother passed away, you are a kind uncle, can you build me a straw mat house?" Uncle straw mat maker built a straw mat house for her.

The other two daughters continued on the road and found an uncle who was a carpenter. The second daughter Julia said, "Uncle, our mother has passed away. You are a kind uncle. Can you build me a wooden house?" The carpenter uncle built a wooden house for her. Only the youngest daughter, Marietta, was left. She continued on the road and found an uncle who was a blacksmith.She said to him: "Uncle, our mother passed away, you are a kind uncle, can you build me an iron house." The blacksmith uncle built an iron house for her. At night, the wolf came, and he came to Katerina's cottage and knocked on the door."Who is it?" Katerina asked.

"I'm a poor chicken, I'm soaking wet, please open the door, have pity on me." "Go away, you are a wolf, you want to eat me." The wolf bumped into the straw mat, entered the house, and ate Katerina in one bite. The next day, the two younger sisters came to see Katerina and found that the straw mat had been torn and the house was empty. They said, "Oh, have pity on us, our eldest sister must have been eaten by wolves." At night the wolf went again to Julia's cabin and knocked at the door.She asked, "Who is it?" "I'm a lost chicken, have pity on me, let me hide here."

"No, you are a wolf, you want to eat me like my sister." The wolf slammed into the cabin again, opened the door, went in, and ate Julia again in one bite. In the morning, Marietta went to see Julia, but she couldn't find anyone, so she said to herself: "The wolf must have eaten her, I am so miserable! There is only one person left to live alone in the world." As soon as it got dark, the wolf went back to Marietta's house. "Who is it?" "I'm a frozen chicken, please, let me in." "Go away, you wolf, you want to eat me like my two sisters."

The wolf banged on the door hard, but the door and the whole house were made of iron. The wolf broke his shoulder.Howling in pain, it ran to the blacksmith. "Fix my shoulders," said the wolf to the blacksmith. "I only do iron work, not bones." The blacksmith replied. "But my bone was broken by the iron, so you have to help me fix it." The wolf quibbled. In this way, the blacksmith took out a hammer and nails, and joined the shoulders for him. The wolf came to Marietta's house again, approached the closed door and said to her, "Tell you, Marietta, I broke my shoulder because of your fault, but I still like you. If you come out with me tomorrow, we will You can go pick chickpeas in the nearby fields."

Marietta replied, "Okay, you pick me up." But, she was smart, she knew that the wolf only wanted to trick her out and eat her.So the next day she got up before dawn, went to the field, and picked an apron of beans.When she got home, she peeled the beans and cooked them, throwing the pods out the window.At nine o'clock, the wolf came. "Beautiful Marietta, come pick beans with me." "No, I'm not going, idiot, I've got the beans back, look out the window on the ground and you'll see the pods, and smell the chimney well and you'll smell the beans You can lick your lips yourself."

The wolf hated it in his heart, but he said, "It's okay, I'll come to you at nine o'clock tomorrow to pick white lupines." Marietta said, "Well, well, I'll see you at nine." But this time she got up early, went to the bean field and picked an apron of white lupines, and then brought them home and cooked them.When the wolf came looking for her, she purposely threw the pod out the window for the wolf to see. The wolf swore in his heart that he would take revenge on her, but he said, "Well, you naughty girl, you play tricks on me. But I like you very much! Tomorrow you have to go with me to the fields. I know a place There are a lot of pumpkins, which are very delicious, and we can have a good meal."

"Well, I'll be there tomorrow," Marietta said.The next day, before dawn, she ran into the pumpkin patch again, but this time the wolf came to the pumpkin patch early before nine o'clock, trying to eat Marietta in one bite. Marietta saw the wolf coming from a distance, and didn't know where to flee, so she hollowed out a big pumpkin and hid in it.The wolf smelled the smell of living people. It smelled everywhere in the pumpkin patch, and went around and around, but couldn't find it.It thought: "Maybe she has already gone home. Let me eat a pumpkin by myself first." So, it began to eat one here and one there.

Marietta trembled when she heard that the wolf was getting closer and closer to her pumpkin. She was afraid that the wolf would eat the pumpkin with her.But when the wolf came to Marietta's pumpkin, it was already too full.It said: "This pumpkin is so big, I will give it to Marietta as a gift, so that she will have a good impression of me." So he bit off the pumpkin vine, put his teeth against it, ran outside the iron house, and Throw it in through the window and say: "My Marietta, look, what a beautiful gift I have brought you." Convinced that she was really home, Marietta got out of the pumpkin, closed the window, and gestured at the wolf through the glass to mock him, saying, "Thanks, wolf friend, I'm hiding in the pumpkin, you put I brought it home."

When the wolf heard this, he was so angry that he hit his head on the stone. In the evening, it snowed.Marietta was sitting by the fire warming herself when she heard a voice at the top of the chimney.She thought: "This must be the wolf who has come to eat me." She filled a pot of water and brought it to a boil on the fire.Then the wolf came down the chimney slowly and softly, and then jumped up. He thought he could jump on the girl, but he fell into the boiling water and was cooked.In this way, the clever Marietta got rid of this enemy and lived a peaceful life ever since. (Mantua area)