66 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
66 lines
4.1 KiB
Plaintext
THE POPLAR AND THE STREAM
|
|
|
|
Once upon a time . . . a woodcutter called Ivan lived ln a huge forest in
|
|
the north of Russia. A sturdy young man, with his bare hands he built himself
|
|
a stout log cabin and when it was finished, he thought he would look for a
|
|
wife. His dream was of a beautiful maiden, tall, slender and fair, with blue
|
|
eyes and a creamy skin.
|
|
On Sundays he roamed to distant villages looking for the girl of his
|
|
dreams. But the only girls he ever saw were dull and not pretty enough.
|
|
As it so happened, the path he took to work passed close to a pretty little
|
|
house with green shutters. Often, the corner of a curtain would be raised and
|
|
a sweet-faced girl would watch the woodcutter as he went by. For he had
|
|
unwittingly lit the flames of love in a maiden's heart. This young girl c
|
|
alled Natasha; she was very shy, but her love for the woodcutter was so great
|
|
that, one day, she plucked up enough courage to stop him on the path.
|
|
"I picked this basket of strawberries myself," she said. "Please eat them
|
|
and think of me!"
|
|
"Well, she's not exactly ugly," said Ivan to himself as he stared woodenly
|
|
at Natasha, who was blushing to the roots of her hair.
|
|
"I don't like strawberries," he replied bluntly. "But thanks all the same!"
|
|
Tears sprang to Natasha's eyes as she watched him stride away. A few days
|
|
later, the girl again stopped Ivan and held out a woolen jacket saying: "The
|
|
air will be chilly tonight when you go home. This will keep you warm. I made it
|
|
myself."
|
|
But Ivan coldly replied: "What makes you think that a man like me is afraid
|
|
of the cold?"
|
|
And this time, at Ivan's refusal, two tears rolled down Natasha's rosy
|
|
cheeks and she fled sobbing into the house.
|
|
However, Natasha again watched for the woodcutter. This time, she held out
|
|
a bottle and said: "You can t refuse a liqueur that I distilled from all the
|
|
fruits of the forest! It will ..." But Ivan broke in saying: "I don't like
|
|
liqueurs," and I marched straight on. However, he realized he had been very
|
|
rude, so he turned round, but Natasha had gone. As he walked, he said to
|
|
himself: " She has gentle eyes . . . and she must be very kind-hearted!
|
|
Perhaps I should take at least one of her gifts, but . . ." The picture of his
|
|
dream girl slipped into his mind. "I'm so unhappy!" he sighed.
|
|
At that very moment, on a golden cloud appeared a beautiful lady. "Will you
|
|
sing a song for me? I'm Rosalka, one of the woodland fairies!" Ivan stood
|
|
thunderstruck.
|
|
"I'd sing for you for the rest of my life!" he exclaimed "If only I could
|
|
. . ." and he stretched out his hand to touch the fairy, but she floated out
|
|
of reach amongst the branches.
|
|
"Sing then! Sing! Only the sound of your voice will ever send me to sleep!"
|
|
So Ivan happily sang all the old lullabies and love songs, while the drowsy
|
|
fairy urged him on: "Sing! Sing!"
|
|
Cold and weary, his voice getting hoarser the woodcutter sang till evening,
|
|
as he tried to help the fairy to fall asleep. But when night fell, Rosalka was
|
|
still demanding: "If you love me, sing on! Sing!"
|
|
As the woodcutter sang on, in a feeble voice, he kept thinking: "I wish I
|
|
had a jacket to keep me warm!"
|
|
Suddenly he remembered Natasha.
|
|
"What a fool I am!" he told himself. "I should have chosen her as my bride,
|
|
not this woman who asks and gives nothing in return!"
|
|
Ivan felt that only the gentle-faced Natasha could fill his empty heart. He
|
|
fled into the darkness, but he heard a cruel voice call: ". . . you'll never
|
|
see her again! All her tears for her great love have turned her into a stream!
|
|
You'll never see her again!"
|
|
It was dawn when Ivan knocked at Natasha's door. No one answered. And the
|
|
woodcutter saw, with fear, that close by flowed a tiny sparkling stream he had
|
|
never noticed before. Weeping sorrowfully, he plunged his face into the water.
|
|
"Oh, Natasha, how could I have been so blind! And I love you now!" Lifting
|
|
his gaze to the sky, he silently said a prayer:"Let me stay beside her
|
|
forever! " ||
|
|
Ivan was magically turned into a young poplar tree and the stream bathed its
|
|
roots. Natasha had, at last, her beloved Ivan by her side for ever.
|