Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media book Club book Club book CLUBO, Hello
Speaker 1: and welcome to Cool Zone Media book Club, the only
Speaker 1: book club that you don't need to do the reading for. Well, actually,
Speaker 1: I've been in a lot of book clubs where I
Speaker 1: don't do the reading, but don't tell anyone in any
Speaker 1: of my previous book clubs about that. The reason you
Speaker 1: don't have to do your reading is that I'm going
Speaker 1: to do your reading. I'm your host, Margaret Kildre, and
Speaker 1: every week I bring you a different fiction story or sometimes,
Speaker 1: like today, three different fairy tales. So it's no secret
Speaker 1: that I like stories. It's no secret that I think
Speaker 1: stories matter. Nonfiction has its value, and very little work
Speaker 1: is needed to defend the value of nonfiction. But stories,
Speaker 1: people think that they're just silly things, so I'm going
Speaker 1: to defend them. Stories are the smithy in which we
Speaker 1: forge our sense of who we can be, the tool
Speaker 1: by which we open up possible futures. That's often what
Speaker 1: I focus on. But they're also one of the best
Speaker 1: glimpses into people and cultures. And it's for this reason
Speaker 1: that I love folk stories so much. The great novels
Speaker 1: or whatever, they're great. It's in the name great novels,
Speaker 1: but the folk stories, usually anonymous, are usually the source
Speaker 1: of all the most interesting ideas, tropes, and archetypes. As
Speaker 1: a history podcaster, find myself drawn again and again to
Speaker 1: the nineteenth century, in particular because the nineteenth century is
Speaker 1: when all sorts of ideas and social movements really coalesced.
Speaker 1: Anti capitalism, for example, had been growing up alongside capitalism
Speaker 1: for centuries, but in the nineteenth century it formed into ideologies.
Speaker 1: The twentieth centuries when those hypotheses, those ideologies were tested,
Speaker 1: and now it's the twenty first century, and what we've
Speaker 1: got to do is analyze the results of those tested
Speaker 1: hypotheses and then make some adjustments and then try again.
Speaker 1: But the nineteenth centuries where the current era began, at
Speaker 1: least as I understand things, And one thing that was
Speaker 1: happening in the nineteenth century was the rise of folklorists.
Speaker 1: It was an era where people just went around and
Speaker 1: were like, oh, maybe we should write some of the
Speaker 1: shit down that people have been saying for uncountable generations.
Speaker 1: And I've run across this time and time again in
Speaker 1: my research, like just different countries will be well, rather
Speaker 1: different languages and different groups of people will be doing
Speaker 1: this because also this era is kind of the rise
Speaker 1: of the concept of the state, which is also something
Speaker 1: I'm not really excited about, but that's unrelated. More recently,
Speaker 1: I've been doing a lot of reading about various Slavic cultures,
Speaker 1: especially Ukraine and Russia, which are of course themselves amalgamations
Speaker 1: of various cultures. So I first thought I would read
Speaker 1: you some Ukrainian folk tales this week. But then I
Speaker 1: was like, well, one of the people I've been studying
Speaker 1: lately is a Cossack, which is an ethnic group mostly
Speaker 1: known for being mercenary and nomadic horse writers, And so
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, why not go with some
Speaker 1: Cossack folk stories, and this week I'm going to read
Speaker 1: you three of them. Saves me the trouble of doing
Speaker 1: the weird ad transitions in the middle of the story.
Speaker 1: These are from a nineteen sixteen translation of a book
Speaker 1: called Cossack Fairy Tales, translated by R. Nisbit Bane from
Speaker 1: the Ruthenian language. Most of these were collected by folklorists
Speaker 1: in the eighteen fifties and eighteen seventies. I couldn't promise
Speaker 1: you that these stories are specifically Cossack only that someone
Speaker 1: labeled them as such in the nineteen sixteen translation, and
Speaker 1: that they're from the Ruthenian language, and also shout out
Speaker 1: to Jack, who's the person who got me to buy
Speaker 1: my first book of Ukrainian folklore. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you're listening, but if you are, thanks. The first story
Speaker 1: is called the story of Ivan and the Daughter of
Speaker 1: the Sun. There were once upon a time for brethren,
Speaker 1: and three of them remained at home, while the fourth
Speaker 1: went out to seek for work. The youngest brother came
Speaker 1: to a strange land and hired himself out to a
Speaker 1: husbandman for three gold pieces a year. For three years
Speaker 1: he served his master faithfully, so at the end of
Speaker 1: his time he departed with nine gold pieces in his pocket.
Speaker 1: The first thing he now did was to go to
Speaker 1: a spring, and into the spring he threw three of
Speaker 1: his gold pieces. Let us see, now, said he, If
Speaker 1: I have been honest, they will come swimming back to me.
Speaker 1: Then he lay down by the side of the spring
Speaker 1: and went fast asleep. How long he slept there, who
Speaker 1: can tell, But at any rate, he woke up at
Speaker 1: last and went to the spring, and there was no
Speaker 1: sign of his money to be seen. Then he threw
Speaker 1: three more of his gold pieces into the spring, and
Speaker 1: again he lay down by the side of it and slept.
Speaker 1: Then he got up and went and looked into the spring,
Speaker 1: and still there was no sign of the money. So
Speaker 1: he threw his three remaining gold pieces, and again lay
Speaker 1: down and slept. The third time he arose, looked into
Speaker 1: the spring, and there, sure enough was all his money.
Speaker 1: All nine of the gold pieces were floating on the
Speaker 1: surface of the water. And now his heart felt lighter,
Speaker 1: and he gathered up the nine gold pieces and went
Speaker 1: on his way. On the road. He fell in with
Speaker 1: three Kotsapi with a laden wagon. Kotsapi is a word
Speaker 1: used in this context to mean Russians because the it's
Speaker 1: like harry. I think it means like bear or goat
Speaker 1: or something. But the Ruthenians were clean shaven and the
Speaker 1: Russians were harry, so it's a probably not a super
Speaker 1: polite word. He asked them concerning their wares, and they
Speaker 1: said they were carrying a load of incense. He begged
Speaker 1: them straight away to sell him this incense. Then they
Speaker 1: sold it to him for the gold pieces. And when
Speaker 1: he had bought it and they had departed, he kindled
Speaker 1: fire and burnt the incense and offered it up to
Speaker 1: God as a sweet smelling sacrifice. Then an angel flew
Speaker 1: down to him and said, oh thou that hast offered
Speaker 1: this sweet smelling sacrifice to God, what dost thou want
Speaker 1: for thine own self? Dost thou want azardam or great riches?
Speaker 1: Or perchance the desire of thy heart is a good wife?
Speaker 1: Speak for God will give thee whatsoever thou desirest. When
Speaker 1: the man had listened to the angel, he said to him,
Speaker 1: terry a while, I will go and ask those people
Speaker 1: who are plowing yonder. Now, those people who are plowing
Speaker 1: there were his own brethren, but he did not know
Speaker 1: that they were his brethren. So he went up and
Speaker 1: said to the elder brother, tell me, uncle, what shall
Speaker 1: I ask of God? Azardam or great riches or a
Speaker 1: good wife? Tell me which of the three is the
Speaker 1: best gift to ask for? And his eldest brother said
Speaker 1: to him, I know not, and who does know? Go
Speaker 1: and ask someone else. So he went to the second brother,
Speaker 1: who is plowing a little farther on. He asked him
Speaker 1: the same question. But the man only shrugged his shoulders
Speaker 1: and said he did not know. Either. Then he went
Speaker 1: to the third brother, who is the youngest of the three,
Speaker 1: and also plowing there, and he asked him, saying, tell
Speaker 1: me now, which is the best gift to ask of God?
Speaker 1: A zardam, or great riches or a good wife? And
Speaker 1: the third brother said, what a question. Thou art too
Speaker 1: young for a zardam and great riches. Last, but for
Speaker 1: a little while, ask God for a good wife. For
Speaker 1: if it please God to give THEE a good wife,
Speaker 1: tis a gift that will bless THEE all thy life long.
Speaker 1: So he went back to the angel and asked for
Speaker 1: a good wife. Then he went on his way till
Speaker 1: he came to a certain wood, and looking about him,
Speaker 1: he perceived that in this wood was a lake. And
Speaker 1: while he was looking at it, three wild doves came
Speaker 1: flying along and lit down upon this lake. They threw
Speaker 1: off their plumage and plunged into the water. And then
Speaker 1: he saw that they were not wild doves, but three
Speaker 1: fair ladies. They bathed in the lake, and in the meantime
Speaker 1: the youth crept up and took the raiment of one
Speaker 1: of them and hid it behind the bushes. When they
Speaker 1: came out of the water, the third lady missed her clothes.
Speaker 1: The youth said to her, I know where thy clothes are,
Speaker 1: but I will not give them to THEE. Thou wilt
Speaker 1: be my wife. Good, cried she, thy wife, I shall be.
Speaker 1: Then she dressed herself, and they went together to the
Speaker 1: nearest village. When they got there, she said to him,
Speaker 1: now go to the nobleman who owns the land here,
Speaker 1: and beg him for a place where we may build
Speaker 1: us a hut. So he went right up to the
Speaker 1: nobleman's castle and entered his reception room, and said, Glory
Speaker 1: be to God forever and ever. Replied the nobleman, what
Speaker 1: dost thou want here, Ivan, I have come, sir, to
Speaker 1: beg of THEE a place where I may build me
Speaker 1: a hut, A place for a hut. Day good, very good,
Speaker 1: Go home, and I'll speak to my overseer, and he
Speaker 1: shall appoint THEE a place. So he returned from the
Speaker 1: nobleman's castle, and his wife said to him, go now
Speaker 1: into the forest and cut down an oak, a young
Speaker 1: oak that thou canst span round with both arms. So
Speaker 1: he cut down such an oak as his wife had
Speaker 1: told him of, and she built a hut of the oak,
Speaker 1: for the overseer had come and shown them a place
Speaker 1: where they might build their hut. But when the overseer
Speaker 1: returned home, he praised laud to his master. The wife
Speaker 1: of this Ivan, she is such and such, said he.
Speaker 1: Fair she may be, replied the nobleman, but she is another's.
Speaker 1: She need not be another's for long, replied the overseer,
Speaker 1: This Ivan is in our hands. Let us send him
Speaker 1: to see why it is the sun grows so red
Speaker 1: when it sets. That's just the same as if you
Speaker 1: had sent him to a place, whence he can never return.
Speaker 1: All the better. Then they sent for Ivan and gave
Speaker 1: him this errand, and he returned home to his wife,
Speaker 1: weeping bitterly. Then his wife asked him all about it,
Speaker 1: and said, well, I can tell THEE all about the
Speaker 1: ways of the sun, for I am the son's own daughter.
Speaker 1: So now I'll tell THEE the whole matter. Go back
Speaker 1: to this nobleman and say to him that the reason
Speaker 1: why the sun turned so red as he sets is this.
Speaker 1: Just as the sun is going down into the sea,
Speaker 1: three fair ladies rise out of it, and it is
Speaker 1: the sight of them which makes him turn so red
Speaker 1: all over. So we went back and told them, Oh, ho,
Speaker 1: cried they. If you can go as far as that,
Speaker 1: you may now go a little farther. So they told
Speaker 1: him to go to Hell and see how it was there. Yes,
Speaker 1: said his wife, I know the road that leads to
Speaker 1: Hell also very well. But the nobleman must let his
Speaker 1: overseer go with THEE, or else he never will believe
Speaker 1: that thou really didst go to Hell. So the nobleman
Speaker 1: told us overseer that he must go to Hell too.
Speaker 1: So they went together, and when they got there, the
Speaker 1: rulers of Hell laid hands upon the overseer straight away.
Speaker 1: Thou dog roared, They we've been looking out for thee
Speaker 1: for some time. So Ivan returned without the overseer, and
Speaker 1: the nobleman said to him, where's my overseer? I left
Speaker 1: him in Hell, said Ivan, And they said there that
Speaker 1: they were waiting for you, sir too. When the nobleman
Speaker 1: heard this, he hanged himself. But Ivan lived happily with
Speaker 1: his wife, much like you can live happily if you
Speaker 1: listen to our sponsors, hopefully none of which is a
Speaker 1: wife given to you by the son. I don't know,
Speaker 1: or maybe it would be cool. Who's to say, and
Speaker 1: we're back. This next story is called the Ungrateful Children
Speaker 1: and the Old Father who went to school again. Once
Speaker 1: upon a time there was an old man. He lived
Speaker 1: to a great age, and God gave him children, whom
Speaker 1: he brought up to man's estate, and he divided all
Speaker 1: his goods amongst them. I will pass my remaining days
Speaker 1: among my children, thought he. So the old man went
Speaker 1: to live with his eldest son. And at first the
Speaker 1: eldest son treated him properly and did reverence to his
Speaker 1: old father. Tis but meet and write that we should
Speaker 1: give our father to eat and drink, and see that
Speaker 1: he has wherewithal to clothe him, and take care to
Speaker 1: patch up his things from time to time, and let
Speaker 1: him have clean new shirts on festivals, said the eldest son.
Speaker 1: So they did so, and at festivals also the old
Speaker 1: father had his own glass beside him. Thus the eldest
Speaker 1: son was a good son to his old father. But
Speaker 1: when the eldest son had been keeping his father for
Speaker 1: some time, he began to regret his hospitality and was
Speaker 1: rough to his father, and sometimes even shouted at him.
Speaker 1: The old man no longer had his own set place
Speaker 1: in the house, as heretofore, and there was none to
Speaker 1: cut up his food for him. So the eldest son
Speaker 1: repented him that he had said he would keep his father,
Speaker 1: and he began to grudge him for every morsel of
Speaker 1: bread he put in his mouth. The old man had
Speaker 1: nothing for it but to go to his second son.
Speaker 1: It might be better for him there or worse. But
Speaker 1: stay with the eldest son any longer he could not,
Speaker 1: So the father went to his second son. But here
Speaker 1: the old man soon discovered that he had only exchanged
Speaker 1: wheat for straw. Whenever he began to eat, his second
Speaker 1: son and his daughter in law looked sour and murmured
Speaker 1: something between their teeth. The woman scolded the old man.
Speaker 1: We had as much as we could do before to
Speaker 1: make both ends meet, cried she, And now we have
Speaker 1: an old man to keep into the bargain. The old
Speaker 1: man soon had enough of it there also, and went
Speaker 1: on to his next son. So, one after another, all
Speaker 1: four sons took their father to live with them, and
Speaker 1: he was glad to leave them all. Each of the
Speaker 1: four sons, one after the other, cast the burden of
Speaker 1: supporting him on one of the other brothers. It is
Speaker 1: for him to keep thee daddy said they and the
Speaker 1: other would say, nay, Dad, But it is as much
Speaker 1: as we can do to keep ourselves. Thus, between his
Speaker 1: four sons he knew not what to do. There's quite
Speaker 1: a battle among them as to which of them should
Speaker 1: not keep their old father. One had one good excuse,
Speaker 1: and another had another, and so none of them would
Speaker 1: keep him. This one had a lot of little children,
Speaker 1: and that one had a scold for a wife. And
Speaker 1: this house was too small, and that house was too poor.
Speaker 1: Go where thou wilt, old man said, they only don't
Speaker 1: come to us. And so the old man, gray, gray,
Speaker 1: gray as a dove, he wept before his sons and
Speaker 1: knew not whither to turn. What could he do. Entreaty
Speaker 1: was in vain. Not one of the sons would take
Speaker 1: the old man in, and yet he had to be
Speaker 1: put somewhere. Then the old man strove with them no more,
Speaker 1: but let them do with him even as they would.
Speaker 1: So all four sons met and took counsel. Time after
Speaker 1: time they laid their heads together, and at last they
Speaker 1: agreed among themselves that the best thing the old man
Speaker 1: could do was go to school. There'll be a bench
Speaker 1: for him to sit upon there, said they, and he
Speaker 1: can take something to eat in his knapsack. Then they
Speaker 1: told the old man about it. But the old man
Speaker 1: did not want to go to school. He begged his
Speaker 1: children not to send him there, and wept before them.
Speaker 1: Now that I cannot see the white world, said he,
Speaker 1: how can I see a black book? Moreover, from my
Speaker 1: youth upward, I have never learnt my letters? How shall
Speaker 1: I begin to do so? Now? A clerk cannot be
Speaker 1: fashioned out of an old man on the point of death.
Speaker 1: But there was no use talking his children, and said
Speaker 1: he must go to school. And the voices of his
Speaker 1: children prevailed against his feeble old voice. So to school
Speaker 1: he had to go. Now, there was no church in
Speaker 1: that village, so he had to go to the village
Speaker 1: beyond it to go to school. A forest lay along
Speaker 1: the road, and in this forest the old man met
Speaker 1: a nobleman driving along. When the old man came near
Speaker 1: the nobleman's carriage, he stepped out of the road to
Speaker 1: let it pass, took off his hat respectfully, and then
Speaker 1: would have gone on further. But he heard someone calling,
Speaker 1: and looking back, saw the nobleman beckoning to him. He
Speaker 1: wanted to ask him something. The nobleman then got out
Speaker 1: of his carriage and asked the old man whither he
Speaker 1: was going. The old man took off his hat to
Speaker 1: the nobleman and told him all his misery, and the
Speaker 1: tears ran down the old man's cheeks. Woe is to me,
Speaker 1: gracious sir, if the Lord had left me without kith
Speaker 1: and kin, I should not complain. But strange, indeed is
Speaker 1: the woe that has befallen me. I have four sons,
Speaker 1: thank God, and all four have houses of their own,
Speaker 1: and yet they send their poor old father to school
Speaker 1: to learn. Was ever the like of it known before?
Speaker 1: So the old man told the nobleman his whole story,
Speaker 1: and the nobleman was full of compassion for the old man. Well,
Speaker 1: old man said, he tis no use for THEE to
Speaker 1: go to school. That's plain. Return home. I'll tell THEE
Speaker 1: what to do, so that thy children shall never send
Speaker 1: THEE to school again. Fear not, old man, weep no more,
Speaker 1: and let not thy soul be troubled. God shall bless THEE,
Speaker 1: and all will be well. I know well ought what
Speaker 1: to be done here. So the nobleman comforted the old man,
Speaker 1: and the old man began to be merry. Then the
Speaker 1: nobleman took out his purse. It was a real nobleman's purse,
Speaker 1: with a little sack in the middle of it to
Speaker 1: hold small change. Lord, what a lovely thing it was.
Speaker 1: The more he looked at it, the more the old
Speaker 1: man marveled at it. The nobleman took out this purse
Speaker 1: and began filling it with something. When he had well
Speaker 1: filled it, he gave it to the old man. Take
Speaker 1: this and go home to thy children, said he. And
Speaker 1: when thou hast got home, call together all thy four sons,
Speaker 1: and say to them, my dear children. Long long ago,
Speaker 1: when I was younger than I am now, and knocked
Speaker 1: about in a world a bit, I made a little money.
Speaker 1: I won't spend it, I said to myself, for one
Speaker 1: never knows what may happen. So I went into a
Speaker 1: forest my children, and dug a hole beneath an oak,
Speaker 1: and there I hid my little store of money. I
Speaker 1: did not bother much about the money afterward, because I
Speaker 1: had such good children. But when you sent me to school,
Speaker 1: I came to this self same oak, and I said
Speaker 1: to myself, I wonder if these few silver pieces have
Speaker 1: been waiting for their master all this time let us
Speaker 1: dig and see. So I dug and found them, and
Speaker 1: have brought them home to you, my children. I shall
Speaker 1: keep them till I die, But after my death consult together,
Speaker 1: and whosoever shall be found. I've cherished me most, and
Speaker 1: taking care of me most, and not grudged me a
Speaker 1: clean shirt now and then, or a crust of bread
Speaker 1: when I'm hungry to him, shall be given them greater
Speaker 1: part of my money. So now, my dear children, receive
Speaker 1: me back again, and my thanks shall be yours. You
Speaker 1: can manage it amongst yourselves, For surely does not write
Speaker 1: that I should seek a home amongst strangers. Which of
Speaker 1: you will be so kind to your old father for money?
Speaker 1: So the old man returned to his children with the
Speaker 1: purse and a casket. I'm going to interject and say
Speaker 1: that a casket in the old timey sense means like
Speaker 1: a little box to hold something valuable. And when he
Speaker 1: came to the village with a casket under his arm,
Speaker 1: one could see at once that he had been in
Speaker 1: a good forest. There's a footnote in the original text
Speaker 1: here that says that good forest in this context means
Speaker 1: a place where you found a bunch of money, which
Speaker 1: is you know, a good forest. When one comes home
Speaker 1: with a heavy casket under one's arm, depend upon it.
Speaker 1: There's something in it. So no sooner did the old
Speaker 1: man appear than his eldest daughter in law came running
Speaker 1: out to meet him and bade him welcome. In God's name.
Speaker 1: Things don't don't seem to get on at all without
Speaker 1: thee dad cried she. And the house is quite dreary.
Speaker 1: Come in and rest, dad, She went on, thou hast
Speaker 1: gone a long way and must be weary. Then all
Speaker 1: the brothers came together, and the old man told them
Speaker 1: what God had done for him. All their faces brightened
Speaker 1: as they looked at the casket, and they thought to themselves,
Speaker 1: if we keep him, we shall have the money. Then
Speaker 1: the four brothers could not make too much of their
Speaker 1: dear old father. They took care of him, and the
Speaker 1: old man was happy, But he took heed to the
Speaker 1: counsel of the nobleman, and never let the casket out
Speaker 1: of his hand. After my death, you shall have everything,
Speaker 1: but I won't give it to you now, for who
Speaker 1: knows what may happen. I have seen already how you
Speaker 1: treated your old father when he had nothing. It shall
Speaker 1: all be yours, I say, only wait, and when I die,
Speaker 1: take it and divide it as I have said. So
Speaker 1: the brothers tended their father, and the old man lived
Speaker 1: in Clover and was somebody. He had his own way
Speaker 1: and did nothing. So the old man was no longer
Speaker 1: ill treated by his children, but lived among them like
Speaker 1: an emperor in his own empire. But no sooner did
Speaker 1: he die than his children made what haste they could
Speaker 1: to lay hand upon the casket. All the people were
Speaker 1: called together and bore witness that they had treated their
Speaker 1: father well since he came back to them. So it
Speaker 1: was adjudged that they should divide the treasure amongst them.
Speaker 1: But first they took the old man's body to the church,
Speaker 1: and the casket along with it. They buried him as
Speaker 1: God commands. They made a rich banquet of funeral meats
Speaker 1: that all might know how much they mourned the old man.
Speaker 1: It was a splendid funeral. When the priest got up
Speaker 1: from the table, the people all began to thank their hosts,
Speaker 1: and the eldest son begged the priest to say the
Speaker 1: sore coast in the church for the repose of the
Speaker 1: dead man's soul. The sore coast is like a well
Speaker 1: to prayer for the dead, which it probably could have inferred.
Speaker 1: But there's a footnote about it. Such a dear old
Speaker 1: fellow he was, said, he was there ever anyone like him?
Speaker 1: Take this money for the sore coast, Reverend father, So
Speaker 1: horribly grieved was that eldest son. The son gave the
Speaker 1: priest money, and the second son gave him the like. Nay,
Speaker 1: each one gave him money for an extra half sore coast,
Speaker 1: and all four gave him requiem money. We'll have our
Speaker 1: prayers in church for our father, though we shall sell
Speaker 1: the last sheep to pay for them, cried they. Then,
Speaker 1: when all was over, they hastened as fast as they
Speaker 1: could to the money. The coffer was brought forth. They
Speaker 1: shook it. There was a fine rattling inside. Every one
Speaker 1: of them felt and handled the coffer that was something
Speaker 1: like a treasure. Then they unsealed it and opened it
Speaker 1: and scattered the contents, and it was full of nothing
Speaker 1: but glass. They wouldn't believe their eyes. They rummaged among
Speaker 1: the glass, but there was no money. It was horrible.
Speaker 1: Surely it could not be that their father had dug
Speaker 1: up a coffer from beneath an oak of the forest,
Speaker 1: and it was full of nothing but glass. Why, cried
Speaker 1: the brothers, Our father has left us nothing but glass.
Speaker 1: But for the crowds of people there, the brothers would
Speaker 1: have fallen upon and beaten each other in their wrath.
Speaker 1: So the children of the old man saw that their
Speaker 1: father had made fools of them. Then all the people
Speaker 1: mocked them. You see what you gained by sending your
Speaker 1: father to school? You see he learned something at school.
Speaker 1: After all, he was a long time before he began learning.
Speaker 1: But better late than never. It appears to us twas
Speaker 1: a right good school you sent him to. No doubt,
Speaker 1: they whipped him into learning so much. Never mind, you
Speaker 1: can keep the money in the casket. Then the brothers
Speaker 1: were full of lamentation and rage. But what could they do.
Speaker 1: Their father was already dead and buried. And if you
Speaker 1: want to spend your meaningless bobbles, you can spend them
Speaker 1: on these meaningless bobbles. And we're back. I've got one
Speaker 1: more story for you from the same book. This story
Speaker 1: is called the Serpent Wife. There once was a gentleman
Speaker 1: who had a laborer who never went about in company.
Speaker 1: His fellow servants did all they could to make him
Speaker 1: come with them, and now and then enticed him into
Speaker 1: the tavern, but they can never get him to stay
Speaker 1: there long, and he always wandered away by himself through
Speaker 1: the woods. One day he went strolling about in the
Speaker 1: forest as usual, far from any village and the haunts
Speaker 1: of men, when he came upon a huge serpent, which
Speaker 1: wriggled straight up to him and said, I'm going to
Speaker 1: eat thee on the spot. But the laborer, who is
Speaker 1: used to the loneliness of the forest, replied, very well,
Speaker 1: eat me, if thou hast a mind to Then the
Speaker 1: serpent said, nay, I will not eat thee. Only do
Speaker 1: what I tell thee. And the serpent began to tell
Speaker 1: the man what he had to do. Turn back home,
Speaker 1: it said, and thou wilt find thy master angry because
Speaker 1: thou hast tarried so long and there was none to
Speaker 1: work for him, so that his corn has to remain
Speaker 1: standing in the field. Then he will send thee to
Speaker 1: bring in his sheaves, and I shall help thee load
Speaker 1: the wagon well, But don't take quite all the sheaths
Speaker 1: from the field, leave one little sheaf behind. More than
Speaker 1: that thou needst not leave, but that thou must leave.
Speaker 1: Then beg thy master to let thee have this little
Speaker 1: sheaf by a way of wages. Take no money from
Speaker 1: him but that one little sheaf. Only then, when thy
Speaker 1: master has given thee this sheath, burn it and a
Speaker 1: fair lady will leap out of it, take her to wife.
Speaker 1: The laborer obeyed and went and worked for his master.
Speaker 1: As the serpent had told him, he went out into
Speaker 1: the field to bring home his master's corn, and marvelously
Speaker 1: he managed it. He did all the carrying himself, and
Speaker 1: loaded the wagon so heavily that it creaked beneath its burden. Then,
Speaker 1: when he had brought home all his master's corn, he
Speaker 1: begged that he might have the remaining little sheaf for himself.
Speaker 1: He refused to be rewarded for his smart labor. He
Speaker 1: would take no money. He wanted nothing for himself, he said,
Speaker 1: but the little sheaf he had left in the field.
Speaker 1: So his master let him have the sheaf. So he
Speaker 1: went out by himself into the field, burnt the sheaf,
Speaker 1: and just as the serpent had told him, and immediately
Speaker 1: a lovely lady leapt out of it. The laborer forthwith
Speaker 1: took and married her. And now he began to look
Speaker 1: out for a place to build him a hut. Upon
Speaker 1: his master gave him a place where he might build
Speaker 1: a hut, And his wife helped him so much with
Speaker 1: the building of it that it seemed to him as
Speaker 1: if he himself never laid a hand to it. His
Speaker 1: hut grew up as quick as thought, and it contained
Speaker 1: everything they wanted. The man could not understand it. He
Speaker 1: could only walk about and wonder at it. Wherever he
Speaker 1: looked there was everything quite spick and span and ready
Speaker 1: for use. None in the whole village had a better
Speaker 1: house than he. And so he might have lived in
Speaker 1: all peace and prosperity to the end of his days,
Speaker 1: had not his desires outstripped his deserts. He had three
Speaker 1: fields of standing corn, And when he came home one day,
Speaker 1: his laborers said to him, thy corn is not gathered
Speaker 1: in yet, though it is standing all ripe on its stalks.
Speaker 1: Now the season was getting on, and for all the
Speaker 1: care and labor of his wife, the corn was still
Speaker 1: standing in the field. Why what's the meaning of this?
Speaker 1: Thought he Then, in his anger, he cried, I see
Speaker 1: how it is once a serpent, always a serpent. He
Speaker 1: was quite beside himself all the way home, and he
Speaker 1: was very wrath with his wife because of the corn.
Speaker 1: When he got home, he went straight to his chamber
Speaker 1: to lie down on his pillow. There was no sign
Speaker 1: of his wife, but a huge serpent was just coiling
Speaker 1: itself round and round and settling down in the middle
Speaker 1: of the pillow. Then he called to mind how once
Speaker 1: his wife had said to him, beware, for Heaven's sake
Speaker 1: of ever calling me a serpent. I will not suffer
Speaker 1: thee to call me by that name. And if thou dost,
Speaker 1: thou shalt lose thy wife. He called this to mind now,
Speaker 1: but it was already too late. What he had said
Speaker 1: could not be unsaid. Then he reflected what a good
Speaker 1: wife he had had, and how she herself had sought
Speaker 1: him out, and how she had waited upon him continually
Speaker 1: and done him boundless good, and yet he had not
Speaker 1: been able to refrain his tongue, so that now maybe
Speaker 1: he would be without a wife for the rest of
Speaker 1: his days. His heart grew heavy within him as he
Speaker 1: thought of all this, and he wept bitterly at the
Speaker 1: harm he had done to himself. Then the serpent said
Speaker 1: to him, weep no more. What is to be must be?
Speaker 1: Is it thy standing corn? Thou art grieved about? Go
Speaker 1: up to thy barn, and there thou wilt find all
Speaker 1: thy corn, lying to the very last little grain? Have
Speaker 1: I not brought it all home and threshed it for thee?
Speaker 1: And said, everything in order? And now I must depart
Speaker 1: to the place where thou didst first find me. Then
Speaker 1: she crept off, and the man followed her, weeping and
Speaker 1: mourning all the time as for one already dead. When
Speaker 1: they reached the forest, she stopped and coiled herself round
Speaker 1: and round beneath a hazel nut bush. Then she said
Speaker 1: to the man, now kiss me once, but see to
Speaker 1: it that I do not bite thee. Then he kissed
Speaker 1: her once, and she wound herself around branch of a
Speaker 1: tree and asked him, what dost thou feel within thee?
Speaker 1: He answered, at the moment when I kissed thee, it
Speaker 1: seemed to me as if I knew everything that was
Speaker 1: going on in the world. Then she said to him again,
Speaker 1: kiss me a second time. And what dost thou feel now?
Speaker 1: She asked? When he had kissed her again, Now said he,
Speaker 1: I understand all languages which are spoken among men. Then
Speaker 1: she said to him, now kiss me a third time.
Speaker 1: This will be for the last time. Then he kissed
Speaker 1: the serpent for the last time, and she said to him,
Speaker 1: what dost thou feel now? Now? Said he, I know
Speaker 1: all that is going on under the earth. Go now,
Speaker 1: said she to the Tsar, And he will give thee
Speaker 1: his daughter for the knowledge thou hast. But pray to
Speaker 1: God for poor me. For now I must be and
Speaker 1: remain a serpent forever. And with that the serpent uncoiled
Speaker 1: herself and disappeared among the bushes. But the man went
Speaker 1: away and wedded the Tsar's daughter the end. I really
Speaker 1: like those stories because I feel like they step out
Speaker 1: of expectations. There are like morals in these stories, right,
Speaker 1: listen to your wife, don't be a shit to your dad.
Speaker 1: I like to imagine the dad's story was like made
Speaker 1: up by a dad as like a little moral tale
Speaker 1: for his kids, you know, just ahead of time or whatever.
Speaker 1: But there's still not quite as like heavy handed of
Speaker 1: moral stories as some of the other fairies tales that
Speaker 1: I've read. Anyway, thanks for listening and join us next
Speaker 1: week for Cool Zone Media book Club. I'm Margaret Kiljoy.
Speaker 1: I write fiction. I have a book called The Sapling
Speaker 1: Cage that comes out in September, and that's going to
Speaker 1: be kickstarted in June twenty twenty four. And if you
Speaker 1: want more information about that, you can search Kickstarter the
Speaker 1: Sapling Cage and you will find a place to sign
Speaker 1: up for notifications when that kickstarter goes live so that
Speaker 1: you can pre order it. If you liked these stories,
Speaker 1: you'll totally love my story about trends which coming of
Speaker 1: age in a high fantasy world. See you next week.
Speaker 1: It Could Happen here as a production of cool Zone Media.
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Speaker 1: find sources for It Could Happen Here, updated monthly at
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