The Wedding of the Forest Spirits

One hunter wandered through the forest all night in search of prey, but all in vain. He was about to head home when suddenly he heard the sounds of a drum and a lute coming from the depths of the forest. He went in the direction of the melody. Looking around, he saw that in a clearing, forest spirits were celebrating a wedding. Just in case, with his rifle at the ready, the hunter crept closer to the scene and began to observe.

Meanwhile, the forest spirits were dancing wedding dances. When the festivities were in full swing, the hunter noticed that one of the forest spirits was wearing a dress exactly like the one his wife owned. After the dances, the forest spirits sat down at tables that were laden with all sorts of dishes. Noticing the hunter, the forest spirits began to treat him. They passed him pilaf, a roasted ox rib, and other dishes. The hunter accepted all the offerings but did not touch any of them.

After the feast, the forest spirits approached the hunter and asked him to return the ox rib. But he refused. Gathering all the bones of the eaten ox, except for the rib that the hunter did not give back, the forest spirits began to revive it. However, since one rib was still missing, the spirits replaced it with a twig from a walnut tree. Seeing how the assembled bones turned into an ox, the hunter fired his rifle—and everything disappeared.

Returning home, he carefully checked his wife's dress, which resembled the one he had seen on one of the forest spirits. And he realized that everything that had happened in the forest was real. The hunter also never tired of telling the ox's owner the story of how, instead of a rib, the ox had a walnut branch that the forest spirits had inserted in place of the bone.

And when the time came, and that ox was slaughtered, everyone saw that one of its ribs resembled a curved walnut branch. Fairy girl