The Lost Word

A young man got married. He took a wife not from his own village, but from a distant one. They lived together for some time, long or short, who knows, and then the wife said to her husband:

"Would you go, Ivanka, to visit my mother?"

Ivanka harnessed the horse and set off.

His mother-in-law greeted him warmly. She put potatoes on the table, salted mushrooms, and fish pies. Then she served him something in a bowl that he had never eaten before. It was both sour and sweet, neither thick nor thin, neither cold nor hot. Delicious! He could have eaten it forever! Ivanka finished two bowls. Then he asked his mother-in-law:

"What is this you've cooked?"

"It's oat jelly! Don't you know what it is?"

"No, I don't! Does my Paraska know how to make it?"

"Why wouldn't she? Of course, she does!"

Ivanka stayed a little longer at his mother-in-law's and then headed home.

As he rode, he kept repeating, "Jelly, jelly, jelly..."

Then he met a passerby. They greeted each other. But as soon as Ivanka said "good day," the word slipped from his mind. He couldn't remember it no matter how hard he tried!

Ivanka scratched his head and turned back to his mother-in-law. Luckily, he hadn't gone far. He returned and asked:

"What was that dish you served me called?"

"Jelly, oat jelly!" Ivanka took off his hat and said into it three times: "Jelly! Jelly! Jelly!" Then he put his hat back on and said, "Now I won't forget it!"

He had ridden halfway home when he met a nobleman. He steered his horse straight into a puddle to make way for the nobleman and, as was customary, took off his hat. Then he cried out:

"Oh, I've lost it! Oh, I've lost it!"

"What have you lost?" asked the nobleman.

Ivanka was nearly in tears:

"I've lost something you can't buy for any amount of money!"

"Let's look for it together," said the nobleman. "I'll help you!"

They rolled up their sleeves and began searching for the lost item in the puddle. The nobleman searched carefully, trying not to get his hands dirty. But Ivanka plunged his hands into the puddle up to his elbows, feeling around the bottom.

"What are you doing?" said the nobleman. "How will you find it like that? You've stirred up all the mud. It's not a puddle anymore—it's jelly!"

Ivanka cried out:

"Thank you, sir! You've found what I lost!"

He jumped onto the cart and whipped the horse. The nobleman stood on the road with his arms spread wide. Then he shook his head and rode on.

By the time Ivanka reached home, his wife ran out to open the gate, and he shouted from the cart:

"Paraska! Do you know how to make jelly?"

"Yes, I do!"

"Then hurry up and make some! Otherwise, I'll forget what it's called again."

Paraska made a lot of jelly, invited guests, and served it to everyone. From then on, the village learned how to make jelly.

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The Lost Word

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