The Old Man, the Old Woman, and the Moon
"Grandpa, oh, Grandpa," said the old woman one evening, "what are we going to do? Our eyes can barely see, our legs are unsteady, and our hands have grown weak. How will we get bread for ourselves without a helper?""I don't know," replied the old man and sighed heavily.
"If only we had a little daughter—that would be a different story!" the old woman said, lowering her head.
The Moon overheard their conversation and felt pity for the old couple.
"Listen, old man," said the old woman, "let's try our luck one last time. Maybe fortune will smile upon us. Go to the river and set up the old fish trap you use to catch fish. Whatever the water brings us, we'll take it as our own, and it will be our child."
The old man got ready and went to the river. He set up the trap, lay down on the bank, and dozed off. When the roosters crowed for the third time, he got up and waded into the water to check the trap. He found it, lifted it, and what did he see? A little duckling with colorful feathers, a golden beak, and silver feet had been caught in the trap. The old man hurried to bring it home and, upon arriving, called out to the old woman:
"Look, old woman, what got caught in our trap tonight!"
"Oh, what a beautiful duckling!" the old woman exclaimed joyfully and began stroking the guest's wet wings. "It can't do much, but at least it will keep us company. It's a living soul! Let it fuss around me; I'm so lonely by myself. Say something, dear!"
The duckling lifted its head, opened its beak, and quacked:
"Quack!"
"May you live and be well!" said the old woman. "No one in the world can quack as beautifully as you."
The old woman fetched a broken sieve from the attic, placed the duckling inside, and said:
"This is your spot!"
"Quack!" the guest quacked again.
As soon as dawn broke, the old woman mixed some bran, poured water into a bowl, and said to the duckling:
"We're going to the forest to pick mushrooms. You stay here and guard the house. Don't go anywhere; you're like a daughter to us now."
The old couple locked the door and quietly made their way to the forest. As soon as their footsteps faded, the duckling climbed out of the sieve, stretched its wings, flapped them three times, and quacked four times. In that instant, all its feathers fell away, and the duckling transformed into a slender girl with golden hair and silver shoes on her feet.
"Now, to work!" said the girl and grabbed a broom.
She swept the entire house, made the old couple's wooden bed, brought two buckets of water, watered the flowers in the garden, chopped firewood, lit the fire, hung a pot over the flames, fetched a bundle of dried mushrooms from the attic, and set them to boil. While the mushroom soup was cooking, the nimble girl took a piece of white linen from the old woman's chest, cut out two shirts, and sewed them. She worked all day. And as soon as the sun set, she flapped her arms like wings three times, quacked four times, and turned back into the duckling.
The old couple returned. They were amazed to find the house tidy, hot soup ready, and new shirts waiting. They began questioning the duckling:
"Who was here?"
"Who lit the fire?"
"Who sewed the shirts?"
But the duckling just lay in the sieve and stayed silent. The tired old couple had a good supper, slept well, and the next morning they went back to the forest. When they returned in the evening, the house was tidy again, beans were bubbling in the pot, and two new woolen vests hung on hooks.
"I've never tasted such delicious beans!" said the old man after the first spoonful.
The old couple didn't sleep a wink that night. They tossed and turned in bed, whispering:
"Something's not right here. Someone comes when we're gone!"
"We need to find out who's cleaning, cooking, and sewing new clothes for us."
"How?"
"How?" the cunning old woman repeated. "Tomorrow, instead of going to the forest, we'll climb onto the roof and peek through the chimney."
Said and done. The next morning, the old couple locked the door behind them, quietly leaned a ladder against the wall, climbed onto the roof, and began peeking through the chimney. After a while, the duckling rose up, flapped its wings three times, quacked four times, turned into the girl, and said:
"Now, to work! First, I'll sweep, then sift the flour, knead the dough, light the stove, and bake the bread."
She rolled up her sleeves and got to work, while the old couple sat on the roof, their hearts ready to burst with joy.
"Oh, what happiness has come to us! We won't have to worry in our old age!" they whispered to each other.
When the girl lit the stove and went outside for the broom, the old woman said:
"I don't want our daughter to turn back into a duckling. I want her to stay a girl!"
"What can we do?" asked the old man.
"If we burn her duckling clothes, she'll stay as she is!"
"True!" exclaimed the old man and climbed down through the chimney.
The old woman followed. Looking around, she grabbed the duckling's clothes and, without a second thought, threw them into the burning stove. At that very moment, the girl walked in.
"What have you done?" she cried, seeing her duckling outfit in the stove. "You've burned my wings. Now I can't walk the sky anymore, because I have no wings!"
"Why do you need to walk the sky?" asked the old woman.
"Oh," she said, "you don't understand. I'm not a duckling. I'm the one who shines in the sky at night. I am the Moon! One evening, I looked into your open window, heard your conversation, and felt sorry for you. So, I went to the wise woman who gathers herbs and heals all living things, and I asked her what I could do to help you. She told me that at night I must shine in the sky, but during the day, if I wished, I could come down to earth and help you. But for that, I needed duckling wings. And, clapping her hands three times, the wise woman gathered all the forest birds and said:
'Our Moon wants to descend to earth during the day to help lonely old folks. For that, she needs duckling wings on her shoulders.'
Please, pull a feather from your wings and a down from your neck, and I will make wings for the Moon.'
All the birds gave the wise woman a feather and a down, and in one night she crafted the duckling wings that are now burning in your stove! When she gave them to me, she warned:
'Guard these wings like the apple of your eye! If you lose them, you'll never be able to rise to the sky again, and the world will be plunged into darkness at night.'"
"What should we do now?" the old woman asked, blinking in fear.
"Go into the forest with the old man and gather feathers and down from the birds. Ask each bird for one feather and one down. When you've collected them, go to the Tililey Woods. There, in a straw hut, lives the wise woman. Kneel before her and ask her to make two duckling wings. When you have them, bring them to me in the cave. I'll hide deep inside and won't show myself to anyone until you bring me the wings."
With these words, the girl ran out of the house, slammed the door behind her, and disappeared.
With heavy hearts, the old couple went into the forest. From bird to bird, from nest to nest, they wandered through the thickets, holding out their hands for feathers and down. Exhausted, they slept wherever they could at night, gazing at the sky in hopes of seeing their Moon. But the sky was covered in dark clouds. They collected a feather and a down from every bird.
All day they walked to the Tililey Woods. They found the wise woman and told her everything. She frowned but took the feathers and down and, in one night, crafted a new pair of duckling wings. From the Tililey Woods, the old couple went to the stone cave. Late at night, they approached the cave's entrance and called out to the Moon:
"Come out, come out, Moon!"
The girl emerged at their call, flapped her arms, turned into a duckling, quacked, flew up to the sky, and began to shine.
Everyone came out to see her, for they had never seen such a beautiful Moon before.
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