Goldilocks

There once lived a brother-in-law and his sister-in-law. The brother-in-law was a lazy good-for-nothing who didn’t want to do anything. He spent whole days sitting by the hearth, blowing on the ashes and poking around in them. Because of this, he was nicknamed Ash-Blower. "Hey, get up, go do some work, bring something home—I can’t just keep feeding you," scolded his sister-in-law.

But no—Ash-Blower sat by the hearth, and there was no way to lure him out of the house. Finally, on Easter, our Ash-Blower went to church, and when he returned, his sister-in-law locked the door and wouldn’t let him in. Ash-Blower begged his sister-in-law for a sack of ashes, an awl, and some fresh cheese, and set off on his journey.

Whether he walked a long time or a short time, we don’t know, but eventually he reached a big river and saw a huge dev (a demon or giant) on the other bank. The dev was bent over the water, drinking.

Ash-Blower was scared, but what could he do? He didn’t know any other way. If he turned back, he’d return to his sister-in-law, and if he didn’t, he’d end up as the dev’s breakfast. He thought and thought and came up with an idea: "Alright, I’ll walk around and raise some dust." He poked a hole in the sack with the awl and began walking, shaking the sack. The ashes spilled out, and a terrible cloud of dust rose up. The dev was amazed, even frightened, and said:
"Hey, you! If you can, squeeze water out of this stone," and he threw a stone to Ash-Blower.

Ash-Blower took the fresh cheese from his pocket and squeezed it, and water poured out in a stream. The dev was amazed, and Ash-Blower shouted:
"Alright, come over here, put me on your shoulders, and carry me to the other side—I’m afraid of getting my feet wet."

The dev immediately crossed the river, put Ash-Blower on his back, and said:
"Oh, how light you are!"
"That’s because I’m holding onto the sky with one hand. If I let go, you won’t be able to move me an inch."
"Alright, let go," said the dev.

Ash-Blower took the awl and drove it deep into the dev’s neck. The dev began to scream and beg:
"Hold onto the sky again, it’s unbearable!"
They crossed to the other bank. The dev invited Ash-Blower to visit him. Ash-Blower was scared, but he had no choice, so he went.

They arrived at the dev’s home. Ash-Blower really liked the dev’s dwelling. He saw a huge *keci* (a type of cauldron) leaning against the hearth. The dev went to prepare dinner and told his guest to watch the bread so it wouldn’t burn.
Ash-Blower saw that the bread was burning on one side and wanted to turn it. But as soon as he touched the *keci*, it toppled over, and Ash-Blower found himself trapped underneath. No matter how hard he tried, Ash-Blower couldn’t get out from under the hot *keci*. All the devs came in, saw their guest under the *keci*, and were amazed.
"What are you doing under there?" they asked.
"My stomach hurts," said Ash-Blower, "so I decided to put the hot *keci* on it, hoping it would help. But now I feel better—take it off," he ordered.

They pulled him out, barely alive, from under the *keci*.
They sat down at the table. They drank all the wine, and one of the devs took a ladle and said to the guest:
"Be a brother, go and fetch some wine—there’s a barrel buried in the yard."

With great difficulty, Ash-Blower dragged the huge ladle outside and disappeared. The devs waited and waited for the wine, then went out to the yard and saw Ash-Blower holding a shovel, digging up the barrel.
"What are you doing?"
"It’s better to dig up the whole barrel so we can drink our fill. What’s the point of hauling it bit by bit with this tiny ladle?"
The devs thought: "We, nine brothers, could barely bury that empty barrel, and he wants to dig it up, full of wine, all by himself?"

The devs filled the ladle themselves and brought it inside. Suddenly, one of the devs sneezed at the table, and Ash-Blower instantly flew up to the ceiling. The devs looked up and saw their guest clinging to a beam.
"Hey, man, what are you doing up there?"
"How dare you sneeze in my presence?" shouted Ash-Blower. "I’ll pull out this whip and break all your ribs!"
The devs were terrified: "We, nine brothers, could barely lift that beam, and he calls it a whip!"
In their fear, they all jumped up and ran away.

Ash-Blower climbed down with difficulty, saw that no one was left, and became the master of all the dev’s wealth.
The eldest dev ran through the forest, and a fox met him:
"Hey, dev, what’s wrong? Where are you running?"
"Where? A man came to us and almost ate us all!" And the dev told the fox everything about that man.
"That’s Ash-Blower, a pitiful man who only knows how to poke around in ashes. His sister-in-law kicked him out of the house. I know them well. I ruined their whole chicken coop. Come on, how could that coward scare you?"
"No, no, I don’t believe you. You’ll get me killed!"

The fox kept persuading the dev for a long time; finally, the dev decided to tie the fox to himself with a rope so she wouldn’t betray him.
And so the dev returned to his house, dragging the fox behind him.

Ash-Blower was terrified when he saw them, but what could he do? He stepped onto the threshold and shouted:
"Ah, you deceiver! Why are you bringing me only one dev when you owe me twelve?" The dev, hearing this, started running, dragging the rope behind him. He mangled the fox and barely escaped with his life.

Ash-Blower gathered all the dev’s wealth, loaded it onto camels, and set off to his sister-in-law.

There I left famine,
Here I found a feast.
There I spilled ashes,
Here I found flour.

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Goldilocks

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