Three Sisters

Whether it happened or not, there once lived a husband and wife. They had three daughters and nothing else—no property, no possessions.

One day, the mother was cleaning a shelf, and three grains of wheat fell from it. They picked up the grains, took them to the field, and planted them in the ground.

The wheat grew, and oh, what wheat it was! No evil eye could curse it. The field stood tall, swaying like the sea.

The husband and wife looked at it and rejoiced.

When the grain ripened, they all went to the field, harvested it, tied it into sheaves, and built a huge stack supported by six poles. They finished and went home.

The next day, the father sent the eldest daughter to check on the wheat.

She arrived and saw: a huge **gvele-shapi** had wrapped itself around their wheat, embracing the entire stack and holding its tail in its mouth.

The eldest daughter nearly died of fright. She ran home and told everyone what she had seen.

The father sent the middle daughter:

"Go and ask what it wants, why it has come."

The middle daughter went, saw the **gvele-shapi**, got scared, asked nothing, and ran back home.

The father sent the youngest daughter. She came to the **gvele-shapi** and asked:

"Tell me, what do you want? Why have you come?"

The **gvele-shapi** said:

"Go tell your father to give me one of his daughters as my wife."

She went and told her father.

The father asked the eldest daughter:

"My daughter, will you marry the **gvele-shapi**?"

"As if!" said the eldest daughter. "You expect me to marry a **gvele-shapi**? That's the last thing I'd do!"

The middle daughter answered the same.

Then it was the youngest daughter's turn. She said:

"I will go."

The **gvele-shapi** took her and led her away. It crawled, stretched, and hurried, with the bride following. They passed the village, and the **gvele-shapi** stopped, shed its skin—and turned into a handsome young man, more beautiful than anyone could imagine.

The bride was overjoyed. He told her:

"In my country, we speak in riddles. If my mother says, 'Break the jug,' you must bring a jug; if she says, 'Spill the water,' you must bring water; if she says, 'Dismantle the stove,' you must light the stove; if she says, 'Clear the table,' you must set the table; if she says, 'Smash the plates,' you must bring them."

He taught her everything and took her home.

They arrived in the **kadzhet** land. The mother-in-law ordered the daughter-in-law:

"Go and spill the water!"

The daughter-in-law stood up, went, and brought her water. She did everything as her husband had taught her.

Everyone marveled: "She's just arrived, yet she understands everything and knows all our ways." The new daughter-in-law won everyone's hearts.

Soon, she became pregnant. When it was time to give birth, they took her to her parents' house. Her sisters saw her and envied her good life with her husband.

She gave birth to a son, and her husband came to take her home.

As they prepared to leave, the eldest sister insisted: "Take me with you!"

The younger sister said:

"Don't come. My mother-in-law is unkind; you won't get along with her."

But the sister wouldn't take no for an answer and went with them. As they walked, the sister said to her brother-in-law:

"Mother is carrying the child; it's heavy for her. I'll take the child, and you go ahead. We'll catch up."

He went ahead, and the sisters fell behind. They walked and saw a tall apple tree with a bare trunk, no branches, but laden with fruit at the top.

The eldest sister said to the younger:

"I'll lift you up. Climb the tree and pick the fruit. But wear my dress so yours doesn't get ruined, and give me the child to hold."

The younger sister obeyed—how could she suspect anything? She gave her son to her sister, changed into her sister's dress, climbed the tree with her help, and began picking apples.

The sister took the child and ran after her brother-in-law. The child cried and cried, tears falling like drops from a fist—but who cared?

The mother, left in the tree, heard her son's cries and couldn't bear it. She shouted to her sister:

"Sister, with your scrawny breast,
Do not torment my son!
Return him to me quickly—
I will give him milk."

But the sister ran on, saw her brother-in-law, and called to him:

"Wait, my milk has dried up. The child is crying, inconsolable."

The husband stopped. He didn't recognize her; she was dressed and adorned like his wife.

They walked home, taking the child with them.

"And where is your sister?" asked the husband.

"I told her she wouldn't get along with my mother-in-law, so I sent her back."

They arrived home, and the mother-in-law said:

"Daughter-in-law, break the jug!"

She took it and smashed it: *clang-clang!*—that's all you could hear.

"Smash the plates!"—she smashed them with all her might.

"Dismantle the stove!"—she took an ax and started hacking at it.

She destroyed all the utensils in the house. Everyone began to suspect something was wrong. She had no milk, so they got a cow and raised the child on its milk. The boy grew up and took the cow to the fields. The cow grazed, and the boy followed, feeding it.

The mother remained alone in the tree, crying and grieving until she dissolved into tears and blood. Where her tears and blood fell, reeds grew like a forest, along with thousands of flowers and grasses.

One day, the boy took his cow to the apple tree. He plucked a reed, cut it with his nail, and began to play.

The flute sang:

"Flute, what does your moan mean?
Why does the flute weep?
It weeps for your mother, my son!
My dear, beloved son!"

The flute kept singing the same tune. The boy embraced it, held it to his heart, and wouldn't let it go. He brought it home and played it, but the flute kept singing the same song.

The stepmother heard it and was seared as if by fire. She grabbed the flute, smashed it into pieces, but one piece fell and sang:

"Flute, what does your moan mean?
Why does the flute weep?
It weeps for your mother, my son!
My dear, beloved son!"

The stepmother heard it, took all the pieces from the child, and threw them into the stove. They burned, and from their ashes, a portrait of the unfortunate mother formed and lay on the stove wall. The boy sat by the stove, crying.

The stepmother looked into the stove, saw the portrait, and flew into a rage. She stirred the ashes, scooped them out, and scattered them on the roof. A beautiful poplar tree grew from the ashes.

The **gvele-shapi** saw the poplar, rejoiced, and brought his bed to sleep under it. At night, he would lie down, fall asleep, and the branches would lower, embracing and caressing him.

The stepmother was furious, dying of envy. She pretended to be ill and said to her husband:

"If you cut down that poplar and make a trough for me to bathe in, I will recover. If not, I will die."

"Well, die then, devil take you, and free me," said the husband.

The **gvele-shapi** went hunting, and the wife called workers, ordered them to cut down the poplar and make a trough. But she didn't bathe—why would she? What illness did she have?

The husband returned and was furious, but what could he do now?

A chip from the poplar fell onto an old woman's roof. The old woman found it, took it inside, and covered her kneading trough with it.

When the old woman left, the chip would rise, turn into a woman, wash all the dishes, sweep, clean everything, then become a chip again and cover the trough. When the old woman returned, everything was clean and tidy.

The old woman was amazed and went to her neighbors, thanking them, but they all said they hadn't set foot in her house or cleaned anything. "Watch carefully, and you'll see who it is."

So the old woman did. She pretended to leave, hid behind the door, and waited. The chip thought the old woman was gone, turned into a woman, and began cleaning.

The old woman crept up and caught her.

"Oh, woe is me!" cried the woman.

"Don't be afraid, you are my daughter, and I am your mother," said the old woman. "I am alone, with no children. You can be my daughter."

The woman was overjoyed. They lived together happily.

One day, the woman asked the old woman:

"My dear mother, invite the **gvele-shapi** who lives here, along with his wife and son, to visit me."

The old woman agreed:

"Why not, my dear? I'll invite them and fulfill your wish."

The woman prepared a meal and invited her husband, sister, and son.

During the meal, when toasts began, the hostess took a glass, filled it, and said:

"To your health: you, my husband; you, my son; and you, my sister."

The husband realized who his wife was. She told him everything that had happened. He took the traitor, tied her to horses' tails, and the horses tore her to pieces.

He married his true wife again.

If they had lacked sweetness before, now they enjoyed it to the fullest.

"Death there, feast here,
Chaff there, flour here."

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Three Sisters

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