The Swallows and the Gourd

Kosuke and Otsukichi lived as neighbors. Kosuke's family was greedy and dishonest, while Otsukichi's family was honest and kind. Kosuke was very rich, and Otsukichi was very poor. It happened in the spring. Under the roof of Otsukichi's house, a swallow built a nest and hatched three chicks.

One day, one of the chicks fell out of the nest and broke its leg. Otsukichi noticed this. He felt sorry for the chick and bandaged its leg. Soon autumn came, and all the swallows flew to the southern lands. Among them was the swallow with the broken leg.

When the birds arrived in the south, the swallow told the king of the swallows about how Otsukichi had helped her. The king of the swallows listened carefully to her story and said:

"This is a very kind man. When you fly back there next spring, you must repay him in some way."

Spring came again, and the swallows returned to the nest under the roof of Otsukichi's house. One day, when Otsukichi went out into the yard, the swallow he had helped the previous spring dropped a seed in front of him. Otsukichi picked it up and planted it in a corner of his garden.

Soon the planted seed sprouted, and a vine grew from it. The vine bloomed with white flowers, and then two huge bottle gourds ripened.

Otsukichi cut open one of them. It was so fragrant that Otsukichi decided to taste it. The taste of the gourd was also exceptionally pleasant, and kind Otsukichi called all the villagers to treat them to it.

All his neighbors ate the gourd with pleasure and exclaimed, "How delicious, how delicious!" Otsukichi left the second bottle gourd to dry in the sun. When the gourd dried, he broke it open and saw that it was filled with gold coins.

"This is wonderful!" thought Otsukichi and began transferring the coins from the gourd to another place. But to his amazement, no matter how many coins he took out, the gourd kept filling up again. And so Otsukichi suddenly became rich. His neighbor Kosuke found out about this and was filled with envy. He went to Otsukichi and took one of the swallow's nests from him. Soon chicks hatched in it, but no matter how long Kosuke waited, none of them fell out of the nest.

Then, burning with impatience, Kosuke threw a stone into the nest. One of the chicks, startled, flew up, fell to the ground, and injured its leg. Kosuke was delighted and bandaged it. Autumn came, and the swallows flew to the southern lands again. And Kosuke thought, "This is great! When spring comes, the swallows will probably reward me, just like they did Otsukichi." When the swallows arrived in the south, the one that had injured its leg because of the stone thrown into the nest told the king of the swallows about this incident.

"Such a wicked man should be punished," said the king.

In the spring, the swallows returned to the nest under the roof of Kosuke's house.

One day, Kosuke went out into the yard and saw the swallow with the injured leg, which dropped a seed in front of him.

"Finally, I will get my reward!"

With these words, Kosuke picked up the seed and planted it in a corner of his garden. Soon the planted seed sprouted, and a vine grew from it. The vine bloomed with white flowers, and then two huge bottle gourds ripened.

Then Kosuke, imitating Otsukichi, cut open one of them and invited the villagers to a feast. But the gourd turned out to be so bitter and tough that everyone's mouths puckered at the first bite, and the guests became very angry.

But greedy Kosuke thought, "Well, it's fine if the first gourd was bitter and tough, but if the second one has gold coins inside, everything will be fine." And he left the second bottle gourd to dry in the sun.

"When this gourd dries, I will get an immense amount of gold coins; I should probably prepare a place for them," decided greedy Kosuke. And while the bottle gourd was drying, he prepared so many huge chests that they couldn't even be brought into the house.

Soon the gourd dried completely, and Kosuke, anticipating joy, split it open. But instead of gold coins, black smoke poured out. It was so unexpected that Kosuke, shocked, fell face down on the ground.

Lying face down, greedy Kosuke began to worry: "What if this smoke causes a fire and burns down my house and all my possessions!"

Soon the smoke dissipated, and Kosuke got up. The house was intact. But to his amazement, the jewels and gold, securely hidden in the house, had disappeared along with the strange smoke.

And so, honest and kind Otsukichi became a rich man, while dishonest and greedy Kosuke turned into a pauper.

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The Swallows and the Gourd

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