The Enchanted Water

Once upon a time, there lived an old man and his wife. In their youth, they lived in such harmony that everyone admired them, but in their old age, it was as if they had been replaced by someone else. As soon as the old man would step off the stove in the morning, an argument would break out between him and the old woman. He would say one word to her, and she would reply with two; he would say two, and she would respond with five; he would say five, and she would come back with ten. And such a whirlwind would spin between them that one might as well run out of the house.

But when they tried to figure out who was at fault, no one was to blame.

"How did this happen, old woman?" the old man would say.

"It's all your fault, you old man, it's all you!"

"Enough! Is it me? Or is it you with your long tongue?!"

"Not me, it's you!"

"You, not me!"

And again, it would start all over: another quarrel would brew between them. One day, their neighbor listened to them for a while and then said:

"Maremyanushka, why is it that you and your old man are always at odds? You should go to the edge of the village to see the old spinster. She whispers spells over water... She helps people, maybe she can help you too."

"Well, indeed," thought the old woman, "I’ll go see the spinster..."

She went to the spinster’s house and knocked on the window. The spinster came out.

"What do you need, little old woman?" she asked.

"Well," the old woman replied, "my old man and I can’t seem to get along."

"Wait a moment," said the spinster, and she went back inside.

She brought out some water in a wooden ladle and whispered a spell over it while the old woman watched. Then she poured the water into a glass vessel, handed it to the old woman, and said:

"When you get home and your old man starts making a fuss, take a sip of this water. But don’t spit it out or swallow it—just hold it in your mouth until he calms down... Everything will be fine!"

The old woman bowed to the spinster, took the vessel with the water, and went home. As soon as she stepped over the threshold, the old man began to scold her:

"Oh, these chatterbox women! Once they start, it’s like they’ve disappeared! It’s long past time to put the samovar on, and you’ve forgotten all about it! Where have you been?!"

The old woman took a sip from the glass vessel, but she didn’t spit it out or swallow it—she held it in her mouth, just as the spinster had instructed.

The old man saw that she wasn’t answering and fell silent. The old woman was delighted: "Well, it seems this enchanted water really does work!"

She set the vessel with the water aside and went to prepare the samovar, clanging the chimney noisily.

The old man heard this and said:

"Ugh, how clumsy! It’s like her hands are attached the wrong way!"

The old woman wanted to respond, but she remembered the spinster’s advice and reached for the water again. She took a sip and held it in her mouth.

The old man saw that his wife wasn’t saying a word against him, was surprised, and... fell silent.

And from that day on, everything between them went as smoothly as if it were written in a book: they began to live in harmony again, just as they had in their youth, to the delight of everyone around them. Because as soon as the old man started to make a fuss, the old woman would immediately reach for the enchanted water!

That’s the kind of power it had!

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The Enchanted Water

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