Two Comrades

People say that before St. George's Day, even a fool has hay; but if the cattle survive until Annunciation, even if you take them out on a wooden plank, they won’t die.

Now, let me tell you a story.

There was a poor peasant who had only one nag, and he barely managed to keep it alive until Annunciation. On Annunciation Day, he dragged the half-dead nag to the meadow. As soon as the nag started nibbling on the grass, it began to recover a little. Once it could stand on its feet, it wandered off, swaying in the wind.

As it walked, it suddenly came across a horse—big and strong, afraid of no beast. The nag greeted the horse:

"Hello, comrade!"

The horse looked at the nag and thought, "This is no comrade of mine," but replied:

"Good health to you!" The well-fed horse asked the skinny nag:

"Where are you going?"

"Just wherever my feet take me."

"I’m heading the same way. Let’s be comrades."

"Alright, let’s!" said the nag. And so they went together. As they walked and chatted, the horse asked:

"Tell me, what’s your name?"

The skinny one replied, "Nag."

"And I’m a horse," said the well-fed one. "Let’s go to the threshing floor to test our strength, to see who’s stronger."

"Let’s go!" said the nag in a thin voice, just glad to still be alive. They arrived at the threshing floor. The horse said:

"Hit it, Nag!"

"No, you hit it!" replied the nag.

When the horse struck, the floor bent, but when the nag struck, sparks flew. The horse thought, "How strong he is—no comrade of mine! When I strike, no sparks fly, only the floor bends, but from him, sparks fly!"

What the horse didn’t know was that the nag was shod: its owner had shod it for the winter and forgot to remove the horseshoes when he let it out to the meadow.

Then the horse said to the nag:

"Let’s go to the sea, comrade, and see who can blow more water out?"

"Let’s go," said the nag.

So they went. When the horse blew, it nearly caught fish by their tails—it blew the water dry. But the nag hung its head over the water, stuck out its tongue—barely alive—and a pike thought it was meat and snapped at its tongue. The nag clamped its teeth and said to the horse:

"Well, comrade, did you catch anything?"

"No."

"But I did!"

The horse looked at the nag and was frightened to see it holding such a huge pike in its teeth. It said:

"Let’s go, comrade, and cook it—now we’ve got something to eat!" But the horse just scratched its head, glancing at the nag and thinking:

"What a devil I’ve found for my misfortune!" They built a fire to cook the fish. The horse said:

"You, comrade, sit by the fire, and I’ll fetch some wood!"

"Alright," said the nag, sitting down with its head drooping, as if it were about to die. A magpie thought it was dead and pecked at its tongue, but the nag snapped its teeth and held the magpie in its mouth. When the horse returned, the nag asked:

"So, comrade, did you catch anything?"

"No," replied the horse.

"But I did!" said the nag. The horse looked and saw the nag holding a magpie in its teeth. Amazed, the horse asked:

"Where did you catch the magpie, comrade?"

"Ah, comrade," said the nag, "I flew up to the sky and caught it."

The horse grew very sad and thought to itself:

"This is no comrade for me; if he can catch fish in the sea and birds in the sky, how can I compete with him? Though I’m strong enough to uproot oaks, I can’t catch fish or birds in the sea!" So the horse began to think of a way to escape from the nag.

After some thought, the horse said:

"You, comrade, keep cooking, and I’ll go fetch some more wood."

"Alright," agreed the nag.

The horse circled around and then took off at full speed, running and glancing back, saying:

"May the devil take you! You’re beyond my strength—I’d better run away from you!"

As the horse ran, it met a wolf. The wolf said:

"Hello, horse!"

"Hello, wolf!" replied the horse in a frightened voice. "You’d better keep quiet."

"What’s the matter? Tell me," asked the wolf.

"Well," began the horse, "I met a comrade and wanted to befriend him, so we went to test our strength, to see who was stronger. Guess what? When I struck, the iron floor bent, but when he struck, sparks flew. We went to the sea to blow water—when I blew, it dried up, but he caught a fish. We went to cook the fish, and guess what? While I fetched wood, he caught a magpie! So I realized he’s beyond my strength, and I ran away from him."

"What’s his name?" asked the wolf.

"Nag," said the horse.

"Ah, I know how to handle such creatures," said the wolf. "Just show me where he is."

"No," said the horse. "I won’t take you there. Let’s climb this oak tree, and I’ll show you. Over there, under the hill, in the valley, you’ll see a fire—that’s my comrade Nag building it."

The wolf looked and trembled, saying:

"You, horse, stay here and keep watch. I’ll go and bring you his hide for boots, so you won’t fear anyone and will trust us. We know how to deal with such rogues!"

So the wolf went to the nag, grabbed it by the tail, and skinned it from head to toe, then gave the hide to the horse.

The horse was left alone, and the nag disappeared without a trace.

And that’s the tale, and here’s a bunch of bagels for me.

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Two Comrades

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