ROMANIA
The Little Purse with Two
Half-Pennies
There was once an
old man and an old woman. The old
woman had a hen and the old man had a rooster; the
old woman’s hen laid
two eggs a day and she ate a great many, but she
would not give the old
man a single one. One day the old man lost patience
and said:
"Listen, old
crony, you live as if you were in clover, give me a
couple of eggs so that I can at least have a taste
of them."
"No indeed!"
replied the old woman, who was very
avaricious. "If you want eggs, beat your rooster
that he may lay eggs
for you, and then eat them; I flogged my hen, and
just see how she lays
now."
The old man, being
stingy and greedy, listened to the
old woman’s talk, angrily seized his rooster, gave him a sound
thrashing and said:
"There, now, lay
some eggs for me or else go out of the house, I
won’t feed you for nothing any longer."
As soon as the
rooster escaped from the old man’s hands
it ran off down the high-road. While thus pursuing
its way, lo and
behold! it found a little purse with two
half-pennies. Taking it in its
beak, the bird turned and went back toward the old
man’s house. On the
road it met a carriage containing a gentleman and
several ladies. The
gentleman looked at the rooster, saw a purse in its
bill, and said to
the driver:
"Get down and see
what this rooster has in its beak."
The driver hastily
jumped from his box, took the little
purse from the rooster’s bill, and gave it to his
master. The gentleman
put it in his pocket and drove on. The rooster was
very angry and ran
after the carriage, repeating continually:
"Kikeriki, sir,
Kikerikak,
To me the little purse give back."
The enraged
gentleman said to the coachman as they passed a
well:
"Take that
impudent rooster and throw it into the
well."
The driver got
down from his box again, seized the
rooster, and flung it down the well. When the
rooster saw that its life
was in such great danger, what was it to do? It
began to swallow the
water, and drank and drank till it had swallowed
all the water in the
well. Then it flew out and again ran after the
carriage, calling:
"Kikeriki, sir,
Kikerikak,
To me the little purse give back."
When the gentleman
saw this, he was perfectly amazed and said:
"Hoho! This
ro
oster is a perfect
imp of Satan! Never mind! I’ll wring your neck, you
saucy cockerel!"
When he
reached home he told the cook to take the
rooster, throw it on the coals burning upon the
hearth, and push a big
stone in front of the opening in the chimney. The
old woman did what
her master bade her. When the rooster saw this new
injustice, it began
to spit out the water it had swallowed till it had
poured all the water
from the well upon the burning coals. This put out
the fire, cooled the
hearth, and made such a flood on the kitchen floor
that the cook
fainted away from pure rage. Then the
rooster gave the stone
a push,
came out safe and sound, ran to the gentleman’s
window, and began to
knock on the panes with its bill, screaming:
"Kikeriki, sir,
Kikerikak,
To me the little purse give back."
"Heaven knows that
I’ve got a torment in this monster of
a rooster," said the gentleman. "Driver, rid me of
it, toss it into the
middle of the herds of cows and oxen; perhaps some
bull will stick its
horns through it and relieve us."
The coachman
seized the rooster and flung it among the
herds. You ought to have seen the rooster’s
delight. It swallowed
bulls, oxen, cows, and calves, till it had devoured
the whole herd and
its stomach had grown as big as a mountain. Then it
went to the window
again, spread out its wings before the sun so that
it darkened the
gentleman’s room, and once more began:
"Kikeriki, sir,
Kikerikak,
To me the little purse give back."
When the gentleman
saw this he was ready to burst with
rage and did not know what to do to get rid of the
rooster. He stood
thinking till at last an idea entered his
head:
"I’ll lock it up
in the treasure-chamber. Perhaps if it tries to
swallow the ducats one will stick in its throat,
and I shall get rid of the bird."
No sooner said
than done. He grasped the rooster and
flung it into the treasure-chamber. The rooster
swallowed all the money
and left the chests empty. Then it escaped from the
room, went to the
gentleman’s window, and again began:
"Kikeriki, sir,
Kikerikak,
To me the little purse give back."
As the gentleman
saw that there was nothing else to be
done he tossed the purse out. The rooster picked it
up, went about its
own business, and left the gentleman in peace. All
the poultry ran
after the rooster so that it really looked like a
wedding; but the
gentleman turned green wi
th
rage as he watched, and said sighing:
"Let them all run
off to the last chick, I’m glad to be rid of the
torment; there was witchcraft in that
rooster!"
But the puffed-up
rooster stalked proudly along, followed by all the
fowls, and went merrily on and on till he
reached the old man’s house and began to
crow:
"Kikeriki!"
When the old man
heard the rooster’s voice he ran out
joyfully to meet the bird, but looking through the
door what did he
see? His rooster had become a terrible object. An
elephant beside it
would have seemed like a flea; and following behind
came countless
flocks of birds, each one more beautiful and
brilliant than the other.
When the old man
saw the rooster so huge and fat, he opened the gate
for it.
"Master," said the
bird, "spread a sheet here in the middle of the
yard."
The old man, as
nimble as a top, laid down the sheet.
The rooster took its stand upon it, spread its
wings, and instantly the
whole yard was filled with birds and herds of
cattle, but it shook out
on the sheet a pile of ducats that flashed in the
sun till they dazzled
the eyes. When the old man beheld this vast
treasure he did not know what to do in his delight,
and hugged and kissed the rooster.
But all at once the old woman appeared from
somewhere, and when she saw
this marvellous spectacle her eyes glittered in her
head, and she was
ready to burst with wrath.
"Dear old friend,"
she said, "give me a few ducats."
Prince Valcour 