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ρεπδθςΰί αΰπϋνί |
THE BAD-NATURED LAND BARON'S WIFE |
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Once there was a land baron's wife. She lived on an estate and she was so
crotchety and bad-natured that she bullied everyone around. Every time the head peasant
came to her for orders the baron's wife would not dismiss him until she had given him a
hand whipping. Her male peasants suffered the most - she beat them like dogs. |
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One day a soldier came home on furlough and the country folks told him
about the baroness, and he said, 'I'll teach her a lesson.' |
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Night fell and the baroness went to sleep. The soldier ordered that his
horses be harnessed and he rode to the estate. Carefully, he carried the sleeping baroness
out of the mansion and brought her to a shoemaker's house and then switched her with the
shoemaker's wife who he then carried to the estate. |
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At daybreak, the shoemaker's wife woke up and was amazed to find herself
in a splendid house. Immediately, maidservants came running to her with some bath
water; she then washed and her servants, at once, gave her towels with which to dry; she
patted herself dry while a samovar was brought to her. |
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She sat at the table to have tea, when the head peasant,
on tiptoes, humbly came up to her. She looked at him not knowing who or what he was.
'What do you want?' she asked. |
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'I am here, mistress, to receive your work order for today', said the head
peasant. The shoemaker's wife, using her wits, knew what to say in reply, 'Don't you know
yourself? Do the same job today that you did yesterday.' |
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The headman left her and said to the servants in the kitchen, 'Never in my
life have I seen our mistress so kind as she is today!' |
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The shoemaker's wife remained on the estate for one month and again
another. The peasants, pleased with their "new" baroness, told everyone around
that there was no mistress better than she in the countryside. Also that morning, the
baron's wife woke up. She found herself in the shoemaker's house and called for her
servants. |
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Sitting and working with his sewing awl, the shoemaker
didn't pay any attention to her; he only said, 'Hey, woman, get up! It's time to light the
stove!'
'Who on earth are you? Bring me my bath water, man' |
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'Oh, you lazy thing, you! Go to the well and fetch your own water - it's
already late in the morning.' He jumped up from his chair, whipped his belt off his pants
and began to beat the baron's wife, saying, 'Don't you know your duties? You must get up
and light the fire when the cock crows!' |
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He continued strapping her until he became exhausted. The baroness begged
for mercy and pleaded with him to stop the beating. She shuffled off to the well, fetched
some wood, lit the fire in the stove and cooked something to eat |
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She existed like this for two months or so. When she tried anything, she
was all thumbs... either she undercooked her cabbage soup or she spilled water onto the
floor. The shoemaker beat the baroness more than once until she finally became kind and
hard-working. |
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When the soldier learned about this, he again, one night, switched the
women back . |
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The following morning the baroness got up and quietly
walked out of her bedroom and said to herself, 'Am I in my own house again? How did I get
back?'
'Maids, how did I get here?' she asked. |
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'You've been here all the time, mistress', came their answer. Thereafter,
the land baron's wife became kindness itself. And the shoemaker's wife again lived her
usual life in her own house. |
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ο α.
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Rex Rickard Steve Stringfellow. |
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