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Salt Forever A Ukrainian Folktale Long ago, in Ukraine, a far away land on the shore of the Black Sea, there lived a man by the name of Ivan, with his wife Maria and their three children. They lived modestly and had a happy home. Ivan usually worked for his rich brother Bohdan. However, that year had been a bad year for everyone because of the drought, and Ivan decided to go elsewhere to look for work as a hired hand. As he was about to leave his wife said, “Ivan, we have no more salt in the house.” You must know that in those days, salt was the most expensive food item. People used salt to preserve meats and fish, to make foods taste good, and they also believed that it was a sort of medicine that cured all kinds of sicknesses. So having no salt in the home was something to worry about indeed. And it was with this worrisome thought in his mind that Ivan left home. There was a long road ahead, but Ivan was a courageous man. He walked all day and in the evening came to a forest. There, near the road, he came upon an old man sitting under an oak tree. Ivan decided to stop for the night. He greeted the old man, sat in front of him, and began to search his torba, the handmade bag that he carried over his shoulder, for the bread his wife had baked for the road. “Do you have a piece of bread maybe?” asked the old man. Ivan pulled out the homemade bread, broke the loaf in half, and shared it with the stranger. They ate in silence and when they finished eating, the old man said, “You are a brave and generous man. Thank you! I will repay your kindness. From this day on you will be able to understand the language of the animals.” Ivan was puzzled by the old man’s promise. He was not quite sure if he had heard correctly but he did not feel confident enough to ask the stranger to repeat himself, so he just said, “Good night!” and fell asleep. When Ivan woke up the next morning, the old man was gone. Ivan continued his journey, and when the sun was just above his head and he could no longer see his shadow, it was noon and time for lunch. He stopped under a tree by the side of the road and pulled out the second half of the homemade bread from his torba. As he was nibbling on it, he noticed two ravens on the branch above his head. They were watching him, obviously hoping to get some food. Then, before Ivan could take another bite at his bread, the ravens began to crow, and just as the mysterious old man had foretold, Ivan was able to understand every word of their language! “If only this man knew that there is a magic egg in that tree behind him, and that this little egg could fulfill all his wishes including wishes of food, we would have a feast!” said the first raven. “You are right” replies the second raven. “You mean the magic egg that the water sprite from the river left when she came out of the waters to visit humans." “Yes!” continued the first raven. “Remember how she called the little egg to give her foods and drink. She opened the magic egg and said ‘Little egg, little egg, give me some food!’ And all kinds of drink and food covered the ground on a beautifully embroidered tablecloth." “I remember,” said the second raven. “And when she had enough, she closed the little egg and said ‘Thank you! Thank you little egg!’ and the magic stopped." Ivan overheard the ravens’ conversation and began to explore his surroundings. Soon he found a beautiful wooden egg hidden in a hollow in the bark of the tree. It was carved with geometric figures and it looked like a tiny barrel, but without top or bottom. It could also split open by the middle and it had a hollow belly. He opened it and said, “Little egg, little egg, give me bread!” In a flash, all kinds of golden mouthwatering hot breads appeared on a beautifully embroidered cloth. There were wheat breads and pumpernickel breads and rye breads. There were big_ones and small ones. “Oh, thank you! Thank you, little egg!” cried Ivan in excitement, and the breads stopped piling up. Ivan closed the wooden egg and began to eat. Ivan ate one of the delicious breads and even threw a few pieces to the ravens. But there were so many loaves that he decided to put the rest of them in his torba and to hurry back to his village to feed his wife and children. He was about to leave when he overheard one of the ravens say, “ He is a good man. He shared the bread with us. He is lucky to have found how to stop the magic egg from piling up more breads otherwise all j 22 “НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, СІЧЕНЬ 2004 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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