FAIRY TALES (text) - 87. THE LAZY CANE

THE LAZY CANE

Once upon a time there was a boy called Cane, but he was so lazy like nobody in the world. Any time he came back from work, the only thing he could do was just complaining. Guess what was his job? He had only a goat and he just herded the animal all day long.

He repeated always the same words: ‘‘what a hard job is herding the goat during the whole year!’’ He continued saying: ‘‘if I could get a wink of sleep. But no, I can’t because I have to be vigilant. The goat goes to the others’ grounds and may cause damage. Can you be calm and comfortable with such a job?!’’

 So he started to think about how to get rid of this hassle. He couldn’t find out anything. One day, a thought sprang to his mind.

 ‘‘I will marry Trina, she’s got a goat too. So she’ll herd the both goats, so my torment will stop once and for all.’’

So Cane got up and went to the Trina’s house and asked for her hand. Her parents were looking forward to the time when they would marry their daughter, so they accepted at once. A few days later Cane married Trina and she began to herd the goats. So the awaited moment for Cane finally had come. But no much time passed and it came out that Trina was lazier than her husband. One day she told her husband:

– Cane, why do we have to grow weary that much? We’d better give them to the neighbor and he’ll give us in return a beehive. The goats have only jinxed us. We’ll put the beehive behind the house and we’ll bail out from all this. The bees won’t need grazing nor attending them because they find their own way back home. They make up their own honey and we’ll get a kick out of it. Cane listened to her intently till the end and said:

– You are really smart, that’s what we’ll do. The honey is more nutritious and more delicious than the goat’s milk. It doesn’t even decompose, it can be conserved for a very long time. They went to their neighbor and told him about the idea they had, and he gave his beehive joyfully.  During all the summer bees flew from flower to flower infinitely and when autumn came, the hive was full of delicious honey.

Cane took the honey and filled a big pot. Then they put the pot inside the locker in their bedroom. But they were afraid that someone would steal it or the mice would eat the honey, so Trina kept a thick hazelnut stick next to bed. She didn’t try to get up from bed to scare the mice, so she used the stick. One day, after a long time that the sun had come out to the canonry, Cane was moving from one side to the other on his bed so that he could wake up. When he opened his eyes, he said to Trina:

– I know that you women love sweets and I am sure that you eat the honey secretly. So I think we should exchange the honey with a duckling, or you’ll finish it all. Trina agreed and said:

– Good, that’s what we’ll do. It would be better for us to take the duckling, so when our son grows up he’ll take care of them. I won’t have time to herd ducks!

Cane was thinking and said to Trina:

– You’re right, but will our son herd them? Children nowadays have become so rude, they don’t listen at all! They think they know things better than us. 

– Let’s see! – said Trina. – I will grab the stick and…! 

To show how she would beat the son, she took the stick from the place where she had put it and picked it up. When she lifted it up, it accidentally caught on the honey pot. The pot slammed into the wall and fell on the floor broken into pieces. So, the delicious honey was gone in a second.

– Here’ the duck and the ducklings! – said Cane. – At least the pot didn’t fall over my head, or it would make me dumb. We should be glad about this. 

Meanwhile, Cane saw a piece of jar that hadn’t fallen on the ground with a little honey and ran to his wife and said:

– Let’s go and eat the honey that is left! Let’s eat that and rest then. Nothing won’t happen if we get up later and the day will pass nicer.