In
a village there lived a poor widow with her daughter.
They lived in an old house with roof full of holes.
They had several hens. The old woman used to go to
the forest to fetch some wood in winter and
strawberries in summer. Her daughter sold eggs in the
town. That was their life.
Once
in summer, the mother was ill and the girl had to go
to the forest to pick up strawberries. They made
gruel of strawberries. She took a pot and a piece of
bread and went to the forest. When the pot was full
of strawberries, she came to a well, took the bread
and began to eat it. It was just noon.
Suddenly
an old woman appeared. She looked like a beggar and
had a pot in her hand.
"Oh,
my girl," said the woman, "I would like to
eat. I have not had even a piece of bread in my mouth
since yesterday morning. Would you give me a piece of
bread?"
"Why
not?" said the girl, "If you are hungry, I
will give you all my bread. I hope it is not too hard
for you."
The
girl gave the woman all her lunch.
"Thank
you very much, my girl, thank you. You were so kind
to me and I will give you something too. I will give
you this pot. When you put the pot on the table and
say: Pot, cook; it will cook as much gruel as you
want. When you think you have enough gruel, say: Pot,
stop; and it will stop cooking. Do not forget what
you are to say."
The
old woman gave her the pot and disappeared.
When
the girl came home, she said everything to her mother
and put the pot on the table. Then she said:
"Pot, cook." She wanted to find out if the
old woman spoke the truth. Suddenly the gruel began
to be cooked in the pot and there was more and more
gruel. In a moment the pot was full of gruel.
"Pot, stop," said the girl and it stopped.
They
both sat down and ate the gruel.
When
they ate all the gruel, the girl took some eggs and
went to the town to sell them. She had to be in the
town for a long time. She sold the eggs late in the
evening
Her
mother waited for her but she was hungry and wanted
to have some gruel again. She took the pot, put it on
the table and said: "Pot, cook." Gruel
began to be cook and in a moment the pot was full. "I
will have to bring a bowl and a spoon," she said
to herself and went to the closet. When she
came back, she froze looking at the pot: gruel was
running out of the pot onto the table, to the chair
and to the floor. The woman forgot what to say to
make the pot stop cooking! She put
the bowl on the pot but it fell down and broke. Gruel
was running out.
There
was so much gruel in the room that the woman had to
go out. She lamented: "What did my girl bring to
our home? I knew it would not be anything good for
us." In a while gruel began to run out of
the house.
The
old woman did not know where to go so she went to the
attic and lamented. There was more and more
gruel. It ran into the village and maybe it would
have kept running far away if the girl did not return
and say: "Pot, stop."
In
the village, there was a hill of gruel and when the
farmers wanted to get home, they had to eat the
gruel.
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