The Rooster and the Golden Peas
故事全文
Once upon a time, there were two brothers who lived in a mountain village. When their father died, the greedy older brother wanted to keep the family fortune for himself and his wife. So, he told his younger brother Dasha, "You are not a child anymore. It is time you moved out. There is a house and a plot of land for you at the foot of the mountain. You should move there and take this rooster with you." The older brother gave Dasha an old rooster that could not lay eggs.
When Dasha arrived at the foot of the mountain, he saw that the house was dilapidated, and the field was barren. But Dasha did not mind. He sowed peas in the barren land, and made a coop for the rooster to live in. He took good care of the rooster. One day, the rooster told Dasha, "Thank you for taking care of me. Take my droppings and scatter them under the pea bushes." Dasha did as the rooster told. Suddenly, the pea bushes became tall and plump. Then, the bushes grew purple flowers and many pea pods. The rooster told Dasha, "Take the pea pods and boil them in water before you go to sleep tonight. I will wake you up when it is ready." The rooster crowed "Cock a doodle doo" in the middle of the night and woke Dasha. When Dasha took the pea pods out of the water, he found that there were golden peas inside. He traded the golden peas for a cow to till his land.
Dasha's greedy brother saw him buying a cow and asked him where he got the golden peas. Dasha told his brother about the old rooster. Dasha's greedy brother said to him, "Really? How about this, I will give you all my property in exchange for the rooster. I'll give it a try!"
The brother and his wife ordered the rooster to produce more droppings, and scattered them under every pea bush they could find. When the pea pods appeared, the greedy couple threw the pea pods into a pot of boiling water. The next morning, the couple saw the glitter of gold when they removed the lid. Suddenly, all the golden peas jumped up and stuck onto their faces. The greedy brother and his wife tried to remove the golden peas, but they were stuck firmly to their faces. Finally, the rooster pecked and ate all the golden peas on their faces and flew away, leaving the greedy couple with pockmarks on their faces. The greedy couple felt ashamed of their faces and dared not return to the village. They spent the rest of their lives growing peas for a living.
