A LORD'S PROMISES

Lithuanian Fairy Tale

Source: Tales of the Amber Sea: Fairy Tales of the Peoples of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Progress Publishers, 1974;
Translated: Irina Zheleznova;
HTML Markup: For marxists.org in February, 2002.

In a certain land there lived a lord who was a cheat a swindler. He was always tricking his workmen and robbing them, and to one of them, a cheerful, highspirited youth, he had not paid his wages for three years on end.

Now, this young workman was walking along the riverbank one day when he met a man coming toward him.

"Where are you coming from?" asked the workman.

"From where the road takes its beginning."

"Have you seen the floating stone?"

"I have. It drifts along and never sinks and neither do the millstones lying on top of it."

"Good! I can see you're a bright lad, so let's be friends. You and I will go to that devil of a lord of mine together. I'll go in first and you stand outside and listen to what he and I talk about. Then you'll know what to say to him later."

Back went the workman to the lord's house.

"You haven't paid me my wages for three years, Your Honour," said he to the lord. "Can't you give me some beer at least?"

"I have no beer," the lord replied. '"There's been a poor crop of barley this year."

This did not daunt the workman who knew how stingy and stupid was the lord.

"I recently paid a visit to my kinsmen who work on one of the estates near here," said he, "and the barley they grow is really something! Why, they make twelve barrels of beer out of one ear."

"It can't be! " the lord cried. "I'll send one of my servants to see if it's true or not."

Off went the servant to do the lord's bidding, and the first person he met was the workman's new friend.

"Where do you come from, my good man?" asked he.

'"The very place you're bound for."

"Had they a good crop of barley this year?"

"I don't know, for I wasn't there when they were making beer. I did see them cutting the barley, though. Ten men were at it for three days and it was axes they were using."

The servant gave the man ten copper pieces and asked him to come with him to the lord and tell him all about it.

The man agreed and they went back together.

"Is it true about the barley?" asked the lord of the servant.

"It is indeed, sir. I've even brought someone with me who'll bear me out."

The lord was in a fix and he knew it. Wanting to be rid of his unbidden visitors as quickly as possible he said to the workman:

"Come in a year. I will pay what is owing you in cabbage."

The workman went away, but when the year was up he dressed his friend in a woman's clothes and went with him to see the lord, himself walking in front and his friend dragging along behind him.

"I've come to get my cabbage, Your Honour," said he to the lord.

"I have no cabbage, we've had a poor crop of it this year," the lord replied, spreading out his hands.

"Well, in the place I've just been to the lord had such a rich crop of it that they shredded twelve barrels full out of a single head."

"It can't be! " cried the lord. "I'll send one of my servants to see if it's true or not."

Off went the servant and he met the workmen's friend dressed up as a woman.

"Where do you come from?" the servant asked.

"The place you are bound for."

"Had they a good cabbage crop this year?"

"I don't know, for I wasn't there when they were salting the cabbage. But I did see that they were using twelve horses to cart one cabbage stump."

"What did they want it for?"

"To make a bridge. It was just big enough to span a river."

Said the servant:

"Here is ten copper pieces for you for making my way shorter. Come with me to my lord and tell him all about it."

Back came the servant to the lord's house.

"Is it true that they had as rich a crop of cabbage as the workman said?" the lord asked him.

"It is indeed, sir. I have brought a woman with me who comes from there and she will bear me out."

The lord turned to the workman.

"All right, then," said he. "Come back next year and perhaps the hens will be laying well. Then I'll be able to pay what is owing you in eggs."

The workman went away, and he and his friend passed the year any which way and had a hard time of it.

When spring came round they went to see the lord again, the workman walking in front and his friend, a beard pasted to his chin, following.

"How are your hens laying, Your Honour?" "Badly, very badly. In fact, they haven't laid a single egg. There was nothing to feed them with."

"Well, I'm just back from a place where they feed hens with stars."

"It can't be! " cried the lord. "I'll send my servant to see."

Off went the servant, and the first person he met was the workman's bearded friend.

"Where do you come from?" asked he.

"The place you are bound for."

"Have you seen anyone there feeding hens with stars?"

"No. But I did see three men rolling one egg on to a frying pan."

The servant gave the bearded man ten copper pieces and bade him repeat what he had just said to the lord.

Back came the servant to the lord's house.

"Is it true about the hens?" asked the lord.

"Indeed it is, sir! They feed the hens with stars and the hens lay eggs so large that it is all three men can do to lift one egg. I have brought a man with me from those parts and he'll bear me out."

The lord saw that he would be hard put to it to get rid of his workman.

"Come back in a year," Said he, "and tell me of the greatest fool you will have seen. Then I'll pay what is owing you."

Off went the workman, he spent the year any which way and then came back again to see the lord.

"Well, what have you seen that you would like me to hear about?" asked the lord.

"I have been travelling the year round and I have seen many strange and wonderful things. In one place I went to I saw a man sitting on the edge of a forest and that is what he had been doing for ten years. His beard was so long that it stretched over the ground and there were swallows nesting under it and also behind his ears. A crowd of people milled round him and they were all filled with wonder to see anyone so foolish. "

"Why does he sit there?"

"He wants his lord to take pity on him. The poor man hasn't been paid his wages in ten years.

"Why do people think this man a fool?"

"Because he hasn't lost hope that a lord will treat a man justly."

At this, the lord, who understood very well what his workman was hinting at, bade his servants drive him out from his house and land. A lord's promises are empty promises.

To expect justice from a lord is as to expect a litter in a cow-house to be downy and soft.

Children's Literature Texts