Once upon a time there were an old woman and an old man. They did not have children many years.
‘Granny, Granny, what are we going to do? – the old man started to complain one day. – We are growing old and we do not have children. We must find a way to give birth to some!’
‘Listen, Old Man, an old woman told me what to do. We will take a gourd, I will blow in it, you will blow in it, and we will warm it. Then we will put it near the stove. The gourd will break from the heat and many children will be born. The children will be as many as the seeds in the gourd.’
They did as they said. Many children were born. But many children meant that they wanted to eat much. The old people however were not rich. They hardly managed to feed the children and started to think what to do. One day the old woman said:
‘Oh, how will we feed all these children? Let’s take all of them to the river. We will through a round loaf into the river and tell the first one: ‘Go, girl, to catch the loaf!’ She will drown. Then we will tell the next one: ‘Now, you go!’ and thus all of them will drown.’
But while the old people were talking two of the children were hidden behind the stove and heard everything. On the next day the old man harnessed the horse and told the children:
‘Come on, children, let’s go to the river!’
The children went with him. The old woman carefully looked around the house to be sure that no body had left. She did not see however that the girl and the boy who had heard the conversation the previous day were hiding – the girl under the brush, the boy – behind the door.
The old man and the old woman came back alone from the river. They sat around the table and after a while the old woman started to cry:
‘Grandpa, Grandpa, what did we do? We have drowned all our children and there is nobody with us now!’
The old man joined her:
‘We made a sin, Granny! The children are more precious than the bread. How will we live now?! We should have left at least one boy to help me and one girl to help you!
Then the girl jumped out under the brush and cried:
‘I will help you, Granny!’
‘I will help you, Grandpa!’ – the boy cried behind the door.
And they started to live happily.