Birch basket (folk tale)

A long time ago, there were two little brothers who lived in a small tun of more than ten households in Hua face ditch and made a living by letting go of the mountains to hunt. Every time they returned from hunting in the mountains, they gave the mountain goods and prey to Mukunda in the tun, who divided them equally among them.

One year, Ge Shanda, who came to lead the army, took a look at this place and forcibly occupied Xiaotun. Since then, the people in tunli have been forced to work for Ge Shanda.

One day, the two brothers gave Goshenda up the mountain to hunt. Near the Sun Ka Mountain, the brothers sat under the tree, took out the grain just about to eat, and saw a white-bearded old man walking more and more in the forest. The old man, carrying a worn-out birch-skin basket, dressed in rags and shivering with cold, fell down when he came to the brothers. The brothers hurried forward, shouting and rubbing his heart. After a while, the old man slowly woke up, opened his eyes with difficulty, and said, "Kindly, I haven't stained my teeth in three days and three days of rice water, you have saved me, I have nothing to eat, I'm afraid I'll have to freeze to death and starve to death!" ”

The little brothers did not say a word, took off their clothes and put them on the old man, and delivered dry food to the old man. The old man was also not polite, and he ate all the dry food.

The next day, the brothers went up the mountain to hunt, and they ran into the white-bearded old man. The old man said, "Child, save people to the end, do something good, and give me stuttering!" ”

The brothers took out dry food and gave it to the old man. The brothers looked at the old man with a straight face: "Grandpa, where are you from?" What's the point?"

The old man replied, "From far away, I came out to find my son." ”

The old man ate all the dry food in three mouths and two mouths, but stared at the hugs and pheasants on the shoulders of the brothers: "Child, I have a large amount of food, how can this dry food fill the belly!" Give me some more meat to eat!" ”

The two brothers said busily, "This is not okay, we are hunting for Lord Ge Shanda, and if we can't get back the prey, we will be whipped!" However, the little brothers were warm-hearted, and could not withstand the bitter pleading, or gave the prey half to the old man. As a result, when he returned to Goshanda, he saw that there were fewer prey, and the brothers were each beaten twenty lashes.

In this way, every day in the mountains, the brothers met the strange white-bearded old man to share the dry food. Until the ninth death, the white-bearded old man took off the birch skin basket on his back and said: "Good child, I should go." These days I eat a lot of you, and before I leave, I have nothing to repay, so I will send you this birch skin basket, and it may be of some use in the future! The brothers did not push the old man's heart, prostrated their heads, and took the birch skin basket. The white-bearded old man smiled and nodded, and in the blink of an eye, there was no shadow.

Besides, these two brothers hadn't eaten a full meal in the day, their stomachs were hungry and grunting, they came home and opened the rice cabinet, and saw that not a grain of grain was gone, and the two of you looked at me, I looked at you, frowning and worrying. It was not yet dark, and the brothers hung the birch skin basket on the north wall and went to bed early.

Unexpectedly, the next morning, the brothers smelled a fragrant smell of rice without getting up. Get up and lift the pot, it's really weird, the pot is steaming, it's rice and cake, the two are really hungry and anxious, can't think about it, gobble up a full.

After that, there was rice and cake in the pot every day, but I couldn't guess where the rice came from. The more the brothers thought about it, the more strange they became, determined to unravel the mystery.

On this day, the brothers saw that the chimney of the house was smoking again, so they quietly sneaked home, hid outside the window, and licked the window paper and peeked in. This look was not tight, and the little brothers were stunned. It turned out that there were three fairy-like girls cooking in the kitchen. After a while, the meal was ready, and the three girls jumped slightly, turning into three streams of green qi and burrowing into the birch skin basket. Only then did the brothers know that the birch basket was a treasure. Hit this, the brothers worshipped the birch skin basket like a god.

As the days passed, the people who worked for Ge Shanda were even more hungry, and one night the elder brother said to the younger brother, "Brother, we are not worried about eating or wearing." But the villagers are still as poor as wow! Why don't we pray for the birch basket so that everyone can have food to eat! The younger brother also smiled and said, "Good! So the two knelt under the birch basket and prayed sincerely for their wishes. Strange to say, the next day, the villagers in the tun really had rice and cakes in the pot. Everyone was surprised and happy, and they couldn't figure out what was going on, only the old lady of Mukunda knew the details of the matter, and she told everyone. The crowd thanked the brothers for their relief, saying that their brothers had done good deeds and touched God.

After all, there are ears outside the wall. Soon, word reached Goshanda's ears. Twisting his beard twice, his belly trembling with pleasure, he led the men to the pony rack of the brothers and said, "This time I will feast on you two brothers, and you have a treasure for me, and you should be rewarded!" When the brothers heard this, their faces were blue, and they understood that this was to give the chicken a new year and did not have a good heart! But he couldn't provoke Ge Shanda, so he had to watch as the birch skin basket was snatched away.

Ge Shanda offered the stolen birch skin basket in the lobby, and while prostrating her head, she shouted with a smile:

Birch skin basket, birch skin basket,

I don't want meat or wine,

Four large baskets of gold and silver are specially requested.

After touching about half a bag of cigarettes, I couldn't imagine that four baskets of gold dangling and shiny gold and silver really appeared in front of me. Goshanda happily grinds around the gold and silver. At this time, he suddenly had an idea in his heart, and shouted in his mouth:

Three girls belong to me,

Glory and wealth are too long.

As soon as his voice fell, three red fire snakes suddenly sprang out of the birch skin basket and flew away according to Ge Shanda's brain melon door, and in the blink of an eye, the fire burned half of the sky, Ge Shanda was burned alive, and his family property was also burned to death, only the birch skin basket and the four baskets of gold and silver silk remained untouched. The brothers then distributed the gold and silver to the poor villagers. After this, everyone lived a good life of living and working in peace and contentment.

Legend has it that the two brothers lived for a long time and were loved by people all their lives. The birch skin basket has also been handed down and respected by people. Later, people worshiped the gods and ancestors with birch bark baskets for meat, and built a house with three pieces of birch bark attached to the dripping tile in the middle!