Ota's Tales

About Brat - How they got rich

In one quite small and inconspicuous country lived a rather large man with a very conspicuous woman. Not that they are big characters. Not at all. They were great because of the wealth they possessed.
Their heads were in the clouds, they walked with their noses up, they were stingy, they didn't care about others and they only thought the worst about everyone. That's more than I can bear. But worst of all, these two were big hypocrites. There is no worse thing than being a hypocrite. They forced themselves into the good graces of other great men without any sympathy for them. But something was missing for those people. No offspring. It was the only thing they didn't have. That was what they wanted.

One evening, when a blizzard began, they sat by the fireplace, as always, in the cold, eating. It was so cold they weren't going to sit in the cold kitchen. Buried in their blankets, they enjoyed the pleasures.
After finishing, they clucked loudly, set the bowls beside them and looked at each other. The man saw that something was bothering the woman. "What's the matter? Didn't dinner seem good enough to you? Does it trouble you when we warm ourselves by the hearth with full stomachs while others rub misery?" he asked her.
"But of course I'm glad for such good food and well-being. But if we had someone else, a daughter or a son, to whom we could also offer food and warmth, I would be much happier," the woman told him.
"Woman, don't be sad anymore. There will be wonders tonight. Let's ask God, maybe he'll give us a son."
And so, from the comfort of their chairs, they performed a prayer that was more like a request or an insistence. After pleading with them, they began to read business books.

The wind whistled through the window, the snow fell, the fireplace crackled inside, the clock beat. Seven o'clock. Suddenly, when the clock struck, someone began to bang on the door of the house. The man and woman looked at each other. No one had the determination to do anything.
"Who can it be in this weather?" the man asked the woman. She just shook her head that she didn't know.
The pounding continued. The man finally got up from the heated chair, put on his shaggy coat, took up his gun, and shuffled toward the front door, from which there was a pounding.
"Who is it?" he asked, without opening the door.
"Good sir," came a voice from behind the door, "I am a poor traveler who has been hit by a snowstorm. I have nowhere to go. Please let me in. I'd just like to warm up for a moment. You might even have a small dinner bone. Please, or I'll freeze to death."
The greedy man wondered if he should let go of the poor tramp. He feared it might be a thug or a thief, so he wanted to see for himself. He went to look out of the window. But when he looked out of the window, there was no one outside the door.
"I'm confused from it," said the man with the gun in his hand, "where did he go?"
"What's the matter?" the woman asked him.
"The man who was banging on our door has disappeared. I just wanted to see what he looked like. And before I knew it, he had disappeared."
The woman reassured him. "He was probably a thief and he got scared. Leave it, come and sit down," she told him. And the man went to tuck himself back into his blankets and put the gun down beside the chair.

They thought about it for a while. They thought that if they had a child, it would be all right for them. They asked for it again from the comfort of the warm chair, and then went back to reading books. The crackle of wood and the hiss of the wind was reassuring. It was the chiming of eight o'clock that brought them out of their calm again. Someone began to bang on the door again.
"Hello, is anyone home?" someone shouted outside the door, banging loudly on it with his fists. The man and the woman wondered. This time they both rose silently.

The man of the house took the gun again. They reached the hall and listened for a moment to see what was going to happen. The woman went to look out the window to see who was standing outside the door.
"Please let me in, good people," the voice pleaded.
"Who is it?" the greedy man finally asked.
"I'm a traveler who's been hit by a blizzard. I don't have anywhere to put my head. I haven't had food in my stomach in ages. Good people, please let me in," the traveler said to the woman and the man.
The man looked at the woman, who was looking out of the window. She was shaking her head to keep him away. "Excuse me, but we're all very sick here. Besides, we don't have much. Try somewhere else," the miserly man told the traveler.
There was no sign of leaving, but when the woman looked out the window again, there was no one there. They both wondered, but were glad that he had disappeared.
They went back to sit in their chairs, curled up in their blankets, and began to talk.
"Who was there?" the man asked the woman.
"Oh, I saw the silhouette of a gaunt figure who was wearing rags of clothes. I couldn't see his face, he was covered up."
"What a wonder. Twice in the same evening, the same thing happened. These pilgrims frighten me very much. What are they doing there at such a time?! If only they'd get a job and stop bothering honest people. Oh, I wish we had a son to protect us from such people," the man said. The woman did likewise. On top of all this, she added, "Oh, God, please give us a child. Aren't we trying to be good people?! You see our actions, for which we should be rewarded."
They talked and thought about lives for a while longer, but the crackle of wood and the hiss of the wind made them tired. They did not reach for the book. Instead, they dozed off. They both fell asleep.