Translated from the Ukrainian by Oles Kovalenko and Vasil Baryshev It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that it is the story-writers who actually introduce kids to the world they live in... Using words, they paint a bizarre yet convincing pattern of the essential human values Love, Beauty, Honesty, Courage as opposed to Hatred, Uglyness, Meanness, Cowardice... This is a massive, wide-ranging collection of tales full of action, ferocious energy and imagination offered by leading Ukrainian authors of several generations. .j Rocking with laughter and dissolving in tears, praising the good and grappling with the evil — these entertaining and brilliantly plotted mysteries have it all!
For a year after the wedding, Karmelyuk forgot his affliction completely. There was no trace left of his sadness, his wife blossomed like a rose, and they got on like a pair of lovebirds. A daughter was born to them, all was well in their household, and the Karmelyuk widow would often say that, thank God, she couldn't really think of a better life for the young family and herself. Then Karmelyuk's melancholy suddenly returned. He again became sad and sullen. He again took to staying away from home and wandering about alone. His pallor and frequent sighing returned. But why did it engulf him again? Where did it come from? Wasn't he loved and happy? Didn't he have every reason to be satisfied with life? What did he yearn for? What else could he possibly want? One evening, they all sat together after work. All the noises had already died down, the sun had sunk behind the woods, and the first star was about to come out. When people tired by the day's work sit like this, resting, engrossed in thought, both the od and the bad things of their lives suddenly become clearer; they come to better realize their own happiness or ill luck. This is the way they sat together and thought that, apparently, their good fortune left practically nothing to be desired. The little girl didn't even ask for anything to play with, and seemed content just to sit quietly among them, her rosy lips smiling and her eyes shining warmly. Indeed, what more could they want? Then suddenly some thought troubled and worried Karme-lyuk. It also seemed to frighten him, as if blotting out his vision. He looked dismayed, and his whole appearance changed abruptly. He started for the door, saying, "It seems to be stuffy here. I'd better go for a walk." His old mother was worried and asked if he was feeling unwell. "No, Mother, I'm all right," he reassured her. His loving wife gave him an inquiring look, and he just hugged her in reply. He came back home late that night, when the moon and the stars were shining bright in the sky, and everybody in the village had long gone to sleep. His mother and his daughter were both asleep. But not his wife. She stood in the doorway of their house, waiting and looking out for him. She met him there and pressed herself close, as though asking what she could do to ease his pain -- live or die, be happy or suffer. "My dear Marusya!" he said, clutching her to his heart. "I can't bear to see people poor and unhappy. I must change it all! I wish I could make things better for them." And from that night on he kept thinking, brooding, and grieving. His mother rushed here, there and everywhere, looking for a cure, asking everybody for advice, and never without tears in her eyes. Again and again, she ran to see a healer woman and a doctor about her son who, she kept telling them, was languishing and simply wasting away. The poor old woman exhausted herself completely and was beside herself with fear and anxiety. Karmelyuk's young wife didn't go to a healer or a doctor, sought no advice and did no complaining. Nobody knew what was in her heart or her mind, for she kept it to herself and wouldn't tell. But the colour went out of her face, she sang no more, and her pretty eyes brimmed with sadness. If there were those who thought that something had gone awry between Karmelyuk and his wife, it simply wasn't true. Anyone who wasn't blind could easily see that their love was as strong as ever and that their mutual affection and trust were just as before. Their farm was doing quite nicely as well. So people in the village kept telling one another that Karmelyuk was really a happy man, if ever there was one. What more he might desire was something which left everybody puzzled. Hadn't God given him everything to make him satisfied? Well, really! What else could one possibly want? Didn't he realize how lucky he was? It must have been good luck that had spoiled him, and there he was now, making a fool of himself and trying to fool others. Some would even say as much in as many words straight to his face. Karmelyuk wouldn't bother to reply, though; he spent whole days just walking about, hardly ever uttering a word, grieving and brooding. But now and then, his voice would suddenly ring out, singing a song which sounded like a warning.. People say that I am happy — it calls forth my laughter, They don't know how my tears fall, and often so bitter. And wherever I wander, the rich I find in power — Spending time in great luxury, each day, night and hour. While the poor and unhappy are all doomed to hard labour, To injustice, for ages the poor man's close neighbour! O my youth, my joyful heart, and the strength of my arm! Tell me how to right the wrongs of this world without charm. O my young years, O my sweet years, infinitely young, If you're given me for nothing, let my death song be sung. There were those among the villagers who trembled at the sound of this song, stopped in their tracks and stood, as if waiting to state their case before a fair judge, as if in anticipation of a long-awaited yet unexpected deliverance. There were many cases when an unlucky labourer, driving cattle which weren't his own and singing his old bitter song which said that "the fate of a young landless poor peasant is the worst in the world," stopped immediately the moment he heard Karmelyuk's; and when he came back to his master's for the night, he was strangely thoughtful, seemed not to hear when berated or to care when insulted, and left his supper untouched. And on the following day, he seemed sick and unfit for his job or any other work, and refused the master's food; but his eyes shone with new intensity and vigour, as though he were suddenly rejuvenated and revitalized. There must have also been quite a few cases when a wealthy man happened to hear Karmelyuk's song and stopped singing his own, funny and frivolous, turned his astonished eyes all about him, and hurried to make sure of his treasures, looking as concerned as that virtuous rich man everybody has heard about. And perhaps there were also a few men who after hearing him gave up considerable riches willingly and without regret. It was then that Karmelyuk suddenly disappeared from sight and was not to be found either at home or anywhere else in the village. No trace of him was discovered either the next day, or the day after that, or a whole week later. He just vanished into thin air without as much as a word to anyone. His old mother was driven almost insane with grief, anxiety and fear, searching for him here, there and everywhere, as if he were a needle in a haystack. Marusya just sat in the house, looking like somebody dying on a cross. Their little daughter kept calling him and asking "Where's Daddy?" "What shall we do, Marusya?" the Karmelyuk widow asked her daughter-in-law. "Is there anything we can do? Where are we to look for him?" "We'll just wait," Marusya said. "Wait for him? But he may not even be alive!" This is what Marusya then told the old woman: "The night that he went away," she said, "I saw him go, and asked him, 'What shall we do, sweetheart?' And he told me, 'Don't look or enquire for me — just wait, and I'll come back myself.'" "Oh, good!" the Karmelyuk widow said. "All right, we'll just wait then." She was so delighted as though Ivan were actually expected at any moment; she even peered through the window and then went to stand in the doorway, looking in every direction. However, they spent many more days waiting for their Ivan, but he failed to appear. Once — it was a holiday and the weather was lovely - - the Karmelyuk widow sat outside her house, her eyes fixed on the road running away into the fields. Marusya was sitting beside her, holding her daughter in her arms. The little girl was chirping, "Mommy, are you deaf and dumb?" She was toying with her mother's necklace and poking her tiny fingers into Marusya's lips and ears. "You've turned deaf and dumb, Mother!" she teased Marusya. "Deaf and dumb!" Every now and again, Marusya smiled back, pressing the girl to her bosom. A neighbour came round and greeted them. "Have you heard of the robberies over in the Black Forest?" he asked. "They say nobody can pass through there now, whether on foot or on horseback." Karmelyuk's mother started when the neighbour began "Have you heard...?" but, hearing the story was about the Black Forest, stopped listening. The Black Forest was far away, in another district, and she decided that her son had no conceivable reason for being there. Somehow, it didn't occur to her that he had no apparent reason to remain out of sight - - whether within their district or outside it. And then again, it wasn't quite clear what made her so sure he couldn't be as far away as the Black Forest. In any case, she paid no more attention to what the neighbour was saying and turned her eyes back to the road. But Marusya's beautiful sad eyes were riveted to the man's face, and she was all ears. "A few storekeepers and some nobles have been held up over there," he went on. "Only there's a strange thing about it all." "What strange thing?" asked Marusya. "The strange thing is," the neighbour said sitting down next to her, "that they don't kill or harm anybody. If it's somebody rich, they just take all he has and let him go. But if they see a man is poor and moneyless, he goes through scot-free -- they don't touch him with a finger. They say there was a poor fellow driving through there who came across those highwaymen. Well, he just laughed when he saw them. 'I'm not afraid of you, folks,' he told them. 'Robbery is nothing to a poor man, and even his life has got a price that's not too high. If you're going to kill me, go ahead, but if you aren't let me go, because I've no time to hang about. I have to hurry or my master's bound to give me hell.' Then their leader stepped forward, so they say, and tossed him a purse full of money, saying, 'You may go on, friend.' And then he and his men disappeared in the woods. The fellow was quite bewildered, having had such a miraculous thing happen to him. His brains were still a little bit numb when he came home bringing a purse packed with money -- pure silver, all of it!" Karmelyuk's wife didn't say anything at all this, but turned white as a sheet and kissed her daughter, who had also pricked up her ears, listening, as she sat in her mother's lap.
IV
As one day followed another, every new day and every passing hour brought more and more news and rumours about the robbers in the Black Forest. Those robbers were definitely strange and unusual; and so were their robberies. Whenever a rich man fell into their hands, he was forced to part with his money; whenever a poor man encountered them, he was given money. But nobody was killed or harmed. As well, they had a leader who was out of the ordinary and mysterious. It was rumoured that he was a man of such unbelievable, incredible, unsurpassed beauty that neither words nor pen could describe him. Furthermore, it was claimed that human eyes were not able to gaze on his beauty, it being as blinding as the bright sun. They say that once a particularly greedy old lady travelled through those parts, carrying her hoarded treasure with her — her greed was such that she never parted with her wealth day or night. As she drove through the Black Forest, she Was stopped by the robbers. They circled her carriage, told the coachman and servants to clear out for the moment, and demanded her money. But the woman just let out a terrible crazy scream which echoed throughout the dark forest, clung to her riches as if with steel claws, and wouldn't let go. They tried to wrest them away by force; but her old fingers just crackled but wouldn't release their grip, her eyes glittering wildly in the moonlight like those of a savage hungry she-wolf. Then the leader himself emerged from the forest to speak to her. "Give up your riches!" he ordered. "You've lived amidst luxury and gold long enough — now let others enjoy some of it!" The old lady lifted her eyes — and her treasures fell from her hands. And down she fell too, unconscious, struck with his enchanting beauty as if by a thunderbolt, her heart strained by her greed and her strength consumed by his beauty. On another occasion, the Black Forest robbers stopped a young girl and her brother. The brother --he was no coward -quickly glanced round, only to see that dark woods stood like a wall on all sides and that they were surrounded by tall strong men. So he knew at once that they were really in a difficult spot; but he decided to try and fight his way through just the same. "Sit still!" he told his sister. "Don't be afraid!" Then, turning to the robbers, he called, "Let us pass, please!" "You're a rich man, so let's have your money first!" they shouted back. His sister was frightened to death. "I've just no money for your kind," he retorted. "Give it up, or we'll take it by force," they threatened, drawing closer. The sister cried out and burst into tears, covering her face with her hands. And then, amidst all the din, shouting and yelling, she suddenly heard a voice reassuring her. "Stop crying, young lady!" the voice was saying. "You've nothing to fear." She took her hands from her face to see who was standing before her -- and she would never forget his wondrous beauty as long as she lived. Her fear and terror vanished; and she was enveloped by such calm that it would have made no difference to her if she were to live or to die. She folded her arms, and just stared and listened. The robbers took her brother's money and let them continue on their journey. The same voice which had urged the girl to stop crying and not be afraid spoke to them again. "Remember!" the leader said. "Hunger and cold kill many poor people in this world!" Nobody even touched the girl's rich necklace of gold coins -she herself took it off and cast it at the leader's feet. "Thank you, young lady!" he said. From that time things began to lose their colour and fade for the girl, until everything and everybody had turned meaningless and colourless in her eyes. "I'm going to become a nun," she announced to her father and mother. Before long, she took her vows. Her brother, without as much as a word to his father, mother, friends or anyone else, gathered up all his possessions he could carry, and, leaving all the rest behind, abandoned his quiet life and fled from home to join the band in the Black Forest.
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