Once there was an old man and an old woman who were so poor they couldn’t even afford a single ox. So they had to figure out a way to earn some money. It started with making a little bull out of straw and resin. From there, they used lots of cunning and exercised good teamwork… And their reward was great. Let this charming Ukrainian folktale delight and inspire you.
Once upon a time, in a small cottage, there lived an old man and an old woman. The old man worked at a resin distillery and the old woman spun yarn. They were so poor that, apart from their cottage, they had nothing. They spent every penny they earned on food, with nothing left over. The old man dreamt of having an ox, which he could then use to transport salt and earn more money. But they couldn’t afford one.
Then one day the old woman said to the old man: “Make me a little bull out of straw, and coat it in resin!”
“What are you talking about?” replied the old man, surprised. “What can we possibly do with a little straw bull?”
“Just go and make it, I have a plan,” the old woman told him.
So the old man set to work. He made a bull out of straw and covered it all over with sticky resin.
When he had finished, the old woman gathered up her yarn and went with the straw bull to a clearing in the forest. She sat down on the ground and began to spin the yarn, saying to the bull: “You just have a nice graze while I do my spinning.” She spun and spun, until eventually she fell asleep.
Just then, a huge bear lumbered out from among the trees, with a wound on his side. He looked at the bull and growled: “Who are you then? Pray tell!”
The bull answered: “I’m a little horned bull, woven from straw and coated in resin.”
“If you’re coated in resin, give me a bit of it so that I can fix my wound!” the bear replied.
The bull said nothing at all. Then the bear bit into…
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