Random Story To Tell

She was such a big woman and Antipka was such a small, mild young man that he always got the worst of their arguments. And so to calm her down he said quietly, “If you would like to go picking cranberries, my dear, I’ll go indoors and do the washing-up and the housework.”

“That’s right,” shrieked his wife. “That’s you all over. Trust a man to choose the light work and send his poor wife off to break her back and catch her death of cold picking berries. I’m not as simple as that, you know. No, you go and pick the cranberries.”

And with that she stormed into the house and reappeared almost immediately with a large basket on her arm. “Here, take that,” she ordered, “and don’t be long about it. There’s plenty to do in the garden when you get back. “Yes, dear,” said Antipka meekly.

With a sigh, he walked slowly through the sunflower beds down to the little red front-gate.
“And for goodness sake make sure they’re ripe!” screeched his wife’s voice from the steps of the house.

“Yes, dear,” murmured Antipka again.
Once out on the dusty road he turned in the direction which lead away from the distant town, and made his way towards the maize-fields around which the cranberry bushes grew.

As he passed Sasha’s meadow, Sasha’s old donkey stuck his head over the bridge and brayed piercingly at him.

“Yes, dear,” said Antipka quietly, without thinking.
The cranberries were plump and shining, and Antipka grew much more cheerful as he began to fill his basket. In fact, for the moment he forgot his bad-tempered wife and started to sing to himself as he picked the fruit. Finally there was only one bush left untouched and that was weighed down with huge berries.

But when Antipka moved towards it he saw something which he had never noticed before. Just in front of the bush there was an enormous gaping hole in the ground. Peering over the edge of the hole, Antipka tried to catch a glimpse of the bottom, but it was complete darkness as far as the eye could see. Taking a cranberry out of his basket he dropped it down the hole and waited for the sound of it hitting the bottom. Second passed. And then faintly, even so faintly, came the sound of a tiny plop. The hole must be terribly deep.

Then an idea struck Antipka. Wouldn’t it teach his wife a lesson if he could put her down this hole for a night! He would only pull her out if she agreed to be more sweet-tempered in future. It was a wonderful idea!

No sooner had he thought of it than he put down his basket and began to collect twigs and leaves to place across the hole. He quickly covered the hole up with a layer of these twigs and leaves to make it look like an ordinary piece of ground. But he knew that the twigs were very weak and certainly wouldn’t hold the weight of anyone the size of his wife.

next chapter

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