Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar/Want
WANT.
There once lived two brothers, who dwelt in two different parts of the kingdom.
One was very rich, while the other was miserably poor.
One day the rich brother was preparing a great feast in his house, and the poor brother, hearing this, went to him, and said,—
"You are having a feast to-day, brother, I hear. I wish you would give me a drop of wine to drink your health with."
"Wine!" returned the other scornfully. "There, in that tub yonder, you will find plenty; you may drink to your heart's content."
The poor brother went, but when he came to the tub he found that it was full of water. However, as he was a very goodnatured fellow, he drank a little water and returned home singing. Suddenly he heard some one accompanying him in his song.
"Who is it that is singing?" he asked.
"It is I!" said a voice.
"But who in the name of wonder are you?"
"It is I. Want is my name."
"Where are you, and where are you off to?"
"I am with you, and am going wherever you go."
"With me! how do you mean?"
"I am always with you."
"But I am a poor man. When I come home, I shall make myself a coffin and die; so you had better find somebody else."
"No; if you die, I shall die also."
The poor brother thought this very extraordinary; so as soon as he came home he set to work and made himself a coffin, thinking all the time that if he buried Want he might become rich. So when the coffin was quite ready, he said,—
"Want! I say, Want! get into the coffin, for I am about to die, and you said you would die with me."
He waited a little, and then asked,—
"Want, are you in?"
"Yes, I am," replied Want.
So the poor fellow took the coffin to the cemetery and buried it. From that time he grew to be a rich man.
When his brother got to hear of this, he came to him, and asked,—
"How came you to be so rich all at once, brother?"
The other told him the whole story. How he had made the coffin and got Want to get into it, and also how he had buried him in the cemetery.
His brother, full of envy, went to the burial-ground, dug up the coffin, and called out,—
"Want, Want! are you there?"
"Y—e—s, near—ly de—ad," piped out Want.
"Come with me then, to my brother," said he. "He is now a rich man, maybe he will do something for you."
But Want replied,—
"No, I would rather go with you; for if your brother were to see me he would surely kill me."
The rich brother felt very uncomfortable, as he had no wish to have Want for his companion; but, as he could not get rid of him, he was obliged to take him and make the best of it. But from that day he became very poor, while the other grew richer and richer, and lived happily ever after.