Once there was a very happy woman, even though she did not have a reason for it. She was an extremely poor, elderly, and lonely woman. She lived in a poor rural house and earned a small living by performing some tasks for neighbors. Whenever she received a small reward for her service to neighbors, she appeared very happy and joyful!
On one clear summer evening, while she was hurrying to her cottage, her face filled with smiles more than ever before, she saw nothing along the way to her cottage except a large black vessel inside a ditch.
The woman cried out, “Oh my goodness, this vessel will be the only thing I own, but if I only had something to put in it. Who could have left this vessel in the hole?”
She looked around, perhaps to see the owner of the vessel, but she could not see anyone.
She continued, saying, “Perhaps there is a hole in the vessel, that is why its owner left it. Now I will carry it with me to put flowers in it on my window.”
Then she lifted the lid of the vessel to look inside, then cried out in surprise, “The vessel is full of gold. I am extremely lucky!” At first, she stood without moving, then said to herself, “I feel I have become fabulously wealthy.”
After repeating that several times, she said to herself, “How will I transport this treasure home? It is extremely heavy.” She thought of tying it with her shawl and dragging it behind her like a cart. She said to herself, “Night will fall soon! But that is better so the neighbors do not see what I brought with me. I will spend the whole night thinking about what I will do with the gold.”
I will buy a large house and sit in front of the fireplace all night drinking tea and not work at all, like a queen. Or perhaps I will bury the jar and take out a few gold pieces from it!
At that time, the woman felt tired from dragging the heavy jar, so she stopped to rest. Then she opened the jar to look at her treasure, but she began to stare at the jar and rub her eyes.
Then she said, “Good, I was thinking it was gold, but I am actually lucky. The jar is full of silver. This means less trouble, and it is not easy to steal it compared to gold. With this large amount of silver, I will become wealthy.”
She began to think about what she would do with the silver until she became tired and stopped again. She looked at the jar, but this time she saw only pieces of iron.
She said, “Good, I was dreaming again, but I am actually lucky. I can get something for the iron pieces, and I will not sleep fearing theft. I can buy what I want with the price of the iron.”
While she was thinking about what she would buy, she became tired and stopped again. She looked inside the jar, but she saw only a large stone inside the jar. She said, “I am actually lucky. I will use this stone to keep the cottage door open.”
When she reached her home, she opened the jar to take out the stone and placed it on the ground. But she found light coming out of it, then it turned into a pile of straw, then four legs and long ears came out of it, and it began to kick and laugh like a mischievous child!
The old woman kept staring at him, then burst out laughing and said, “Good, I am lucky, very lucky. I love to see the Bogey-Beast and laugh at him. Oh God, I feel I am very lucky.”
She entered her cottage with the wild beast and spent the night laughing and guffawing at his movements.
Translated from: The Bogey-Beast