Latverian Folktales

Tiny Sjvetlana

Once upon a time there was a happy couple with a beautiful daughter, but one day she got sick. They did everything they could to heal her but she died, and they were very sad. Nothing could ever replace their little girl- then a witch yeeted a baby through their window.

"Hee hee hee!" She cackled as she ran away. The grieving couple were very shocked.

"Oh, what the hell!"

"It is a talking baby!"

"I'm not a baby!" The baby stood up and walked over to them. "How much did you buy me for!"

"We did not buy you, you just let yourself in."

"She wouldn't just give me to you for...that whore!" The "baby" explained that her name was Sjvetlana, and she was a young lady, a tiny one but very much a blossoming young woman. She had been abandoned as a child and taken by a Capcaun, but when the Capcaun saw that she would grow no more she was sold to a witch, whom she had served well but the witch complained that she couldn't reach high shelves, so the witch had sold her to a Werewolf as a pet. But the Werewolf was a neglectful owner, so she escaped, and was captured by another witch, who took her to a King, but he had enough little people in his collection so the witch kept her as a pet but soon bored of her when she refused to tell fortune and other unholy activities. And that was how she had ended up here.

"Oh, you poor thing!" Said the wife. "We can't just leave you out in the cold!" Her husband agreed and took her in, giving her clothing, food and shelter, in exchange for what work she could do.

One day the husband was setting off to town to sell an old cow and some old, worn saddle, among other things that his wife wished to get rid of. Tiny Sjvetlana insisted on coming along, she had never seen a town before. She put on her best dress and best ribbons.

"Sjvetlana, why are you so dressed up?" Asked the husband.

"Perhaps I will meet a fine, young gentleman, and stop being such a burden to you."

"You are no burden to us, you have been a godsend." She had certainly brightened the mood and distracted them from their grief.

"But I could do more, perhaps you will tire of me and sell me to someone for a bag of gold."

"You are worth all the gold in all the world, and the moon, and the sun, and the sparkling stars in the sky, and all the silver and diamonds too- even the bronze pot, copper cup, and the tin in the cabinet, and several jingly, tingly fruits."

"And I will prove it to you, shall we go?" When they got to the market she was amazed, so many people, noises and smells. "What is that!"

"It is a Church bell, have you never heard one?"

"It is so loud up close, are they all that big?" Svjetlana wondered what the inside looked like.

"What do you have here?" Asked the mayor.

"A cow, a saddle and some old junk that any poor man might need, God does not let us all prosper."

"Moo."

"But it is no normal cow, it came from a seed."

"One can grow cows?"

"One can grow anything, and if you water it with love and care, and the best nourishment, and tend to it's gentle soul it will grow even more for you."

"How old is the cow?"

"9 years old."

"That is very old."

"It is not, look at that tree, someone planted it many years ago and just now that drunkard is enjoying it's shade."

"What about the saddle and other assorted things?"