But Poverty did not move, did not seem disturbed by the poor man’s outburst. She simply looked at him and asked: ‘What will you do to me when no man can hurt me nor kill me? I am an apparition and cannot be harmed. Give me the bone and I will leave you and your family in peace for one whole day.’
Jonek was very hungry, but he could not resist the offer of one whole day of peace; one whole day without Poverty preying on his family.
He wiped the tears from his eyes and surrendered the bone to the strange creature.
Poverty snatched the bone from Jonek’s shaking hand and began eagerly gnawing every last scrap of meat. Seeing a small hole at the rounded end of the bone, she placed a skeletal hand inside, then another; then, like a ghostly snake, she slid inside the bone so that she could better suck at the juicy marrow hidden in the hollow.
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Jonek suddenly had an idea. He found a short twig in the grass at his feet and jammed the twig into the hole, trapping Poverty inside the bone. Then he threw the bone out across the river and watched it splash into the water and sink beneath the murky surface.
As soon as the bone disappeared from sight, Jonek felt peace in his heart, as if a great weight had been lifted for the first time in many years.
Jonek turned away from the river and cast the apparition from his mind forever. He began to whistle a happy tune and, for the first time that he could remember, he began to feel optimistic about the future.
On his way home he passed by the village inn and was greeted by old friends and neighbours. They invited him inside to share a drink. They began to reminisce about old times, and many of the villagers gathered that night recalled Jonek’s hardworking nature and his kindness towards others. They began to ask him if he might help them around their farms or businesses as they all remembered that Jonek was very skilled and very diligent in his work.
The eldest of the group brought out a stack of gold coins, giving Jonek two hundred pieces of gold with which to buy a horse and provide for his family. Jonek gratefully accepted, vowing to repay the gold as soon as he was able, and immediately returned home to his wife.
By the time Jonek arrived at his little house on the edge of the village, the sun was rising across the fields. He found his wife and children in the garden waiting for him, all of them smiling and joyful.
‘The people of the village came to visit us while you were away and they gave to us this cart full of flour and wheat and barley and beans!’ exclaimed his wife. ‘There is also meat and warm clothes for the children!’
Jonek was overcome with joy and dropped to his knees and said a prayer of gratitude. ‘Finally,’ he thought, ‘the curse of Poverty has been lifted from my family so that we might once more live in peace and happiness.’
From that day forwards, Jonek’s luck grew from strength to strength. He built a new house for his family and bought a small farm in a neighbouring field. He also bought two horses and some cows and even an ox.
He busied himself in the forest, cutting wood and selling the timber to villagers all across the county. Soon he became so busy that he was able to hire a young farmhand, and he watched with a happy heart as his family grew strong and healthy.
Everybody in the village was pleased for Jonek and his family; everybody except for Antek who grew jealous and resentful of his brother’s good fortune.
