The Fool and the Birch-Tree
Alexander Afanasyev, Russia
In a certain country there once lived an old man who had three sons. Two of them had their wits about them, but the third was a fool. The old man died and his sons divided his property among themselves by lot. The sharp-witted ones got plenty of all sorts of good things, but nothing fell to the share of the Simpleton but one ox—and that such a skinny one!
Well, fair-time came round, and the clever brothers got ready to go and transact business. The Simpleton saw this, and said:
“I’ll go, too, brothers, and take my ox for sale.”
So he fastened a cord to the horn of the ox and drove it to the town. On his way he happened to pass through a forest, and in the forest there stood an old withered Birch-tree. Whenever the wind blew the B
