Week 13: Celtic Tales B
There was a man named Ivan who needed work so he left his wife at home and went to find elsewhere. He arrived at a farm and worked for a year. At the end of the year, the farmer said that he could pay Ivan his 3 pounds, or give him advice. Ivan was hesitant but ended up taking the advice. The farmer told Ivan "Never leave an old road for a new one." Ivan agreed to work for another year and at the end the farmer gave him the same option. Ivan chose advice and received "Never lodge where an old man is married to a young woman" The next year he heard "Honesty is the best policy." Finally, Ivan decided it was time to return to his wife, but the farmer asked Ivan to stay one more day so the farmer's wife so she could bake him a cake. He agreed and the next day he got the cake with a condition to not eat the cake until his happiest moment.
Ivan headed home and on the way in town ran into some old friends. They asked him to come with them, but they wanted to take the new road so Ivan passed. Soon he heard yelling and realized his friends were being robbed. He yelled "thieves" and the robbers ran away. Ivan met up with his friends in town and they offered to pay for his lodging since he scared the robbers away. Ivan went with them but realized that the owner was an old man married to a young woman. Ivan told his friends that he was going to stay next door. That night, Ivan saw through a hole in the wall the young woman murdered her husband. She claimed that Ivan's friends had to be the murderers since they were the only ones who stayed the night before. His friends were arrested, but Ivan went and explained about what he saw and his friends were set free. After that he went home.
When he arrived, his wife explained that she had just found a purse of gold. Ivan told his wife that it must be the lord's who lived up the street. They took the money back and left it with the lord's servant. The lord stopped by their house one day for a glass of water and Ivan's wife mentioned the purse. The lord did not know anything about it so he asked the wife to point out who they gave it to. The lord went and question the servant and got his money back. He fired that servant and hired Ivan in his place. This made Ivan and his wife so happy they decided to eat the cake from the farmer and inside found his wages from the years he worked for the farmer.
Image Information: Pexels, Gold coins
Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).
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