Once upon a time three girls went to the forest to pick wild strawberries. Two of them were the farmer's daughters, the third was an orphan who had no mother or father and had to work very hard for her living. Picking the berries none of the girls noticed that they had reached the heart of the forest. Suddenly they saw in front of them an old woman, in rags and half naked, sleeping in the sun. The farmer's daughters laughed and scoffed at the old woman, but the orphan said,

"Don't laugh at her! Maybe she's come a long way and is tired."

The orphan took off her apron and covered with ft the old woman's half-naked body and her tattered clothes. The farmer's daughters went laughing their way.

This must have woken the old woman. She thanked the girl, saying,

"Dear child, thank you for your kindness! I was tired out by hard work and fell asleep. I'm the mother of three winds. When you hear the wind rustling in the tree-tops, you'll know it's me. With the wind I help people in many ways, although sometimes I punish them with storms, too. I can't repay your kindness with money or a fortune, but when your work is too hard for you and you're very tired, call out 'Mother Wind, Mother Wind, come to help me! I'll try then to relieve your burden."

Saying this, Mother Wind disappeared. The orphan caught up with the other two girls and, they went home together.

The hay-making season arrived. The farmer sent the orphan to the field to make hay. The girl mowed until she was covered with sweat and had no strength left, but there was still a lot of work to do. At the end of her tether, the orphan remembered what Mother Wind had told her and she cried out, "Mother Wind, Mother Wind, come to help me, I can't go on any longer!"

Instantly Mother Wind appeared and told her, "You lie down now and have a rest, I'll do the mowing."

The girl was so tired that she fell asleep at once. When Mother Wind woke her up at last, the girl saw that the whole field had been mown. However, Mother Wind forbid her to tell anyone who had helped her.

The girl went home and told the farmer that she had finished her work. The farmer wouldn't believe her because it wasn't possible for one person to do it so quickly. It was actually the work for five or six people. He went to have a look himself because, as the saying goes, seeing is believing: indeed, the whole field had been mown.

Another year passed and whenever the girl felt the work was beyond her, she called Mother Wind to help her.

Now, the orphan became well-known in the neighbourhood thanks to her diligence and her kind heart. A young farmer came to woo her and was gladly accepted. Soon the wedding bells were ringing. The man, too, was hard-working and kind, and they lived very happily. When it was harvesting time or they had some other hard work to do, Mother Wind came to the young wife's help. The family's prosperity grew with each passing day. They had three children, two sturdy boys and a girl.

But the neighbours were envious of their happiness and prosperity, because the young woman alone managed to do more work than their whole family together. There was talk in the village that the woman had help from evil spirits.

Even the husband began to wonder and asked his wife who her help& was. Although the wife begged him not to ask questions, because she had been forbidden to say it, the man insisted. At last the, wife told him that it was Mother Wind who helped her. From that time on, however, Mother Wind never helped her again. The wife called and begged her, but it was all in vain. Now the husband and the wife lived the same way as all their neighbours and had to work just as hard. The husband truly regretted what he had done but it couldn't be helped. Mother Wind never appeared again.

David Bocchi

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