There lived a rich farmer and his wife. They had a daughter; when she grew up, she became a very beautiful lady. The parents loved and pampered their only daughter, and she became so lazy that no one wanted to marry her. There had been rumours that she caught a very serious disease - "obstinacy". If the daughter did not like something, she immediately threw all her things, went to bed and lay motionless on her back until her desire would be carried out.
Once a young wealthy master came to the farmer: to woo his daughter. Her mother praised her sleek child in every way, saying that it would be hard to say goodbye and to live without her daughter. But the farmer, a simple and honest man, said bluntly to the eligible bachelor:
"If you like my daughter, then take her but you should bear no grudge against me. I tell you in advance: she has been suffering from a disease called "obstinacy."
The young man thought a little and said,
"All right, father, come what may, I'll take her. Where could you find a family, that has no skeleton in the cupboard? Sometimes I myself suffer from a serious illness."
"And what's this disease?" - asked the farmer.
"If I drink cold water on an empty stomach, then I get mad till I have some lunch." - replied the young man.
They discussed the matter in all different ways, then finally decided that "the restive mare" and "the rabid stallion" should get married. And so it happened: the young master married the beautiful lady and they began to live in peace and harmony in his house.
They lived this way for about a month but one day, all of a sudden, the young wife decided to visit her mother. The husband begged her to wait for some time:
"It's the rush season now," he said. "We need to plough the field - we should work ourselves to the bone!"
The master told her that she had no choice, called a farm worker and went to plough with him. Here the young women immediately fell ill: she lay down in her bed, still as a statue. Her look was plainly saying, "Sorry for you, fellows. I have nothing to do with your business!"
A girl farmhand came in the bedroom and said, "Mistress, it's time to prepare lunch and carry meal to the ploughmen." The mistress was just lying in bed and only hissing like a snake, not saying a word. The girl was terrified and darted out of the cottage.
At that time the master with his worker were ploughing the field and waiting for the afternoon meal, but they waited in vain - no one had brought them the meal. Then an idea occurred to the master, what if his wife fell ill with "obstinacy"? So he told the farm worker:
"Let's plough till noon and then go home. If the meal is not cooked at home, then you do what I'm going to say; and when I start to beat you, hide under the bed."
So they did. They worked until noon, came home and found that the mistress was lying in the bed, but there was not even a smell of food. The master then told the farm worker:
"I'm a little bit tired and don't want to eat. Give me a cup of cold water to drink. I will take a rest while horses are eating."
His wife has heard these words and trembled with fear. She remembered the "disease" of her husband. She was glad to jump out of her bed, but understood that her husband would not believe her the next time. So she remained lying in bed and thought that there was no need to indulge her husband. The master sipped some water and began to walk about the room, whistling. He was going around the room and saying:
"I have nothing to eat but why? Am I such a poor bloke? Maybe, I am too lazy to work or there is no food in the house? Well, good man, give me some more water!"
The master drank some water, then drank almost a bucket of water, and then he hit the floor with the bucket that its shards flew in all directions. He ran about the room faster and faster, speaking louder to the worker:
"What a bastard you are, man! My wife is still on the weak, and you can't even cook the dinner! Here you are, murderer, now I'll teach you in my own way! I'll teach you, chump!"
Then he rushed to a stable, grabbed a horsewhip from the hook, came back into the bedroom and gripped a hand of the poor worker. The worker huddled under the bed in a flash. The "mad" master struck on the bed so hard, that almost all ambitions of his wife were taken off by a single blow. But it did not care the man: he pulled his wife out of the bed, he threw her in the middle of the hut and began to beat her with the whip. The master was beating and shouting, as if it was not his wife but the worker:
"My wife is barely alive from the disease, and you, devil's limb, could not cook the dinner! Well, bro, hold on to your hat! I'll teach you!"
The unhappy woman screamed and wailed, but the husband tore her body so long as she promised to get rid of her illness. Only then he threw the whip and let the mistress go. He crashed to the ground, immediately fell asleep and began to snore, shivering in his sleep.
The woman instantly rushed to kindle a fire in the oven and to cook the dinner for her husband. Then the servant crawled out from under the bed. The mistress was sobbing and whispering:
"Devil pushed you to hide under the bed! Why haven't you run away?"
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I was not aware that he could be so mad!"
"It happened to him from the cold water. Why had you brought him the water?" "Both of us were gasping for a drink. But if you had known about his quirk, why did you let him drink the cold water?" And at that moment the master woke up. He raised his head and said, looking around:
"Oh, my head hurts from pain! Bro, give me a drink of water!"
His wife immediately ran to him:
"Hubby, you should not drink cold water! It's better to drink warm milk; here it is. Go to the table; you have not had a crumb in your mouth, I suppose!"
The husband got up, sat down to the table, ate his fill and gratefully thanked his wife for the delicious dinner. Since then, the master had never seen his wife on the weak. She always took care of her husband, and he never drank cold water on an empty stomach.
![The Lazy Wife [Славянский Владимир Владимирович]](/img/s/slawjanskij_wladimir_wladimirowich/thelazywife/thelazywife.jpg)