The gift of the Wind (A Latvian Folktale)

Once upon a time lived a poor old man in an old cottage. Suddenly a strong wind came, and blew away the roof of his house. The poor old man cried, and thought: "I'm going to the wind, I will complain to him."

He departed and walked the whole day and in the evening, got into a great forest, and there he found a small hut. He went into the hut and asked the farmer: "You do not know where does the wind lives ?"

The farmer said, "I myself am the Wind."

"I came to you to lodge a complaint."

"Why?"

"The wind brought down the roof of my house, and I do not know how to live in it."

"Do not be angry at me I had just happened to stuck one of my wings. I'll give you a kerchief. If you lay the cloth out on the table or the floor, and you will have plenty to eat and drink. So you can live without much trouble."

The old man took his kerchief, thanked the wind for the gift, and left. When he got home, hosted all his relatives and friends. The landlord came to know of this magical kerchief, he sent his men to take the cloth from the old man.

The old man went back to the wind, and complained to him: "The landlord took away the cloth. Can’t you give me something else?"

The Wind said, "Now I will give you a flute. You play the flute the landlord will return your kerchief."

The old man then went home, and once only blew into the flute and everyone started to dance. The landlord came to know of the wonderful flute and, and sent men to bring it from the old man. The old man soon began to play the flute, the landlord’s people also willingly or unwillingly began dancing. They could not do anything else. The landlord was angry, and sent more people to the old man, but with them also the same thing happened.

The Lord did not want to believe, therefore, himself and his wife went to the old man. The only blew the flute, then the landlord and his wife danced, they danced, and danced till they dropped, and begged the old man to stop playing the flute .

The old man then asked, "Will you return my kerchief?"

The Lord replied: "Yes, yes"

Then the old man got back the kerchief and then lived happily until his death.

Translated from Hungarian by me