an honest and poor old woman was washing clothes at a pool, when a bird that a hunter had disabled by a shot in the wing, fell down into the water before her. she gently took up the bird, carried it home with her, dressed its wound, and fed it until it was well, when it soared away. some days later it returned, put before her an oval seed, and departed again. the woman planted the seed in her yard and when it came up she recognized the leaf as that of a melon. she made a trellis for it, and gradually a fruit formed on it, and grew to great size.
toward the end of the year, the old dame was unable to pay her debts, and her poverty so weighed upon her that she became ill. sitting one day at her door, feverish and tired, she saw that the melon was ripe, and looked luscious; so she determined to try its unknown quality. taking a knife, she severed the melon from its stalk, and was surprised to hear it chink in her hands. on cutting it in two, she found it full of silver and gold pieces, with which she paid her debts and bought supplies for many days.
among her neighbours was a busybody who craftily found out how the old woman had so suddenly become rich. thinking there was no good reason why she should not herself be equally fortunate, she washed clothes at the pool, keeping a sharp lookout for birds until she managed to hit and maim one of a flock that was flitting over the water. she then took the disabled bird home, and treated it with care till its wing healed and it flew away. shortly afterward it came back with a seed in its beak, laid it before her, and again took flight. the woman quickly planted the seed, saw it come up and spread its leaves, made a trellis for it, and had the gratification of seeing a melon
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form on its stalk. in prospect of her future wealth, she ate rich food, bought fine garments, and got so deeply into debt that, before the end of the year, she was harried by duns. but the melon grew apace, and she was delighted to find that, as it ripened, it became of vast size, and that when she shook it there was a great rattling inside. at the end of the year she cut it down, and divided it, expecting it to be a coffer of coins; but there crawled out of it two old, lame, hungry beggars, who told her they would remain and eat at her table as long as they lived.
