Storytelling Week 13: Strelka Bar

The bartender noticed that the man who had been sitting at the bar for the past few hours just kept looking sadder and sadder. He was hesitant to go up and talk to him, especially since it was 1 am and he knew he had a lot of cleaning to do before he could go home, and he really didn't want to stay past 2 am. He went around gathering cups from the empty tables, and tidying up the almost empty bar, but couldn't shake the feeling that the man needed someone to talk to. He looked at the clock, saw that it was 1:30, sighed and went and sat on the stool next to the man.

"Hey man, are you okay? You look pretty upset"

The man looked up at him with tired, sad eyes, and said "I've made a really big mistake".

They sat in silence for a moment, then the man continued his story.

"I'm just so tired. So tired of being treated so poorly. My wife hates me and does everything she can to make my life miserable. On days that I know I'm going to be busy, I kindly ask her to make me breakfast, and she says no and calls me a thief. If I say that it's okay that she doesn't make me food, she does it and tells me to eat it all, but still calls me a thief. If I ask her to help me out on the farm, she refuses, but if I try to go do it, she goes out there to work and makes me leave her alone. I could only take so much hatred and so much misery in my life, so I took matters into my own hands.

I was out walking yesterday morning and picked berries. I came across a huge pit and was feeling very sorry for myself, and decided I thought my wife deserved to pay for the way she's treated me. I returned home and told her that she shouldn't go out and pick berries in the forest, which I, of course, knew she'd do because it was the exact opposite of what I told her. So she went out and I lured her into the pit, and she went in and couldn't get out. It just felt so nice to go home and not feel so unwanted. I had a quiet evening after, but started to realize that I should probably check on her. This morning, I went to the pit and put rope down, and much to my surprise, a demon came out, terrified. He said that an evil woman had eaten all of the other creatures down there. I was scared, so I dropped the demon down and came here. I just don't know what to do. I'm supposed to protect and cherish my wife, but I left her down in a pit, and I really don't feel bad about it. I don't want to be married to her anymore, but I also feel wrong keeping her in the pit forever, kind of. Well, maybe not, but I should, right? What do I do?"

The bartender was very perplexed and realized that the man was more sad at the thought of having his wife come home. He had heard about this evil woman and knew that the man was better off without her.

"I think that you need to do what makes you happy, even if it means leaving her down in the pit forever."

The man smiled and said "That's exactly what I was thinking."

So the man finished his drink, left the bar, and lived happily ever after without worrying about his evil wife.

(Men at a bar)

Bibliography: This story is based on the story "The Bad Wife" in Russian Folktales by W.R.S Ralston in the British Unit. 

Author's Note: This story stood out to me immediately because the wife hated her husband so much, but didn't seem to have any particular reason for doing so. She would do the opposite of what he said, for example, if he'd ask her to wake up early, she'd sleep late, if he wanted breakfast, she wouldn't cook it for him, but if he didn't want breakfast she would, and basically did anything she could to defy him. He was out sulking one day and found a pit, and decided he didn't want his wife in his life anymore. He decided to tell her to not go for a walk in the forest to pick berries, fully aware that she would do the opposite and go for a walk. He lured her out into the forest and trapped her in a pit. He went back and checked on her and ended up pulling out a demon who was terrified of his wife being down there, because she had eaten all of the other demons. I thought it would be fun to make it seem like the husband was drinking in a bar because he was sad that he got rid of his wife, when in reality he was just sad at the notion that he might need to bring her home.