There was once upon a time an old man and an old woman. The old man worked in the fields as a pitch burner, while the old woman sat at home and spun flax. They were so poor that they could save nothing at all; all their earnings went in bare food, and when that was gone there was nothing left. At last the old woman had a good idea.
“Look, now, husband,” cried she, “make me a straw ox, and smear it all over with tar.”
“Why, you foolish woman!” said he, “what’s the good of an ox of that sort?”
“Never mind,” said she; “you just make it. I know what I am about.”
What was the poor man to do? He set to work and made the ox of straw, and smeared it all over with tar.
The night passed away, and at early dawn the old woman took her distaff and drove the straw ox out into the steppe to graze, and she herself sat down behind a hillock and began spinning her flax, and cried:
“Graze away, little ox, while I spin my flax; graze away, little ox, while I spin my flax!” And while she spun, her head drooped down, and she began to doze, and while she was dozing, from behind the dark wood and from the back of the huge pines a bear came rushing out upon the ox and said:
“Who are you? Speak and tell me!”
And the ox said:
“A three-year-old heifer am I, made of straw and smeared with tar.”