HOW WHISKEY ORIGIINATED

KAIP ATSIRADO DEGTINĖ

“Gyveno kartą neturtingas, bet geras žmogelis. Išėjęs dirbti, jis lėtai krutėdavo, neskubėjo ir nesiplėšė............”

Translated from Lithuanian by Gloria Kivytaitė O’Brien

Once there lived a poor but good man, Antanas. When working, he moved slowly, never hurrying, always acting calmly. He neither cursed, nor berated anyone.

This displeased the devil, and he considered how he could seduce this man to anger or cursing. One Sunday morning he sneaked up to the man’s house and waited. Soon the man, dressed in his best clothes, left the house and headed off to church. He walked in silence, enjoying the bright sunshine and hymn-like birdsong. And the devil circled the man, doing mischief: tripping him up, loosing a cloud of mosquitoes toward his nose, even punching him in the side. But the man did not react -- he remained silent. The devil was furious, that the man should be so patient, and jumping toward him, he shoved the man so hard that he fell head-first into a ditch. The fellow rose from the ditch, filthy, his clothing muddy, remarking: “Must have been the devil that brought me here!” – and went on his way.

The devil was pleased that Antanas had spoken his name (which was a bit like cursing in those days), and he rattled off to Hell, to boast of this achievement before his Superior. But this Superior became angry when the devil had described his feat.

”You fool! Instead of leading this man into temptation, you have done him a wrong -- you soiled his clothing. That was a poor man, who has no other holiday clothing. Go and work for him to pay him back for those clothes. And while you are working for him, maybe you can be smart enough to find a way to tempt him.”

The devil returned to the man’s farm, and offered to work for him.

“I don’t need a helper” -- Antanas answered. “On my own, I barely earn enough to keep myself and my children, and you think I should hire a helper …… No, I will not take you.”

“Take me …. take me …. I will work for no pay.”

He talked, and talked, and finally succeeded. Antanas agreed to take him on as a helper.

“So now, what kind of work shall I give you?”

“Go to the landlord, and make an agreement with him, to allocate that large outlying field to you -- the one with all the tree stumps -- and we will clear it and sow wheat.”

Antanas was mystified, but went to the landlord with this request. The landlord was greatly pleased to finally find a man fool enough to work that particular field, and quickly agreed. The man was amazed, on his return home, to find that his helper had already pulled out all the tree stumps and had them neatly stacked.

All on his own, he had harnessed a bedraggled little horse, and was busily plowing the field, raising clouds of dust. Soon the soil was prepared, the wheat was sowed, and quicker than a wink, green shoots had everywhere appeared.

After a while, the landlord was riding around his property and passed by this field.

He and his coachman were rendered breathless by the sight. Everywhere they looked, the soil was neatly plowed, crops, green and golden, waved in the breeze, and tree stumps were neatly stacked. The two of them looked, and looked, and gaping, fell with the carriage into a big muddy puddle. Though the coachman whipped the horses, that did no good -- they began to sink into the mud. The farmer’s helper approached them and shouted:

“Well, my lord, it looks like you’ll sink pretty soon, that is, unless my horse will pull you out.”

“So where is that horse of yours?” said the landlord.

“Right here!” the fellow answered, leading forth the scrawny little horse.

“Is this a joke? That invalid? That corpse? - will pull out horses and carriage?

“Don’t worry, my lord, all will be well. But as payment for my help, you will have to sign over this land, that used to be a field of tree stumps, to my patron, the farmer. If you refuse, you yourself will sink into the mud with your carriage.”

The landlord realized that this was no joke, and agreed.

The devil tied his horse to the landlord’s carriage and shouted some devilish words, and in a couple of seconds, the landlord’s carriage and horses stood on dry ground.

“Some damned devil must have helped you with this!”, the angry landlord spat and hurried back home.

And Antanas, standing nearby, began to thank his helper: “I have become a wealthy man through your work! Now I will at least be able to live comfortably.”

The devil just smirked, and told him, “Well, I have completed all the work, and today I will leave you. Now, you own much land and will have a beautiful grain harvest, and can compete with the landlord as to wealth. And I am going home.”

Of course, he didn’t mention that for him, home is Hell.

“But how can I repay you?” asked Antanas.

“Well, why not have dinner together? I’ll make a nice drink, and we’ll sit around, drink a little, talk a little.” Antanas agreed.

So the devil took a bag of rye flour, mixed it up with other things, caused it to ferment, and by that evening he had a big batch of whiskey. Finally the devil and Antanas sat down together, talking and drinking whiskey. Antanas drank, and frowned, and didn’t understand whether the drink tasted good, or not, but he drinks, and wants more. Eventually, they were both drunk, and began to sing.

Some neighbors, hearing the singing, came to have a look. The devil offered them some whiskey. They all got drunk, and began to curse and spout foul language, and push each other around. And the devil inflamed them: here, he would stretch out a leg to trip someone, there he would push another into a corner, and there again, he would scream into someone’s sensitive ear.

He left them all fighting with one another, and hurried happily home to Hell. There he was congratulated by his Superior, for having found a good way to set people against each other.

Source:

Stories told by Pranas Sasnauskas

in “Lietuvių Sakmės” - “Lithuanian Tales”

Published by “Vaiga” in Lithuania, 2004

This article was printed in Bridges Oct 2009

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