The Gold Watermelon
A folktale from Uzbekistan
Retold by Jackie Baldwin
Once upon a time, a poor Uzbek peasant worked constantly in his small field. When spring came, he plowed the earth twice and sat down to rest by a nearby river. A stork fell down out of the sky. The peasant saw that one of its wings was broken. “Oh, you poor, poor little thing!” He cradled the stork in his arms, brought it home and tied a splint to its wing. He took loving care of the bird, helping it heal. Finally, it got well enough to fly away.
Some time later the peasant was again planting cotton seeds and the stork flew over him, dropping three watermelon seeds. Soon those watermelon seeds merged with the cotton seeds. The peasant weeded, irrigated and hoed all the plants.
At harvest time, he picked three big watermelons and took them home to have a party for his friends and relatives. He stuck his knife into one watermelon, but he could not cut it. He tried again with the second and third watermelons. No luck. What a surprise!
So his guests smashed a watermelon on the ground and it split open. “Oh, look!” Another surprise! The inside bulged with gold coins. The second and third watermelons held gold coins, too. The poor man laughed and shared all the gold. He quickly collected the remaining watermelons from his field and thus he became very rich.
The peasant’s greedy, jealous neighbor asked the poor man: “How did you get so rich so quickly?” The unsuspecting peasant told him the whole story about the fallen stork and its broken wing and how he helped heal the injured bird.
The rich neighbor thought: “Aha! I want that gold for myself!” He went to the river and spied a stork. He snuck up on it and threw a heavy stick at its leg, breaking it in several places. Of course, it could not fly after that. The rich man caught the bird, brought it home, tied a splint to its leg, and took resentful care of it. In time the stork’s leg got well and it flew away. The rich farmer then went every day to the river and waited. One day the familiar stork flew above him, dropped two seeds and flew away.
The seeds grew into watermelons. As soon as the they ripened, the rich man invited all his relatives to celebrate. But when he cut the watermelon open, huge hornets flew out, stinging all the guests.
The rich man got up to drive the hornets away, but they did not pay attention and stung the man’s head and face. Soon his head, nose and lips started to swell—and swell—and swell with welts as big as watermelons. He could not stand the pain, threw himself into the river and drifted downstream, never to be seen again.
The poor man received rewards because of his kindness, but the rich man got punished for his evil deeds.
A fun family recipe
Watermelon Make-Believe Donuts
What you need:
• Sour cream
• Sugar to taste
• Vanilla to taste
• Slivered almonds
How you do it:
Cut out donut circles from 1-1/2-inch thick slices of seedless watermelon and scoop out a hole in the middle of the circle. Sweeten sour cream with sugar and a touch of vanilla to taste. Frost half of the watermelon donut slices and sprinkle with almonds. Add another layer of watermelon circles and top with sweetened sour cream. Sprinkle toasted slivered almonds on top and serve.
Jackie Baldwin is the host of Story Lovers World on Sun FM 91.3, Sundays from 5 to 6 p.m. Her column supports sustainable agriculture and encourages families to plant their own gardens. To achieve this goal, the Sonoma Valley Sun is offering one free packet of seeds each week to anyone who drops by our offices at 158 W. Napa Street, Sonoma.
