The Village Headwoman

There was a spirited woman. Her husband came home from the village council, and she asked him: “What were you discussing there?”

There was a spirited woman. Her husband came home from the village council, and she asked him:

“What were you discussing there?”

“What do you think? We were choosing a village head.”

“And whom did you choose?”

“No one yet.”

“Choose me,” said the woman. Her husband went straight back to the council. She had a nasty temper, and he wanted to teach her a lesson. He told the elders what she had said, and they immediately elected her village head. So the woman took charge, settled disputes, gave orders, drank wine with the peasants, and took bribes.

The time came to collect the poll tax. The headwoman could not get it collected in time. A Cossack arrived and asked for the village head, but the woman wanted to hide: as soon as she heard he had come, she hurried home.

“Where can I hide? Where can I hide?” she said to her husband. “My dear husband, put me in a sack, tie it up, and stand it over there with the sacks of grain.”

There were five sacks of spring grain standing there. Her husband tied up the sack with the headwoman inside and set it among the others. The Cossack came in and said:

“Aha, the village head is hiding!”

He began lashing the sack with his whip. The woman cried out at the top of her voice:

“Oh, good sir, I won’t be village head! I won’t be village head!”

The Cossack whipped her and left. The woman gave up being village head and obeyed her husband after that.