The Old Man in the Sky

An old man and an old woman lived together. Beside their house, they had a small vegetable garden. One day, the old man found an unusual golden bean and planted…

An old man and an old woman lived together. Beside their house, they had a small vegetable garden. One day, the old man found an unusual golden bean and planted it in loose soil, while the old woman carefully watered the garden bed. By the next morning, a green shoot had appeared. It grew astonishingly fast and soon grew past the roof, all the way to the white clouds drifting across the sky.

The old man wanted to find out where the tall stalk led. He did not try to climb without getting ready. He brought a sturdy ladder, tied it to the thick vine, and asked the old woman to check every rung. Then he put on a safety belt attached to a rope and began climbing slowly. The old woman stayed below and made sure the ladder remained straight. In this way, the old man safely reached the soft edge of the cloud.

A bright little cottage stood on the cloud. Its owner, a kind craftswoman, greeted her guest at the door and invited him to rest after the long climb. The cottage smelled of fresh bread, painted cups stood on the shelves, and distant fields could be seen through the window. The old man explained how the remarkable bean had grown and asked whether the owner needed any help.

In the next room, three sisters were spinning flax. One sister's thread had become tangled, another's spools were scattered, and the third was having trouble lifting a large skein. The old man helped untangle the thread, gathered the spools, and placed the skein on a convenient stand. The sisters quickly finished their work. To thank him, they gave him a piece of sturdy cloth and a handful of glowing bean seeds for his garden.

It was time to return home. The owner of the cloud cottage checked the knots on the ladder once more, while the old woman stood below and firmly held its base. The old man calmly climbed down to the ground, hugged the old woman, and showed her the gifts. They made curtains from the cloth and planted the new beans beside a low support so that the harvest would be easy to gather. That evening, the couple sat by the window and remembered their unusual journey, in which caution and helping one another had mattered more than rushing.