Cunning sorceress

In one very large city, where people are like bees in a hive, and everyone interferes with something, there lived an old sorcerer. He never did evil to people, but on the contrary, he did good. Removed evil eyes, damage and curses. He spoke for good luck, healed ailments to the best of his ability. He never had a shortage of petitioners. But the sorcerer is also a man, and therefore not eternal. The time has come for him to die, and to pass on his gift by inheritance through one generation, as it has been established in this family from time immemorial.

In one very large city, where people are like bees in a hive, and everyone interferes with something, there lived an old sorcerer. He never did evil to people, but on the contrary, he did good. Removed evil eyes, damage and curses. He spoke for good luck, healed ailments to the best of his ability. He never had a shortage of petitioners. But the sorcerer is also a man, and therefore not eternal. The time has come for him to die, and to pass on his gift by inheritance through one generation, as it has been established in this family from time immemorial.

The old sorcerer had only three heirs - Marya, Nastasya and Natalya. Smart granddaughters, kind-hearted, gifted with witchcraft abilities. They are good to everyone, and the old man loved them equally, and therefore did not want to offend anyone with inattention. I decided to divide my magical inheritance into three equal parts - so that each heiress would get as much as the others. The gift was three times less in strength, but the knowledge and skills were the same for all three granddaughters from their grandfather along with the order - to help people, not to quarrel among themselves, not to waste magical power on stupidity.

The relatives of the old man were buried and mourned. Grief in the family, but people with their needs continue to go, looking for help. And now there are already three helpers-saviors - they can do three times more good. And in order not to quarrel among themselves, as the grandfather ordered before his death, the sisters decided to share the duties equally. A list was made of the most common troubles people go to them with, and the contents of this list were divided into three equal parts.

- I'll remove the evil eye. It's simple, but it's often handled," Marya volunteered.

“And I'll deal with curses,” said Nastasya. - There are fewer of them, but it is more difficult to remove this attack.

Natalya was left with damage - they rarely do such evil, and it is the most difficult thing to defeat him, because it seems like everything turned out honestly. Well, other help was also distributed among themselves according to the same principle.

* * *

A month passed, another, and Marya and Nastasya began to notice that honest people did not aspire to them for help, and petitioners did not line up for Natalya. We decided to follow what the sister is doing, that there is more attention and trust in her. They spied, overheard, asked people, and then came to visit with a claim.

Why did you decide to shoulder our responsibilities, huh? Why do you take up the evil eye and curses, if it is agreed that you will only remove damage? It's not fair, sister, you're doing it.

- What's wrong with that? Natalia threw up her hands. - Remember how it was. Marya wanted to do salvation from the evil eye, Nastasya chose the work of getting rid of curses for herself, but I didn't choose anything. I agreed with your decision. Remove spoilage? Well, that's how I do it. What is a curse? This is a corruption, induced by an evil word. What is the evil eye? This is damage, from a bad look and unkind thoughts arising. And witchcraft damage happens, and random ... You yourself are not a third of the work on me, but you have charged all possible types of damage, and now you are also finding fault. And I get more gratitude with trust from people, because, according to your decision, I don't drive anyone away from me.

Marya and Nastasya looked at each other - and after all, the sister is right. They did not think that the evil eye and the curse are also damage. They drove to each other those who came with other problems, but they did not see that refusal offends people.

* * *

The three sisters sat down again to think about how they could fulfill their grandfather's order - both to help people and not to quarrel among themselves. They realized that in vain the responsibilities were divided. In vain they followed each other and checked whether anyone was doing something superfluous that was not provided for in the list. After all, Grandfather did not say that a gift equally divided and good deeds should be equally divided. They thought about it and decided that they would no longer do such stupid things. To whom a person with a misfortune came, he will drive out this misfortune. And if he himself can't cope, then he will call the sisters for help, so that with triple strength he will defeat evil.

Decided something decided, but too late. So Marya and Nastasya remained on the sidelines, because rumors quickly diverged between people, especially bad ones. Natalya is a kind woman, she helps everyone, people went to her, and if anyone stopped by Marya and Nastasya now, it was only because they didn't want to wait for their turn to see the sought-after sorceress.

Natalya did not offend the sisters, she herself seemed unable to cope with all the problems at once - she called for help, praised in front of people, but what's the point? Where the need is greater, there the good gift of witchcraft reaches out. And a year has not passed, and Marya and Nastasya have lost their parts of the inheritance - all the grandfather's witchcraft to Natalia is gone. The sisters sighed, of course, but what can you do, since it happened?

Natalya also sighed, but for show, rejoicing in her soul that the stupid sisters did not notice her cunning. It was she who offered to share the responsibilities, and then waited for the sisters to write down in their lists what is simpler. A whole gift is better than a third, and a self-respecting sorceress does not have to be content with a part if she can get everything