Once upon a time there lived an old woman and an old man. They got married when they were not young any more. Each of them had a daughter. The old woman hated the old man`s daughter made her work hard, while her lazy girl was always sitting on soft pillows and doing nothing.

During a winter night the old woman got up, took some water and put out the fire in the oven. Then she woke up the old man`s daughter and told her to go and bring red-hot coals. She was to go anywhere she liked but not to return without red-hot coals.

The poor girl got up and asked herself: “ Where shall I find a fire now?” When she got out of the house it was raining heavily. She thought that the earth could disappear under the water because of the torents which were pouring down from the sky. The girl got on the roof of the house and looked in all the directions. Suddenly she saw in the East, in a little forest.

She descended from the roof and, in spite of the heavy rain, walked and walked till she reached that place. When she reached the fire she saw two old men warming themselves.

“What are you looking for, my dear girl, at such a time and in such a weather?” one of them asked her.

“I am looking for some red-hot coals. Would you kindly give me some, please!” said the girl weeping and trembling.

“What do you think of the rain, miss? Is this rain good?” asked one of the men.

“It`s nice, dear granpa, it is a very good rain. Everything will grow well: the grains, the flowers in the garden, the roses and other plants. We need rain, because without water we would die of thirst, we would burn alive, and all the springs and water sources would run dry in summer…”

The old man told her to take some red-hot coals. When she went away he blessed her: “Everywhere where she walks let basil grow.”

The girl was walking leaving field of basil. She was very happy. She wasn`t cold any more.

As soon as she got home the old woman looked awry behind her and she was very annoyed. She woke up her daughter and sent her, too, to bring red-hot coals. She thought that her girl would return in the same way as her stepdaughter had.

Thus, the old woman`s daughter got on the roof of the house and she saw a light in the East, then she descended and went there.

When she had reached the fire she was asked what she was looking for. She said, as her stepsister had said, that she was looking for red-hot coals. She was asked if the rain was good. In answer she began to swear and shout. She was making such a noise that even the fire extinguished and a lot of smoke rose. An old man near the fire spat and flames appeared again for them to get the warm. Then she took some coals, stepped into the old man saltva and walked away. Where she was stepping horse thistle was growing. The old man blessed her: “ Let her cough and horse thistle grow till the spitting dries up!”

So she walked and walked coughing and horse thistle was growing behind her. By the time she got home her feet were red with the pricking of the thistle thorns. When the spitting dried up the horse thistle stopped growing, but she continued to cough, because of the odour of basil…

Thus the girl came home coughing. Her mother was looking after her to see basil growing, but there was nothing but coughing. The old woman`s daughter was not used to work hard, to walk in rainy and snowy weather. She did not know how to to sow, she could not weed flowers.

That was why flowers did not grow behind her.