It was raining like a bucket. The water was pouring down the windshield in torrents so that the wipers could barely cope. In this area they say: "it's pouring like from a sieve of Uliana." Through the curtain of rain, I saw and was even taken aback by surprise: a woman with a child was walking along the side of the road. I honked my horn, opened the back door, and the three of us were in the car. "We didn't make it to the bus," the passenger said after a while, quietly, as if apologizing. - We decided to go, and then suddenly it started to rain! she unwound the dark blue raincoat, and a head with white bows appeared from there. - say hello to your uncle, tell him your name. "Ulyana," the girl said, and was ashamed, hiding in her cloak again. - Oh, that's who I'm driving in the car, that's who sent a downpour on us. Show me your solution, Ulyanka. "No," Mom laughed. - She has nothing to do with it, it's a saying in our village... And my mother suggested calling my daughter that, and no one was against it. - Then please tell me why you say that. Maybe there is some legend associated with this saying? "I know, and I'll be happy to tell you," the young mother immediately delighted me. - Grandmother Ulyana lived in the village where I come from a long time ago. Everyone knew her as a kind herbalist, and she was also the mistress of the rain. She could not only summon it, but also disperse the lingering downpours with her charms and disperse the clouds. And Ulyana had a wonderful sieve, they said that his shell was all pitch black. A tree like that... And the net seemed to be woven from the manes of wild horses. Seven immaculate girls from seven wells brought her a quart of water and poured it into this sieve. At the same time, the water remained in it, did not spill onto the ground. And Ulyana was walking with a full sieve of water to a large hill, which is still preserved outside the village. Lifting her burden over her head, she softly uttered the necessary words, and after that, water slowly began to drip from the sieve. And the more often it dripped, the thicker the clouds gathered around and the rain began. And to stop the bad weather, Ulyana covered herself with an empty sieve and went to the same hill, but at the same time the Rain did not pour through the sieve on grandma, and she was as if under an umbrella. She uttered a spell, and the sky gradually cleared of clouds... I just managed to tell you everything, and the rain stopped, thank God," my companion said. - Stop, please, near that bend. The baby jumped out of the car first and ran down the road. < p>– and who will say Thank you! Her mother called after her. < P> and as I was driving by, I saw two children's hands waving at me over the white bows.