Mandiano was the name of the farm that stood near the city of Sibur. One lazy peasant lived on it. He was too lazy to do everything, but he had enough at home. The roof was always repaired, the sheep were turned out, there was always milk in clay jugs. Everyone was surprised: how can this be? Even in the morning, the grass in the meadow behind the house stands above the waist, and by noon the whole meadow has been mowed, but no one has worked on it. There, you see, the hay has been collected, but the owner has not shown his nose from the house.
This lazy man’s wife also became thoughtful. And then one Sunday, when her husband was leaving the house, she saw that he was hiding something in the jasmine bush near the house.
My wife went to look and found a box in a bush. Opened it.
A dozen flies flew out of the box. They curl around her face, blind her eyes, and buzz in her ears.
- What should we do? What to do? What to do? - they ask.
The wife was surprised and said:
- Go back where you came from.
And the flies immediately returned to the box. The wife closed it and put it back.
And when her husband came, she told him everything. He had to admit that these flies in the house do all the work.
And the flies now began to do not only what the husband said, but also what the wife ordered. The house will be cleaned, the dishes will be washed, the clothes will be washed, the grass will be cut, they will go hunting, and the husband and wife will lie on their beds and bask in the sun. We even started to get bored. And it was as if a demon had possessed the flies.
- What should we do? - buzzing. - What should we do?
The wife gave them a sieve and said:
- Apply water to the barrel from the top near the windmill, and from that barrel water the meadow behind the house.
The wife decided that the flies couldn’t do this: don’t put water into a barrel without a bottom with a sieve, don’t water the meadow from a bottomless barrel, and there hasn’t been any water in the top near the windmill for a long time. But not even a minute had passed before flies hover under her nose and buzz:
- What should we do? What to do? The wife couldn't stand it. She woke up her lazy husband and said:
- Enough. You and I need to get rid of these flies.
“We must,” the husband answers. “But every fly is supposed to be paid, and as much as it earned.”
“There are twelve geese sitting in the attic,” says the wife. Let's give them to the flies!
And as soon as she said so, the geese began to cackle and disappeared into the clouds, and with them the flies from that unfortunate box. They didn’t appear in Mandiano again, and that’s not bad: the husband and wife started working themselves, and life became more fun for them.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru