There lived one king. He had a huge field. They plowed that field for the king, sowed it, and he appointed twelve watchmen. One is standing in the middle of the field, and eleven are walking towards him all day from the edges - they just can’t get there. In the spring, when there was a good harvest, a bull came to the field and began to eat the bread. In an instant he ate the entire harvest, but as soon as he ate it he fell down and died. A dead bull's body lies on the king's field, while its legs, tail and head lie on the neighbor's field.
The sun rose, a crow flew in, dug its claws into the bull and carried him to the nest. Suddenly he sees a raven - a shepherd tends a flock of sheep; The crow liked the place, she sat on the horn of one of the sheep, made herself comfortable and began to snack on the bull. The crow ate and ate - it ate everything. She dropped only the side of the bull and flew away.
Bok lay on the ground for a long time. Somehow the wind blew, this side rose and hit the shepherd right in the eye. The shepherd had three sons-in-law: the king of birds, the king of beasts and the king of the seas. The shepherd went to the bird king and said: “I don’t know, something got in my eye, can you get it out?”
The bird king sent all the birds into the shepherd's eye to find out what was bothering him. The birds searched and searched, searched for two weeks, but were not found and flew away. The shepherd went to the king of beasts. “I’ve clogged my eye with something, can you help me?”
The king of beasts sent all his subjects into the eyes of the shepherd to find out what was bothering him. They searched, the animals searched, they searched for two weeks, but they couldn’t find them and fled.
The shepherd became sad and went to the king of the sea. The sea king opened all the seas and rivers and let them fall on the shepherd's eye. They walked and walked, walked for two weeks, and finally took the bull's side out of the shepherd's eye. The shepherd rested, thanked the king and left.
And the bull's side is lying on the seashore. Merchants passed along the shore, they liked the side of the bull, they built a whole city on it and began to live and get along.
But woe is there - there is little meat left on the bone. A fox came and began to tug at him; as soon as it pulls, the side will sway, merchant houses will collapse.
The merchants became worried and began to look for a person who could save them from such trouble. A three-day-old child came to the merchants and said: “Give me three bullets, I’ll save you from trouble.”
The merchants were delighted and gave him three bullets. A three-day-old child shot at a fox and killed it. They took the fox, skinned it and said to the child: “What can I give you for saving us?” “Give me half of the fox skin,” he said, “and keep the other half for yourself.” They gave him half of the skin, and the entire merchant city dressed itself with the other half. The boy took his half and sewed himself a dress, but there wasn’t enough for the sleeves or the floors.
Who is bigger: a bull, a crow, a sheep, a shepherd, a bone, a fox or that child? “A child,” they will say.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru