Once upon a time there lived a poor Jew, so poor that he almost never had either bread or firewood at home. So one winter, a poor man got two pennies, brought them to his wife and said:
“Here’s two pennies for you, go quickly and buy some firewood.” The wife was delighted and ran to the market, but everyone was asking much more for firewood than she had. Only one peasant asked for four groschen. She began to beg people: lend me two pennies, but no one wanted to lend these pennies to the poor woman. She cried and wailed:
“Where has it been heard that an entire family froze to death for two pennies?”
But no one cares about her. People listen and pass by indifferently.
Suddenly an old, old Jew approaches the woman and asks:
- Why are you crying so much, woman?
She told him about her grief.
The old Jew (and this was not an ordinary Jew, but Elijah the Prophet himself) took two pennies out of his pocket, handed them to her and silently left.
The woman was delighted, bought a bundle of firewood, brought it home and told her husband about what happened to her. Instead of being happy, the husband became very angry with his wife.
- What have you done, stupid! - shouts. - Why did you let the old man go? It was probably Elijah the prophet!
They ran to the market, searched and searched for the old Jew, but there was no trace of him.
But Elijah the prophet left them happiness. The firewood bought with his pennies never ran out.
The more they took from that bundle, the more firewood there was in the barn. They began to sell the extra firewood, and the more they sold, the more they added, so that the poor people soon became rich.
Cat and mouse, the end of the fairy tale.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru