The Almighty once called a predictor to himself and said:
- I decided to make you poor. Choose what is better for you: to become poor when you are young or when you are old.
The fortuneteller thought for a moment and answered:
“I’ll go and consult with my wife.”
He came to his wife, and they began to think and guess what answer to give.
“Old age is already hard enough, and then poverty will come,” said the wife. “If God so wishes, let him make us poor while we are young.”
And then their livestock began to die, their property burned down, and when almost nothing was left, the wife said:
“We have always been known here as hardworking and decent people.” And now it’s a shame to look people in the eyes: they have become real beggars. Let's go to other places where no one knows us.
They took their two sons with them and moved east. They walked and walked and in the evening they came to some city. They stopped on its outskirts, ate and went to bed: the sons in the middle, the mother on one side, the father on the other.
And in these places thieves operated. Therefore, the merchant who brought his caravan here set up a guard and sent guards in all directions so that they could thoroughly examine the area. So the guards came across the sleeping people. The beauty of the woman struck them so much that they reported it to the merchant.
The merchant listened to them and said:
- Go and kidnap this woman, but be careful so that no one wakes up.
The guards went, stole the woman without anyone waking up, and brought her to the merchant. He fell in love with her. And then he ordered it to be hidden in a large chest.
The fortuneteller woke up in the morning, but his wife was gone.
He grieved, grieved, and went on with his sons, while the merchant and the caravan headed in the other direction.
There was a river on the path of the fortuneteller; how could he and his sons cross it? And he decided to transport them one by one. He transported the first son and sailed for the second. He swam to the middle of the river and fell into the mouth of a crocodile - that was all they saw.
And the orphaned children remained on different banks of the river: one cried on this bank, the other on that bank. Then, out of nowhere, a shepherd appeared, saw the crying boy, asked him what and how, and, taking pity, decided to shelter him.
“Don’t cry, I’ll take care of your brother too,” the shepherd promised.
He brought the boys home, washed them, fed them and put them to bed. And on the same day, not far from this place, a fisherman caught a crocodile, pulled it ashore, ripped open its stomach and saw a man there. It was a fortune teller. The fisherman brought him to his senses and took him into his house. Several days passed, the fortuneteller completely recovered.
And it had to happen that at that very time, by a whim of fate, the local king died. And in this country there was a custom to elect a king with the help of a falcon.
The residents released the falcon and punished:
- Fly, falcon, and choose a king for us. Whose head you sit on will become our ruler.
The falcon flew, circled and sat on the fortuneteller's head.
- Yes, this is not at all who we need! - the townspeople shouted. “This is a stranger, he came from somewhere and does not know our customs or orders.” We will not give him our kingdom. Let's do it all over again tomorrow - the falcon will probably choose another person.
The next day, the townspeople released the falcon again, it flew, flew, and again landed on the fortuneteller’s head.
“No, that’s not good,” the crowd began to rustle, “let’s wait one more day.”
But on the third day the falcon chose a fortuneteller. Then the wisest townspeople gathered, consulted and, obeying orders from above, decided to place a fortuneteller on the throne. So he became king.
Several years passed, and then one day the merchant who kidnapped the fortuneteller’s wife arrived in the city with his caravan. A merchant came to the king and asked him for guards to guard the caravan. The king ordered which families should send men to guard them. The order also affected the family of the shepherd, who once saved the sons of the fortuneteller. Now they were already adults, and their adoptive father sent them to guard the merchant's caravan.
The young men approached the caravan and began to negotiate with the other watchmen who would be on duty for the first half of the night and who for the second. The brothers fell to the other half. The first half of the night passed, the brothers were woken up. And the younger brother says to the elder:
- Tell me a story, otherwise I won’t fall asleep.
“I don’t know any stories,” answered the elder. “I’d better tell you about our life.” You know that our father and mother are missing. Remember, we stopped on the outskirts of the city and went to bed, and in the morning we discovered that our mother had disappeared. My father was very sad, and then he took us to the river, took me to the other side and swam after you. But in the middle of the river he suddenly disappeared: either the waters swallowed him up, or something else happened - I don’t know.
The merchant's wife heard the conversation between the young men and realized that these were her sons. She took off the precious necklace and hid it, and in the morning she told the merchant that the necklace had been stolen from her.
The merchant went to the king and said:
- Tsar, my wife was robbed at night.
The king gathered all the guards and asked the merchant’s wife:
- When were you robbed, O woman?
“In the second half of the night,” she answers.
“Who was guarding at that time?” the king began to inquire.
“The shepherd’s sons were guarding,” they answered him.
And when the young men were brought to the king, the merchant’s wife demanded:
- Repeat in the presence of the king the story that you told each other at night.
The elder brother repeated what he had told the younger, and the king realized that these were his sons. Then the merchant's wife says:
- O great sir, these are my sons, and I am your wife. This merchant kidnapped me when we went to bed on the outskirts of the city.
The king rejoiced, hugged his wife and sons, and ordered the villainous merchant to be hanged.
So, in old age, happiness and prosperity returned to their home.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru