A husband and wife lived in a remote village. They lived well and amicably, to the envy of everyone. And everything would be fine, but suddenly there were mice in their house, and how many! Whole flocks! Just punishment!
The owners were completely exhausted, when suddenly one fine day a cat appeared in the house, black, round, amazingly smart. And he went to crush the mice and drive them out of the house. The husband and wife are not overjoyed at the cat, everyone strokes and caresses him. And again there was silence and peace in the house.
Soon my husband needed to leave on business. He got ready and at parting told his wife to take care of the cat and not to offend him. As soon as he left, he just disappeared. Wife here, here - no cat. I almost went crazy with grief. After a few days, her husband returned, she started telling him, but she didn’t even have time to say two words when suddenly a cat ran out of the bedroom. He meows, complains, rubs against his owner's legs, and he himself is so skinny that his ribs stick out. The owner was upset.
And the cat again began to hunt for mice, grow and get fat. Here again the owner got ready to go on the road and told his wife to feed the cat well and not to forget. And everything turned out just like the first time. The cat ran away, but when the owner returned, he was right there, skin and bones, barely dragging his feet. The husband and wife had a strong quarrel.
And for the third time my husband had to leave. This time he warned his wife:
- If you starve the cat again, beware, you will pay dearly.
And he left. And the cat is in the forest! The housewife is running around, looking, she has searched the whole house, peeled all the cracks, she doesn’t know which saint to pray to.
Meanwhile, the owner arrived. He didn’t have time to dismount, but he was already shouting:
- Wife, where is my cat?
-Oh, hubby, our cat...
And he's already here. Half-dead, moaning, crawling on his belly. Well, that's it! The owner shouted, became furious, and could not calm down.
Several days passed, the owner became sad. His conscience began to torment him for being so rude to his wife. Life used to be so good! I couldn’t stand it and decided to leave home forever. He said that he needed to run errands again, got ready and left.
All day he walked wherever his eyes looked, and when it got dark, he settled down for the night in a clearing in the forest. Suddenly he hears a noise. And these are devils. They crowded around a rotten stump, making noise. Finally the main devil appeared, sat down on a stump and asked everyone in order how their dirty deeds were going. The devils began to boast with each other about their exploits. And one little devil says:
- I took on some people here. I can’t see that a husband and wife live in peace and harmony. And so I approached them, and so on, all in vain. I wanted to give up, but then an opportunity presented itself. They got mice. I pretended to be a cat, rid the house of mice and became the owner's pet. They doted on me. When my husband left home, he always ordered his wife to feed me sweets and take care of me. And I will get away from the mistress and wait until the owner returns. And here he is at his feet - hungry, emaciated. Husband, let's blame his wife. And they began to quarrel. Further - more. In the end, when the owner saw me half-dead, he attacked his wife! Then he collected his belongings and left forever. He left both his wife and the household.
The devils screamed with joy:
- Oh, the prankster! Ah, well done! So clever! What fun! Clean work! Reward him well!
And the man lies under a bush and hears everything.
- So that’s how it is? Oh, you filthy evil spirit! Wait a minute!
I ran home as fast as I could. I was in such a hurry that I was already there by lunchtime.
The faithful wife was delighted, ran towards him, and did not remember the evil. And the cat is right there. Sneaks ahead of the mistress and towards the owner. Tattered, skinny, in which the soul is held. The owner took him in his arms, held him and lowered him to the ground, and the cat did not lag behind, complaining, rubbing against his legs.
- Answer me, wife, did you feed the cat? - the husband asks menacingly, while he fumbles with a stick on the ground.
- How will you feed him? I say, he runs away without you.
-Oh, he’s running away? Well, now someone will get it from me.
The owner grabbed the club and it hit the werewolf on the head. He died right away. For three days it stank of sulfur.
The husband told his wife everything that he had seen in the forest, and from then on they began to live even better than before.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru