There lived an old carrier.
He never refused transportation to anyone. They gave him something for it, he took it; They didn’t give it - I didn’t ask for anything.
One day the ferryman sees that a kurei (a fat snake) is swimming across the river.
He swam and swam and began to drown. Then the old man hurried to his aid in his carriage and transported him to the other side.
The chickens didn’t say anything, he just cried, and where his tears fell, beautiful flowers have been growing there ever since. They grow in other places on earth, but only where they are watered with tears.
Another time, when the old man was sitting by his ferry, he saw a young roe deer swimming and drowning.
The old man went and transported the roe deer to the other side.
The roe deer came out, said nothing and ran off into the forest.
The old man went into the forest to pick himself some salad for the winter - suddenly a beautiful goat ran out and began to dig the ground with his foot. But at that time a passer-by passed by with a shovel, and the goat ran away.
- Be kind, passer-by, dig in this place!
The passer-by dug only three times, and the shovel hit something. It was gold.
“Thank you,” said the old man. “I give you half of this gold for your work.”
“I dug up this gold, and it’s mine,” said the passerby.
They began to argue among themselves, and since nothing came of their disputes, they decided to go to the city, to the judge.
The judge gave the gold to a passerby, and beat the old man with sticks and put him in the stocks for extortion.
At night, a chicken crawled to the old man and bit him on the leg.
The next day the old man’s leg became so swollen that they thought he would die.
At night the chickens crawled to him again and gave him healing leaves.
The next day, from these leaves, all the swelling on my leg disappeared and even the trace of the wound disappeared.
And the chicken that same night crawled to the judge’s wife and, just like the old man, bit her on the leg.
The next day, her leg became so swollen that they thought she would die.
Then the head of the prison reported to the judge that for some reason the same tumor had disappeared from the old man.
The judge called the old man and asked:
- Why did your tumor disappear?
- Kurei brought me these leaves.
-Where are the leaves?
The old man showed it, applied it to the leg of the judge’s wife, and the tumor disappeared.
- Why did Kurei bring you leaves?
Then the old man told how he transported the chicken and the roe deer.
- What did the roe deer give you?
— Her husband gave her the gold that you gave to the passerby.
Then the judge sent to catch up with the passerby, took the gold from him, gave it to the old man, and put the passerby in the stocks.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru