Once upon a time there lived a headman in a village. He had a man in his service named Dara. Dara tended the owner's buffaloes. But he also had his own. Dara will drive the herd to the edge of the forest, let his buffaloes graze, and take the owner’s and tie their muzzles so that his buffaloes have more grass left. So day after day: Dara’s buffaloes nibbled fresh grass and ate themselves up, but the headman’s buffaloes only grew emaciated.
The headman sees that his cattle have completely deteriorated; So one day he says:
- Listen, Dara! Why are my buffaloes so thin, and yours are fattened for slaughter? After all, they all graze together. What's the matter?
“How should I know, Mr. Headman,” Dara answered. – After all, I graze them all in one place. If you don't believe me, come and see for yourself that I'm not lying...
So Dara drove the herd out to pasture and thought: “The headman is unlikely to show up today.” He thought so and did as usual: he let his buffaloes graze, and wrapped the owners’ muzzles.
And the elder was very angry with the servant that day. “No,” he thinks, “if Dara leads me by the nose, I’ll slaughter all his buffalos.”
He took the saber and went straight to the pasture. He comes closer and sees that it is so: Dara’s buffaloes are grazing, and his, poor things, are lying under a tree with their muzzles wrapped and just digging the ground in vain.
The elder became furious. He jumped out from behind a bush and in a rage killed all Dara's buffaloes.
But he was a good guy. He went to the butcher and said: “Here, take these buffaloes. The meat is yours, and you give the skins to me.”
The next day I received the gift of skins and went to the market. On the way he was overtaken by night. And there was a forest around. Dara climbed a tall tree and decided to spend the night there. No sooner said than done: he settled down on the skins and dozed off.
In the middle of the night, four robbers approached the village. They brought a bag of money and began to divide it. Here's one of them saying:
- Make sure you divide equally, otherwise it will kill you with thunder. Dara watched them from above and decided that he should take advantage of this opportunity. Seizing the moment, he threw off his skins, and they fell noisily on the robbers. They thought it was thunder, and, abandoning everything, ran away in fear. When it began to get light, Dara went downstairs. He took the gold left by the robbers and went to his village. He came home and shouted to his mother:
- Mother! Hurry up and get the scales: I brought a lot of gold, I need to weigh it!
The mother was delighted. “What happiness!” he thinks. She ran to the headman and asked:
- Headman, give us the scales. Dara brought gold.
-Where did he get it? – he was surprised.
“My son sold the buffalo skins and made a lot of money.
“No other way than the old woman is deceiving me,” thought the elder. He decided to check her words and, before giving her the scales, he slowly smeared one of the cups with sticky molasses.
When they brought the scales back, the headman was convinced that Dara had received the money: a gold piece stuck to the bottom of the cup. He began to think: “Why shouldn’t I earn money as I should? I’ll slaughter my buffaloes, sell the skins and bring a lot of money into the house.”
The next morning, when the shepherd began to drive the buffaloes out of the stable, the headman said to him:
“There’s no need to graze them today.” I'll send them to the butcher; I need skins.
The shepherd went home, and the headman did everything as planned. When the skins were ready, he loaded them onto a cart and went to the market.
The headman spent the whole day at the market, shouting:
- Buy skins, buy them!
But who needs them? There was a buyer, but he offered only five rupees. When it got dark, the market was closed, and the headman had to go back with nothing - he never sold a single skin.
The headman returned and asked Dara:
- Why does this happen: they paid you in gold for the buffalo skins, but no one asked me for them?
“It depends on your luck, Mr. Headman,” Dara answers.
And the elder harbored anger in his soul. All night he could not sleep, all he could think about was: “How did I kill my buffaloes in vain!” Finally it occurred to him to set fire to Dara’s house. He quietly made his way to the poor man's house, set it on fire, and quickly returned.
Fortunately, Dara was not sleeping at that time. He saw the fire, woke up his mother, and they managed to take out all the property.
By morning the house had burned to the ground, leaving only ash and coals. Dara filled several bags with ash and went to ask the headman for a cart. The headman heard that sometimes ashes can be sold, and he gave Dara a cart. Dara loaded the bags of ash and went to the market.
On the way he met a merchant and his wife. But the sun was mercilessly hot, it was hard to walk, and they asked Dara to give them a ride in a cart. Dara thought and thought and said:
- Okay, get in. Only with one condition. I carry gold in bags; If any of you sits on the bags, it will turn to ash. So decide: if you don’t get on them, I’ll give you a ride. Well, if there is ash in the bags, then give me my money back.
The merchant and his wife could not bear to stand on the hot road, and they agreed:
- We accept your condition!
Dara took them home. When they got off the cart, Dara untied the bags and said:
- What is this, Seth ji? Didn't I tell you not to sit on the bags? Apparently you didn't listen to me. Look, all the money has turned to ash. Now you will have to return my wealth.
The merchant, of course, began to argue, but Dara stood his ground. And the rich merchant had to give Dara as much money as he demanded.
Dara took the money and hurried back to the village. He arrived and began to build himself a better house than before. And the headman sat and sat and could not stand it. He comes to Dara and asks:
- Listen, Dara! Where did you get so much money again?
- How can I explain this to you, Mr. Headman? – says Dara. “You know, my house burned down; I sold the ash and made good money on it. Why don't you burn your house down too? You will have a lot of ash, you will get good money for it.
The headman was very greedy and envious: when he sees that someone else is lucky, he cannot find a place for himself. He listened to Dara’s advice and, in pursuit of easy money, burned down his own house. He filled bags with ash, loaded them into a cart and went to the market.
He has arrived... Wherever he goes, they laugh at him: “What kind of a fool is there - who would buy ash from him!” Until nightfall the headman walked around the bazaar and shouted:
- Zola! Who needs ash?
So he didn’t sell anything. Returned home empty-handed. He looks and Dara’s house is already ready.
“Well,” he says, “you’re lucky!” But no one bought any ash from me.
Dara answered him:
– And it depends on your luck, Mr. Headman.
So Dara became rich thanks to his ingenuity, and the headman, due to greed and stupidity, went completely broke. Now no one in the entire village could compare with Dara. He got married and lived happily ever after.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru