One man was forever in debt to everyone in the world. They gave him a loan only because he kept hinting that he would soon receive a large inheritance.
So he owed and owed, but did not repay his debts to anyone.
Creditors besieged him. He was especially bothered by the shoemaker, to whom he owed less than to the others—only fifteen pesos.
The shoemaker came to him every day. He knocks and asks:
- Give me fifteen pesos or take off your shoes!
One day this man became completely entangled in debt. So he says to his wife:
“I’ll pretend to be dead, and the debts will end, because I have nothing to pay anyway.”
So I did. His wife began to sob loudly, mourning her hubby. Neighbors came running.
She told them with tears that her husband had died. The owner of the wine shop, to whom the deceased owed eighty pesos, came and said:
- Poor guy, may God forgive him, but I have already forgiven him.
The pharmacist came after him. The supposed dead man owed her fifty pesos. The pharmacist looked at the dead man and said:
- May God forgive him, as I forgive him.
Then the shoemaker suddenly comes in and says to the woman:
“Give me my fifteen pesos or my shoes.” If you don't pay for the shoes, I'll take them off a dead man.
The woman asks:
- How is this possible? Can't you see that he is dead?
Shoemaker says:
- What do I care! If you don’t give me fifteen pesos, I’ll go to the cemetery and take the shoes off the dead man.
And just then they brought a coffin and four candles. The supposed dead man was placed in a coffin and taken to the cemetery. They placed the coffin in the chapel and, according to our custom, left it overnight - the next day the doctor was supposed to come to open the deceased.
This is what the imaginary dead man was counting on, saying that I would be left alone and run away; So you won’t have to pay debts.
Meanwhile, in one place, not far from the cemetery, four thieves stole a bag of gold coins. One of them, the most agile, says:
We went to the cemetery chapel, it was empty, no one went there, they were afraid. If there is a dead person there, even better. The coffin will serve us instead of a table; it will be more convenient to count money.
Thieves came to the cemetery, entered the chapel, saw the coffin, turned it over and threw the deceased onto the floor. Then they poured money onto the coffin lid and began to count.
The thief, who was counting the money, divided it into four equal parts. He laid out the money and said: “A thousand for you, a thousand for me, a thousand for him, and a thousand for him.” And he still had one thousand eight hundred pesos left. Then the imaginary dead man, seeing the gold, could not stand it and shouted:
- And this is for me!
When the thieves saw that the dead man had risen, they flew out of the chapel in fear - and forgot about the gold.
And then the shoemaker came to the cemetery to pick up the dead man’s shoes. He entered the chapel and saw an imaginary dead man with a large bag of gold in his hands.
“Listen,” says the shoemaker, “so you’re not dead?”
“No, my friend,” he answers. “I pretended to be dead to hide from creditors.”
Then the shoemaker says to him:
“Give me fifteen pesos or take off your shoes.”
Wait a little,” says the imaginary dead man, “I’ll change the money and give you back your fifteen pesos.”
But the shoemaker doesn’t want to wait at all. While they were arguing, the thieves gradually came to their senses and began to discuss what had happened. One says:
- Okay, I'll go get the money. We had to work hard to get this money, but we won’t lose it because of some dead person.
His comrades did not want to go with him - they were afraid. And he went alone, and they remained to wait for him.
The thief returned to the cemetery and from afar heard an argument between the dead man and the shoemaker. The brave man shook with fear and God bless his legs. He ran to his comrades who were waiting for him with gold and said:
- We need to get out, guys. There are at least thirty thousand dead people sharing our money.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru