In one village there lived an old man and an old woman, and they had three sons. They lived poorly. The time had come for the old man to die, he divided all his goods between his sons: he gave the eldest son a hand mill, the middle one a shepherd's horn, and the youngest one a bast for bast shoes.
When his father died, the eldest son took his mill and went wherever his eyes led him. Suddenly he sees a hut standing by the road. He climbed onto the roof, placed the millstones on the chimney, and sat down and waited. At night, robbers entered the hut, sat down at the table and began to count their money, and when he heard the millstones rattling on the roof, he threw them down the chimney. The robbers got scared, ran away, and left the money on the table. Then he got down. from the roof, took the money for himself, returned home and lived richly, but did not give even bread to his brothers.
There was nothing to do, the middle brother took his horn and went on his way. He walked and walked, and suddenly he saw a guardhouse standing on the edge of the forest, and in that guardhouse a bear was locked. He sat down by the door and started blowing the horn. The bear began to roar, even the entire lodge began to shake.
At this very time a gentleman in a troika rides past and asks:
-What are you doing here?
- I guard the beast.
- Show it to me!
As soon as he opened the door and played the horn, the bear. how he jumps out, how he rushes at the master, and lifts him up. The guy got on the troika and rode off. He has become even richer than his older brother, but he doesn’t want to feed his younger brother.
What should he do? He took his bast out of grief and went along the road into a dense forest, and wandered into a large swamp. He sat down there on a mound and began to cut out the bast. The devil saw him, crawled out of the swamp and asked:
- What do you want to do?
And he answers:
- I will build a church here.
The devil got scared, ran to his elder and said:
“There’s some guy out there who wants to build a church in our swamp!”
And the elder orders:
- Go tell him, let him take whatever he wants, just so as not to build a church here!
The devil went and handed it over, and he said:
- Fill me with gold in the full hole that I dug.
The devils poured in, but they only felt sorry for the gold. And the devil, nicknamed “Mighty,” comes to him.
- Let's fight. Whoever beats who gets gold.
And the guy answers:
“Here lies my old grandfather under the tree, you fight him first, and then fight me!”
The devil approached the tree, and there was a bear.
- Let's fight!
Just as the bear began to break him, he barely lost his legs. He ran again to the elder and complained that the man was too strong. Then he sent another devil, nicknamed “Fast”, to be in charge. He comes and says:
- Let's race. Whoever overtakes whom will get money.
And the guy says:
- My son is sitting under the tree, you should race with him first.
The devil went to the tree, and there was a hare.
- Let's race!
The hare got scared and ran. The devil shouts to him:
- Wait, let's catch up! - and there’s no trace of him.
Again the devil went to the elder and cried that the man overtook him, they just saw him! Then the third devil, “The Whistler,” came out.
“Come on,” he says, “whistle!” Whoever beats who gets the gold.
- Let's! Well, fistulas!
The devil whistled and even the forest shook. And the guy tells him:
“Blindfold your eyes, brother, and if I whistle, they’ll pop out on your forehead!”
The devil blindfolded him with a handkerchief, and when the guy whistled his club in his ear, he even screamed.
- Let me whistle one more time!
- Oh, no, brother, don’t whistle anymore, my eyes are already bulging out of my head. Get yourself some money!
He took the money and lived richer than his brothers.
I bought oats from one guy, and that’s the whole story.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru