Juhi had a donkey. He got pretty fat on the rich food, and many neighbors expressed their readiness to buy him.
“Sell us the donkey,” they pestered Juha.
“He is too dear to you,” he answered.
“Name your price,” they insisted, “and we won’t be stingy.”
“I myself don’t know what price to set yet.” Let's go to the market, see how the bargaining goes, and I'll sell it to you there.
The neighbors agreed.
The next morning Juha went with his donkey to the market. On the way, he shoved several gold coins into the donkey's butt. And then he handed the donkey to the market barker.
Buyers gathered, began to inspect the donkey, and estimate the price. The barker sat on the donkey and rode it. The donkey ran briskly. Suddenly he blew winds, and gold coins fell from his butt.
People rushed to pick them up.
“Look,” they made a noise, “Juhi’s donkey is defecating gold!”
Even those who had no interest in the donkey before now wanted to buy one. Everyone began to bid, and finally one buyer offered ten thousand francs for the donkey. Juha gave him the donkey.
“Now you can consider yourself a rich man,” he said.
- How can I support him? - asked the buyer.
“Give him plenty of barley and grass,” answered Juha, “feed him twice a day and don’t lock him in a stall.” If you want him to regularly bring you gold, put him on his own bed in the evening, cover him with a curtain from mosquitoes, tie his legs so that he remains in bed until dawn, and sleep somewhere in a corner and, be careful, beware of bad thoughts. In the morning, go to your bed and you will collect two baskets of gold there.
The buyer did just that. He didn’t sleep the whole night, waited for dawn, and in the morning he went to look at the donkey, joyfully saying:
- Now I'm a rich man! Now I'm a rich man!
He opened the curtain over the bed and saw that the donkey had laid a good two baskets of manure during the night, and a sizeable puddle had already flowed onto the floor. The buyer threw the donkey out of bed and began digging in the dung, but did not find a speck of gold there. Then he took the donkey and went with it to Juha.
“I did everything as you told me, but your donkey only gave me two baskets of manure, and now I just can’t sleep on the bed.” I didn’t see a single grain of gold.
“It can’t be,” answered Juha. -Where did you sleep?
“I didn’t sleep all night,” the buyer answered. “I guarded the house so that the neighbors wouldn’t come to steal my gold.”
“Everything is clear,” said Juha. “That’s why he didn’t defecate gold.” You failed to drive away bad thoughts from yourself. Then there is nothing to demand from the donkey.
“Take your donkey back,” the buyer shouted, “and give me my money!”
- No matter how it is! - Juha answered. - You bought a donkey at the market, in front of everyone, honor with honor. They know law and order in the bazaar. I won't give you any money back.
“Then I’ll complain to the judge about you!” - said the buyer.
“Okay,” said Juha, “let’s go to the judge.”
Let's go to the judge. He asked what their dispute was about.
“I bought a donkey from Juha,” said the buyer. — The donkey was not easy, he defecated gold. I asked Juhi how to keep him, and he told me to feed him barley and grass, give him water twice a day, and put him in my bed at night, tying his legs so that he wouldn’t run away. In the morning I was supposed to find a bunch of gold in my bed, but I found only dung. Now I demand that Juha return my money.
“You must be crazy,” the judge told him. “Can a donkey defecate gold?” You suffered from your own stupidity, and you must pay for it yourself.
Here the buyer simply boiled with anger. He rushed to his donkey, began to beat it with a stick and beat it to death.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru