One merchant in his village
He traded in all sorts of good things.
One day from neighboring villages
Came to him with a dog
The shepherd is a tall fellow.
“Great,” he says, “merchant!
If you have honey, sell it
If not, goodbye."
“Yes, yes, my dear shepherd!
Potty with you? Let's go potty!
Honey - here it is: what you indicate yourself,
I’ll answer it instantly and sell it.”
Everything is going well
Behind the word is the same honey.
Honey is weighed, but like a diamond
A drop spilled onto the ground.
Zzz...fly. Sweet smelling honey,
It buzzes, rings and clings to the drop,
The owner's cat is sideways.
Sneaks after a fly. Then
In one jump
On a fly - jump!
And at the same moment the shepherd dog
He grinned and wrinkled his nose.
He rushed and howled
What strength was there?
The cat was crushed
He took me by the throat.
Squeezed, bitten -
And he threw it away.
“Gnawed! Gnawed! Oh, my cat!
Oh, let them die, you plague dog!”
The merchant got angry - and behold,
Hit the dog with anything.
The dog squeals - and next to
With the unfortunate cat falls.
“My lion is gone, gone, it’s over!
Breadwinner, my friend!.. Well, merchant,
Scoundrel, thief, so-and-so!..
Damn your little house!..
You dared to beat my dog,—
Taste how I hit myself!”
Our shepherd roared over the merchant
Heavy club with flint
He brought it in, and instantly the owner was angry
He fell with a broken head.
“Killed!.. Who’s there?.. Guard!..”
There is noise and hum in all quarters,
People flock and shout:
“Help! Guard! Killed!
From the mountain streets, from the bottom,
From the road, from the pastures, from the machines,
Screaming, cursing,
Screaming, moaning,
Father and mother
Sister and brother-in-law
Wife and brother
Both godfather and matchmaker,
And all uncles
And all the friends
And with the mother-in-law,
And how else are there - God knows -
Run, run, run, run
And they beat and beat with whatever they can:
“Oh, damned one! Oh, shot!
How could you? How dare you?
What did you go with: to buy goods,
Or should I lose my soul for nothing?
And next to your dog in the corner
The shepherd prostrated himself on the floor.
“Well, we stood up for the merchant.
Take whoever wants it, a dead man!”
And soon to the nearby village
The sad news has arrived.
“Hey, who's there?
Is it possible to demolish it?
After all, it was our shepherd who was killed!..”
Sometimes the naughty guy will stir things up
Wasp's nest and away
He will go away. Isn't it exactly the same
Did that fly do it too?
Confusion, noise and vanity...
What turned up - in a hurry
They grab it. Who is with a gun in his hands,
Some with a pitchfork, some with a knife,
With a shovel, with a stick, with an ax,
Some took a spade, some took a spit,
He lost his hat in a hurry,
He threw the saddle on the horse -
And everything ended up in the enemy’s village.
“What a shameless people!
Neither fear nor shame takes them away,
You wander to them for goods -
They'll attack and there'll be a knife in the back.
Ugh, abyss! You would fail
Fierce killers, savages!
Let's go, let's beat
We'll burn it, we'll erase it!
Hey, come on, don’t make a mistake, go ahead!”
And the people came out to the people.
And everyone beat, and beat, and beat,
He chopped and cut and smashed.
And everyone, the more he chopped,
The more furious he became.
A neighbor was beaten by a neighbor.
A neighbor was burned by a neighbor.
And who lived where -
I caught a cold again.
But here's the problem: between these villages
The line dividing the lands was moving,
And give every village
His lord felt bad.
Having heard about that robbery,
Immediately the king of one country
Issues a thunderous decree:
“Let our faithful people know
Each son has a common fatherland,
Worker, warrior, nobleman,
And our advice,
And the whole world
What a daring, treacherous enemy,
Forgetting honor and fear of God,
He lulled us to sleep with vile flattery,
Our border has entered into bloom
And citizens a peaceful family
Consigned to iron and fire.
Blood of victims from a poor village
Flowed to the feet of the throne,
And no matter how bitter it is for us -
We gave the order to the troops
Enter the enemy's borders
And avenge the innocent.
And in order to overcome the daring,
Guns and God help us.”
But the king is hostile in turn
The troops are given the following order:
"Before the Lord and all the earth
We proclaim: cunning, evil
The neighbor trampled heaven's law
And between the fraternal two tribes
He sowed anger and discord.
He is an ancient treaty of friendship
The first one violated. Now, having risen
For our honor, for our good character,
For the blood of the killed people,
For the freedom of your homeland.
We are the power of our inherent rights,
Calling on the gentlemen for help,
Let us raise our victorious sword
And anger over the enemy leader."
And the evil war began.
The whole country is on fire,
Noise, roar, blood, and scream, and groan,
And crying and sorrow on all sides,
And in the blowing winds
The smell of the dead flows.
And so it goes
Year after year:
The machines are silent
Sowing is not compressed,
The fire of war keeps growing,
After famine comes pestilence.
He mows down people mercilessly,
And now the whole region is devastated.
And in horror among the graves
The living living one asked:
"Why, where and when
Has such trouble struck?
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru