A long time ago, they say, this happened. One Santal got so drunk at the Sokhre festival that he fell unconscious on an empty street, right under his fence. And at midnight the king rode along the street on an elephant, heading somewhere on his business. Santal heard someone coming; He couldn’t stand on his feet, so he began to boast while lying down.
- Whose elephant is this? - shouts. - Sell it, I'll buy it. I'll take the elephant for as much as you ask. I really need an elephant.
The king really liked these words: “Which of my local subjects is so rich? - thinks. “I need to look at him.”
The Tsar was driving past - his path lay somewhere further. And when he heard these words, he was surprised and asked his driver, who was driving the elephant:
“Who is this rich man here in the village that he can buy my elephant?”
“Who knows,” answers the driver.
“We won’t go any further,” says the king. “We’ll pitch our tent here, near the outskirts.” If he buys an elephant, what’s better: I’ll buy new ones with this money.
He said so, and began to pitch the tent.
Santal didn’t know that he was talking to the king, and he didn’t know that the elephant was the king’s either. He did not hear what the king and the driver were talking about. Well, the neighbors heard it all. They heard how he himself boasted.
The next morning they see a tent standing near the outskirts, and with it an elephant. They guessed what was going on, went to that Santal and told him what conversation he had with the king. Became
I started thinking about what to do. The sun has risen, the king rides up and asks:
- Where is the man who wanted to buy an elephant from me last night? Let him come out, we need to come to an agreement about the chain.
- What’s his name? - Santal asks.
“I didn’t ask what his name was,” says the king. - Only he is from this house. The voice came straight from here, from the gate.
“Well, yes,” Santal answers. — There was a traveler here who spent the night with us. He was asking about the elephant. Only he had already left early in the morning, with the first roosters. He's not here. You didn’t tell him anything about the elephant right away, so he left as soon as he woke up.
So he sent the king away. He left with nothing.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru