Once upon a time, a farmer named Gaspar gathered to repay his debt to his owner. He came to his house and asked the maid:
- Is the owner of the house?
-Where should he be? Sitting at breakfast with his friends.
“Then tell him that I brought the money I borrowed from him.”
The maid ran away and immediately notified the owner:
- Gaspar came to you and brought money.
- Very good! “Bring him to me,” the owner burst into a smile and, turning to his friends, added: “This is one of my debtors, a pretty fool.” You'll see what a nice joke I'll play on him. He won’t notice anything, but we’ll have a good laugh.
The maid led Gaspar into the room.
- Hello, master.
- Great, Gaspard, great.
- Here I brought you money.
- Well done, Gaspard! Take a seat over there by the fireplace. - Rest, you're probably tired from the road.
Gaspard sat down on the edge of the bench and stared wide-eyed at the owner and his guests. And he winked at his friends and asked Gaspar:
- Well, what's new at the farm?
- Yes, master, a strange thing happened here! Our cow gave birth to as many as five calves.
- Five calves?! – the owner was surprised. - That can’t be true. What does the fifth calf do when the other four are suckling milk?
-What is he doing? Yes, the same thing as me now: looking around.
“Hmm...” the owner grumbled, catching the hint. - Hey, Suzanne. give Gaspard a plate!
The maid brought Gaspar a plate, and he sat down at the table. They placed a huge dish of fried fish in front of the owner.
He put two small skinny fish on Gaspard's plate. The farmer took them by the tail, brought them to his ear, listened and, shaking his head, threw them back onto the plate.
– Are you saying that they are not very fresh? – asked the owner, winking at the guests.
“That’s not the point, master,” the peasant scratched behind his ear. “A year ago, my uncle drowned in a river. So I asked the little fish how he was living there. They just didn’t console me, they said that they didn’t know anything about my uncle, since they were born after this sad event... I’d rather take that huge carp over there. Maybe he'll at least answer me...
- What an eccentric! Well, take it if you need it...
After the fish they brought a browned ham.
- Gaspard, would you like some ham?
- With great pleasure...
“Then help yourself,” the owner suggested and handed the peasant a tiny piece.
Gaspard swallowed a piece and grunted approvingly: “Nice ham!”
He took a folding knife out of his pocket, cut off a good piece of the ham, ate it and again reached for the ham...
“Listen, Gaspard, of course, it doesn’t suit me to interrupt your meal, but keep in mind: those who eat too much ham are speechless.” Have you heard about this?
“Thank you for saying that, master, otherwise I’m terrified of how talkative the old woman is... With your permission, I’ll take the rest of the ham and make her eat it all.” Maybe then she'll stop nagging me.
Gaspar took the ham and took his leave, but the owner, just in case, decided to accompany him to the door.
As soon as they left the room, the friends grabbed their sides and started laughing. So figure out for yourself who they were laughing at? At least not over Gaspard!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru