One mullah was riding along the village in search of his missing horse. He met a woman. For some reason, assuming that this woman must be a fortune teller, the mullah pestered her so that she would tell him fortunes about his missing horse. Not listening to the poor woman’s assurances that she did not know how to tell fortunes and had never picked up beans for this purpose in her life, the mullah forced her to go with him to the nearest hut. There, having obtained beans from the owner, he sat the woman down to tell fortunes; she threw beans twice and, just to somehow get rid of the annoying mullah, said: “After all, the horse you are looking for is standing behind your yard, near your neighbors’ hay.” The mullah, upon returning, actually found his horse in the very place that the woman had pointed to. “What a knowledgeable fortune teller,” the mullah was surprised, driving the horse home.
A few days after that, the khan’s daughter’s ring disappeared. No matter how they searched, no matter what fortune tellers they turned to, they could not find the ring. Khan was very upset by this loss. Having once come to the khan and having learned what he was sad about, the mullah advised him to turn to the fortune-teller who had found his horse. They immediately sent for her. No matter how she refused, they still sat her down to guess.
At this very time, the fortuneteller was called from the room by the old maid of the khan, who, fearing that the fortuneteller herself would reveal everything, confessed that she had stolen the ring of the khan’s daughter, and asked the fortuneteller not to give her away. She will return the ring immediately, placing it under the threshold. The butterfly readily agreed and, assuring the old woman that she would not betray her, returned to the room. Already knowing where the ring was, she could safely guess; Throwing the beans twice to give the old woman time to put the ring in its place, she said self-confidently: “Oh, my God, but the ring, which you have been racking your brains to find for so long, lies right under the threshold!” Let's go, so what? Indeed, they found it, since the old woman who stole it had just put it there.
When the khan was informed about this, he decided to test how great the fortune-teller’s skill really was. Calling her, he said: “If you are a good fortune teller, I will squeeze something in my fist so that you cannot see, and you guess what will be in my fist. If you guess it, it means you are a good fortune teller, and I will reward you; if not, you are only a deceiver, and I will have you executed.”
It was then that the Butterfly finally hung her head. Khan sent it away and was just thinking about what to put in his fist when a butterfly flew into the room. Khan thought that this was an excellent opportunity and the fortune teller could not possibly imagine that he, sitting in the room, could catch a butterfly. Grabbing it and squeezing it in his fist, he ordered the fortuneteller to be brought in again and sat her down to guess.
The poor woman, sitting down and throwing beans, began to think about how to get out of this hopeless situation, since she could not, not knowing how to guess at all, get out with the help of beans. But no matter how I thought, I couldn’t come up with anything. Then, in despair, she said, turning to herself: “Poor Butterfly, you have now found yourself in a place that is disastrous for you!”
- What a fortune teller! - said the very surprised khan (who did not know that the fortune teller’s name is also Butterfly), unclenching his fist and releasing a butterfly from there. The woman, not believing her luck, hurried to get away as quickly as possible with the gold the khan had given her, publicly repenting to never guess again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru