In one village, two friends lived as farm laborers: Yandala and Sverchok. They have been working for several years now. One day Yandala says to Cricket:
- Our life is bad, brother. They always push us around, scold and scold us for every trifle; If the owner has any trouble, he always takes his anger out on us. What's the point of working as a laborer? Better to get married. When you get married, you will be your own boss - go to bed when you want, get up when you want!
- You're right, brother! - Cricket assents. “We’d better get married and be free.”
They provoked each other in such a way, looked for brides for themselves, and the matter became only a matter of the master's permission and the church blessing. This also worked out, and soon two noisy weddings took place.
It wasn’t life they had, but Maslenitsa: eat and drink to your heart’s content, whatever you please; if you want, sleep, if you want, lie down, if you want, get up. But every situation has its joys and its worries. A year later, the friends met again and began to tell each other about their lives. Yandala says:
- Oh, brother, even though it seemed bad to us before, it turns out that life was better among the workers. Take grub, for example: the owner used to take grub out and put it in, but now you have to get it yourself. As a worker, I also received clothes, and what they paid me in money, I drank in the tavern and spent on smoking. Now we are our own bosses - that’s good, but what’s the use of farming since we have to take care of both a wife and a child, and in our village you can’t earn much. Apparently, this won’t make any sense; we’d better go and get a job again, but not here. This is where they will laugh at us - they returned, they will say, back when they had a bad time. Let's go where they don't know us.
“That’s right, brother,” Cricket chimed in, “but you know what, first we need to tell our wives.”
And so they did. They told the wives. The wives were afraid to give consent, but the husbands explained everything to them, and the wives agreed. Not only were they irritated, but they also baked plantains. Friends set off on a journey.
They went, but they didn’t know where. Before, they had been few places, and therefore did not know which way to go, and went at random. We entered a large forest, walked up and down, but couldn’t get out. They had eaten their pies before, and they were very hungry. Finally, darkness caught them in this forest. “Well, just once, I’ll give you some advice,” Cricket decided and said:
“We can’t spend the night here, brother Yandala.” Suddenly some animal will attack us. You and I are tired from the road, weak from hunger, it will devour us. You, brother, are good at climbing trees - climb up and see if there’s a light shining somewhere.
Although Yandala could barely stand on his feet, he nevertheless climbed up the tree as best he could and began to vigilantly look around. He searched for a long time, finally noticed a light in the distance and shouted to Cricket. Cricket says:
- Remember well, brother, in which direction the light is shining!
Yandala climbed down from the tree, and they wandered in the direction where he noticed the light. They walked and walked until they finally saw this light, although it was still very far away. Here they quickened their pace and hurried there.
They come to some hut, the fire is still burning. They started knocking on the door. There was only an old grandmother in the hut. Opened; They began to ask: let them spend the night. She let them in, immediately brought a bowl, crumbled some bread, poured boiled milk on it and told them to eat.
They ate and told the old woman that they were living in great need and were going to look for work. The old woman says:
- If you want, stay here. I have a cow, one will graze it, and the other will throw manure out of the barn. I will feed you well, and I will also pay you what you deserve.
The friends liked it: the work was trivial, the food was apparently not bad, and he would pay; they promised that they would stay working.
The next day Yandala went to graze the cow, and Cricket stayed at home to throw out manure. As soon as Yandala brought the cow out to pasture, she immediately gave chase and dragged him across the fields and along the borders. The more Yandala held the cow, the faster it ran. He was completely tired, he would be glad to let the cow go, but he is afraid that she will run away completely. He is exhausted and prays to God that the sun will set soon. “Okay, he thinks, throw manure there for the Cricket, he probably threw it out a long time ago and is lying in the shade; but wait a minute, guy, tomorrow you will drive the cow, and I will throw manure.”
While Yandala is grazing, let's see if Cricket is resting. As soon as Yandala took the cow out of the yard, Cricket decided: “I’ll throw out the manure and then rest.” He threw and threw, but the manure did not decrease; It’s already been breakfast and lunch, but there’s still the same amount of manure. The Cricket works, then gets wet and thinks: “Oh my God! What a misfortune! It is good for Yandala to graze; but tomorrow let him throw the manure, and I will lead the cow.” He tries his best. He wants to throw out all the dung before Yandala brings in the cow. All wet as a mouse. Before he could finish, he heard Yandala rushing with the cow. The cricket put the pitchfork aside and sits as if nothing had happened.
- Well, how are you, brother? asks Yandala.
“Oh, brother!” answers Cricket. “I got rid of this manure a long time ago.” I was already lying there, lying in the cold, I had gotten enough sleep, I was even tired. Tomorrow I will take the cow, and if you want, you can stay at home. I'm bored here without work.
Yandala happily agreed.
At dinner, neither one nor the other could eat, they were too tired. Yandala says:
- Why don’t you eat anything, brother? Eat, don't look back at me, I'm full. I had a lot of food with me, and the shepherds also gave me pears and apples.
But in fact, Yandala lost his lunch when a cow dragged him across the field. The poor fellow had not had a crumb in his mouth all day, but he pretended to be full in order to deceive the Cricket.
The next day, Yandala stayed at home, and Cricket drove the cow to the pasture and suffered with her, like Yandala did yesterday, and Yandala suffered, as Cricket did before. Both of them hoped to rest, but that was not the case! When Cricket brought the cow in the evening, he didn’t look like himself, and neither did Yandala. Both were so tired that they couldn’t even speak. Only at night, on vacation, we had a heart-to-heart conversation and confessed everything to each other.
“Apparently, brother,” says Yandala, “this woman is not simple, she not only knows how to chew bread.” This is where things get dirty. Here you and I will strain ourselves and lose our health, and God knows what else she will do to us. Let's better get away from here tomorrow.
The next morning they got up and asked their grandmother to let them go; They say they don’t want to work anymore. The old woman says:
“Well, guys, I can’t force you, wait a little while until breakfast is ready.”
After breakfast, she gave them a loaf of bread for the journey and paid them three Vienna. There was nothing to exchange for the third Viennese. They decided to divide the money later, when they still earned money, but for now Yakdala took it for safekeeping. They thanked the old woman and moved on. A few hours later they emerged from the forest and saw a large, rich city in the distance. We decided to go there. At the very city gates, Cricket said:
“You and I decided to go to the city, but we didn’t even think about what we would do there.” We only know our peasant work; but I heard that in big cities such work is not needed. If we want to eat, what will we do?
“It doesn’t matter,” Yandala replies, “let’s pass ourselves off as fortune tellers and live happily ever after.”
- What are you thinking about! - Cricket was surprised. -After all, we don’t know anything about fortune telling.
“We make sense or we don’t,” Yandala answers, “but we should call ourselves fortunetellers.” We will help each other as much as we can and live without worries and hassle.
And new fortune tellers went to the capital city. Just a few days before, the princess lost a precious ring. The king ordered to announce that whoever finds this ring and returns it to the princess will receive a great reward. It was announced everywhere, but no one was returning the ring. At this time, a rumor reached the king that some unknown people had come to the capital, boasting that they knew how to cast a spell. The king ordered to call them and asked: will they undertake to guess who found the princess’s ring?
“We will gladly serve you, king,” say the fortune tellers, “but the task is difficult; Give us two weeks to think about it.
The king agreed to wait two weeks, and also gave them an apartment in his royal palace, food from his table and assigned two servants to them. But at the same time he still hinted that if the fortune tellers decided to deceive him, he would order their heads to be cut off.
The fortune tellers agreed and were led into the room.
When they were left alone, Cricket began to complain and reproach Yandala: why did he decide to pass us off as fortune tellers? Now, they say, we can lose our lives, to whom will we leave our wives?
“You’re arguing stupidly, Cricket,” says Yandala, “it’s better for us to live well for fourteen days and then die, than to toil all our lives, earn bread by the sweat of our brow and die of hunger.” God will take care of our wives. And don’t rack your brains at all about how we can accomplish our task—after all, you know for sure that we won’t guess. Why think about it! Let's live fourteen days in luxury, and then the end will come to both joys and hardships!
“In my opinion, it’s not like that,” says Cricket, “it’s better to suffer all your life and die peacefully than to live well for a few days, and then die a shameful death and go to hell!”
They talk like this among themselves, and at this time the servant brings them food in luxurious dishes. The frivolous Yandala, smelling the pleasant aroma of food, looked at Cricket and, pointing to the servant, said:
“Here, brother, this is our first good!” The servant was greatly frightened by these words. Why? The princess lost the ring when she went to the restroom.
The servant found it and began to examine it. At this time, another servant quietly approached him and said:
- This is the princess’s ring!
“You know what, keep your mouth shut,” answered the first one. “I will pay you half of what the ring is worth: you will have the money, and I will have the ring.”
They came to an agreement and were silent, like fish. It was these two servants that the king assigned to serve the fortune tellers. When the first returned from them, the second asked:
“You, brother, have already served fortune tellers.” Well, how did they look to you?
- Our business is bad! - answers the first servant. - I brought them food; As soon as I entered the room, one fortune teller pointed at me and said: “This is our first good!”
- You know what? - says the second one. - Now I’ll go serve them; I’ll know right away whether they guess or not.
So he did. But as soon as he entered the room with the dishes, Yandala again looked at Cricket and pointed his hand at the servant:
- This is our second good!
The servant heard these words and was terribly frightened. "We're lost!" - thinks. But in fact, Yandala called the second blessing not the servant who stole the ring, but a new dish. And the servants thought that the fortune tellers knew their secret. They agreed among themselves and confessed to the fortune tellers. They bribed them with money and began to ask the fortune tellers not to give them away, but to turn it all around somehow differently. The fortune tellers immediately realized how and what happened.
- Where do you have this ring? asks Yandala. They showed.
“When fourteen days have passed,” says Yandala, “catch that big turkey over there and stuff a ring down his throat.” And we'll sort out the rest. But don't try to deceive us! If you don't do as told, it will be bad for you!
From that day on, the fortune tellers had fun, ate and drank to their heart's content.
Two weeks later the king calls them to him and asks if they found out who found his daughter’s ring.
- Most merciful king! - said Yandala. — Your daughter, walking across the yard, waved her hand wildly. The ring did not fit tightly on her finger, slipped and rolled, and the turkey swallowed it. As proof, order the largest turkey to be slaughtered and you will find a ring in it.
The king ordered the turkey to be slaughtered. The ring ended up in his stomach. Then the king said to the fortune tellers:
“For your wisdom and for finding the ring, stay with me for two more weeks.” Eat and drink as much as you like. In fourteen days I will tell you a riddle; If you solve it, I’ll reward you royally, but if you don’t solve it, I’ll order your heads to be cut off.
The unfortunate fortune tellers were overjoyed, they thought, “Let’s leave here and take away bags full of money,” but when the king regaled them with a new riddle, they stood and stood as if struck by thunder. But like it or not, you can’t escape the royal will, so you had to submit.
Again they went to their upper room and, when they were alone, they began to complain about their fate. They didn’t want to eat or drink. They waited with agonizing fear for the fourteenth day. Now Yandala no longer said that it was better to live well for fourteen days, and then die, than to suffer all his life, because they already considered themselves rich.
On the fourteenth day, the king entered their upper room, carrying a small wooden casket in his hand. When the fortune tellers saw the king, their souls sank from fear. The cricket is barely alive, but Yandala looked at it, plucked up courage, pointed to the casket and said.
- I swear, your business is bad, Cricket!
- Well, now I see that you are real sorcerers! - the king cried out in surprise and threw the casket on the floor.
The casket split, a booger jumped out of it, fluttered its wings and crackled:
- Tsvirk, tsvirk, tsvirk!
The king did not know that one of the fortune tellers was called Cricket. He thought - Yandala guessed that there was a cricket in the box. He gave them a lot of money and let them go.
Having heaved heavy bags onto their backs, the fortune tellers hurried to their wives. Even though it was already getting dark, they were not looking for a place to stay for the night. But it became completely dark, and it was impossible to go further. There was no housing to be seen anywhere. To prevent them from being robbed at night, the fortune tellers went into a ruined church that stood in a field near the road.
They rested there for a while and suddenly they heard footsteps and human voices. Yandala raised his head and saw that armed guys were entering the former sacristy. Whispers in Cricket's ear:
- Hey, brother, robbers!
I listened better and heard the jingle of money.
A little later the robbers left the church. Then the fortune tellers entered the sacristy, lit a candle and raked the piled money into their bags. Then they began to rummage around to find out what else had been stolen. There were many different things, and among them a beautiful pocket watch. Yandala wanted to take them for himself, and Cricket wanted to take them for himself. There were only one clock, but neither one nor the other wanted to give in. They argued. The cricket got angry:
“You’re glad to take everything for yourself: I suppose you pocketed those three Viennese coins for yourself too!”
They argued, quarreled, word for word, and fought.
At this time the robbers returned and again brought the stolen goods. As soon as they entered the destroyed church, they heard a terrible noise in the sacristy. They stopped and asked each other:
- What is it? Yes, how they will shout:
- The dead, the dead have risen from their graves! - and ran away from the church.
The chieftain, in order to encourage his gang, again entered the church and slowly crept up to the sacristy. There was a terrible roar and it was dark, because the fortune tellers had accidentally knocked over a candle in a fight. The chieftain stuck his head through the door of the sacristy, and the fortune tellers kept throwing each other from wall to wall until they found themselves right at the door. Yandala almost fell, he wanted to lean on the wall, but instead of the wall he grabbed the chieftain’s hat and threw it off. The frightened chieftain barely made it out of the church and shouted to his friends:
- Brothers, the devil himself fought there! Look, he knocked my hat off.
The robbers immediately fled.
And the fortune tellers, having fought to their hearts’ content—their anger, as usual, had passed—shaked each other’s hands, took their burdens and walked away.
We came home. The wives were delighted with them and began to complain about how poor they were without them. And the husbands told how they traveled and how God sent them mercy.
Time passes, Yandala gives birth to a child. In order to properly dress him up for holy baptism, Yandala decided to sew him a beautiful cap from a scarlet hat that he had once knocked off the chieftain’s head. I found the hat. As soon as he began to flog her, ducats began to fall out of her.
- Look, wife, look! - he shouted, - what God sent us! Let's buy ourselves a house.
Then he organized a rich christening, and when his wife went to church to be blessed, he called all the neighbors and gave them a great treat. And so that the money wouldn’t go to waste, he bought himself a nice peasant house.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru