In ancient times, there lived in the North one man who ruled church lands. His income was good, and he loved money, so people knew for sure that he had a lot of it. Although the steward himself was famous for his stinginess, his wife was a kind and friendly woman, but she had no influence on her husband.
One winter the manager fell ill and soon died. He was given ceremonies and buried as expected. After this, the entire farm was thoroughly searched, but no money was found. They began to ask the wife, but she knew nothing about the money. Everyone knew that she was an honest woman, so they believed her and decided that the manager had buried the money somewhere.
Towards the end of winter, people noticed that a ghost began to visit the farm, and they guessed that this dead man was coming to his money. The ghost frightened all the workers so much that they decided to leave the farm, and the widow grieved that she would no longer be able to run the farm. But then one salesman came to her and asked to become an employee. The widow, of course, took it.
Soon a trade opened in the village, and a new worker went there to buy goods. Among other things, he purchased sheet iron and white canvas. Returning home, he ordered a shroud to be sewn from canvas, and he himself began to forge iron. He turned out to be a very skilled blacksmith and forged iron gloves for himself. At night everything was covered in thick fog. The people went to bed, and the worker put on iron gloves, attached an iron sheet to his chest, threw a shroud on top and went to the cemetery to the owner’s grave. There he began to walk back and forth, tossing a twenty-five skilding coin in his hand.
Soon the ghost rose from the grave and immediately noticed the worker.
-Are you a ghost too? - it asks.
“Of course,” the worker answers.
- Let me touch you!
The worker extended his hand in an iron glove, the ghost touched the glove and made sure that it was cold.
“Your truth,” it says. - Why do you go to earth?
“Yes, let’s play with this coin,” the worker answers.
- There it is! Well, do you have a lot of money? - asks the ghost.
- And you? - says the worker.
- I have a lot! - the ghost shouted and ran away from the cemetery, and the worker followed him.
They reached the very fence of the pasture, where the ghost kicked a mound and pulled out a chest with money from under it. They began to count the money and fussed with it all night. Before dawn, the ghost wanted to put the money back in the chest, and the worker took it and scattered it in all directions.
- No, you’re not dead after all! - the ghost tells him.
- You yourself are not dead! Come on, touch it! - the worker answers and again extends his hand to him.
“That’s right, dead man,” says the ghost and again begins to fold the money, and the worker again scatters it in all directions.
Here the ghost got seriously angry:
“You are a man, not a dead man, and you are planning to deceive me!”
And the worker stands his ground:
- No, he's dead!
The ghost grabbed him by the chest, and his chest was cold, very cold.
“Yes, it turns out you’re telling the truth,” it said and began to pick up the money for the third time.
The worker no longer dared to scatter them, he only asked:
“Can I put my coin in your chest too?”
“Put it in, perhaps,” the ghost answered and buried his chest so that nothing was visible from above.
After that they returned to the cemetery.
- Well, where is your grave? - asks the ghost.
“Near the church,” the worker answers.
- Climb up first!
“No,” the worker answers, “you climb first.”
So they bickered until it was completely dawn. Then the ghost jumped into his grave, and the worker returned home. At home, he ordered the water to be poured out of the tub, placed it under the bench and put his night clothes there, and then brought a chest with money from the pasture and also put it in the tub.
Evening came and everyone went to bed. The worker was lying facing the door. Soon a ghost appeared, smelling strongly. It looked around, tapped the bench with a spade and walked away, and the worker followed him. And they say that he buried the owner’s grave in such a way that he never showed up again. And he hid his clothes and chest in a tub so that the ghost would not smell the earth. Soon the worker married the widow, and they lived a long life. This is the end of the fairy tale.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru