A stupid person is bad, but a stupid and greedy person is twice as bad!
A stupid and greedy person will do no good to people or himself.
The shaman Chumbok lived in one camp.
There were a lot of guys in that camp. They loved to fight, run races, and stretch on their belts.
They were good guys, clever! All fathers loved their children.
And the shaman Chumboki had a son named Akimka. The shaman was rich. He lived by deception: he said that he knew a lot; He said that he knew the devils - he could bewitch or cure any person. If someone gets sick in the camp, they call the shaman. Chumboka comes, looks at the patient and says:
- The devil got into it! I know this devil, I know him. He needs to be kicked out.
He will string his tambourine and begin to beat it; the fire starts, it spins, it spins... He says different words, as if he is talking to the devils: he asks the patient to leave, to leave, he threatens those devils. If the sick person recovers, the shaman says: “Here, I have driven away the devils. I am strong! Give me gifts.” The sick man will die, says the shaman: “There were bad gifts, people had little faith in me. So they dragged the sick man to themselves.”
People were afraid of the shaman. They brought him all sorts of gifts. Others won’t leave it for themselves, but Chumboke drags it away.
Chumboka became rich and rich. Chumboka became proud. He walks around the camp - fat, fat to the point that his robe is soaked through. Chumbok turns his nose up - he considers himself better than everyone else.
The son of the shaman Akimk was the same as all the guys, no better, no worse.
The shaman felt offended that his son looked like everyone else. He decided to distinguish Akimka from all the guys. I went to the blacksmith. He brought a piece of gold.
- Listen, blacksmith, make me a ring.
- Why do you need a ring, and a gold one at that? - the blacksmith asks the shaman.
“I’ll put it around my son’s neck,” says the shaman. — Akimka will excel. Let all people see how rich his father is!
The blacksmith says:
- It’s not good, Chumbok, to separate your son from the guys.
The shaman got angry.
- You're stupid! - speaks. - Stupid, but you still give me advice!
- I'm not stupid! - the blacksmith was offended.
“And if you’re not stupid,” says Chumboka, “guess the riddle.” What, what, what is it: white people chop, red man carries?
The blacksmith thought and thought, but could not guess.
Chumbok began to laugh at him:
- Oh, you! This means: teeth and tongue. But you didn’t solve a simple riddle!
The blacksmith remained silent. I made the ring and gave it to the shaman.
Chumboka went home. He put the ring around his son’s neck and didn’t tell him to hang out with other guys.
Akimka walks around the camp alone. The ring on his neck glitters. Chumboka is happy: everyone now sees that Akimka’s father is not an ordinary person.
And time goes by...
Akimka is growing. He’s lost the habit of childish games and is too lazy to run. Got fat. The ring has become tight - it’s squeezing my neck. Akimka complains:
- Father, take off the ring!
Chumboka took the ring, spit, spit, but could not remove the ring: Akimka grew up. And Akimka puffs and chokes.
Chumboke's mother says:
- Cut the ring, Chumboka!
Chumboka was even scared.
“What are you saying,” he says, “how is it possible!” The ring is expensive: if you cut it, it will ruin the thing! And Akimka is suffocating because there are a lot of ordinary people here - the air is bad. Let Akimka sit on the little hill.
Akimka sits on the hill, wheezing.
Chumboka himself almost cries - he feels sorry for his son. And he’s even more sorry for ruining the gold ring.
So a blacksmith comes to the shaman and says:
- Well, which of us is stupid?
- You, you stupid! - Chumboka shouts.
- Well, if you are so smart, guess the riddle: what, what, what is a pot without a bottom?
The shaman thought.
“Uh,” he says, “is this really a riddle?” A pot without a bottom is an ice hole. Ice hole!
The blacksmith tells him:
- But I didn’t guess right, Chumboka! A pot without a bottom is your greed. Whatever you throw at it, that pot is still empty... They cut the ring!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru