There lived one man named Lao Lin-mu. He had a son and three daughters.
The daughters were beautiful, like goddesses, and very eloquent, which the father especially liked to brag about to his neighbors.
“As soon as my daughters start talking, all the pigeons from the trees immediately fly to them,” he said.
The rumor about the eloquent girls spread far and wide, and the father's heart rejoiced.
Several years have passed. The daughters got married, the son also got married. Lao Lin-mu's daughter-in-law was modest and hardworking. She always kept her house and yard clean. She weaved and embroidered beautifully and worked skillfully in the fields.
Everything was going well for her. She and her husband lived peacefully and loved each other, she respected her father-in-law very much, and everyone in the village called her a good daughter-in-law. But Lao Lin-mu did not like her because she could not speak as beautifully as his daughters.
Before the New Year, Lao Lin-mu took out several lans of silver he had earned during the year and looked at them for a long time. He was sorry to buy new clothes for himself with them. He didn’t want to buy a new dress for his daughter-in-law, who worked so hard for the house. He wanted to give this money to his daughters. But there was little money, it had to be divided into three parts, and he could not deprive any of his daughters. My father didn’t sleep all night, thinking about what he should do with the money, and finally came up with an idea.
The next day he got up at dawn and, without breakfast, left the house. “We’ll eat a little at each daughter’s, so I’ll be full, he decided.
Lao Lin-mu walked ten li (Li is a measure of length, different at different times and in different places in China, most often equal to 0.576 km) towards the rising sun and ended up at the house of his eldest daughter. Seeing her father, the daughter was very happy and told him many pleasant words about how she had been waiting for him. Lao Lin-mu shook his head with pleasure and smiled.
“My daughter can speak so well,” he thought, “and she says such nice things. I’ll give her the money.”
The eldest daughter said a lot of things, but she didn’t say a word about breakfast. And the father realized that they were greeting him here insincerely, that only his daughter’s words were good. He did not give her the money and left.
After walking another ten li, he reached the house of his middle daughter. Seeing her father, she was also very happy, she also said a lot of kind words to him and repeated more than once that she should definitely treat her father to breakfast. But she never started cooking breakfast. And Lao Lin-mu realized that even here he was greeted insincerely. He did not give the money to his middle daughter and moved on.
Lao Lin-mu walked another ten li and reached the house of his youngest daughter. She, like her sisters, greeted him very warmly and hurried to say that she would make dzamba for breakfast (Dzamba is flatbread made from flour and butter.) and feed her father with food prepared with her own hands. Lao Lin-mu smiled and shook his head. After all, he loved his youngest daughter so much! Meanwhile, she got to work.
Seeing such a sincere, warm welcome, the father decided to give his youngest daughter all the money so that she could sew herself a new dress.
Meanwhile, the food was not served. Lao Lin-mu got up early, didn’t have breakfast at home, and even walked thirty li, he was really very hungry.
And Lao Lin-mu went to the kitchen. There was a hot dzamba there, steaming from it, but the owner was nowhere to be seen. Lao Lin-mu took one cake and was just about to put it in his mouth when suddenly his daughter came in. He hastily took off his hat and, placing a hot cake on the top of his head, put his hat back on. After counting the cakes and seeing that one was missing, the daughter raised her head and noticed steam above her father’s head. Realizing what was going on, she said:
- Father, you are so tired that your head is steaming. You should take off your hat. “Having daughters like you, a father will inevitably sweat with joy,” Lao Lin-mu answered mockingly.
The daughter remained silent. And Lao Lin-mu became convinced that she, too, was not saying what she thought, that she, too, had sweet speeches, but a cruel heart. He did not give her anything and returned home with the money.
At this time the daughter-in-law was sitting at the gate and spinning. Seeing her father-in-law, she immediately put down the spinning wheel and began to serve dinner. Before the father-in-law had time to sit down, hot, aromatic food was already on the table.
“I had breakfast three times today with your sisters and I’m still full,” Lao Lin-mu lied. — Bring lunch back. “Eating at home once is better than visiting three times,” answered the daughter-in-law.
Lao Lin-mu refused no longer and ate three full cups.
And then he realized that he really had a good daughter-in-law: without unnecessary words, she took care of him and fed him.
“The money must be given to her,” Lao Lin-mu decided. So he did.
From that time on, Lao Lin-mu no longer boasted about his daughters, and when his daughter-in-law was praised, he chuckled contentedly.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru