Once upon a time there lived a peasant named Gudbrand. His estate stood on a slope, and therefore they called him Gudbrand from the slope. He lived with his old woman in perfect harmony, and his wife never contradicted him in anything. Whatever hubby does is fine. Whether he does it badly or well, he will never hear reproaches from his wife.
Although they did not live in great prosperity, they did not live in poverty either.
They had a plot of land, two cows in a barn and a hundred da-lers in a little box for a rainy day.
So one day the wife says to her husband:
“We should go to town and sell one cow, so that we, like all good people, have money for expenses.” And we can hardly spend the hundred dalers that are hidden in the chest. And it will be easier for me to follow one cow.
“Okay, wife, you came up with it,” Gudbrand replies.
He tied the cow's horns with a rope and took her to sell.
He came to the city, stood on the market square and waited for buyers. But no one even asks the price for the cow. “Well,” thought Gudbrand. “Why should I be forced to sell it? There’s always a place in the barn, but the road to the house hasn’t gotten any longer in the morning.”
And he trudged slowly back to the village. He was walking along the road and met a man who was leading a horse to sell. “But a horse will be even more useful on the farm,” Gudbrand thought and exchanged his cow for a horse.
He goes further and sees: a peasant is chasing a fat pig with a twig.
Gudbrand liked that little pig, so tell the peasant:
- Listen, good man, let's change. I'll give you a horse, you'll give me a pig.
The peasant was amazed, but did not refuse the exchange. Gudbrand walks along the road with a pig and is not happy with himself. “Look,” he thinks, “how smart everything is working out for me. I ought to replace the pig with more profit.”
And he replaced the pig with a goat. And it was a market day, and people were bringing a lot of all kinds of livestock into the city to sell. “This is where you can make a profitable exchange,” Gudbrand realized. And he went to change. He replaced the goat with a sheep, the sheep with a goose, and the goose with a rooster. He was walking with a rooster, and then he was dying to eat. But there is no money for bread. What are you going to do here?
“I’ll sell the rooster,” Gudbrand decided. - Don’t let me starve!
He sold the rooster for twelve shillings, bought food, ate, and walked on lightly.
Gudbrand reached his village and went to a neighbor to rest from the road.
— Did you trade well in the city? - asks his neighbor.
“How can I say it,” Gudbrand replies. “Of course, it’s nothing to boast about, but there doesn’t seem to be anything to complain about.” And he told how everything turned out for him.
- Well, you’ll get it from your wife today! - says the neighbor. “I wouldn’t want to be in your place.”
- Why? - says Gudbrand. - I didn’t trade so badly. But whether it’s bad or not, my wife doesn’t care and won’t say a word against me.
“I know, I know, she’s kind to you,” the neighbor replies, “but this time don’t expect any mercy from her.”
Here Gudbrand suggested to his neighbor:
- Do you want us to make a bet? I have a hundred dalers in my little box; I hid them for a rainy day. If my wife even reproaches me with a word, I will give you all this money. And if she starts praising me, then you will give me a hundred dalers.
They shook hands, waited until it got dark, and went to Gudbrand's estate. Gudbrand entered the house, and the neighbor hid behind the door and began to listen to what would happen next.
Gudbrand crossed the threshold and greeted his wife:
- Good evening!
- Good evening! - says the wife. - Thank God you came back. What was it like trading in the city?
- Yes, so-so. Nothing to brag about. No one would buy the cow, so I exchanged it for a horse.
- Thank you, thank you! - the wife was delighted. “Now we’ll ride to church in a carriage, no worse than anyone else.” Yes, and a horse is useful on the farm. Take her to the barn!
- I don’t have a horse! “I traded her for a pig along the way,” Gudbrand replies.
And my wife was even more delighted.
- What a smart guy you are! I'd rather not do even that. I don’t know how to thank you! Now we will have both pork and lard in our house, something to treat our good guests to. But we don’t need a horse! Because of him you will only suffer shame from people. Look, they’ll say how proud they are, they can’t even walk to church! Take the piglet to the barn.
- Well, I don’t even have a pig anymore. “I exchanged it for a goat on the way,” Gudbrand replies.
And the wife is not herself with joy.
- And yet you come up with such a neat idea! Piglet what? Eat it and it’s as if it never happened. And we always have milk and cheese from the goat. Come on, bring your goat here.
- To tell the truth, I don’t even have a goat. “I was walking along the road and traded her for a sheep,” says Gudbrand.
And the wife almost dances with joy.
- How did you even think of this? Where do we go with the goat? Just know that you chase her all day long with a twig over the hills and through the meadows! And from the sheep we will get both meat and wool. Come on, give me your sheep here.
“I had a sheep, but it all came out.” “I traded it for a goose,” Gudbrand replies.
But the wife cannot come to her senses from joy.
- You did this well! Thank you, thank you! I don't need a sheep, if I really think about it. I have neither a spinning wheel nor a spindle; And I’m not an expert at spinning wool. But if you have to, it won’t take long to buy it. But now we will feast on fatty goose, I love it with passion. And you can stuff your pillows with goose down. Come on, where is your goose?
- And I don’t have a goose. “I traded him for a rooster,” says Gudbrand.
Here the wife, out of joy, couldn’t see the light.
- And as soon as you have enough sense for everything! And then to say, why do we need a goose? I don’t really know how to fry it. And you can stuff the pillows with hay. A rooster is a different matter! It's all one thing to buy a watch. Now we will always get up on time. How he crows at dawn - you won’t sleep here! Bring the rooster here!
“I sold it,” says Gudbrand, “on the way, my stomach was so sick from hunger that I thought I wouldn’t survive.” So I had to sell the rooster for twelve shillings and buy myself food.
- Thank God you thought of this! - the wife screamed. - Whatever you do, it's okay! But we don’t need a rooster. We are our own masters and can sleep as much as our heart desires in the morning. If only I had you alive and well, I don’t need anything else - not a goose, not a cow, not a pig!
Then Gudbrand opened the door and said to his neighbor:
- Well, neighbor, did I win a hundred dollars?
And he answers:
“With a good wife, even if you lose, you still win.”
And with the hundred dalers that he won from his neighbor, Gudbrand bought a cow, a horse, a pig, and many other animals.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru