One poor old man had three sons: the two eldest were smart, and the third was a fool.
When the old man died, the older brothers divided among themselves everything that was left of their father, and the fool was given only a spoke from a cart wheel and was told that this was too much; After all, it’s not for nothing that people say: “Don’t leave an inheritance to a stupid son, it won’t serve him well.”
The brothers decided to go in search of happiness.
The elders left their property at home, and the fool took with him all his wealth - his knitting needle.
They walked and walked for a long time, and when it began to get dark, they entered the forest. At night, the brothers decided to climb some tree and sit there, so as not to meet the robbers. The elder brother says:
- How can we deal with a fool, how can we lift him up a tree with a knitting needle?
“You better take care of yourself,” said the fool, “and I’ll climb the tree myself.”
The older brothers climbed to the very top, and the fool sat on the lower branch. He also wanted to climb higher, but he couldn’t.
The fool sits, holds his knitting needle tightly, and does not sleep. Suddenly, under the tree that the brothers had climbed, the abrek robbers stopped. They were returning from a raid, tired, hungry and decided to have dinner.
They collected more dry branches, lit a fire, and put the meat in a cauldron suspended over the fire. The meat was cooked for a long time, and when it was ready and the abreks were getting ready to have dinner, a knitting needle suddenly fell from the tree: it was a dozing fool who dropped it. A knitting needle fell into the boiling broth, and all the abreks were doused with boiling water. They got scared and ran away in different directions. And all the goods that they plundered remained under the tree. Then the fool shouted:
“Get down, brothers, take away the goods—here’s some good fortune for us!”
He gave all his wealth to his older brothers, and took only a bag of millet for himself. He put him on his back, climbed with him onto a large mound and began to trample the millet with his feet.
An old man was passing by; I saw this and was surprised:
- What are you doing? he asked.
“I want to eat my fill of pasta at least once,” answered the fool.
- You better sell the millet to me - I’ll give you what you need for it!
“I don’t need anything except a harmonica!”
- Do you know how to play it? - I don’t know how, so I’ll learn!
The old man took out a harmonica from his bosom and gave it to the fool, while he took the bag of millet.
The fool sat down on the mound and began to play the harmonica. II a miracle happened: hares, wolves, foxes, bears - all the animals suddenly began to dance Islam.
The fool plays without ceasing - the animals are already tired, they can no longer dance and cannot stop. And the bear can barely stand on his feet - he clings to a tree and walks around it.
The fool got tired of playing, he hid the accordion and went to bed. Once I got enough sleep, I got up and went into the city. He walked and walked through the streets and suddenly remembered his accordion. He took it out and started playing again. An old man met him: he was carrying a full basket of eggs. Hearing the sounds of an extraordinary accordion, the old man began to dance. All the eggs are broken, but the old man still can’t stop - he dances and dances.
A fool walked around the city and decided to hire himself as a worker. Suddenly he sees him walking along the road. He approached the psha and said:
- Take me as a worker!
— How much will you require for a year of work?
“Five rubles,” answered the fool.
Pshi was delighted that he had found such a cheap farm laborer and took him to his place.
The next day the fool drove the bulls out to graze, and he sat down on the mound. The bulls graze, but what is a fool to do? He became bored looking around. And then he remembered about the harmonica. He took it out and started playing. The bulls stopped nibbling the grass, listened - and suddenly they started dancing! They danced all day without a break. In the evening the fool drove them home, and the hungry bulls began to pull the straw from the roof and greedily eat
her. And so every day: from morning to evening the fool played his harmonica, and the bulls danced. And they did not have time to pick the blades of grass for the whole day and became so emaciated that all that remained of them was skin and bones.
He sees the pshi - his bulls are about to die of hunger, and he decides to watch how the new shepherd grazes them. When the next day the fool drove the bulls into the steppe, Pshi followed him and hid in the bushes.
The fool drove the bulls to where the tallest, lush grass grew, and the huge bulls were barely visible in it. But before they even had time to bend over to the grass, he took out his harmonica and began to play on it. The bulls immediately started dancing - they forgot about the grass. He couldn’t stand it any longer and started dancing. The thorns pricked him severely, but he could not sit still. In an instant, he tore his dress, and his whole body was covered with wounds. I couldn’t stand the pain and screamed loudly. The fool heard him, stopped playing and looked around in surprise: who could shout in the steppe, where there is not a soul besides him?
Pshi jumped out of the bushes and ran at full speed to the village.
How could anyone recognize wheat in the wounded, ragamuffin? The boys decided that some abrek had run into the village and set the dogs on him. The psha was even more frightened and out of fear jumped up so quickly that he easily jumped over the high fence. As soon as he got into his yard, he went out onto the porch of the gu-ash. And she did not recognize her husband in this ragamuffin and ordered the servants to push him out of the yard. They grabbed stakes and were about to beat the uninvited guest, but then Pshi spoke, and the Unauts recognized their master. They washed him, changed his clothes and took him to the house.
I told my wife about the fool’s wonderful accordion. She was surprised, she never wanted to believe it: how can a harmonica work miracles? Pshi got angry and decided to teach his wife a lesson.
In the evening, the fool drove the bulls from the pasture. Pshi called him to his house and ordered him to play the harmonica. As soon as he brought the accordion to his lips, the gouasha began to dance. And the already taught Psha ordered himself to be tied tightly to the post so that he could not even move from his place. But he couldn’t stand it either and at the first sounds he almost broke the rope.
“Damn you, stop right now, or I’ll suffocate!” - Pshi shouted.
The fool put the accordion in his bosom and went to sleep in the barn.
When he was leaving, I heard Pshi say to his wife:
- Let's drive away the fool, otherwise we will have no peace either day or night!
The next morning the fool got up early, went to the owner and said:
“If you want me to leave, give me half of your property, otherwise I will make you and your wife dance without rest day and night!”
What was there to do?
He scratched the back of his head, thought yes, and gave half of his wealth to the fool.
The fool returned to his brothers, married the most beautiful girl in the village, and they lived happily ever after.
If you don’t believe that all this is true, ask gouache. True, I don’t know where she lives, but it’s easy to find out - any of her neighbors will tell you.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru