Shardyn and his hawk were hunting for quails and wandered far away.
The day was approaching evening. Clouds were approaching from the south. Shardyn got hungry and felt cold. And then, as luck would have it, there was not a single hut along the way where he could spend the night. Suddenly he saw a large stone house.
“What happiness, apparently, I’ll end up with a rich man. Here I will be received well and fed well,” he thought and headed towards the house.
- Good evening! - he greeted the hostess who came to knock. “Can I spend the night with you?”
“I beg your pardon,” she answered, lowering her eyes. “I would be glad to receive you, but, unfortunately, I can’t - there is no husband at home, there is nothing to feed you and nowhere to put you to bed.”
What could Shardyn do? He moved a little to the side and stood under the canopy.
Soon a man climbed over the fence, stealthily approached the back door and knocked. Shardyn pressed himself against the wall so as not to be noticed and began to peek through the crack:
- Oh, it's you! “And I was so scared: recently someone asked to spend the night here, knocked on the door, I thought it was my husband who had returned,” the hostess said, letting the guest in.
Wine and all sorts of food appeared on the table: fatty chicken, smoked cheese, nuts, achashv.
[Achashv is a pie filled with cheese.]
After a hearty dinner, the hostess, having put away everything that was left in the closet, | elk, prepared the bed and lay down with the guest.
It was quiet for a long time. But then the clatter of hooves was heard, and the owner of the house drove into the yard.
Realizing that her husband had returned, the hostess hid the frightened guest in the corner of the room under the wicker with which she covered the hen with her chickens, and unlocked the door.
- What kind of weather is this - rain, cold! - said the husband, entering the house. Shardyn entered after him.
- Good evening! - he greeted the owner.
“Welcome, sit by the fire,” he invited the stranger and turned to his wife: “Put some wood on the hearth!”
The owner approached Shardyn and wanted to remove the hawk sitting on his hand, but he said that the bird was restive and would not go to someone else’s hand.
“Our guest must be from afar, hurry up and feed him,” the owner ordered his wife and went out to unsaddle his horse.
The hostess reluctantly went to the cupboard, took out cold hominy and beans and served it to the table.
“It’s not good to feed a guest just cold hominy and beans,” the returning owner told his wife with displeasure.
- Would I be sorry for the guest if I had something in stock! - she answered, lowering her head.
Shardyn, smiling slightly, began to eat. Then he imperceptibly pressed down the wing of the hawk. He started screaming.
- Ait, damn it! You can’t be silent, you care about everything! - Shardyn shouted at him angrily.
- What does he want? - asked the owner, curious.
“Nothing, so...” he likes to talk about everything he sees, as if someone would take him into account,” answered Shardyn.
- What did he see? “Tell me, this is very interesting,” the owner insisted.
- May God punish him! I don’t know... He says there are delicious dishes hidden in the cupboard!
The owner jumped up and opened the closet door. Indeed, there was a lot of food in the cupboard.
The owner immediately put everything on the table, and both began to eat. When dinner was finished, Shardyn again imperceptibly pressed the hawk's wing. He screamed again.
- Ait, you would be lost! Again he decided to chat about what he sees... - said Shardyn, flicking him on the head.
The owner began to ensure that Shardyn did not hide from him what the hawk was seeing. He refused for a long time, but then said:
“I don’t know if it’s true or not, but the hawk says that there’s a man sitting under that wicker basket!”
- Who's under the basket?! - the owner shouted and rushed into the corner.
The man sitting there, fearing revenge, threw off the basket and took off running. He turned out to be the owner's neighbor. The owner still managed to catch him and beat him so much that he barely escaped. And the insulted husband sent the unfaithful wife to her parents.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru