Once on the very eve of the New Year, a rice merchant knocked on the house of a poor man:
- Good evening!
-Who's there?
- It's me, the rice merchant. Today is the last day of the year, it's time for you to pay off your debts!
- A! Rice merchant... I’m not at home,” came the answer.
The merchant was surprised - he was talking to the owner. He stands there and doesn’t know what to do. Meanwhile, he moves his hand along the paper wall - shoji. I drove and drove until there was a hole in the shoji. The merchant looked into it and was stunned: the owner of the house! He lies down and rests. The merchant got angry:
- No way, you decided to deceive me! It turns out you're home, my dear. I see you. The poor man jumped up, ran up to the shoji, and howled:
- Where have you seen this? He comes to someone else's house and makes holes in the shoji!
“How awkward it turned out,” the rice merchant said, embarrassed.
He took the paper out of his pocket and began to plug the hole. “Look, the hole is gone,” he said.
- And don’t you see me anymore? - responded the poor man.
“I don’t see,” the merchant sighed with relief. -Can’t you see at all?
- I don’t see it at all.
“Well, that’s nice,” the poor man rejoiced, “and if so, I’m not at home.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru