Once upon a time there lived a peasant. He heard so many different wonders about the king that he thought that the king was a special person, different from everyone else. The peasant really wanted to see the king, at least once in his life, and to see it with his own eyes.
And the capital is far away. The peasant finally decided to go to the city to see the king.
-Are you completely crazy? - the wife got angry. - Spend money on some whim! We don't have enough of them anyway. You have nothing to do in the capital!
“And at the same time I’ll go to the barber there and pull out my tooth.” You know, my tooth often hurts, I can’t stand it.
The peasant haunts his wife, to the capital and to the capital, to Madrid and to Madrid. Well, his wife let him go.
A peasant walks and rejoices. But the capital is far away, I almost spent all my money on the trip.
The peasant came to Madrid and on the same day saw the king as he left the temple.
“I’m so stupid,” the peasant slapped himself on the forehead. “The king is like everyone else, just like me and the others.” And what did I spend my money on! I should have listened to my wife and acted on her advice.
He counted the money, and he only had half a real left.
Then the peasant wanted to eat, and to make matters worse, his tooth ached with all his might. A peasant stopped near a pies seller, looked at the stall and thought: “If I pull out a tooth, my half-real will go to the barber - then I’ll die of hunger; and if I eat the pies, the tooth will hurt even more, I won’t be able to get home with it. How can I help?”
While he stood there doubting, two gentlemen walked past. They saw the peasant staring at the pies and asked:
- Hey! How many pies can you eat in one sitting?
And they themselves laugh.
- Me? At least a hundred,” says the peasant.
- A hundred? Yes, no one will eat a hundred.
- No one will eat, but I will eat.
A debate arose here: will he eat or not? The lords became excited, and the people gathered around. Finally the lords say:
- What are we betting on?
-What are we arguing about? But here's what: if I don't eat a hundred pies in one sitting, pull my teeth.
The lords laughed and agreed. The peasant ate his fill of pies and said:
“Indeed, senors, I can’t take it anymore, apparently yours took it.”
The lords were delighted and called the barber. And the people laugh! The barber came and the lords said to him:
- Pull this guy's tooth out!
The peasant wrinkled his face as if he felt sorry for his teeth, and they laughed even more. The barber pulls a bad tooth, the peasant screams and groans, and the laughter is louder.
So the barber pulled out a tooth, the lords paid for the pies, paid for the tooth and said to the people:
-Have you seen such a fool? Over the course of a few pies, I lost a tooth.
“Still, I’m no more stupid than you,” the peasant replies. “You paid me for the pies that I ate, and you pulled out a sick tooth, and paid the barber.” They saved me from hunger and from pain. And my half-reals were safe.
Here the people laughed at the lords. They hung their heads and walked away quickly.
That's the end of the fairy tale.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru