Once a peasant was walking through the forest. Either he was a forester, or something else, or he just went out for a walk. Suddenly he meets a devil in the forest. Damn right to him:
- If you guess how old I am, you will get three bags of money.
The peasant thought that the money would be very useful to him, and even three whole bags. If only he could live! Just how to guess how old the devil is? He paused and said:
- I won’t guess today. Come to the same place tomorrow, then I’ll tell you how old you are.
The devil has enough time, and he agreed to come tomorrow. They agreed on what time they would meet. The peasant came first, climbed into the bushes and waited for the devil. As soon as the devil appeared, the peasant cuckooed in the bushes. The devil listened, listened, and then said:
“What a miracle, I’ve been living in the world for ninety-nine years, but I’ve never heard of a cuckoo calling in winter!”
This is how the peasant found out what he needed. He approached the devil, and he asked:
- Well, can you tell me how old I am? The peasant looked at him from all sides and said:
- Looks like you're ninety-nine years old.
The devil was surprised: how does the peasant know this? But there was nothing he could do; he had to fork out the cash. The devil brought three bags of money, and from then on the peasant lived richly. I didn't need anything.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru