There once lived a rich man in a certain city, and he had one and only daughter, in whom he doted. The time had come for his daughter to study, but the rich man did not send her to school: how could they hurt her there? He’d better stay at home, he decided.
Time flies by, and before the rich man has time to look back, his daughter has grown up. Then the father thought about the fate of his daughter.
“Our daughter has become quite an adult,” he once said to his wife, “but she can neither write nor read.” You and I are completely old, today or tomorrow we may die, and then all the good things will remain to her. Will she be able to manage her wealth wisely, let alone increase it? And if, God forbid, she loses her wealth, she will inevitably die! We should find her a good husband while we are alive!
And the father and mother began to look for a husband for their daughter who could protect her from all adversity and preserve and increase her wealth.
All the rich and noble parents of adult sons in the area came to woo the enviable bride, but her father invariably refused them.
“The main advantage of a son-in-law,” he stubbornly insisted, “is not wealth.” It is important that he is smart and hardworking.
One day a rich man went on a journey. He sailed along the river in a boat for a long time, and when he got tired, he decided to rest in a dilapidated gazebo. And in that gazebo sat a young man, intently looking at the hairs that had just been pulled out of his own beard.
“A very thoughtful young man,” the caring father decided to himself.
The next day, as if by chance, the rich man looked into the gazebo again and again saw a young man there, absorbed in the same activity.
Every day the rich man went to the gazebo and always met a young man there.
“Now he is a poor man,” reasoned the emotional rich man, “he has no choice but to indulge in thoughts, and when he becomes rich, he will direct all his thoughts to increasing his wealth.” And, having reasoned in this way, he invited the young man to his house.
After some time, the rich man married his daughter to this young man. Day after day passed, but nothing changed in the son-in-law’s behavior. As before, he constantly sat in solitude and pulled his beard with the air of a sage.
A whole year passed before the rich man decided to ask his son-in-law what he was thinking about all the time and why he wasn’t doing business.
The son-in-law was surprised:
– But I’m not at all interested in wealth, I’m not going to think about it. What interests me is this: what is the difference between beard hair and mustache hair?
The rich man became furious and kicked his unlucky son-in-law out of the house.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru