Once upon a time there lived a king. He loved listening to fairy tales. Throughout the state, the royal servants were looking for storytellers for the king - the king demanded a new fairy tale every day. And if they told him one that he had already heard once, he ordered the storyteller to be executed. How was it possible to find out whether he had heard this tale or not?
It happened that as soon as they began to tell him something familiar for the second time, the king would immediately order the narrator’s head to be cut off.
And then the day came when there were no more storytellers left in this kingdom who would dare to speak before the king. And the king loses his temper and shouts at the servants:
– Get me a storyteller from wherever you want! Otherwise it will be the end for all of you!
The servants are rushing about, unconscious from anxiety. And suddenly some unfamiliar guy appears at the palace.
He came, greeted the king and said:
- Do you want to listen to my fairy tale, king?
And the Tsar is glad and glad. He's in a hurry, looking into the guy's mouth.
- Come on, come on, tell me quickly! And he sits him down next to him in an easy chair. The guy says:
- Well, listen. You've probably never heard such a tale before. It was a long time ago when my grandfather and your grandfather built a barn together. The barn was so long that if a log had been stretched in it, a squirrel would not have been able to jump from end to end in a whole day. That was a barn! Haven't you heard of this?
“No, I didn’t hear,” the king says, “and what happened next?”
“And then I’ll tell you tomorrow,” the guy answered and left. The next morning comes again. The king again makes him sit next to him and hurries:
- Well, what happened next?
“So,” says the guy, “your grandfather and my grandfather raised a bull in this barn.” He was such a bull that the swallow had to fly all day to get from one horn to another. Have you heard about such a bull?
“No,” says the king, “it wasn’t necessary.”
“I haven’t heard, that’s enough for today,” says the guy. And he left again.
“You’re a cunning guy,” the king thinks, “but I’ll still outwit you.” You, like others, may be without a head!”
He called all his courtiers and said:
- When this guy starts talking again tomorrow, you all come to listen, and no matter what he says, shout:
“We heard it, we heard it! So I’ll catch him.”
The guy came again. He sat down and began to talk.
“When your father and my father reigned next door, your father borrowed thirty barrels of gold from my father. He took me away on thirty horses. Have you heard about this?
- We heard, we heard! - the courtiers shouted in unison.
- Well, since you’ve heard everything, then repay your debt, king! - says the guy.
And the king had to pay the guy with gold. After all, you can’t argue if everyone is shouting in unison that they have heard about this debt.
The king ordered his treasurers to prepare gold for the guy.
They collected and collected, but they only collected ten barrels; the king did not have more in his treasury.
Our guy got rich and rode away from the king on three horses. And from then on the king stopped listening to fairy tales. Taught him a lesson!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru