There lived a pastor in one parish. He was so greedy that everyone was amazed. It has never happened that I will not feed a single seeker, nor will I give a single homeless wanderer shelter for the night in my house.
But in his sermons he spoke so eloquently, and pounded the pulpit with his fist, and thundered to the whole church that, they say, greedy people are displeasing to God and that the last morsel must be shared with the poor.
But in fact, everything turned out the other way around for him. And out of his greed, he came up with this thing. On Christmas, when many poor wanderers asked for shelter, he dressed in rags and sat down in his kitchen at home. Someone knocks on the pastor’s house and asks for a place to stay for the night, and the pastor’s wife shows him her husband in disguise and says:
“I would be glad to shelter you, but we already have one beggar sitting there.” You better go to the bell ringer, his house is not far from ours.
So she sent all the beggars to the bell ringer. And the bell-ringer, of course, wasn’t too happy about it. But he was a cunning man and capable of all sorts of tricks.
And he decided to teach the tight-fisted pastor a lesson.
One night before Christmas, a bell-ringer dressed up as a beggar, came to the pastor's estate and asked for shelter for the night. The shepherdess began to sing an old song:
“I would be glad to shelter you, good man, but you see, there’s another beggar sitting by the fireplace.” You better go to the bell ringer, his house is not far from ours.
And the bell ringer answers her:
- I was there. Only the bell-ringer’s house is already full of beggars without me, so there’s nowhere to go. Won't the pastor's wife kick me out at night, hoping that I'll freeze somewhere under the fence?
- God forbid! — the pastor’s wife was frightened.
- That's it! - says the bell-ringer. - If you have found a place for one beggar in your house, then there will be one for me - He won’t spend the night on the pastor’s bed! Right, brother?
He walked up to the pastor and patted him on the shoulder so hard that he almost fell face first into the fireplace.
The pastor's wife fed the beggars dinner and took them to an old brewery to spend the night. She ordered the pastor to lie down on a wooden sofa, and the bell-ringer to lie down on the cover of the sofa. Just don’t be a fool, he took it and stretched out on the sofa.
The pastor had to lie down on the hard lid.
After some time, the bell-ringer quietly left the brewery, and then returned and woke up the pastor:
- Listen, friend! It's great that I just annoyed this bad pastor! I drilled a hole in the attic of the stabbur, and all the grain that the pastor took from the peasants for church tithes was spilled into firewood.
- Oh, oh, oh! - the pastor yelled.
- What's wrong with you? - the bell ringer is surprised.
- I'm sick to my stomach! - the pastor shouted.
And he rushed headlong from the brewery into the yard. He ran to the stubbyur and let’s fix the hole in the attic and collect the grain between the logs. He worked half the night, was completely exhausted, and still did not collect all the grain.
Meanwhile, the bell-ringer put on the pastor’s clothes and went to the pastor’s bedchamber. And the pastor’s wife thought that it was her husband who had returned.
- Well, what is this damn beggar? Have you calmed down? - asks the pastor.
- Sleeping, damn it! - the bell ringer answers. -And this wooden lid makes all my bones ache. So I decided to relax on my bed.
He stretched out on the soft parsonage bed and fell into a sweet sleep. And at midnight I woke up and went back to the brewery. He lay down on the sofa and saw the pastor coming in from the yard, barely alive from fatigue, sweat pouring off him. As soon as the pastor lay down on the cover of the sofa, the bell-ringer again quietly walked out the door. Then he came back and woke up the pasto
- Listen, brother, wake up! I am this scoundrel's pastor; annoyed me even more. He opened the gate to the barnyard and drove out all his cattle.
- Oh, oh, oh! - the pastor yelled.
-What are you doing? - the bell ringer was surprised.
- I'm sick to my stomach! - the pastor shouted and jumped out of the brewery like an arrow. The pastor came running to the barnyard, and the herd had all scattered. And he had to run through the forests and over the hills in the middle of the night and call his cows. You can't see anything in the darkness. The pastor is running, stumbles, falls.
He hit more than one bump while gathering the herd. Meanwhile, the bell-ringer put on the pastor’s clothes, came to the bedchamber, stretched out on the soft pastor’s bed and fell into a sweet sleep. In the morning he woke up and went to the brewery to see what the pastor was doing there. And the pastor can barely breathe. He lies on the cover of the sofa, groans and groans heavily.
“You’ve been walking for a long time,” the bell-ringer tells him. “Meanwhile, I again played a joke with that sleazy pastor!”
- What else have you done? - asks the pastor, and he almost cries.
“I ran to the cellar and poured manure into the largest barrel of beer. The pastor, apparently, was going to send beer to the bell ringer for Christmas.
- Oh, oh, oh! - the pastor yelled.
- What are you? - the bell ringer was surprised.
- My stomach is seized, there is no urine! - the pastor shouts.
“You, poor fellow, must have worn yourself out on this lid.” Lie down on the sofa, and I'll go home. It’s already dawn outside, but don’t expect breakfast from this sleazy pastor!
The bell ringer left, and it was as if a weight had been lifted from the pastor’s shoulders. He jumped up from the sofa and went to his bedchamber.
- Is it you again? - the pastor asks him.
— Why “again”? - the pastor was surprised.
- Well, you came twice already.
The pastor even opened his mouth in surprise:
- Twice? Are you out of your mind, mother? Apparently you dreamed this!
- When I don’t sleep, I don’t dream! — the pastor’s wife got angry. “And you walked back and forth here all night, didn’t let me sleep.”
The pastor lay down on the bed, and then jumped up and woke up the pastor’s wife:
- Wake up, mother!
- What do you want, father?
- Send the bell ringer the biggest barrel of beer tomorrow.
“Won’t it be too much for him?”
- No, not much. The beggar poured manure there.
The next morning the pastor's wife sent the bell ringer the entire barrel of beer. And the bell-ringer drank and praised him. He knew that there was no trace of manure there.
This is how the bell ringer taught the greedy pastor a lesson.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru