Once upon a time there lived a peasant, his name was Mokhna. His wife was a beauty, she never lost her good spirits no matter the adversity, she always smiled and blossomed like a flower. And they called her with a flower name - Genda, which means Marigold. The sari she was wearing was old and torn, a patch upon a patch, but she never lost heart. Their stomachs often gave out from hunger, it happened that there was not a handful of flour in the house, but she never complained to anyone about their fate and said that, thank God, they did not need anything. And Mohna was angry with her: “What kind of stuff are you made of, that you don’t care about everything? But I’m so tired of suffering with passion! How long will it take for us to starve? Is it possible to believe in the justice of the Almighty? Genda answered with a laugh:
- What kind of man are you? Worse than women! Both happiness and unhappiness are all from man. If you sit with your hands folded, you will achieve nothing.
-You always say the same thing. And I work like hell in the field from morning to night. And still, they can’t earn money for food or clothes.
- Well, then sell the ox and take up some craft. Maybe things will go better.
- Okay, tomorrow morning I’ll take the ox to the market.
At dawn, Mokhna led the ox into the city to the market. On the way, five rogues saw him and decided to rob the simple-looking peasant. The eldest rogue, their father, sat down at a distance under a tree, and the rest went to meet Mokhna.
-Where are you going, brother? - one asked.
- Here, I’m taking the ox to the market. The road is not close.
- Why do you need to go to the market? Sell the ox here.
- That would be good. Who will take it?
- Sell it to me.
- How much will you give?
- How do I know the price? Let's ask someone. There's an old man sitting there. Whatever he says, we’ll decide on that.
Mohna was a gullible simpleton. He could not even imagine that they wanted to deceive him. He and the rogue approached the old man and asked him to set a price for the ox.
“Seven copper coins,” said the old man. The deceivers counted out seven copper coins and gave them away
Mokhne, and they took the ox with them. Then Mokhna guessed that they were all at the same time, but he just didn’t dare say anything. There are five of them, and he is one. They would have dealt with him immediately. With a heavy heart, he headed home.
He came home, lay down and closed his head. Genda saw him:
- What's wrong with you? Why are you lying there as if a snake has sniffed you? How much did you sell the ox for?
Mohna is silent, doesn’t say a word. Genda touched his head to see if he was sick, then she got angry.
- Speak up! Or has your tongue dried out?
Then Mohna told how he was deceived. Genda listened and said:
- That's it! It would be better for you to be a woman and stay at home! Why were you born a man?
- I was born, I didn’t ask you! Genda laughed:
- Okay, don't worry! I wouldn’t be Genda if I didn’t return the ox!
The next morning, before dawn, Genda put on men's clothes, hid a dagger under her shirt and left the house. She came to the village where the rogues lived and began shouting in the street:
– Does anyone need a worker?.. Does anyone need a worker?..
The father of the rogues heard this. It was difficult for him to feed and water the cattle. He decided to take a worker into the house. He began to ask who he was and where he was from. Genda answers:
- My name is Genda Singh. And I live wherever I have to. I have neither land nor housing, that’s why I hire myself as a worker.
“My sons will return in the evening.” Negotiate with them about the salary.
- Whatever you give me, that’s fine. I don't have a family. Does one need too much? I’ll be full and satisfied.
The old rogue was glad that he had found a cheap worker. And when his sons returned, they also decided that a worker on the farm would be useful, but feeding him would be a small expense.
Soon Genda found out all the secret places where the rogues hid their wealth. And then one night they left the house. Genda immediately got down to business. She crept up to the old man, tied him to the bed with a rope and began to beat him with a stick and say:
- Remember the ox for seven copper coins!.. Remember the ox for seven copper coins!..
Then she untied her ox, loaded it with bags of money, jewelry, clothes, and all kinds of utensils and went home.
The rogues returned and saw their father tied to the bed and beaten half to death. The money and treasures are gone, and the employee is gone too. Then the rogues realized that they had been outwitted. But they were ashamed to admit that a simple peasant turned out to be smarter than them, and therefore they began to assure each other that it was not a peasant, but a cunning swindler just like them.
And Genda again, this time in the guise of a doctor, appeared in front of their house. The rogues saw the doctor and called him to treat his beaten father.
The doctor examined the old man and said:
– You can cure it in a week.
- Give him some medicine. We will treat as you say.
- Nothing will work out for you. I have to look after the patient myself.
- No no! We've had enough of strangers in our house. After all, my father also suffered because we sheltered an employee.
- How incredulous you people are!
- Give me the medicine, we will treat him ourselves.
The doctor grabbed his bag and was about to leave in anger, but then the old man spoke and began to beg the doctor to stay.
The doctor agreed and began to treat the old man. Several days passed. The rogues left home somewhere for two days. And for a doctor, a more convenient case cannot be imagined. He gave the old man an opium pill, and he fell into a deep sleep. The doctor collected gold coins, gold and silver jewelry from the caches and disappeared.
The rogues returned and grabbed their heads. And then they swore an oath to teach the impudent peasant a lesson. They began to think about how to deal with him.
And then one day they were passing by a field, saw Mokhna walking behind a plow, and immediately recognized him. They followed him all the way to his house, and the next day, dressed as ascetics, they came for alms and asked to spend the night. Mokhna received the ascetics with great honor, fed them and put them to bed, and Genda recognized the rogues at first sight.
“You must be a fool!” she attacked her husband in a low voice when he entered the house. - After all, these are the same rogues.
- Really? – Mohna was amazed.
And Genda just grinned in response. “You are cunning, and I am even more cunning!” she said to herself. She had previously buried all the money and jewelry in the ground, and in order to outwit the rogues, she had placed stones, rubble and debris in a large chest. Near this chest she went to bed with Mokhna. When everything calmed down, the rogues crept up to them, saw the chest and decided that all the goods that had been taken from them were stored in it. They slowly took the chest and headed towards the house.
Their father was also happy when the chest was brought. And when they opened it, they saw only stones and garbage in the chest. They dug to the very bottom, but all in vain. So the rogues were left with nothing.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru