There was a well near a certain monastery; it was famous throughout the area for its clean, clear water. And whoever passes by will definitely turn off the path to drink some water from the well and sit under the old shady alder tree that has grown in that place since time immemorial. And when he drinks cold water in the heat, he will remember the monks with a kind word for digging a well here and doing many other good deeds.
There were few monks in the monastery, only forty people, they led a holy life, knew no temptations and served God with all their hearts.
The devils were terribly angry with them, and there were countless devils in those parts. What tricks they played on the monks! It was all in vain: the monks were almost righteous.
On the old alder tree, near the well, devils gathered at night. As soon as twelve struck, their strict boss named Beelzebub appeared, and the devils gave him an account of all their tricks. One night the devils gathered and began to answer to Beelzebub.
- Hey, you! Tell me what you did today! - Beelzebub angrily asked one fidgety little devil.
“I quarreled two brothers,” answered the little devil. “The brothers got into a fight, the older one gouged out the younger one’s eye and ended up in prison for it.” And I’ll train the judge to hang the guy: he’ll leave behind six homeless orphans.
- Well, well done! - Beelzebub praised. - Let your horns grow an inch. Hey, devils, give him a chair, bring him a chibouk - let him smoke... He’s worthy!.. And you? What did you do? - Beelzebub asked the second.
“I quarreled between my son and his father, and the son killed his father and hanged himself: I felt sorry for the parent.”
Beelzebub smiled.
- Well, well done! - Hey, give the guy a chibouk... No, no - it’s not enough!.. Give it to the narghile[*] - let him smoke. Worthy!.. And you? - he asked the third. -Have you done anything today?
“And I, sir, today lured the Metropolitan to whores.” He was caught there and straight to prison. And in order to save himself from shame, the ruler accepted the Turkish faith.
Beelzebub beamed.
- And you’re great! You are a hero! Bring me a chair immediately! And give him a chibouk - let him smoke!.. And - coffee!.. And you?.. What did you do today?
The fourth hesitated.
- Yes, I... I did... little by little... Nonsense... I incited one drunkard to kill his wife. Without a wife, the guy will quickly get lost.
- Well, fine. But he hasn’t grown up to a chair yet,” answered Beelzebub.
So he interviewed all the devils and gave each one a reward - according to their merits.
And devils are known to be very envious. Everyone tried to outdo their fellows, to grab the bigger magarych. That's how they competed.
And so one old, sophisticated devil dreamed of doing such a great dirty trick that Beelzebub himself would be surprised and put him in a chair. The devil thought and thought and finally came up with it! I decided to go to a monastery and become an abbot. He learned that the old abbot had recently died, and a new one had not been appointed. Well, he decided to completely disgrace the monks: let each of them get married - that would be a sin!
The devil turned into a bearded monk, put on a long cassock, presented himself as a quiet, humble man - it seems he doesn’t even dare raise his eyes, he wouldn’t hurt even a fly! Well, in a word, it is impossible to be holier.
The monks saw his virtues and said: this old man should be made abbot. He knows the Scriptures better than anyone, strictly observes the monastic rules, and gives intelligent advice at every monastic conversation. They decided to let him be their ruler. And damn it was necessary!
Well, he gradually took all the monastic affairs into his own hands, began to order the monks what to do and how they would gather in the refectory to eat food - he interpreted the word of God to them in his own way: this, they say, is like this, and this is like that... And finally he began to teach that the monks need to get married as soon as possible - then the devil will no longer be able to confuse them with the sin of lust. And he gave many examples of this from Scripture. And the wives, he said, let them become nuns. He, they say, would have married himself as an example, but he’s old.
This is how the damned devil tempted them. So what! Day by day, a spark of temptation flared up in the hearts of the younger monks. And the elders also reached out to the blind youth. The day came when all the brethren appeared to the abbot, and they all said in one voice:
- We want to get married.
Apparently this devil was strong, since he managed to knock such monks, pious and meek, almost saints, out of their pantalyk. And how he shot it down! They also begged him to get married - let him, they say, choose an older bride for himself, and find someone younger for them. Well, the devil broke down a little for show, and he agreed.
They began to consult about who should go for the brides. And the devil-abbot takes care of everything.
- O beloved children! I will go around forty villages and in each I will find a beautiful girl to marry you. Do you know why there will be forty villages?
- We don’t know, father! - the monks answer.
- Well, I'll tell you. I want you to have relatives everywhere and no longer be like a barren, gnarled oak tree.
With such speeches he finally persuaded the monks to marry.
One day he got up early, got ready for the journey and left the monastery walls. The monks saw him off with great honor and began to wait: what, they say, will happen next? And the devil goes from village to village, from village to village, and keeps cajoling mothers and fathers: give your daughter as a bride to a monk, she herself will become an immaculate nun. That’s how I recruited forty girls in forty villages. Parents go to the monastery and ask if it’s true that monks can get married. Having heard that it was possible, they went home, and even convinced others that there was no sin in it.
The laity marveled: how come the law allows a monk to get married? But the devil clouded everyone’s brains, and people began to say: this is completely sinless!
And the devil abbot came back, gathered all the monks and told each one which of the girls he was obliged to marry - he said the name of the bride and the name of the village. When the monks learned that the abbot had wooed beautiful girls for them, they were very pleased and bowed to him three times.
A little later, the devil-abbot gathered all the monks and ordered them to prepare money: it was time to give gifts to the brides, this, they say, is the custom in the villages.
Well, the monks took out the money and gave it back. The abbot went to the city and bought gifts there - special ones for each girl, exactly the ones the bride’s relatives had wished for. He loaded the gifts onto a cart and brought them to the monastery. He appointed an older monk to go around the villages and give gifts to all the girls: one - a shawl and earrings, another - a necklace and buckles, and the third - a colored belt, all sorts of boots, a fur coat... Well, in a word, everything was as agreed. The monk slowly harnessed the horse, put the gifts on the cart and set off in the evening - to deliver the gifts to the villages and warn the girls to prepare for the wedding, and the wedding was scheduled in forty days.
So a monk went out into the field and made the sign of the cross. Just at this time one of the devils saw him. He did not know anything about the devil-abbot’s undertaking, did not know about his plan. Well, so he decided, out of primordial anger against the monks, to confuse the driver and take him away from the road. He twisted and turned it so that the unfortunate man actually got lost in three pines and got stuck together with the cart in a swamp.
Then the devil instantly disappeared, and the old monk was amazed - how did this happen, because there is a monastery - very close! He unharnessed his horse and began to drag the cart out of the swamp... Where to go! It pulls and jerks, and the cart goes deeper and deeper into the quagmire—well, the swamp was bottomless! Oh, trouble! I began to wait to see if any of the passers-by would help. Nobody is coming! I wanted to go back to the monastery - but it’s a shame! I decided to wait: maybe someone would rescue me in the morning. And in order to protect himself from wild animals, the monk decided to go to the well, climb a tree and hide there for the night. He wandered to the well, climbed onto an old alder tree and hid in the foliage.
It struck midnight. As usual, all the surrounding devils flocked to the alder tree, and Beelzebub himself appeared. He began to ask who among the devils had done such a mischief today. It finally came to the devil-abbot. He told everything: how he deceived the monks, how he convinced them to get married, how today he sent the monk with gifts to the villages and ordered them to tell the brides to prepare for weddings - well, in a word, he told everything that he had done. As soon as he finished, Beelzebub glorified him with great glory, ordered him to bring a ceremonial chair and gave him the best chibouk, with large amber, brought from foreign lands.
- Ha-ha-ha! What a shame if forty monks get married! - said Beelzebub. - Yes, my friend, you are a young fellow! Just tell me: what are you doing in church when “Our Father” is being read? After all, for us, for the devils, this is worse than death!
- Oh, I came up with a good idea! - the devil abbot answered him. “As soon as the time comes to read the Lord’s Prayer, I go out as if to relieve myself, and then return. That's all there is to it!
- Well done! - Beelzebub repeated. “Achieve your goal, marry the monks, and I will reward you, dear, like a king: you will wear huge, branchy horns.”
Then the devil, who had fooled the monk-driver, in his fright forgot the order - he did not wait to be asked, but immediately admitted how he led the monk, and even with the cart, into the swamp.
- Oh, may you go blind! - the devil abbot shouted. - Do you understand, you idiot, what a stupid thing you did?
- Quickly run into the swamp! - Beelzebub shouted to the devils. - Pull the cart out of the quagmire, wash the horse thoroughly and let it graze in the best meadow. And give this fool a break immediately! Five hundred batogs to him! Alive!
And now the night is ending. Soon the rooster crowed. Immediately the devils disappeared. The monk immediately went to the monastery and told everything. Only then did the monks figure out what was going on! “Oh, sinners! What did we want to do! What a shame, what a shame! The Lord would punish us and condemn us to hellish torment!”
The brothers hid the old man's driver, took the horse out of sight, and began to wait. The devil-abbot came out to serve Matins, everything was going like clockwork, and now it was time to read the “Our Father.” The abbot went to the exit, and the monks locked all the doors and windows and started burning incense. The devil rushed about, jumped, and burst, as if someone had fired from a cannon: bang!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru