Once upon a time there lived two gypsy horse thieves. The horses were taken away for their lives, apparently or invisibly. The horse thieving brothers were not afraid of anything in the world, they did not recognize either God or the devil.
“All this is not true, there are no devils, no God,” they said to the camp gypsies.
And they just shook their heads.
It happened one day that the brothers went to steal horses. They caught two horses and are riding at night to their camp. As soon as they approach the river, they feel that the horses are leaving the ground, the clatter of hooves can no longer be heard, as if the horses are flying through the air. They began to approach the bridge, but the horses were gone. Gone.
The gypsies looked at each other and saw: they were both sitting on the bridge on their saddles, and holding bridles in their hands.
The brothers came running to the camp and began to tell us, this way and that, this is the miracle that happened to us.
“So you were the one who rode the devil,” one of the gypsies said to the brothers. And the old men advised me to take silver with me next time, they say, when you take a horse, throw in a little silver, and all the devilry will go away.
Like, you have to pay off the devils for the horse.
“Come on, guys, what nonsense,” the brothers didn’t believe it, but next time, just in case, everyone took a few silver coins with them.
And when the brothers took the horses away again, they did as the old men had told them.
Each one threw in a silver coin to pay off the evil spirits.
“Listen, brother,” one said to the other, “that time you and I were riding on horseback, so now let’s harness the horses to the cart, they won’t run away from the collar.”
No sooner said than done. The gypsies have harnessed the stolen horses to a cart and are heading to their camp. Just as they approach the river, one gypsy says to another:
- Look, brother, horses have hairy legs. The gypsies marveled.
And as soon as they drove onto the bridge, the same story repeated itself with them: the horses disappeared, as if they had never existed.
The brothers look at each other and see that it is they who are standing under the collars, entangled in horse harnesses. What the hell is this?! And then the devil crawls out from under the bridge and says to the brothers:
- That's it, gypsies, I'm tired of joking with you. Apparently I'll have to tell you the whole truth. None of the gypsies had ever traveled along this road. You are the first!
That's why I'm telling you all this. A gypsy is lying dead here under the bridge. Find his bones and give him a proper burial. His soul does not give us, the devils, peace.
The brothers came running to the camp and told about their meeting with the devil. The gypsies gathered and went under the bridge to look for the dead man. They found him, put him in a coffin and sang the soul of the unfortunate man, as it should be, and then buried him in the cemetery.
Since then, nothing else has happened on this road.
And from then on the gypsy brothers believed in evil spirits.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru