Once upon a time there lived a woman. She lived a long time, grew old, and was completely out of her mind from old age. And she had three sons. One son is a peasant, another is a gardener, and the third is a weaver. There was a terrible famine in the country. And there was nowhere to get even a piece of bread.
One day, a camel strayed from the royal caravan. The sons of a crazy old woman caught him and brought him home. They slaughtered him, fried the meat, put it in clay carcasses and hid it.
- Why are you hiding meat? - asks the mother. And her sons laughed at her: “For your wedding, mother,” they say.
The king sent his servants to look for the camel. They walk and search everywhere, but they cannot find anything. We saw one of the brothers plowing. The servants call out to him: “Hey,” they say, “have you seen the royal camel?” And he decided to pretend to be deaf and answered: “Don’t you see that I’m plowing?” “We ask you: where is the royal camel?” - the servants shout to him. “No,” he says, “it’s not always the same, sometimes I plow a lot, sometimes not enough.” “Camel,” the servants shout, “camel, you understand?” Head, neck, four legs, tail. “Not all the time,” answers the old woman’s son. - After I plow, I will sow. And then harrow.
They spat and moved on. They see the second brother, the gardener, shaking nuts onto the ground. “Hey!” - the royal servants tell him. - Have you, brother, seen the royal camel? And he also decided to deceive them, pretending to be a fool.
“Yes,” he says, “I’m shaking the tree.” “Camel, they tell you!” - the servants shout, “In different ways,” answers the other old woman’s son. - When I’ll sell it for a ruble, and when I’ll sell it for two, - Where’s the camel? - the servants yell. “It’s a small tree,” he answers. “And the big one is over there on the mountain.” “Ugh,” say the servants. - Whatever you ask this fool, he mutters everything.
Let's move on. They reached the third brother. And he is sitting at the loom. “Where is the royal camel?” - they ask him. “If you know, tell me, we’ll give you a gift for it.” “Don’t you see, I’m working,” he answers. “Why are you asking?” “Yes, we’re asking you about the camel!” “Sometimes,” he says, “Sometimes a whole piece, and sometimes half a piece.” “This one is completely crazy,” say the servants. “There’s an old lady sitting there by the house.” Let's go ask her.
They went to the crazy old woman and asked:
- Listen, grandma, have you seen the royal camel? - Well, yes, I have. My sons slaughtered him, made a kavurma, put him in karas and hid him. “When is this?” “When they were going to play my wedding.” “Well, well,” say the servants. “Everyone here is crazy, and they went back to the king without finding his camel.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru