In the old days there lived a cruel gentleman. He did not spare his workers at all - he tortured them half to death at work. He didn’t even allow me to rest on holidays.
One morning on a big holiday, when all the other people were resting after work, the master sent his workers to Riga to thresh.
But before that, the workers threshed all day and all night long and could barely stand on their feet from fatigue.
As soon as they got down to work, the master himself ran into the Riga with a stick in his hands: it seemed to him that the workers were not threshing quickly. He attacked them with abuse and threats. He waves a stick and shouts:
- Oh, you slackers! I won’t let you out of the barn until you grind all the rye that is here!
The workers began to ask the master to let him harness the horse to the threshing machine, then things would go faster.
- What?! - the master shouted. “Should I give you a horse?.. Yes, I will kill all of you, such lazy people, with my own hands, if you dare to think about it again!” I won't give you a horse! The horse needs to rest. Work yourself!
The master shouted and jumped out of the barn: who enjoys swallowing dust!
As soon as he jumped out, the workers heard someone shout:
- Whoa! Stop! Whoa...
Then the horse neighed and the bridle rattled. Apparently someone is harnessing the horse. Who could it be?
Then an old man enters the barn, decrepit, with a long gray beard, and his eyes sparkle like lightning. And the old man leads on the reins of a strong bay stallion...
He greeted the workers and said:
- Here's a horse for you. Harness it to a thresher, and then put it to work on the hardest work. If you go to the forest, don’t put firewood on the cart. When you cut down a tree, tie this horse to the top and let him drag it to the master’s yard entirely, with all its branches. If he gets stubborn and doesn’t want to drag him, whip him mercilessly, don’t spare the lash! Quilt both on the sides and on the back, just don’t hit him on the head. Don't give him anything to eat. When you arrive at the stall in the evening, pull it up to the ceiling. Let it hang all night after a day of work. It will only benefit him!
The old man said this and disappeared.
And the horse neighed loudly, and his voice resembled the voice of a master.
Then the workers realized what kind of horse they had.
“It was probably Father Perkon himself, the master of thunder and lightning, who brought us a horse!” - say the workers. - Well, his order must be followed exactly. We will do what he ordered with this horse.
They immediately harnessed the bay stallion to the thresher and began to work. But the stallion is stubborn, neighs, clatters his hooves, turns his head - he doesn’t want to work! Then they gave him a good dose, don’t be stubborn!
And so it went from that day on.
Whenever the hardest work needs to be done, the bay stallion must be harnessed. If he doesn’t want to work, they beat him with whips and sticks without any mercy.
The stallion will work all day without rest, and at night they will take him to a stall and hang him from the ceiling:
- Hang until the morning!
And they didn’t give the bay any food at all. During all this time, he managed to secretly snatch a bunch of straws from a cart in the winter and pluck nettles under the fence in the summer - that’s all.
And from the very day the bay stallion appeared, the fierce master disappeared. The lady looked and looked for him, but could not find him.
A whole year has passed. The stallion was strong, stately, strong, but a year later he became emaciated - his eyes were sunken, his lips drooped, his ribs protruded on his sides, his back was curved, his hair was hanging in clumps.
One day the lady saw a stallion in the yard and said to the headman:
“We need to take this lousy nag into the forest and finish him off there.” She's no good anywhere anymore, and it's disgusting to look at her!
But the headman, apparently, also guessed what kind of horse this was, and therefore did not finish him off.
One morning on a big holiday, when everyone was resting, the bay stallion quietly came out of the stall. He climbed into the master's garden and let's eat cabbage.
The lady went out for a walk, went into the garden and saw: a mangy stallion greedily grabs and swallows cabbage.
The lady got angry.
“Oh, you,” he shouts, “you worthless brute!” Wait, now I'll teach you a lesson!
She raised a thick stick and hit the horse on the head! And she had just struck when at that very moment the master himself appeared in front of her.
He says in a weak and pitiful voice:
- Dear wife, why are you beating me? Do you really feel sorry for cabbage leaves?.. After all, for me, after a whole year of hunger strike, they taste better than the best dishes that I have eaten before!..
Then the lady recognized him, gasped and gasped. And the master doesn’t even look like himself: thin, black, a beard has grown, the nails on his hands are long, his body is covered in abrasions, only seams and tatters remain from his clothes.
The lady grabbed him by the hand and led him into the house quietly so that no one would see.
From that time on, the master became quiet and subdued.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru