There lived an old man and an old woman. The old woman was grumpy and constantly scolded the old man.
Once an old man was walking through the forest and saw a deep hole in the ground. He came home and said to the old woman:
“I saw a wonderful place in the forest, but I didn’t take a good look at what it was there.” Come with me, maybe you can see better!
The old woman agreed. Let's go into the forest. We came to the hole. The old man said to the old woman:
- Look, look, maybe you can see better! The old woman came to the edge of the hole, and the old man pushed her there. I returned home alone.
Once upon a time, the old man became bored without his old woman. He bought ropes, came to the hole and began to get the old woman. He lowered the rope into the hole and felt that someone grabbed the end. He pulled the rope and pulled the devil out of the hole.
The old man was frightened, and the devil said to him:
- You, old man, don’t be afraid! I won't harm you. Let's live together in harmony. I will take care of the sick, and you will treat them.
The old man agreed and asked the devil:
-What the hell brings you here?
“Yes, some old woman came to me, very angry, and tormented me so much that I had to run away from my hole,” the devil answers.
So the devil and the old man began to live together. The devil made people sick, and the old man treated them and became famous throughout the world.
One day the devil said to the old man:
“I’ll go make the king’s daughter sick, but don’t go treat her.”
And the devil left for the capital.
And the king’s daughter fell ill. The king sent a messenger for the old man.
“Let the old man cure my daughter,” he gave such an order. But the old man does not dare to go. The devil didn't say so. The king sent a second messenger. But the old man still doesn’t come. Then the king sent a third messenger for the old man with an order that if he did not come, then cut off his head.
The old man began to think - what to do? I thought and thought and said:
- I'll go.
And he thinks to himself: I’ll tell the devil that the old woman has returned home.
An old man came to the royal house, and the devil lived there. The devil asks him: “What brought you here?”
To this the old man replied that his old woman had returned home. The devil, hearing this, got scared and ran back to his hole.
And the old man then said to the king:
“I don’t understand anything about treatment, your daughter was tormented by the devil.” Now he has escaped into his hole, and his daughter is healthy. I used to lower my old woman into the hole, and then, when I began to get her back, I pulled the devil out of the hole, the same one who was tormenting the people. Now he ran back to his place and will never return from there. But I won’t go to my place - I don’t want to meet the devil.
And the old man stayed there to live.
And the old woman herself got out of the hole and returned to her old man.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru