Once upon a time there were two brothers: one was rich, and the other was poorer. So a poor man came to a rich man for help, and at that time one of his cows was dying. All the same, apparently, she was lost, so the rich man gave her to his poor brother:
- Here! Get away from me! Just make sure you don’t try to heal the skin, then you’ll give it away!
The poor man thinks: “And that’s bread. I’ll return the skin to him, so at least I’ll have some meat left.” He put the little cow on a sleigh, brought it home, and thought: “Well, how am I going to get her out?” He began to nurse her. This is how he fed her, how he fussed with her - the little cow moved away, recovered, and returned to her body. Yes, it turned out to be so milky that you could at least fill yourself with milk!
The rich brother felt sorry - just think, what bad luck!
Every day he drags himself to the poor man and whines the same thing:
“Give me the skin, give me the cow skin!” The poor man says:
- Well, she’s alive and the skin is with her. Just wait, he dies - then you’ll get the skin!
The rich brother doesn’t want to listen to any persuasion, give him the skin and the rest of the conversation. They see that this matter cannot end well, so they went to court. We've arrived. One interprets one thing, the other – another.
So the judge says:
– I’ll ask you each three questions. Whoever answers them correctly will do well.
OK. This is the judge asking for the first time.
-What's the sweetest thing?
The rich man answers:
- Honey is in my hives.
- Not at all! - says the poor man. - Dream!
- Right! Who's the fastest?
- The one who saves money the fastest!
- But no! - says the poor man. - The mind of an envious person. He knows no peace either day or night.
- Right! Who is the unluckiest?
- Yes, the one who, like me, miscalculated: gave the best cash cow to his brother-fraud with his own hands!
- But no! - the poor brother laughs. - The one who himself let it slip in front of the judge that he gave his brother not a cow’s skin, but a milk cow.
So the judge says:
- You, poor brother, answered correctly - yours and the cow!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru