Bai Satin considered himself the smartest and most cunning in the entire area. Once a rumor spread through the uluses that a shepherd had appeared who was deceiving all the rich.
“I don’t know how he deceives others, but he can’t deceive me,” said Bai Satin, and everyone who was sitting in his yurt, eating and drinking at his table, shouted:
- How can he compete with the wise Satin!..
Bai smoothed his beard contentedly and ordered the farm laborer to find and bring the poor shepherd.
At this time, Aido-lai was passing by the yurt on his nag.
“Hey you,” the boy shouted, “they say you’re deceiving all the gods!.. Try to deceive me, Bai Satin...”
The shepherd looked back at the bai and his guests and silently rode on, hastening his nag with a whip.
“Afraid,” the bai laughed. “The person who would deceive me has not yet been born.”
“It doesn’t cost anything to deceive you,” answered the shepherd. “But I’m in a hurry now.” The red lake, which is three kilometers from your yurt, dried up overnight, I’m in a hurry to collect fish, make a supply for the winter... On the way back, I’ll deceive you, if you want.
The guests heard about the fish and rushed to their horses, and the bai shouted at the farmhands:
- What are you looking at, take the bags, harness the trucks, bring the shovels!
A little time has passed. Horsemen galloped from the ulus along the road to the lake and carts rushed. We overtook the shepherd Idolai, and the lake remained as it was.
It even seemed like there was more in him after the autumn rains. They all stand there and don’t understand anything. They look, and Idolai drives past on the road, not looking at anyone.
- Hey, you liar on a gray nag, what mother gave birth to you? What kind of father raised him to be a man?..” the bai shouted to him.
- Why are you swearing? “After all, you yourself asked me to deceive you,” said the poor shepherd and drove past.
Since then, people have been telling how a wise poor man taught a boastful bai a lesson.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru