Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife, they had seven children. One day a husband says to his wife:
- Let's sell the goat and buy the children at least some chintz for new shirts.
– How much will we get if we sell the goat? It’s only three rubles, but we won’t get richer and we won’t be poorer! Isn't it better to sell the heifer? - said the wife.
We consulted and decided to sell the heifer.
So one morning a man took a heifer into the city. He came to the market with his chick, and there the priest with two workers walked around and looked out to see if he could find something cheaper. He saw the priest and said to the worker:
- Go, deceive the man, buy a heifer, as if you were buying a goat.
The worker approached the man and asked:
- What, master, are you selling?
- Don't you see? I'm selling the heifer...
- It’s not a heifer, but a goat.
- No, chick!
They argued and argued, and the worker had to leave with nothing. He came to the priest and said:
“You can’t fool this guy.”
The priest sent a second worker. And the man argued with him. The worker had to go back. And the man thinks:
- Are all the people in the city blind, they can’t distinguish a heifer from a goat! Or did I make a mistake myself - I brought a goat instead of a heifer?
Then the priest approached the man and asked:
- What, master, are you selling?
– Don’t you see, father? I'm selling the heifer!
- What kind of chick is this, master? After all, it's a goat. The man thought again.
- Since the priest says that it’s a goat, apparently I was really mistaken, I brought a goat to sell instead of a heifer!
The man thought so and sold the heifer to the ass for as much as a goat costs, for three rubles.
I came home and let’s scold my wife:
– Why did you give me a goat and not a heifer?
-Are you blind, or what? - my wife was surprised. “I gave you the heifer, but the goat remained in the barn.”
- Well, wife, it means the priest deceived me.
And the man began to think about how to get even with the priest. I took the old hat and went into town. He went into one store, bought millet and said to the clerk:
“I’ll pay the money now, and I’ll come for the millet tomorrow.” I’ll take the millet, raise my hat and say “even,” and you will also answer me “even,” and I’ll leave.
A man went into another store, paid for six arshins of chintz and agreed with the clerk that he would take the chintz tomorrow.
In the third store I bought five pounds of sugar, paid the money and said to the clerk:
- I’ll come for sugar tomorrow.
The next day the man went into the city again. He came to the market and waited for the priest to enter the store where he bought millet yesterday.
Just pop into the store, the man follows him. Asks the clerk:
– Do you have millet?
“Yes,” the clerk answers.
- Weigh me two pounds.
The clerk weighed out two pounds, the man took the millet, raised his hat and said:
- Quit!
- Quit! - answered the clerk.
A man came out of the shop, and the priest thought: “What a hat! I would like a hat like this. Yes, I would take all the millet!” - and followed the man.
And the man went into another store and asked again:
- Do you have chintz?
- Eat.
- Measure me six arshins. The clerk measured it.
The man took the chintz, raised his hat and said:
- Quit?
- Quit!
The priest looks and thinks: “I wish I had a hat like that, I’d take all the chintz!” The man went to the third store. There he took five pounds of sugar. As soon as the man left the shop, the pope approached him:
- That's it, master, sell me this hat, take as much as you want for it.
“No, I won’t sell,” the man answered.
- Sell! Take all my wealth.
“Will you give me five hundred rubles, five cows, three heifers and three horses for a hat?”
“I’ll give you,” says the priest.
“Then bring the money and bring the cattle to my yard.” “And you’ll get a hat,” the man agreed.
The next morning, the priest's workers drove the herd and brought money. The man gave the priest a hat and taught him how to use the hat to receive goods.
As soon as the priest left, the man said to his wife:
- Look, wife, how much I got for our heifer! The next day, early in the morning, the priest harnessed fifteen horses and rode into the city. He went into the largest store there and asked:
- Do you have chintz?
“There is chintz and other goods,” the clerk replies. The priest loaded fifteen carts and sent them home. The clerk says:
- Well, father, let's keep score! The priest raised his hat:
- Quit!
- How can you get even when you haven’t paid the money yet? – the clerk was surprised. - First, father, pay the money, then it will be even!
The priest decided that the clerk did not understand him, put his hat under his arm and again:
- Quit?
The clerk saw that the priest was not going to pay, so he called the police:
“You see, the priest has collected fifteen cartloads of goods, but doesn’t want to pay, he just raises his hat and repeats “even.”
So the priest had to take the goods back.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru