There lived a certain prince. He was already over fifty, but he had never left his palace. He spent whole days with his wives, drinking, eating and having fun.
But finally he got tired of it, and he decided to see what was happening in this world. That same day, taking a servant with him, he left the palace. On the way he met a peasant. The prince was so frightened that he stepped back.
- Why were you afraid, prince? - asked his servant.
- Look, a monster with long arms is coming towards us.
- No, prince, this is not a monster, but a man. Calm down, let's move on. The prince looked carefully at the person he met.
- Why does he have such long and thick arms? he asked.
“These are the sleeves of the cloak that the peasant threw over himself from the rain,” the servant answered laughing.
“Oh, so this is a man in a cloak,” the prince nodded and moved on.
On the way, he kept asking the servant strange questions: if he saw a chicken, he would ask what it was, if he saw a pig, he would ask again. And when they met a bull with long horns, the prince was even more amazed. The servant had to explain everything to him every now and then.
Finally they came to the bank of a small river. There stood a water mill, and from the hum one could hear the noise of millstones and the splash of water. The prince was curious what those sounds were and came closer. Here he saw an old woman sifting out rice chaff. The prince stopped: he felt a wonderful aroma unfamiliar to him. It was the smell of rice chaff. The prince stood and inhaled this pleasant smell with pleasure until his mouth began to water. He squatted down and began picking up handfuls of chaff and chewing it. But is it possible to swallow dry chaff? The servant and the old woman were surprised, but did not dare to say anything. The servant scooped up water so that the prince could drink the chaff. He puffed, puffed, shook himself: he was covered in chaff from head to toe.
At this time, the woman filled the basket with chaff and wanted to go home unnoticed.
The prince called out to her:
- Hey, hey! How do you eat this thing?
- First they boil it, and then feed it to pigs and dogs; People don’t eat it laughing, the old woman answered.
Hearing this, the prince became angry. His face was distorted with rage, but he said nothing. And when the woman left, he threatened the servant:
- Yan-san! Don't you dare tell anyone about the mistake that happened here.
If you tell me, you will be without a head!
The servant bowed respectfully. But, returning to the palace, Yan-san could neither eat nor sleep; All he could think about was how to tell someone how the prince ate rice chaff. But who could you tell? At home he was afraid that the spirit of the hearth might hear him. It’s also not allowed in a Buddhist temple: the lama’s ears are sensitive and his eyes are penetrating. Then he decided to go out to sea and tell about this story there.
By the evening of the second day, he secretly set out to sea on a small bamboo raft and was about to shout about what had happened, when he suddenly remembered that there was a sea spirit in the sea, which meant that it was impossible to talk about it out loud here either.
Finally, far away in the mountains, he found a quiet, secluded place and was about to shout:
The prince of rice chaff has eaten his fill! - but suddenly I remembered that the mountains also have their own spirit. How can this be? Yan-san was about to return home when he suddenly saw an old tree with a hollow. He stuck his head into the hollow and, plucking up courage, shouted three times:
- The prince has eaten rice chaff!
- The prince has eaten rice chaff!
- The prince has eaten rice chaff!
And the cheerful Yan-san returned home with a light heart. In three weeks there was to be a holiday. For this day, the prince ordered skilled carpenters and drummers to make a large new drum. The craftsmen took their tools and went to the mountains to look for material for the drum. They walked around several mountains, examined many trees, but could not find anything suitable. And suddenly they saw an old hollow tree - just the kind they were looking for. They cut it down, and the drum was ready in time. It turned out big and beautiful.
The prince was very pleased. He immediately ordered that all his subjects come to listen to the sounds of the new drum.
People gathered from all villages. By order of the prince, the first drummer of the principality rolled up his sleeves and beat the drum. And with the first sound everyone heard:
- The prince has eaten rice chaff!
- The prince has eaten rice chaff!
- The prince has eaten rice chaff!
Uncontrollable laughter echoed around. The prince blushed with shame and, clutching his head, ran away to the palace. He immediately ordered the drum to be burned, and the skilled carpenter and excellent drummer to be executed. But this did not help anything: even today, at the sound of a big drum, people remember the story of how the prince of rice chaff ate his fill.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru