Once upon a time there lived a shepherd. He was single, not yet married. He had many sheep and goats. He tended his flock in the mountains and valleys. He had plenty of everything. The guy was tired of his lonely life - he wanted to get married, but he still couldn’t choose the time - he was busy with his herd.
One day his good friend visited the shepherd. So the shepherd says to him:
- Listen, what should I do? I want to get married, but everyone is busy.
“Here’s what you do,” his friend said to the shepherd, “give me your cattle, but don’t sell them for money, but give them to those who mention God in a conversation with you.”
“I’ll do so,” the shepherd decided.
One day he drove his herd to pasture. A horseman rode up to him in the forest.
- Mshybzia! Let your flock multiply,” he greeted the shepherd.
[Mshybzia – good afternoon.]
- Mshybzia! - answered the shepherd.
- I need a groomed goat. “Is there something like this in your herd, or maybe you know who I can buy from,” asked the rider.
- Why not! “I have a goat to sell,” said the shepherd.
- Hey, you helped me out! How much should I pay you for it?
“I don’t sell for money,” answered the shepherd.
- What do you want for him? How can I pay you for it? - asks the rider.
“I have a goat,” the shepherd repeats, but does not name the price.
The rider rides after him and persistently achieves:
- How much is your goat worth? Won't you sell it? Tell me the price.
But the shepherd just says to all this:
- I’m selling.
It’s already late in the evening, but the rider still doesn’t let up. Finally, he could not stand it:
“Listen, shepherd,” he said, “tell me, for God’s sake, the truth: are you selling your goat or not?”
“Well, now choose any goat yourself,” said the shepherd, “and I don’t need any money.”
The delighted rider chose the best goat and led him away. At home he told how he “bought” a goat. And people began to go to the shepherd. But he told everyone that he had blank goats for sale, but, as before, he did not name the price. Driven to despair, people began to beg him: “For God’s sake, name your price!” And as soon as they mentioned God, they immediately got what they wanted for free. So the shepherd gave away all his cattle, and he was very pleased that he had freed his hands. He began to prepare for the journey: he put on a Circassian coat, a beshmet, saddled a horse and went to look for a bride.
The shepherd rode for a long time, leaving a long way behind him. He somehow approaches a vast corn field. He sees some gray-haired man flying corn.
- Yes, do good things to you! – he greeted the working man.
- Yes, see good things for you! Welcome! - he answered.
The shepherd reined in his horse and started talking with the gray-haired man.
- I'm lonely. I'm looking for a bride. Is there a good girl in sight nearby?
“Oh, dud, my elder brother can help you in this matter,” answered the old man, “He works over there on that edge of zero.” Ask him, I don’t know anything.
The shepherd set off his horse and rode up to the gray-haired brother. This one's head and beard were black on one side and gray on the other.
- Yes, do good things to you! - the shepherd said hello!
- Yes, see good things for you! Welcome! – the half-grayed man answered, “Where are you from, on what business?”
“I’m traveling from afar, but my thing is this: I want to get married.” Is there a good girl in mind nearby? - said the shepherd.
“Oh, my dear, my elder brother can help you in this matter.” There he is, flying corn at the end of the field, and I can’t help you, said the half-grayed man.
A shepherd approached the man working at the end of the field and saw in front of him a young man without a single gray hair. The young man was surprised: “What kind of miracle? The youngest brother is all gray, the middle one is half gray, and the eldest looks very young.”
- Yes, your work is going well! – the shepherd greeted him.
- Yes, see good things for you! Welcome! - he answered. -What business did you come to me for?
“But why,” said the shepherd. - I'm looking for a bride.
- Hey, you should have arrived a little earlier and married a good girl. And today she is already getting married. She has seven brothers. “They are planning a big feast in honor of their sister’s wedding,” the man said. Then he added: “But it’s not too late.” Do this: go to a wedding and make a fuss. Tell me, hey, who dared to marry my bride! At first they will laugh at you, but then they will ask what’s the matter, why is she yours? Then you offer to bring two apple tree branches and tell the groom: “Take any branch and stick it in the ground, and I’ll stick it here under the canopy where people are feasting. If by morning apples appear on your branch, then the bride is yours, and if on mine, then the bride is mine.”
“Thank you for your good advice,” said the shepherd. “But tell me, why does your youngest brother have gray hair, the middle one has half-gray hair, and why do you look very young?”
“I’ll tell you this another time, but now hurry up, go where I told you and do as I advised.” When you go back, then you will get the answer to your question.
A shepherd rode into the yard where the wedding was taking place and made a noise.
-Who dared to marry my bride?
They started pushing him away, did they laugh at him?
-Where did you come from? - people said. - What kind of bride is she! The brothers are marrying her off openly and celebrating their sister’s wedding, they told him.
“No, she’s mine,” the shepherd insisted. – She is destined for me by Fate.
People see, this is no joke. They brought the groom. He, having learned that his bride was being encroached upon, became indignant and began to push his opponent. The shepherd, in turn, gets into a fight.
- She's mine! - he shouts. -You robbed me!
People had difficulty separating them. The elders came and asked what was the matter,
“If you don’t believe that she’s mine,” says the shepherd, “then let’s try it.” Bring two apple tree branches. Let the groom take one of them of his choice and stick it into the ground at one end of the ashapa, and I will stick the second one at the other end of the ashapa. On whose branch the fruits appear in the morning, that is the bride.
[Ashapa – canopy.]
The old men consulted among themselves and decided: let it be so.
They brought two apple tree branches, the groom stuck one of them at one end of the ashapa, the shepherd at the other. The whole night people feasted at the wedding table, in the morning they saw that the groom’s branch had dried up, and there were ripe red apples on the shepherd’s branch.
“The bride belongs to this young man,” said the old men. The girl's brothers agreed with them. The groom was left with nothing.
What could he do?
“If so, take the bride, she’s yours,” he said.
- How can I take her away right away? - answered the shepherd. - We must observe the custom.
The shepherd set a time when he would send for the bride, and he himself left. He drives up to his older brother, who was watering corn, and tells him everything that happened to him.
- Now explain to me why your younger brothers look older than you? - he asked.
“Our younger brother turned gray because of his wife.” “She has an unbearable character,” said the man. - And her relatives are bad. The poor brother is still grieving and that’s why he turned gray early. The middle brother is half gray because his wife is worthless, but her relatives are good. But fate gave me a good wife and she has such relatives. She and I live in friendship and harmony. That's why I didn't turn gray like my brothers.
– How can I know whether my bride will be a good wife or not? - asked the shepherd.
“You will know it this way,” answered the man who was fishing the corn. - At the appointed time, when you send for the bride, drag a large log to the river bank, put a waterskin filled with sand next to it and place a jug with a hole in the bottom. Drive a couple of oxen, harness one of them to one end of the log, the other to the other, and make them pull the log. No matter how much you push them, the log will not budge. Leave them, take a stick and start hitting the waterskin, and then take a jug and run to the river, fill it with water and put it in place. Do this constantly. If your fiancee understands what your actions mean, then she will be a good wife for you.
The shepherd thanked the man for his good advice and went home. At the appointed time, he gathered his relatives and sent them on horseback for the bride, and in the meantime he prepared a log, a skin of sand, a leaky jug and a stick, drove the oxen and harnessed them as he was told - one at one end, the other at the other, and began to drive them. No matter how hard the bulls tried, they could not move the logs from their place. Leaving them, the shepherd began to beat the sandskin with a stick, then ran with a leaky jug to the river, but the collected water, of course, immediately flowed out. People surrounded the shepherd and were surprised: “The shepherd seems to be crazy.” They laugh at him, but you know, he’s trying. The groom’s relatives consulted and decided: “Why give a good girl for a madman, why ruin her life?”
They sent Pastukhov's boyfriend to the bride with the message that the wedding would not take place because the groom was crazy. The bride's relatives and commuters became worried. They don’t know what to do here. The bride heard the alarming voices of people and demanded to know what was the matter?
The bride had to tell what happened to her groom. She listened and rushed on horseback in pursuit of Shepherd's friend.
“Sorry,” she says, “I’m not acting according to custom, but answer me, what kind of madman is this?” Is he tied up or free?
- No, he’s not attached and no one forces him to do stupid things, he does it himself.
“Show it to me,” she asked. - I want to look at him.
They began to dissuade her;
- Why do you want to look at a crazy person? You'll only get upset.
But the bride insisted on her own. So everyone drove up to the shepherd, and he, you know, is trying even harder: now he is driving the bulls to no avail, now he is pounding a waterskin with sand, now he is collecting water from the river with a leaky jug. He even began to sweat from the effort.
“Stop for a minute and listen to me,” the bride turned to the groom.
He stopped, everyone present was waiting for what the bride would say. And this is what she said;
- I explain the significance of your deeds. The fact that you harnessed the bulls in different directions and forced them to work fruitlessly means that if the husband and wife are not friendly and agree, if, like these bulls, they each pull in their own direction, then they will not have a good life, but will only suffer.
“You understood correctly,” said the shepherd.
“The fact that you filled a waterskin with sand and beat it with a stick means that a wife cannot be raised by beating,” the bride continued.
“And you guessed it correctly,” answered the shepherd.
– And your leaky jug resembles a person; who ignores what smart people tell him.
“That’s right too,” the shepherd rejoiced. - Now I can have a wedding.
He left the oxen, the wineskin and the jug and stepped aside. After all, he is the groom. And here are the elders and others present. We must observe the custom. The wedding train set off further, singing and shooting. Travelers and friends were glad that everything was resolved so well. They brought the bride home, had a wedding: they ate, drank, and had fun.
And I was at that wedding yesterday. The groom's groomsmen wanted to get me drunk, but how could they compete with me! I mounted my horse and came to you to tell you about how the shepherd got married. Drinking at his wedding didn’t give me a headache, God willing, don’t give me a headache either.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru