One day, a husband and wife argued about who was more cunning (or resourceful), a man or a woman. The husband said that a man is more insidious; wife is like a woman. Unable to convince each other this time, they parted ways. One day a husband comes home and brings his wife a live fish, saying that he dug it in the ground when he was digging a hole. The wife, very surprised by her husband's discovery, said that the fish would be cooked by the time he returned for dinner. The husband went to work again, but the wife cooked the fish, ate most of it herself, and locked the rest in the chest. The husband returned and asked his wife about the fish. She was surprised to notice what kind of fish he was asking about. “If you brought fish, where would I do it without serving it to you?” - she said. When the husband reminded her of the fish he dug out of the ground and brought in the morning, the wife clasped her hands, crying out: “My God, he’s gone crazy!” The husband began to get angry and told her to stop joking and give him some fish as soon as possible. It almost came to a fight. The wife then ran out of the hut and, rushing to the mosque, told the people there that her husband had gone crazy, was throwing himself at everyone and almost killed her, and asked them to help her tie him up and lay him down. The people who came, finding out what was the matter, and seeing how the husband rushed and scolded his wife, reproaching her for hiding some live fish dug out of the ground, recognized him as truly possessed by demons and tied him up. Then they called a healer to treat him. For two or three days the husband fought, swore and insisted that he really dug the fish out of the ground, but, seeing that this did not help, he became quieter. But the wife was just waiting for this. As soon as they were left alone, the wife, showing her husband the rest of the fish from the chest, asked: “So, do you now admit that a woman is more insidious?” The husband shouted with all his might: “Fish, fish!” People came running and, thinking that he was sicker than before, tied him even tighter, not listening to his assurances that the fish he had found was kept in the chest and that his wife was just showing it to him. Every time later, when the husband and wife were left alone, she teased him, showing him the rest of the fish from the chest with the words: “Who is more cunning, a man or a woman?” People who came in response to the noise tied the husband even tighter, not listening to his assurances and believing that he had suffered a more severe attack. Continuing in this way, the wife drove her husband to the point where he was at least taken to the cemetery. Finally, she felt sorry for her completely exhausted husband, and she stopped his torment, but with the condition - to admit from now on that a woman is more insidious and resourceful than a man.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru