In ancient times, there lived an old man and an old woman. They lived in poverty, did not escape from poverty, and did not eat enough. They worked day and night in their field. And the field was not far from the village. The old people sowed various beans, cucumbers, sesame seeds, groundnuts, eggplants, various pumpkins, red peppers, onions, mustard, cabbage, rice, and other grains. What did they not have! The land was rich, and the harvest would have been enough for the old people for the whole year, and there would have been some left over for the next one. Yes, apparently, they had an unlucky lot.
As soon as the grains began to ripen and the vegetables began to fill with juice, clouds of different birds and herds of all kinds of animals rushed to the field. They pecked, tore, gnawed, and trampled the crops. Whatever grows in a month will be poisoned overnight. And the most harm came from the monkeys: the whole field would be trampled; What they don’t eat will be broken or torn off. Trouble, and that's all. So the old man decided to teach the monkeys a lesson. Maybe then other animals and birds will be discouraged. The old man decided to catch the monkey king and came up with this trick.
“Boil some rotten beans for me, wife,” he said to his old woman, “and when they’re ready, let them cool!”
The old woman cooked rotten beans. The porridge turned out thick and smelly. She cooled the porridge and gave it to the old man. And the old man took this porridge and carried it to the field.
There he covered himself all over with bean porridge. He smelled like a dead man. Then he lay down on the ground in the middle of the field and pretended to be dead. So he lay there all evening and all night. And just before dawn the monkeys appeared. There were exactly five hundred of them, a whole herd. They ran across the field, jumped, pushed. Everything was crushed, trampled, broken. When they reached the old man, they stopped and began to look at him. Then they came closer and surrounded him. And the old man lies there, not moving, like a dead man, and the smell coming from him is heavy. The monkeys sniffed, touched the old man and decided:
- This man is dead. Let's take him to our king. Let him feast on human flesh!
The monkeys grabbed the old man and dragged him away. They dragged for a long time. We passed many mountains, climbed slopes, rolled into gorges, crossed streams and rivers, jumped from tree to tree. But the old man patiently endured the cruel shaking, shocks and blows: he remembered his decision to catch the king of the monkeys.
Finally the monkeys arrived at their camp. And they immediately carried the old man to the king. And he had long wanted to feast on human flesh. When he saw what his subjects were carrying, he was very happy. He ordered the food to be prepared immediately. The king's subjects took out gold and silver dishes, prepared everything and brought the old man, smeared with bean porridge, directly to the king. Before he even had time to come to his senses, the old man jumped up, grabbed him and instantly tied him up hand and foot.
The old man tied up the king of the monkeys, and then began to revile him:
“The old woman and I are poor people, we have little strength.” It is difficult to cultivate the field. We only sow so as not to die of hunger. And you know neither pity nor sympathy. Feed on my labors! Poison the entire harvest! I'll kill you!
The king of the monkeys was seriously scared here. He began to beg for mercy from the old man. He promised to prohibit his subjects from poisoning his field. He promised the old man any reward. The old man listened to him, listened and said:
- Okay, I’ll spare you if you don’t come to the field with me anymore! Well, since you are afraid that I will kill you, give me more gold and silver! Pay for everything that your subjects have destroyed from me!
The king of the monkeys called his servants and ordered them to bring the old man as much gold, silver and precious stones as he wanted. The monkeys brought him rich gifts, poured a whole mountain of silver, gold and expensive stones. The old man loaded his wealth into baskets and ordered the monkeys to carry everything to his home. And he untied the king of the monkeys, said goodbye to him and set off on his way back. The monkey king's subjects carried the old man all the way to the house.
From that day on, the old man and the old woman lived well. We built ourselves a new house. They didn’t work in the field; they gave it to their young neighbors. And they themselves said goodbye to need and misfortune and lived peacefully.
One day the neighbors began to ask the old man why he was so lucky and where he got his wealth. The old man did not hide anything, he told the neighbors everything as it happened. The neighbors marveled and rejoiced with him. Well, as usual, one neighbor told another, that one told a third, and then, lo and behold, the whole village found out.
This story also reached the ears of the village rich man. And the rich man was greedy for every good thing. Wherever he sees something, he will definitely want to get his hands on it. When he heard about the old man’s luck, he had no peace. He also wanted to get treasure from the king of the monkeys. He began to slowly find out which field the monkeys were coming to. And when he found out, he ordered his wife to boil rotten beans. I took bean porridge and went to the mountains at night. He came to a mountain field, undressed, smeared himself with stinking porridge and lay down on the ground to wait for the monkeys. I lay there all night. Before dawn the monkeys appeared. They smelled a bad smell, approached the rich man, and began to look at him. And he lies there, doesn’t move, almost suffocates from his own smell, but endures it.
A few days have passed, and the monkeys have already forgotten the story with the old man. They mistook the rich man for a dead man and decided to drag him to the king - let him feast on him!
They picked up the rich man and carried him away. They carried for a long time, passed many mountains, climbed slopes, rolled into gorges, crossed streams and rivers, jumped from tree to tree. The rich man's arms and legs were numb, his head ached, and his whole body ached from the jolts and blows. The rich man became unbearable. And then, unfortunately, he decided to open one eye slightly and look where the monkeys were dragging him. He looked and got scared: monkeys were climbing a steep slope, and below was a deep, rocky gorge.
“These stupid creatures won’t hold me, I’ll fall down - remember their name!” - thought the rich man and suddenly shouted:
- Hey, be careful! Otherwise I’ll fall and lose my treasures!
The monkeys heard the dead man speak, got scared, released their burden and rushed away. And the rich man flew down from a height of a hundred human heights straight onto the stones into a deep gorge, where he crashed.
This is what greed has brought us to!
This is the end of the tale about the journey to the king of the monkeys, about the poor man and the rich man and about five hundred monkeys. As fathers and mothers tell it to their children, grandfathers and grandmothers to their grandchildren, they will certainly add:
“Don’t envy someone else’s luck, don’t reach for easy money! Greed and stinginess don’t lead to good!”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru