Once upon a time there lived a boy, Juan, who tended his father's goats. Every day he drove the goats to the same meadow. So his father once said to him:
- Listen, what do you drive our goats to the same meadow every day? The whole meadow is already bald, there is no grass left at all. Now drive them over there, to a new place.
Juan did just that. The next day I drove the goats to another meadow. And there was a monastery garden nearby. The goats climbed into the garden, and Juan fell asleep right under the tree. Juan woke up - there were no goats, it was as if they had fallen through the ground. “Didn’t my goats get into the monks,” he thinks? I went to ask the monks if they had seen those goats. But the monks caught all the goats and locked them up. The abbot ordered them to do so. The abbot was greedy for other people's goods.
“No,” the monks answer Juan, “we didn’t see any goats.” “The monks wanted to steal those goats.”
Juan returned home alone, and his father asked:
- Well, where are the goats?
— The goats were grazing near the monastery gardens, and I took a nap under a tree. I woke up and there were no goats. The monks probably have them, I think.
- What should we do now? - the father was alarmed.
- Don't worry, father, don't bother. I already know how to help things.
Juan dressed as a poor monk, almost a beggar, and went to the monastery. A monk comes there to meet him. Asks the guest what he needs.
“You don’t need anything,” Juan replies, “just to spend the night; I’m going far away, to a hermit, but it’s night on the road. I'm only asking for an overnight stay.
That monk went to his brethren and said that a poor monk was asking for shelter for the night.
They let Juan into the monastery.
He comes in and they give him something to eat. There was, however, no bed or sheets for him.
“I don’t need a bed or bed,” says Juan. “I’ll sit down in any corner and sleep on the floor.” I still have to get up early tomorrow morning.
The monks look at how dirty and ragged he is, they don’t invite him to sleep, they say let him lie down in the abbot’s cell.
At midnight, when everyone has already fallen asleep, Juan gets up, grabs the staff with which he came, and, well, beats the abbot. He knocked off all the sides and almost killed him. He knocked it off and said:
- I am Juan the goat shepherd! I've come for the first payment!
The poor abbot begs him: have pity and go away. Juan took three thousand reals from him and went home. He comes to his father, tells how it happened, and says that he is going to the monastery for the second payment. His father praised him:
- Okay, son, okay. Well done. Now you've done everything right.
The next day Juan dressed as a doctor and went again to the monks. The monks saw the doctor and said:
“Our abbot fell ill, someone gave him a beater, we should go see him and cure him.”
Juan enters the abbot and examines him.
“Give me the papers,” he says, “I’ll write him a prescription.”
He wrote something and gives it to the monk:
- Go to the city, buy medicine and bring it to the abbot.
The monk left, and Juan shouted:
- Ay-yay-yay! Damn it! I forgot the main thing!
He takes the paper again, writes something on it, gives it to another monk, and also sends it to the city on an errand.
Not even a few minutes had passed when Juan slapped his forehead again:
- Oh, my God! What's wrong with me! One more thing is needed, but I forgot!
Again he wrote a piece of paper and sent another monk to the city. So he wrote, wrote papers and sent monks to the city. Not a single monk was left, everyone ran to the city. Only the doctor and the abbot in the monastery. Here Juan again grabs his staff and goes to beat the abbot, just like the first time.
“Have mercy on me, have mercy,” the abbot prays.
And Juan beat him and said:
- I am Juan the goat shepherd! I've come for the second payment!
He again takes three thousand reals from the abbot, returns to his father and tells how it all happened. His father praises him:
- Okay, son, okay. Well done. Now you didn’t make a mistake, you did everything right.
“But that’s not all,” says Juan. “You’ll see, I’ll get more than that from them for our goats.”
The next day Juan meets a tramp. Asks him:
- Hey, tell me, are you fast on your feet? Can you run far, far away without anyone catching you?
- Well, yes, I can. No matter how many times I ran away from people, I was never caught.
- Well, then come with me. I'll pay you for your work.
He brought the tramp to the monastery and said to him:
- Here, look. You will hide behind this door, and I will go to the other one, on the other side of the monastery.
Wait until I get there. And as soon as I approach, immediately shout: “I am Juan the goat shepherd! I have come for the third payment! I am Juan the goat shepherd! I have come for the third payment!”
And so they did. Juan approached the far door, and the tramp shouted:
- I am Juan the goat shepherd! I've come for the third payment! I am Juan the goat herder! I've come for the third payment!
The monks heard.
- Ah, this swindler is here again! Well, this time he won't get away from here.
They grabbed sticks for him too. The tramp left them, so quickly that they only caught up with the dust from his heels. They ran out of the monastery, rushed after him, and wanted to give him a good beating. They ran far away.
Meanwhile, Juan ran to the abbot, who was left alone. Juan kneaded his sides again. The abbot begs: “Let me go!”, and Juan keeps beating him and saying:
- I am Juan the goat shepherd! I've come for the third payment! I am Juan the goat herder! I've come for the third payment!
He received another three thousand reais from the abbot and went to the market to buy new goats, instead of those that the monks had stolen.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru