I happened to hear from our old people, our old people heard from their grandfathers, and their grandfathers from their old people, that once upon a time there lived a poor plowman and he had only a piece of land and a pair of oxen. And suddenly in winter this poor plowman’s oxen died. And when spring came and the time came to plow and sow, he could not work without oxen and rented the land to a neighbor.
This neighbor began to plow, and suddenly his plow came across something solid. He looks and sees a large clay jug full of gold. He abandons the oxen and the plow and runs to the owner of the land. “Hey, light to your eyes!” - speaks. “A jug of gold was found in your land, go take it!” “No, brother, this gold is not mine,” the owner answers. “You took the land from me, you plow, and everything in the land is yours.” If you find gold - let it be gold, it’s yours anyway - take it!
They begin to argue: one insists - the gold is yours, the other - no, it’s yours. The argument flares up and a fight breaks out. They go to the king with a complaint. When the king heard about the jug of gold, his eyes lit up. He says: “Not your gold and not his.” A jug of gold was found in my land, which means it’s mine.
And the king and his retinue hurries to where the jug was found. He comes, orders it to be opened and sees: the jug is full of snakes! In horror and anger, the king returned to the palace and ordered to punish the daring plowmen who dared to deceive him. “Oh, sir, may your life last,” the unfortunate ones screamed, “why do you want to destroy us?” There are no snakes in the jug - there is only gold... pure gold!
The king sends his people to check. People go, come back and say - there is gold in the jug! - Wow! - the king is surprised, but thinks to himself: “I guess I didn’t look properly or I saw the wrong jug.” And again he goes there, opens the jug, and it’s again full of snakes. What kind of miracle? Nobody can understand. And the king orders to gather all the wise men of his kingdom. “Explain,” he says, “wise men, what kind of miracle is this?” The plowmen found a jar of gold in the ground. I go there - there are snakes in a jug, they go - it is full of gold. What can this mean? - Do not be angry, oh sir, at our words. This jar of gold was given to poor plowmen for their hard work and honesty. When they go, they find gold, this is a reward for their honest work. And when you go and want to steal someone else’s happiness, instead of gold you find snakes.
The king shudders and cannot find words in response. “Okay,” he says finally. - Now decide: which of them owns the gold? - Of course, the owner of the land! - exclaims the plowman. - No, to the one who plowed the land! - the owner of the land objects. And the squabble begins again. - Okay, okay, wait a minute, - the sages stop them. - Do you have any children - a son or a daughter?
And it turned out that one had a son, and the other a daughter. Then the wise men decide: to marry the young people and give them the jug of gold. The parents agree, everyone is happy. The quarrel ends - the wedding begins. They celebrate their wedding for seven days and seven nights. And they give the jug of gold, received as a gift for hard work and honesty, to their children. Gold is for the newlyweds, and snakes are for the greedy king.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru