In ancient times, there lived two people. One was poor, the other was rich.
The poor man took two cows from the rich man and grazed them. As a reward, he received milk from both cows. The rich man was a kind man. One day he said to the poor man:
“If you continue to graze my cows and they give birth to calves, I will give some of them to you.”
And then the cows brought calves. The rich man came to the poor man and said:
- Let's divide the cows.
- What cows? - answered the poor man. - I don’t have your cows.
The rich man was indignant and began to argue. Finally they decided to go to the Sultan. On the way, the poor man met his friend.
-Where are you going? he asked.
“I’m going with this rich man to the Sultan,” answered the poor man.
- What business do you have with him?
“This rich man is going to complain about me.” I grazed his cows, but now I don’t want to give them to him.
The friend said to the poor man:
“It won’t be so easy for you with the Sultan.”
- What should I do? - asked the poor man.
“Let’s go together,” the friend answered, “I’ll teach you what to do.” When we come to the Sultan and he asks you how it was, don’t answer him a word. Just say: “Hm, hm!” And I will call myself your witness and help you.
They came to the Sultan. The rich man told how it happened. The Sultan began to ask the poor man about the same thing. But he answered only one thing: “Hm, hm, hm!” Then the Sultan turned to the poor man’s friend:
-Can you say anything about this matter? What's wrong with your friend?
The friend replied:
- This man is mute from birth. His tongue is helpless. The cows belong to him, not the rich man. The rich man had his eye on these cows for a long time and wanted to take advantage of his helplessness. He thought: since the poor man cannot speak, he will not be able to stand up for himself. Hearing this, the Sultan became very angry.
“You have committed a great injustice,” he said to the rich man. “Why did you bring this poor man to me?”
With these words he drove the rich man away. And the poor man and his friend went home.
When they got home, the friend said to the poor man:
- Now let's divide the cows. After all, I am owed a share for my help.
But he answered him:
- Hm, hm, hm!
The friend got angry:
- Oh, if so, come with me to the Sultan!
They went to the Sultan. A friend, a recent witness, said:
- Sultan, the cows in question belong to a rich man.
“But recently you said that cows belong to the poor,” the Sultan remarked.
- What do you say to this? - he turned to the poor man.
He repeated himself:
- Hm, hm, hm!
“He knows how to speak perfectly,” the friend entered, “now he’s just pretending.”
Here the Sultan got angry:
- If you now claim that he can speak, does that mean you were lying last time?
And he drove him away and left the cows to the poor man.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru