A long time ago, a khan lived in a village. And he had three sons. It so happened that the khan fell ill and soon died. The sons remained and did not know how to continue to live. They didn't know how to do anything. The father's inheritance was quickly spent. And soon they became completely poor.
Then the elder brother decided to go to work. He hired himself to the khan, who was cruel and abused his servants. The khan set the following condition: “The worker must stay awake all night and tell all sorts of tall tales so that the khan gets tired of listening to him and wants to sleep. If the worker does this, the khan will give him one hundred donkeys loaded with wheat. And if the worker cannot lie all night or falls asleep himself, then the khan will cut three strips of skin from his back and throw him out.”
The elder brother was hungry and agreed to this condition.
The khan's servants fed the new worker very well and put him to sleep in a soft bed. The guy, tired from the road, as soon as he lay down, immediately fell asleep and slept until the morning.
And in the morning the khan removed three strips of skin from his back and kicked him out. So the elder brother returned home with nothing.
And the middle brother, knowing nothing about the fate of the elder, also went to work and ended up with the same khan. Khan made the same condition with him as with his older brother. He was also well fed and put to sleep in a soft bed. He immediately fell asleep and slept all night. And in the morning the khan cut three strips of skin from his back, and the guy returned home empty-handed.
The last to go to work was the younger brother and was hired by the same khan. Khan entered into the same agreement with him as with his older brothers. And then evening came. The khan's servants brought various tasty dishes to the younger brother. But the guy asked:
- Just give me sour milk!
And he didn’t eat anything else. The khan's servants made a soft bed for him and said:
- Now you can sleep...
But the younger brother did not lie down in a soft bed. He lay down on a wooden trestle bed.
He was hungry, the trestle bed was hard, and the guy did not fall asleep. Khan decided that the worker had been sleeping for a long time, approached him and whispered:
- Worker, start lying!
The younger brother immediately heard the whisper and said:
– Well, I’ll start, and you listen and don’t bother lying!.. Once I hired myself to herd donkeys in one village. I herded them well, and people praised me. Once on a hot day I shot an unborn hare with a non-existent gun. He immediately killed a hare and melted three and a half buckets of fat from its entrails. I had two pairs of chabyrs. I anointed three chabyrs with three buckets of fat, and the fourth with fat from half a bucket. Then the fourth chabyr was offended. “Why did you give me less fat!” – he yelled and ran away from me. I went for the savory. I shouted after him that next time he would get more fat than three chabyrs. I barely persuaded him to return.
- Enough! - said the khan. - My eyes are sticking together from your lies!
But the younger brother continued to say:
“When I came home, my donkeys were gone. I searched and searched, but could not find it. I was terribly tired and sat down to rest, but then my mother came and brought lunch. I took a needle from my mother’s scarf, stood on it and looked around. And what did I see? My donkeys licked the ice from the top of Elbrus!
- Enough! - exclaimed the Khan. - I want to sleep! But the worker continued to lie:
- I rushed to the donkeys. I broke off the ice with my head and gave it a drink. Then he returned with them to his mother. As soon as my black donkey saw the unborn hare I had shot, he immediately turned into a black horse and began shouting: “I don’t want to be a horse, I want to be an eagle!” I wanted to answer the donkey, but then I remembered that I left my head on the top of Elbrus. “Well, so be it,” I decided, “I’ll take my head and persuade the donkey to remain a black horse...” At this time, the khan’s snoring was heard.
- Khan, ah khan! – the worker shouted loudly. Khan got scared and jumped up.
- What's happened? - he shouted and began to scold the worker.
“I am fulfilling the terms of our agreement,” the worker answered, “and for some reason you are angry!” What kind of khan are you?
Then the khan began to ask the worker:
- I beg you, sleep! I've been tired of your lies for a long time. As soon as morning comes, I will give you both the donkeys and the wheat. Just shut up!
And they fell asleep.
And then the morning came. The Khan gave the worker one hundred donkeys loaded with wheat, and the guy drove them home.
Heavily laden, the donkeys soon became tired. Among them there was one very cunning donkey. He whispered to the others:
“This man can’t do anything to us.” Let's free ourselves from our burdens, otherwise it won't be long before we die from such heaviness!
And the donkeys threw the sacks off their backs. Seeing this, the guy did not get angry, without saying a word, he stopped the donkeys. At this time a man passed by.
“Good journey to you!” he wished.
“Thank you, kind man,” the guy replied.
Having learned that a man was going to the very village where the guy lived, he turned to him with a request:
- Please come to my house. I have a pregnant wife there. If I'm lucky, she'll give birth to a son. If he gets married and his wife gives birth to a son, and then this son also has a son... When there are a hundred of them, let everyone come to me here, otherwise I alone cannot cope with a hundred donkeys.
Hearing this, the cunning donkey whispered to the other donkeys: “While he waits for help, we will all rot, and there will be no bones left of us.” Let's better drag the load!.. The donkeys agreed and approached the guy. He quickly loaded the sacks of wheat onto them, and the donkeys set off again. This is how the guy managed to drive home a hundred donkeys loaded with wheat.
No wonder they say: it is better to know a lot than to have a lot!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru