Once upon a time there lived a king named Troyan. He had goat ears. The barbers came in turn to shave him, but whoever came did not return home. As King Troyan’s barber shaved, he asked him:
-What did you notice about me?
And he answers:
- Goat ears.
Well, that's the end of it.
So it was the turn of one more barber, but he pretended to be sick and sent an apprentice in his place. The king asked:
- Why didn’t the owner himself come?
And the apprentice answers:
- I got sick.
King Troyan sat down, the fellow shaved him and, of course, noticed that the king had goat ears.
The king asked:
-What did you notice about me?
- Nothing.
Then the king gave him twelve ducats and ordered that from now on only he should come to shave him.
The apprentice returned home. The owner came to him: how was it with the king? He replied that everything went well: the king ordered him to continue to come and shave him. But the little guy kept silent about the fact that the king had goat ears. Well, for a long time he went to shave King Troyan, each time he received twelve ducats, but he did not tell anyone that the king had goat ears. Finally, the guy could no longer bear to keep the secret; he began to wither and waste away. The owner noticed that he was unwell, began to question him, and the guy remained silent for a long time, but finally said:
“I have a secret in my soul, but I don’t dare tell you about it.” If I had said it, it would have immediately relieved my heart.
“Open up to me,” said the barber, “I won’t tell anyone!” If you are afraid of me, go to your confessor and confess to him. If you are afraid to reveal yourself to him, then go outside the city, dig a hole in the field, stick your head into it and tell the earth your secret three times, and then fill up the hole.
The apprentice did just that: he left the city, dug a hole in the field, stuck his head in and said three times:
— King Troyan has goat ears.
Then he filled the hole with earth and, having calmed down, went home.
After some time, an elderberry grew in that place and gave three red shoots, straight as an arrow. The shepherds cut off one rod and made a pipe out of it. But as soon as they started playing it, she began to sing:
- King Troyan has goat ears!
Soon the whole city learned about this, and finally it dawned on King Troyan that the children were playing on the flute: “King Troyan has goat ears!”
He called the apprentice to him:
- So, you still told the people about me?
The poor fellow began to justify himself that he had not told anyone anything, although he saw what kind of ears the king had. The king pulled out a saber and wanted to cut him down. The apprentice got scared and began to tell him everything in order: how he told the secret to the earth and how the elderberry grew in that place, how they made three pipes from elderberry branches and each pipe plays the same thing. Then the king got into the carriage with him and went to that place, he wanted to check whether the guy was telling the truth. And there was only one rod left there. King Trojan ordered a pipe to be made from it. They made a pipe, played it and immediately heard: “King Troyan has goat ears!”
The king was convinced that nothing could be hidden on earth, gave the guy life and after that allowed himself to be shaved by every barber.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru