Either in our village or in the neighboring one, there lived a poor man named Shadula, nicknamed Lazy. From morning to evening he lay in the sun and also tried to turn less often from side to side. He had nothing, he was hungry all the time. He finally got tired of starving. He was so tired that he decided to go to the sage to find out why he was so poor and how he could get rich.
As soon as it began to get light, Shadula set off on his way - he runs, so fast that rawhide dudes fall off their feet.
Suddenly a Wolf came towards him. A huge old Wolf, and so thin - it seems that the ribs are about to break through the skin and come out.
-Where are you running, why are you in such a hurry? - the Wolf asks him.
Shadula told why he was in such a hurry. The wolf says:
- Do me a favor, Shadula, ask the sage if he can help my trouble too. No matter how much I eat, I never get enough - you see how thin I am!
Shadula promised to help him and set off as fast as he could. I ran and ran and got tired. Lo and behold, there’s a huge apple tree near the road, and on it there are apparently and invisibly apples, ripe and red. He bent the branch, picked an apple, took a bite and threw it away:
- Ugh, what bitterness!
Suddenly the apple tree spoke in a human voice:
- How can I, Shadula, endure this? This is how every traveler tastes my apple and curses. Do yourself a favor and ask the wise man if it is possible to make my apples sweet?
Shadula promised to help the apple tree and ran on. He ran and ran, and he became thirsty. And then, fortunately, he saw a river. He fell to the water and drinks.
The water in the river is cold and clear. And Shadula sees a huge Fish at the bottom. She lies there, looking at Shadula, and her mouth is open...
Suddenly the Fish rose from the bottom, stuck its head out of the water and asked:
-Where are you going, Shadula?
He told where he was going, and Fish said:
- Do me a favor, find out from the sage if you can help me: for twenty years now I haven’t been able to close my mouth, I’m completely lost!
“Okay, I’ll ask,” Shadula promised and moved on.
He finally ran to the sage. A sage is sitting, reading a huge book.
- Why did you come, Shadula? - asked the sage. Shadula told him what his trouble was.
The sage opened a huge book. And it says in it what fate awaits whom.
“You don’t get rich because you’re lazy,” the sage read. “It’s not for nothing that they say: “He who works is never without a share.” If you start working, you will be richer than everyone else.
“On the way, I met the Wolf, and he asked me to find out from you why he was completely exhausted, how he could get better,” Shadula asked the sage.
“He will be cured if he eats the lazy man,” answered the sage.
- When I was walking to you, I saw one apple tree. She asked to know why her apples were so bitter?
“The apples are bitter because there is a jar of gold buried under this apple tree.” If someone digs up this jug, there will be no tastier apples in the whole world!
“I almost forgot to ask one more thing,” said Shadula. “When I was coming to you, one Fish asked to know why she couldn’t close her mouth?”
“She has a piece of gold stuck in her mouth, and if you take it out, her mouth will close,” said the sage.
He thanked the sage Shadul for his advice and set off on his way back.
Fish met him first.
- What did the sage advise me? - asked Fish.
“You have a piece of gold stuck in your mouth.” If you pull it out, your mouth will close,” Shadula said.
- Oh, good Shadula, take out a piece of gold - it will be useful to you! - Pisces begged.
“No, the sage said that I would get rich without it,” the lazy Shadula refused.
He walked further and came across an apple tree.
- What did the sage advise me? she asked.
“He said that there was a jar of gold buried under your roots.” If someone digs up this jug, there will be no tastier apples in the whole world than yours.
- Please dig up the jug - you will need it! - asked the apple tree.
“No, the sage said that I would get rich without this,” the lazy Shadula refused.
He went further and met the Wolf.
“Did you ask the sage about me?”
- I asked. “He said that you will be cured by eating the lazy one,” answered Shadula.
The Wolf began to ask who else Shadula had seen. Shadula told him everything in order: how he met the apple tree and the Fish; how the sage advised to dig up a jug of gold from under the apple tree and pull out a piece of gold from the throat of the Fish.
-Did you do it? - asked the Wolf.
“Why,” answered Shadula, “I’ll become rich without it!”
- How will you get rich, what did the sage tell you? - the Wolf asked again.
- The sage said that I must work! - answered the lazy Shadula.
“I see, I can’t find another lazy person like him,” said the Wolf and swallowed Shadula.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru