In the first month of spring, one peasant went out to the field to plow. He plowed and plowed and caught his coulter on something - the coulter broke.
- What a problem! - exclaimed the peasant. “There were never any stones, rhizomes, or stumps here.” Why did the opener break?
He began to dig in that place and dug up a huge clay cauldron. Out of anger, the peasant wanted to break this boiler, but he changed his mind: it will be useful on the farm, you can store rainwater in it.
He dragged his find home, took a knife and began to clear the earth from the cauldron. And he had almost completely finished his work, but he gaped and dropped the knife into the cauldron. He pulled out a knife - what a miracle? At the bottom of the cauldron lies the same knife again. He pulled out a second knife from the cauldron, and there was a third one.
The peasant realized that this cauldron was not simple, but magical, and threw a copper coin into it. And as soon as he took this coin out of the cauldron, he looked, and a new one had appeared, he took out a new one - another one was shining. All day and all night the peasant carried coins from the cauldron. And in the morning he fell down exhausted and fell asleep.
This peasant had children. But children don’t know how to hide anything. Is it any wonder that at noon the whole village knew about the wonderful find!
And after lunch, a neighbor came to the peasant and said: “Your field borders mine.” This means that this boiler is common. After all, you dug it right on the border between your and my fields.
The peasant argued, but could not prove his point. There are no witnesses. I had to go to the judge. The peasant told the judge how it had happened and what a wonderful cauldron he had dug up in his field.
- Is this really a magic cauldron? - the judge asks sternly.
Then everyone who was in the judge’s room shouted in one voice: “Magic!” Magic!
The judge thought and thought and ordered: “Come on, bring your find here.” I want to check if you are deceivers.
Soon the cauldron stood in front of the judge. The judge threw a gold coin into the cauldron, took it out, and at the bottom lay a new one.
“Yes,” said the judge, “it’s an extraordinary cauldron.” It won’t be easy for me to judge you fairly, but I’ll try. And the judge plunged into deep thought.
He thought for an hour, two, three, then sighed heavily and asked the peasant who had found the cauldron: “Tell me, good man: if I award the cauldron to your neighbor, what would you call my sentence?” “Unfair, Mr. Judge,” answered the peasant.
Then the judge sighed heavily again and asked the neighbor: “Now tell me, good man.” If I award the cauldron not to you, what will you call my verdict? “Unfair, Mr. Judge,” answered the neighbor.
“You see,” said the judge, “how difficult it is to judge by conscience.” You are lucky that you got to such a wise and fair judge like me. In order not to offend any of you with an unfair sentence, I decided to keep the boiler. Go home and don't quarrel anymore.
The peasants did not dare to argue with the judge. They wandered home sadly, cursing the greedy judge. And the judge, as soon as he was left alone, immediately rushed to close the doors so that no one would stop him from taking money out of the cauldron.
And the greedy judge did not notice that a swarm of bees flew into the room through the window.
The bees circled around the room and sat down to rest on the cauldron. And as soon as the judge looked into the cauldron, he jumped back with a wild cry. The bees clung to his face and mercilessly stuck their sharp stings into his eyes, nose, cheeks and ears.
The scammer screamed loudly, waved the bees away with his hands - nothing helped. More and more swarms of bees continually flew out from the bottom of the cauldron. And all of them, buzzing, rushed at the judge, crawled up his collar, into his hair, and even managed to sting his heels.
Now even his own father would not be able to recognize the judge. His face was swollen, covered with blisters, he began to look like a turnip, and his ears looked like huge shells.
The judge's eyes saw nothing. With a loud cry, the swollen judge rushed around the room. He wanted to find a door so he could run outside. But instead of doors, the swindler came across a clay cauldron and smashed it to pieces. And immediately, as soon as the cauldron broke, all the bees flew out the window.
The judge woke up only the next day. Important doctors wearing large black glasses sat near his bed. They treated the judge for bee stings for almost a year. The judge had to give all his money to the respectable doctors for treatment. But they still couldn’t cure him completely. Some bee stung the judge in the left eye so much that he was left crippled for life.
This is how the dishonest judge was punished.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru