Once upon a time there lived two brothers. They did not live poorly - their parents left a good farm for their sons.
The elder brother was very lazy, loved to eat deliciously, dress up beautifully, but did not like to work. And he married a lazy woman like himself. And the younger brother was hardworking: in spring, summer and autumn he worked all day in the field, sowing, growing and harvesting crops. In winter, when there was nothing to do in the field, he went to the mountains for brushwood.
But no matter how hard he tried to work, he could not please his older brother and his wife. They were very afraid that the younger brother would grow up and want to get his share of the inheritance. They decided, while he was still young, to simply kick him out of the house. So they did.
The younger brother left his home with tears and went wherever his eyes led him.
Far from home, in the mountains, he saw a large clearing and thought: “After all, I know how to cultivate the land, shouldn’t I settle here and sow this clearing?”
However, he did not have any tools to cultivate the land.
Then the younger brother went into the forest, broke a sapling and made a stake out of it. All day long he diligently dug up the ground with this stake. His hands were already covered in bloody calluses and he was very tired, but the work moved slowly.
Suddenly the stake hit something hard. The younger brother thought it was a stone and wanted to throw it out of the field. But when I dug it, I saw that it was not a stone, but a pumpkin. Ordinary pumpkin.
Suddenly the pumpkin opened, and a little old man, dressed all in white, jumped out of it. The younger brother was very frightened, and the old man affectionately turned to him: “Don’t be afraid of me, young man!” You dug up a magic pumpkin. If you really need something, rock this pumpkin three times, tell me what you need, and I will fulfill your wish. Just remember one thing: don’t ask for what you don’t really need!
Having said this, the old man disappeared into the pumpkin, and the stunned younger brother froze in place. Having come to his senses, he decided to check whether the old white man was telling the truth.
“What do I need most now?” he thought. “I don’t have anything to dig up the ground with, so what I need most is a hoe.”
And he took the pumpkin, shook it three times and said: “I really need a hoe.”
As soon as he said these words, he saw a new, good hoe on the ground at his feet. From the joy of having such a hoe in his hands, the younger brother gained more strength, and he immediately set to work. Soon he dug up a large plot of land and, having worked hard, felt severe hunger. Then he decided to turn to the magic pumpkin again. The younger brother, like the first time, rocked her three times and said: “I’m really hungry.” Please give me a couple of corn tortillas and a mug of water.
As soon as he uttered these words, hot corn cakes and a mug of spring water appeared on a plate in front of him. With great appetite he ate the cakes, washed them down with cold water and went back to work. The younger brother worked for a long time. And when evening came, he remembered that he also had nowhere to spend the night. Then he asked the pumpkin for a hut for the night. And his wish was fulfilled.
So the younger brother stayed to live in the mountains. He worked diligently and soon acquired everything he needed on the farm.
And the older brother, having driven the younger one away, continued to idle and live off his parents' inheritance. Less than two years later, he had nothing left of his wealth. Dark days had come for him and his wife. He tried to work, but he didn’t know how to do anything, and he didn’t want to do anything. He had to beg for alms.
Wandering through villages and cities, he heard that his younger brother lived very richly somewhere in the mountains, and decided to go to him. So he saw his brother’s small, cozy house, and all around there were vast fields of wheat, corn and ridges of various vegetables.
The younger brother worked in the field. He saw his elder brother beggarly, hungry, naked and could not believe his eyes. He took pity on his brother, took him to his house, fed and clothed him.
The older brother asked the younger:
And the younger brother told him about the magic pumpkin. “Give me this magic pumpkin for a few days,” the older brother asked. “Okay.” “Now I have enough of everything, and I can give it to you,” said the younger brother. “But remember that you can only ask for what you really need.”
The elder brother grabbed the magic pumpkin and hurried home to make his wife happy. At home, he told her about the magic pumpkin, and they wanted to quickly test its power. “We are very hungry.” Let’s first ask for the best food,” the husband suggested. “Let’s ask for silver, but with silver we can buy whatever we want,” the wife objected. “You’re right!” - the husband agreed.
They shook the magic pumpkin three times and said: “Give us silver!”
As soon as they uttered these words, a piece of silver immediately appeared in front of them. They were delighted: this is how easy it is to mine silver! They asked again, then again and many, many times.
And now there was so much silver in their house that it was impossible to pass through. Then they decided that gold was better than silver, and began to ask for gold. Soon gold covered the whole house, blocking the windows and doors. And the elder brother and his wife kept asking for a pumpkin: “Give us gold! Give us gold!”
Finally the elder brother shouted: “Wife!” How can we hide our wealth better so that people don’t see and steal it?
But as soon as he uttered these words, suddenly the gold and silver turned into piles of ordinary stones.
The angry elder brother grabbed the magic pumpkin and threw it to the ground with all his might. The pumpkin broke and a huge tiger jumped out of it.
The elder brother and his wife started to run in horror, but there was nowhere to run - after all, both the doors and windows were covered with stones.
And the tiger tore these lazy and greedy people to pieces.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru