In ancient times, there lived a king. He had a rose garden at the palace. There was a magic rose bush growing in the garden. No matter how hard the king tried, no matter how much the royal gardeners protected this rose, they could not save it. As soon as it began to blossom, a destructive worm attacked it. And so the same thing was repeated year after year. The king could not wait for his magic rose. One day a young gardener came to the king and said: “Hire me, I will save your rose from the worm.” As soon as it blooms, I’ll pick it and bring it to you. “Young man,” says the king, “how many gardeners have been with me, not one of them has protected it, where can you manage it?” “I can handle it, and if not, order execution.” “Okay, as you know, if you can, protect it.”
Spring came, the new gardener took a bow and arrow, climbed under a bush and began to guard the rose. He guards for a day, two days, three days, a week. Finally, the rose began to bloom, but then the gardener felt sleepy... Meanwhile, a worm crawled out, attacked the rose, ate it and crawled away. The gardener woke up and saw that there was no rose on the bush. He went to the king and said: “For a whole week, day and night, I guarded the rose bush, and when the rose began to bloom, I dozed off... I open my eyes, and the worm has already managed to devour the rose.” This time, have mercy, next year I will deal with the worm. “Nothing,” said the king, “this worm will not be in vain...
A year has passed. Spring has come, the royal gardener again went to guard the bush. As soon as the rose began to bloom, the worm again crawled towards the rose, just as the gardener wanted to shoot an arrow at it, suddenly a nightingale flew out of nowhere, pecked the worm and flew away. Rose remained intact. The gardener was delighted, picked a rose and took it to the king. “Sir,” he says, “I brought you a rose.” And today the worm wanted to devour the rose, but out of nowhere a nightingale flew in, pecked the worm and flew away. “Nothing,” says the king, “and the nightingale won’t do it in vain.”
Another year has passed. In the spring, the gardener again goes to guard the rose bush, sitting under it day and night. The rose has just begun to bloom, the worm crawls again, wants to devour the flower, again last year’s nightingale flew out of nowhere, wanted to peck the worm, but at that moment a dragon jumped out from under the bushes and swallowed the nightingale and the worm at once. Again the rose remained intact.
The gardener was delighted, plucked a rose and took it to the king. “Sir,” he says, “now, like last year, a worm came crawling, wanted to devour the rose, a nightingale flew in out of nowhere and was just about to call the worm, when a dragon jumped out from under the bushes, attacked the nightingale and the worm and swallowed them both.” Here’s a rose for you - safe and sound. “Nothing,” says the king, “even the dragon won’t lose it in vain.”
Another year has passed. Spring has come, the gardener again went to guard the rose. The time has come for her to bloom. The worm appeared again and crawled towards the rose, a nightingale flew out of nowhere and was just about to peck the worm when a dragon jumped out from under the bushes and swallowed both the nightingale and the worm. The gardener pulled the bowstring and shot an arrow at the dragon; the dragon spun, bled and died. The gardener picked a rose and took it to the king.
“Sire,” he said, “the worm appeared again, wanted to devour the rose, the nightingale flew in, wanted to peck the worm, the dragon jumped out from under the bushes, attacked the nightingale and the worm and swallowed both at once.” When I saw this, I pulled the bowstring and laid the dragon in place. “Well, good,” said the king, “but it won’t go in vain for you.” The gardener was surprised and thought: what a riddle, why does the king say this all the time?
The gardener thinks, thinks, but cannot come up with anything. But he’s afraid to ask the king: what if the king gets angry? The gardener decided to wait and see what would happen next. The king had a marble pool in the rose garden, where the king and queen sometimes swam. One day, a gardener climbed a tree that grew next to the pool and wanted to cut off the dried branches. Suddenly he sees: the queen and her maids approached the pool to swim. The gardener got scared and stayed on the tree. “I’ll wait,” he thinks, “the queen will bathe, leave, and then she’ll cry.” The queen undressed, entered the pool, swam, came out, began to get dressed, looked up and saw the gardener. She did not utter a word, went to the palace and told everything to the king.
“You know, I went to the pool to swim, bathed, got dressed and was about to go, when suddenly I saw a gardener on a tree. You know, he climbed the tree in advance, he wanted to spy on me. When the king heard about this, he became furious like a lion. He immediately shouted: “Executioner, executioner, executioner!” The executioners appeared and bowed to the king. “Sir, what do you order?” - they ask. “Bring the gardener now and cut off his head!”
The executioners brought the gardener. The gardener understood what awaited him. “Sir, allow me to say two words, and then do with me what you want.” “Okay, speak.” “Remember, when you hired me in the first year, I came to you and told you how a worm ate a rose, you told me: “It’s okay, it won’t go in vain for him.” The next year I went to guard the rose. He came to you and said: “A nightingale flew in and pecked the worm.” Even then you answered me: “Nothing, and it won’t go in vain for him.” In the third year, when I came to you and said that a dragon jumped out from under the bushes and swallowed a nightingale and a worm, you again said: “Nothing, and it won’t go in vain for him.” On the fourth I came and told you: “I killed the dragon.” And you told me: “Nothing, and it won’t go in vain for you.” And it really didn’t go in vain for me, your words came true if you wanted to take my head off for no reason. Today I tell you: this will not be in vain for the king. The king heard the wise answer of the gardener and had mercy on him.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru