Once upon a time there lived a young man nicknamed Wang Lao-da - Wang the Elder.
And then one day Wang Lao-da asked his neighbors to help him build a clay wall. I started digging clay. He dug and dug, and suddenly he looked at a large vat, all covered with mold. The chan is just like a chan, nothing special, Van just started knocking the ground off of it, the chan rang, and wonderfully, “va-wa.” The neighbors marvel, push each other aside, and come closer. Then Van’s straw hat flew off his head and straight into the vat. The young man did not hesitate, put his hand into the vat and pulled out his hat. I wanted to put it on, and lo and behold, there was exactly the same one in the vat. He took it out, and there was another one. So Van pulled out ninety-nine hats in a row, and with the one he had on his head, a hundred hats - a whole bunch.
Everyone marvels and rejoices. And along with everyone, Wang Lao-da. Afterwards they took the vat, took the hats, and carried them into the house. It was just the hottest time at that time, and in the heat who doesn’t need a straw hat? The young man talked with his neighbors, and they decided to call their fellow villagers and give each of them a hat. And so they did. The peasants went home very happy.
It must now be said that in that village there lived a landowner nicknamed “Insatiable.” He found out about the magic vat, began to think about how to take possession of it, and one day he said:
“My grandfathers and great-grandfathers owned this magic vat.” And Wang Lao-da took it and stole him from my house, I just don’t know who helped him.
The landowner said so and sent servants to the young man to take the vat. Well, the young man, of course, did not give up the treasure. Insatiable had to fork out the cash and go to the district with a complaint.
He told the district chief, nicknamed “Big Bug,” about the magic vat. Bedbug's eyes lit up with greed. That same day, after lunch, the chief prepared a paper, ordered to seize Wang Lao-da and bring him and his neighbors to Yamen, and at the same time grab the magic vat.
They found out in the city about the vat, they got excited, worried, curious people in the Yamyna - a trickle of water would not leak out. Those who don’t fit in the hall crowd below. Even the district governor’s father, a sick old man, hobbled along. He made his way through the crowd, approached the vat, turned around awkwardly, got caught on a brick, the floor in the hall was lined with bricks, and he toppled into the vat - an onion with its feathers down. The boss didn’t listen to the complaint and rushed to his father’s vat to pull him out. He pulled it out, looked - there was still an old man in the vat - just like his father, he pulled out the old man, and there was another one. So he pulled out ninety-nine identical old men in a row. He looks and another one looks out of the vat. The Big Bug now has exactly one hundred fathers. They stand in the hall, their backs hunched. The boss himself cannot tell which one is real.
The guards are laughing, the whole people are laughing!
- Ha ha! Our boss has countless fathers.
And the Big Bug, who was only thinking about how to take possession of the magic vat, looked at the elders, heard how the people were making fun of him, almost died of shame, got angry, turned green and shouted:
- Scoundrels! Get out of here! Out! Out! Out!
The boss ordered to beat the drum and stop the matter.
Where should the landowner now go with his complaint? He blinked his eyes, shrank all over and, like a hare, took off running.
The crowd of curious servants was dispersed.
The district chief took one hundred old men, took the vat, and went to another hall.
In the evening, all the children and household members of the Big Bug, all one hundred new fathers gathered around the vat, opened their eyes, waiting for treasures to fall out of the vat.
Big Bug took the gold bar, put it in the vat, and then put his hand into the vat. What a wonder! The vat is empty, the ingot is gone.
Klop became alarmed and ordered his wife to bring a candle to light. He did not think, did not guess that his wife would accidentally drop the candle into the vat. At the same moment there was a hum in the vat and thick black smoke poured out of it. Following the smoke, the flames shot up. Out of fear, the chief and his relatives' eyes bulged and their mouths agape. And the fire was still burning, engulfing the whole house.
But no one went to put out the fire - people really didn’t like the Big Bug. They saw that the yamen was burning, they clapped their hands and shouted with joy.
And the fire got angrier, licked the house from all sides, and burned it to the ground, only ashes remained. The district chief and his relatives also burned to death. Only the magic vat did nothing. There are fragments and shards lying around, but the vat stands intact.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru