Once upon a time there lived a man. He was digging a cellar and found a piece of gold in the ground.
“Where should I put it?” the man thinks. “I’ll leave it for myself, but the master will take it away.” If the master doesn’t take it away, the manager will take it away, and not the manager, so the headman will take it away. I’d better take this gold to the king. The Tsar will reward me, but no one will take away the Tsar’s reward!”
The man put on new bast shoes and went to the king.
Whether long or short, he reached the royal palace. The sentry asks him:
-Where are you going, man?
“I want to give my find to the king.”
- What kind of find is this?
- A piece of gold.
Well, the sentry missed him. And the second, and the third, and the fourth sentry missed. The man reached the royal chamber. And there is a nobleman standing at the door, fat and important.
- Where are you going, man?
- To the king, gentleman.
- To the king? What did you forget there?
“But I was digging a cellar, I found a piece of gold and am bringing it to the king as a gift.”
The greedy nobleman's eyes lit up:
- Gold? Come on, show me!
The man showed the gold. The nobleman shook all over with greed and said:
“If you give me half of the king’s reward, I will let you see the king.” If you don’t give it, go away! What to do here?
“Okay, sir, I’ll give it to you,” the man answers him. The nobleman let the peasant through to the king.
“Hello, little prince,” says the man. “I brought you a gift.”
And he gave him a piece of gold. The king took the gold and asked:
- What should I give you for this gift?
“I don’t need anything, little princess.” If you have mercy, give me a glass of a burner and a crust of bread, otherwise I was very hungry while I was walking to you!
The Tsar ordered to bring a whole decanter of a burner and a loaf of white bread.
The man looked at the white bread and said:
“Both my father and my grandfather have never eaten or seen such bread - I won’t eat it either!” Do you, little princesses, have any simple rye bread?
The king ordered to bring rye bread. The servants ran, found an old beggar at the gate, begged him for a handful of bread, and brought it to the peasant.
- This is bread for me! - says the man. He filled the glass to the brim, drank it, and ate some bread. I poured another, drank, and ate. So he drank the entire decanter of the burner and ate the entire top.
“Well,” he says, “thank you, little prince, so I ate and drank to my heart’s content!”
- What should I give you now, little man?
- Now, little prince, I wish I could dance.
- Music here! - the king orders. They brought the regimental musicians.
- No, little prince! - says the man. - I can’t dance to this kind of music. I want to dance to the tune!
The king sent servants throughout the city to look for the fool. They found him, brought him in, and the dudar played. The man began to dance. He danced, danced, got tired and said:
- Enough!
Then the king asks him:
- What else do you need now?
“Now, little prince, I want to sleep.” The king ordered a bed to be prepared for the man. They prepared a feather bed for the man, but he glances at the feather bed, shifts from foot to foot - he doesn’t want to lie down.
“This bed is not for me, I haven’t slept on feathers in my life.”
I would like some pea straws!
They brought a whole cart of pea straw. The man put his hat under his head and started snoring throughout the entire palace. He got some sleep, got up and said:
- Thank you, little prince! I’ve been rude to you here, caused trouble - give me a hundred rods for that.
- What are you doing, man? What rods? You gave me gold!
- Eh! Little princess! I ask you, be kind, give me a hundred rods as a reward!
What can you do? They brought rods. They wanted to flog the man, but he said:
- Wait, little prince, I have half a wine!
- Which half?
- As I was walking towards you, one important gentleman did not let me in. “If you give me,” he says, “half of what the king will give you, then I’ll let you in.” That's what I promised. So give him fifty rods first, and then give me the rest.
They brought a nobleman. The king ordered to undress him, put him on a bench and reward him as he should. The nobleman began to tremble and tremble.
“It’s okay, gentleman,” says the man, “don’t be afraid, I won’t deceive you: you’ll get it as agreed.”
They laid the nobleman to bed and poured fifty hot ones into him!
The man says:
- Oh, little prince, he serves you so well! We need to reward him for this - give him my half too!
They gave the nobleman fifty more rods, and all of them a hundred. Once they had settled with the nobleman, the tsar wanted to ask the peasant where he was from, wanted to reward him, but the peasant grabbed his hat and out the door, that’s all they saw.
“Otherwise,” he thinks, “I’ll get such an honor that it won’t be possible to demolish it!”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru