Barge haulers went to get hired for work. There were twelve of them, and all from different villages, so they had not seen each other before, did not know each other, they only met on the road.
They walked and walked and met an old man.
-Where are you heading, guys? - asked the old man.
“We are going, good man, to roam the Volga,” answered the travelers. “You see how many of us have gathered.” But we don’t know which road is better to take in order to get to the city as quickly as possible.
“It will be shorter, guys, if you go straight,” answered the old man. “But there, in the forest, you will meet a huge snake - it lies right by the road.” So I wouldn't advise you to go this route. But that road, although it will be a little longer, but if you follow it, you will not meet anything bad.
- So you don’t advise going straight? - the barge haulers asked.
“Yes, the snake can destroy you,” the old man confirmed.
- What should we do? - the barge haulers asked themselves.
“Whoever is driven by need, no one will touch him,” said one.
“Whoever dies from a bitter life has nothing to fear - it won’t get any worse,” said another. “Let’s go straight, guys!”
And everyone moved along the straight road.
The barge haulers reached the forest, but did not meet any snake. Instead of a kite, they saw an old oak tree felled by a storm with a huge hollow full of gold near the road.
- Hey, the old man wanted to deceive us! - exclaimed the barge haulers. - Probably, he himself coveted this wealth. Now it is ours, and we will divide it equally.
Immediately, without delay, we began to divide. The gold was divided into twelve piles.
“How to deliver this stuff home now is the question,”
someone said.
“Shouldn’t we do this,” responded another. “Six of us will go home to get the horses, and six will remain here on guard.”
Everyone agreed to this, and six went to get the horses, while six remained to guard the treasure.
Those six who went to their villages thought and thought along the way and decided:
“When we get home, we’ll bake a cake with poison.” Let's return to the forest on horseback, treat the guards to cakes, and their share of the gold will go to us!
Those remaining to guard the treasure also had time to think, and they, in turn, came up with the following idea:
- Just let them come! We will prepare good clubs for their arrival, and as soon as we load the gold, we will kill them, and a share of their gold will go to us!
How much time passed, or how little time passed - six people arrived on horses and began to treat those who remained in the forest with flat cakes:
- Eat, I guess you're hungry.
“Thank you for the treat,” the guards replied, accepting the gifts, “But let’s load the gold first.”
They loaded the carts together, and as soon as the work was finished, the guards killed their comrades who had arrived on horseback with clubs.
- Well, now we can start making flatbreads! - Having buried the dead, the survivors said.
They ate the cakes and shared the fate of their comrades. Thus the smart old man’s prediction came true.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru