In ancient times, two brothers lived in a village. They both got married and started families. The elder brother married a poor peasant woman, and the younger brother married a girl from a rich family. They did not divide the household, but lived together in a house that their parents had built.
So they would have lived their whole lives peacefully and amicably, but their wives did not get along with each other. The older brother's wife said that she was the boss in the house and therefore the younger brother's wife should obey her. The younger brother’s wife did not even want to listen to her: in her entire life she had never obeyed anyone, on the contrary, everyone obeyed her, and now she is also not going to serve anyone. So, as soon as they started swearing.
Well, as the wives began to quarrel, the brothers stopped getting along. They lived together for only a year, and then the elder brother took his half of the property and moved to another place.
From that day on, the elder brother worked tirelessly, but his farm did not grow rich, but fell into more and more decline. The younger brother, although he worked no more than the elder, increased his wealth.
The elder brother became poorer day by day, and in the end he had to sell the last of his oxen. And when he had no oxen left, there was nothing left to plow, and he no longer knew how to continue to live. There was only one thing left to do: go to your younger brother and ask for help.
When he came to his younger brother, it turned out that he was not at home: he was working in his field. The elder brother went to the field and, approaching the younger brother, asked:
“I don’t have any more oxen, but the time has come to plow.” Do you have any extra harness for a day or two?
The younger brother knew about the need of the older one, and he felt sorry for his brother. He agreed to give him a team for a while; he just had one free. Let the elder brother himself go to the field and catch the oxen.
The older brother followed the oxen to the other end of the large field, and the younger brother returned to his work.
The elder reached the edge of the field and noticed something strange: his brother’s oxen were not grazing at all. They were driven by someone who looked a little like a man, and the team obediently pulled the plow. This someone looked at his elder brother and continued to diligently drive the oxen. The elder brother could not stand it and shouted:
- Hey! Who are you? This is my brother's field! Why did you come here? And these oxen are also my brother’s! I'll take them now!
- Fine! - came the answer. - I saw that the oxen were free, and decided to help your brother plow the field a little. If you need oxen, take them. I can do this another time too. I take the oxen when your brother is tired and wants to rest. Now take it, don't be afraid!
The creature stopped the oxen and led them to the elder brother. And he really wanted to know who it was and why he was helping his brother. Therefore, before leaving, he began to question the one who brought the oxen to him.
“I am Nat, your brother’s guardian spirit,” he explained happily. “I help him, I want him to prosper and get rich.” You know how he has now increased his wealth! This is all because I helped him.
“So that’s why my brother manages everything so cleverly!” thought the elder brother. “It turns out that all this is thanks to the guardian Nat! He got a good one! But what about my guardian Nat? Isn’t he helping me?”
“It’s very good,” he said out loud, “that you are so diligent in helping someone whom you should protect from troubles and adversity.” I just want to ask you about my guardian mate. Where, for example, is my nat guardian now and what is he doing?
“You, of course, also have a Nat-keeper,” his interlocutor answered. “Yes, he seems to be a quitter.” He just follows you around - that’s all his job is, but he doesn’t help. That's right, and now he's sleeping somewhere in the bushes. You should go and have a look.
The elder brother went to the bushes and, in fact, had just begun to search when he immediately found his guardian, sleeping peacefully under a bush.
- Oh, so you’re here! - he shouted. “Other people are working hard, but you don’t just want to work, you don’t even want to watch me work!”
The elder brother broke off a branch from a nearby tree and began to whip his guardian with it.
- Oh! - Nat screamed, waking up. “Why are you beating me so painfully?”
He asked for mercy, but the older brother only became even more incensed:
“Don’t you know why I’m beating you?” Come on, look there! You see, there my younger brother’s nat-keeper is plowing his field. And you? Have you ever helped me? That's why I beat you! - And he waved the branch again.
- Wait a little! - Nat cried. “I’ll explain everything to you!” I'm just a different person - not one of those who knows how to plow the land. I don't know anything about this! When you plow, I can't help you in any way. But I’m strong in other things—trading, for example. Now, if you were trading, I would help you.
- You will say the same! - objected the older brother. - “If I traded”... But how will I trade if I don’t even have a spare coin?
- Nothing! - the Nat guardian reassured him. - After all, I’m with you. Don't worry about anything! Do you have any cast-offs? So let's try to trade them. Get rich quick!
The elder brother believed his guardian and went home.
At home, he announced to his wife that from now on he would engage in trade, and he himself began to pack his things and prepare to move to the city. In the city, he thought to acquire everything necessary for trade.
While he was packing his things, he thought he heard crying: as if someone was wailing on the roof. It looked like an old woman was crying bitterly. The elder brother raised his head and looked at the roof: some creature was sitting there, looking like an ugly old woman, and burst into tears.
- Grandmother! - he called out to the old woman. “Why did you climb onto the roof and why are you crying?”
- And you still ask! — the old woman responded through tears. “We’ve been living together for so long, and you don’t even know about it?” If you knew how attached I am to you, you would not dare to leave me. I'm your nat! Only the Nat guardian should help you, but I, on the contrary, try to do everything to your detriment; I am your nat-destroyer. I have fallen in love with you very much and am trying, as best I can, to fulfill my duty so that you become poorer and poorer. I don’t want to part with you! Take me to the city!
“It turns out that I not only have a guardian Nat who helps me, but also a Destroyer Nat who harms me!” thought the older brother. “So that’s why I’m always unlucky!”
He thought of a trick and said:
- Okay, grandma! I'll take you with me. Get into that chest over there, I’ll carry you in it.
The old woman happily climbed into the chest, and the elder brother immediately quickly closed the lid and locked the chest with a key. He dragged the chest with the old woman-nat to the far corner of the yard and buried it deep in the ground.
- Hey, grandma! - he shouted goodbye. - I don’t want to hang out with you anymore. Better stay here.
After this, the elder brother took all his things, called his wife and children and went to the city.
In the city, he rented a suitable house and went to collect all sorts of cast-offs to start trading. How to turn all this into money - here the nat-custodian should have tried: after all, he promised to arrange everything.
And in fact, with the help of the guardian nat, the elder brother sold all this junk for a good price. With the proceeds, he bought expensive clothes and sold them too - and very profitably. So he soon became rich.
Meanwhile, the younger brother learned that his poor brother had become a rich man, and came to ask how he managed it. The elder brother told him everything without concealment.
“At first, I didn’t know,” he explained, “why it would only ruin me.” And then I found out: it was all because my nat-guardian did not help me, and my nat-destroyer tried his best. When I understood everything, I put the destroyer nata in a chest and buried it in the ground in the corner of my yard, and I taught the guardian nata a lesson, from that time on he also began to help me - so I began to live better.
The younger brother was jealous of the older one. He could not calmly see that his elder brother was now richer than him. Previously, he always looked up to him, but now, it seems, he will become arrogant.
And he decided to destroy the happiness of his older brother. At home, he told his wife about everything that he had heard from him.
The husband and wife thought about it and decided: let’s go to the yard of our elder brother and dig out his destroyer. Let him return to his master and harm him as best he can!
That's what they did. They went to the courtyard of the house where the elder brother used to live and began to look for a buried chest there. They soon found it, the younger brother immediately unlocked it and opened the lid. Yes, as soon as he threw it away, an ugly old woman jumped out of the chest, jumped on his neck and wrapped her legs tightly around him.
- Now I’m happy, son! - she shouted. “From this day on I will live with you!”
- Yes, I’m not your son at all! - The younger brother screamed in fear, trying to pull the evil Nat off of him. “You’re wrong, I’m not your master!” Your master is my elder brother! You go to him, to him!
But the old woman did not want to get off, but clung on with all her might.
“And don’t tell me about this bad man,” she answered. “I hoped that he would take me with him, but he, the scoundrel, buried me in the ground instead.” I don't want to be around him anymore. I'd rather stay with you for the rest of my life.
The younger brother never managed to throw off the destroyer. And from that day on, his entire business went to waste. His father-in-law and mother-in-law gave up on him and stopped helping. His friends turned their backs on him. And then his wife left him when she saw that her husband had become a poor man.
In the end, the younger brother became mentally damaged. He went into the forest and disappeared there - no one saw him again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru