There were very stingy owners in one house. One day a soldier came to them and asked to spend the night. The owners refused. The soldier deliberately walked around the village and again entered this house. I saw the owner in the yard.
“There are a lot of you, overnight shelters,” says the owner, “just one soldier came to ask, and now a second one has come.” We don't have guests!
And the soldier pretended to be deaf and said:
- Thank you, thank you! - And he went into the hut.
He bowed to the hostess:
“Mistress, the owner invited me to spend the night, so I came.”
“We don’t allow overnight stayers,” says the hostess.
“Thank you, thank you,” the soldier replies.
The owner came, and the hostess said to him:
- Why did you let this roommate in?
“I didn’t let him in,” says the owner. “I refused him, but he was obviously deaf and didn’t understand.” When we sit down to dinner, don’t call him to the table.
- No no! And don't talk to him either.
The hostess gathered the table and sat down to dinner in silence. And the soldier sits on the bench, looking at them. The owner forgot about the agreement, turned to the soldier and asked:
-Where are you from?
“Thank you, thank you,” says the soldier and quickly sits down at the table.
After dinner, the owner turns to his wife:
“In the morning I’ll go to the forest early, and you bake pancakes while the soldier is still sleeping.” And when he leaves, don’t forget to take money from him for the night.
The soldier hears this conversation and thinks to himself: “You can’t fool me!”
In the morning the owner got up early, ate pancakes and went into the forest. The hostess stayed to bake pancakes. And the soldier looks at her furtively. When the hostess baked a large pile of pancakes, he got up, got dressed, and took his bag, as if he was about to leave. The hostess threw the frying pan onto the stove and grabbed the soldier’s shoulder:
- Give me money for the night!
- Thank you, thank you, hostess! - says the soldier and sits down to eat pancakes.
The soldier ate all the pancakes and said:
- Thank you, thank you.
He sat down on the bench and thought: “Let him bake some more pancakes.”
The hostess baked, and the soldier again seemed to be getting ready to leave. He took his bag under his arm and said:
– Thank you, hostess, for the treat and the overnight stay.
And the hostess responded:
- If you eat and sleep, you have to pay money!
- What? Should I take some pancakes with me? Thank you, thank you, kind hostess,” said the soldier, took the remaining pancakes and left.
The owner and hostess arrived in the evening and said to him:
- What a shelter! He ate, he drank, he slept through the night, but he didn’t pay the money and even took all the pancakes with him. We will never let in a single homeless person again!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru