One wealthy Circassian had an only son. Before his death, the father called his son and told him:
- I will give you three pieces of advice that you must follow throughout your life: never say hello first; eat sweets every evening; put on new shoes every morning.
After some time, the father died, the son began to carry out his father's wills: he was never the first to say hello; I ate sweets every evening; I put on new shoes every morning.
But a strange thing happened: they stopped talking to him in the village, and money was spent on sweets and shoes. Then he came to his mother and said:
- Mom, was my father really my enemy, why did he give me such an order?
To which the mother replied:
“Father forbade me to interfere in your actions until you ask me yourself.” The first order, never say hello first, means get up before everyone else and work in the field, and people passing by will greet you first; the second command - eat sweets every evening means - after working all day in the field, in the evening any food will be sweet; the third commandment - put on new shoes every morning means that the man himself takes care of his clothes and shoes. Adyg never goes to bed until he has cleaned his clothes and in the morning they seem new to him.
From the next morning the young man did everything his mother told him. After some time, he became rich, married the most beautiful girl, and passed this order on to his children.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru