Three smart brothers lived in one village; They ran the household inseparably and always went to work together. They had a gray horse, which they took turns riding to hunt. One day it happened that the middle brother, returning from a hunt, forgot to lock the stable in which he had parked his horse. In the morning there was no horse. Obviously, the thief took advantage of the middle brother's mistake. But who stole it? The three smart brothers began to wonder if they could guess the signs of a thief by guessing.
– You know what? - says the older brother. – The man who stole our horse is of medium height and has a snub nose.
“Well, if he is of average height and has a snub nose,” said the middle brother, “then he has a red beard!”
“If,” added the younger one, “he is of average height, with a snub nose and a red beard, then his eyes are gray!”
- Let's go look for these signs! - said the eldest, to which they all agreed.
Three smart brothers set out to look for the thief and, without discerning, took the first road. Whether they walked long or short, they had to walk through a field sown with millet, already ripe.
“A camel walked along this road,” says the elder brother, blind in one eye.
“And lame,” says the second.
“And on it lay two wineskins: one with milk and the other with honey,” says the third. Having expressed their comments to each other, they moved on. A man comes towards them, who was looking for a camel that had escaped from him.
-Have you seen a camel? he asked.
“Apparently we haven’t seen it, but we can tell you about its signs.” “And then they began vying with one another to describe the signs of a camel. The signs turned out to be correct.
“Well, if so,” said the camel driver, “then it’s none other than you who stole him!”
They began to refuse and make excuses by saying that they determined the signs by guesswork, but nothing helped! The driver did not believe it and dragged them to the nearest village, owned by a noble khan, for trial and punishment.
They called the brothers to the formidable khan, and he began to interrogate them about how all this happened. The brothers repeated what they had said in their justification.
- How could you tell the signs of a camel based on guesswork? – asked the khan, interested in the brothers’ stories.
“It’s very simple,” answered the first, “a camel’s track is always noticeable, and that he was blind in one eye, this could easily be recognized: the camel went its way and nibbled millet on only one side - the one where the eye was intact.”
“And that the camel was lame,” said the second brother, “there is nothing easier than to guess about it: every animal lifts its healthy leg higher than the lame one, and drags the lame one behind itself and clings to the ground with it; That’s why the trail is different: it goes like a furrow.
“And that there were two wineskins lying on the camel - one with milk and the other with honey,” said the third, “then this could be easily noticed: on the right side of the road there were flies sitting on the millet, feasting on milk; therefore, the wineskin with milk was hanging on the right; and that the wineskin with honey hung on the left - this was evident from the fact that the bees feasting on honey were sitting on the millet on the left side.
Khan was struck by the brothers’ extraordinary ingenuity. Then the khan went to the garden and returned from there with a tightly clenched fist. , - Well, guess now what’s in my fist?
“This object is very hard,” said the first.
“And round,” added the second.
“Well, if it’s hard and round,” said the third, “then it’s a nut!” – Khai opened his hand, and indeed there was a nut in it.
This amazed the khan even more, and he wanted to ask the smart brothers about something else. For this purpose, he invited them to spend the night at his place. The brothers agreed; They were taken to the kunatskaya and supper was brought to them. Having had a hearty dinner, the guests went to bed. But the khan, guessing that before falling asleep they would begin to talk about what they had seen during the day, began to eavesdrop on them.
- Oh, and our host’s porridge was delicious! - said the elder. “Only it smelled like carrion.”
“And the lamb,” said the second one, “was also delicious, but it smelled like dog!”
“Yes, and the khan seems to be kind and not stupid,” said the younger one, “but he looks like a simple man: he must be of simple rank!” - With these words the guests fell asleep.
The remark of the youngest of the brothers touched the Khan to the quick. Without hesitation, he went to his old mother and asked her what his origin was.
“Of course,” answered the old woman, “you are a worthy son of your father.”
“Tell the truth, otherwise I will deal with you in my own way: I will order you to cut off your head.”
Then the old woman revealed the whole truth to him. It turned out that the khansha and her slave gave birth in one night: the khansha gave birth to a daughter, and her slave to a son; but since the old khan was the last of his kind, wanting to give him an heir, the khansha replaced the children: she took the slave’s boy and raised him instead of a son, and gave the daughter to the slave. Thus, the remark of the youngest of the brothers, no matter how difficult it was for the khan, turned out to be correct. Then the khan decided to check two other remarks of the brothers. He immediately ordered the manager to be called and asked why the porridge smelled like carrion.
“Yes, it must be because they mowed down the millet on the grave of the man killed last year!”
So what the elder brother said was true. It still remained to check the words of the second of the brothers regarding lamb. Now he ordered to call the shepherd to him.
“What’s surprising here,” said the shepherd, “in the third year the wolf killed all the sheep: only two lambs remained, and they would have died if the dog had not given birth just at that time; I forced the orphan lambs to suck it. The lambs survived, and the whole herd came from them.
So, the khan learned not only about his origin, but also about some details related to his household.
The next day, when the guests woke up, the khan ordered them to be called to him.
“Tell me frankly,” said the khan, “what are you looking for?”
- Our horse was stolen; We know the signs of the thief, but we didn’t see him. Isn't he in your village?
Then the khan ordered a gathering to be held, and the brothers immediately recognized who they were looking for: medium height, snub nose, red beard and gray eyes. The Khan ordered him to immediately return the horse, which he did. The thief suffered punishment, and the brothers received rich gifts from the khan. Returning home, they began to run their household as before, following the proverb: one mind is good, but two are better.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru