One man had a very lazy son. He didn’t want to do anything, he couldn’t earn a single nickel. His father fed him as long as he could, but he grew old, fell ill, and became unbearable. The old man went to bed, called his wife and said: “I’ll give all my property to someone else, I won’t leave anything to my son - he’s lazy, good for nothing, he can’t earn a ruble.” It’s a shame for the mother, she stood up for her son: “How can he not earn a ruble?!” And the husband stands his ground: “Well, if he can, let him go earn a ruble - I’ll leave all the property to him.” “Okay,” said the wife.
She went to her son, gave him a ruble and taught him: “Go somewhere until the evening, and in the evening you will come, give this ruble to your father and say that you earned it yourself.”
That's what the son did. He came in the evening, brought this ruble and said to his father: “I’m completely exhausted because of this ruble, I earned it with difficulty.” Father took the ruble, sniffed it and threw it into the fireplace. “It wasn’t you who earned it!” - he told his son. The son laughed and left. What should a mother do? She gave him another ruble and said: “Go, walk around doing nothing all day, and in the evening run two miles - to sweat, go to your father and say: “Then I earned this ruble.”
That's what the son did. He came running in the evening, tired, sweating, ran to his father and said: “You see, father, I’m all sweaty, it was hard for me to get this ruble.” The father took the ruble, sniffed it and threw it into the fireplace. “You can’t deceive me, son,” he said, “you didn’t earn this money.” The son did not take all this into account, laughed again and left.
The mother realized that things were bad and said to her son: “You see, son, we can’t deceive him, you’ll have to work on it yourself.” Go and work, you can earn at least three nickels a day, and then you’ll earn a ruble a week, bring it to your father, he’ll believe you.
The son obeyed. I actually went and worked for a whole week. He did what to whom, carried what to whom, collected one ruble and brought it to his father.
The old man sniffed this money and threw it into the fireplace. “No, son, you didn’t earn it either,” he says.
The son could not stand it, rushed to the fireplace, scooped his money out of the fire with his bare hands and shouted to his father: “You are crazy, father!” I worked and bent my back for this money for a whole week, and you are burning it on fire.
Then the father said: “Now I believe that you earned this ruble yourself, your heart ached for it.” You see, son, how difficult it is to earn money on your own. If you work, you will have, but if you don’t work, you will die of hunger.
With these words, the father bequeathed all his property to his son, and he himself went to a place from which they do not return.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru