Well, listen! I’ll tell you not a fairy tale, but a true story.
This was back during the panshchina. And they were evil gentlemen! Not people, but animals. You end up with a gentleman like this, and at least lie down and die: you won’t please him with anything. And it’s true what they say: “The devil of coddling is not coddling.”
So here it is, sir. You try so hard for him and work well, but he keeps shouting: “Not like that, you scoundrel, not like that, you ragamuffin, not like that, you crazy dog!” and eats you, mocks you, despises you. And if you don’t please, he’ll skin you alive.
Oh, it’s hard, how hard it was to live under the lords!
So here it is. There was such an evil gentleman in one estate. And what did he not do! As long as he didn’t mock people. He flogged more than one to death. And he didn’t consider his serfs to be people at all.
This filthy gentleman once ordered that everyone who had oxen for sale should bring them only to him at the master’s yard. He placed guards around the edges of the village and did not allow any merchant to pass through. And if someone brings an ox to the master’s yard for sale, the master will look and say:
- What did you bring here, you ass? After all, this is not an ox, but a goat!
And he will pay like for a goat. And whoever decides to contradict him will send him to the stable and throw a rod at him.
People suffered for a long time with such a filthy gentleman, they endured it for a long time, but what can you do, who can you complain to? After all, lords sat everywhere then - both in courts and on estates.
But finally one person was found who repaid the master for all the people’s grievances and tears.
He was a smart and daring guy, his name was Rimsha. He was orphaned early, but he somehow started a household on his own. Rimsha was a proud guy. No one dared to lay a finger on him.
Once Rimsha brought an ox to the master's yard to sell. The gentleman came out onto the porch and said:
- What did you bring, donkey? This is not an ox, but a goat!
Rnmsha looked around, saw that there was no one around, showed the gentleman a twig and asked:
- What is this, sir: birch or vine? I brought you an ox, not a goat!
And let's whip the gentleman with a twig. He beat and beat until his arm hurt.
“Here’s to you,” he says, “for mocking people!” If you come back, then wait for me to visit again. Rimsha said this, left the ox and ran into the forest. The servants found the gentleman without memory - that’s how Rimsha gave him a beating. Only on the third day did the gentleman come to his senses.
- Catch Rimsha for me! - he ordered the servants.
Where is it? There is no trace of him. There used to be dense, dark forests. Live in them as much as you want, no one will find you.
Day after day goes by, but the gentleman can’t get back to life. They called all sorts of doctors, but to no avail: apparently, Rimsha really beat his liver off.
And then soon a new doctor arrives at the estate with a whole chest of different medicines. He called the new doctor to his place, treated him and asked him to treat him.
“Okay,” says the doctor, “I’ll cure the gentleman.” You just need to heat the bathhouse.
The servants flooded the bathhouse. The doctor took the gentleman to the bathhouse, sat him on the shelf and ordered him to hold onto the pole with both hands. And he began to rub it with various ointments.
The gentleman is sitting, holding on to a pole and just grunting.
Yes, he groaned for a while. The doctor soon took a rawhide belt out of his pocket, tied the master's hands to the crossbar with it and gagged him. Then he took a twig and said:
- What is this, sir: birch or vine? I sold you an ox, not a goat!
The gentleman sees that it is Rimsha himself, and not the doctor, and he wanted to scream, but he couldn’t - there was a gag in his mouth!
The pan spins around like a loach on a hot frying pan, and Rimsha hits him with anything. I almost tore all the skin off the gentleman. Then he mounted his horse and rode off. They only saw him.
The gentleman had been ill for a long time. Everyone thought it was already the end for him. Yes, even death does not take the evil one: in the spring the master got dressed and decided to go abroad, to the waters. He started to get ready, and then he just didn’t have enough money. So the lord decided to sell the forest. He announced this, and merchants began to come and look at the forest. They dressed up and dressed up, but they just couldn’t agree on the price: sir, you see, he was stingy and was painfully expensive.
One day a very wealthy merchant came to the estate. Master took him to inspect the forest. Pan praises the forest, wants to charge more from the merchant, but he keeps agreeing with him and leads him further into the thicket. They climbed into such wilds that the white light could not be seen. Here is a merchant and let’s grab the pine trees with our hands and measure the thickness. Pan grabbed one pine tree.
“Look,” he says, “what a piece of wood!” Straight gold, not wood.
And the merchant took a belt from his pocket and tied the gentleman to a pine tree. Then he pulled out a twig from under his coat, showed it to the gentleman and asked:
- What is this, sir: birch or vine? I sold you an ox, not a goat!
And he began to beat the gentleman... He beat and beat as much as he could, and threw him tied to a pine tree.
The gentleman stood by the tree all day until the courtyard people found him there.
For almost a year since then, the gentleman has been lying around, but he still won’t come back to life.
Again the doctors advise him to go to water. Mr. sold timber, grain, and livestock. I collected a lot of money and got ready to go abroad, to the waters.
And Rimsha is still watching the master. He found out which road the master would take, and set an ambush for him: he placed one of two high-mounted horses with twigs on three fields.
The gentleman drives up to the first lad, and he shakes a twig from a distance and shouts:
- What is this, sir: birch or vine?
- Hold him, hold him! - the gentleman shouts to the coachman. - This is Rimsha!
The coachman grabbed the lines with his knife, sat down on the harness and chased after the lad.
As soon as he has disappeared from sight, another fellow of the same kind drives up to the master's carriage. He swung a twig from afar and said:
- What is this, sir: birch or vine?
- Grab him, grab him, scoundrel! - the master shouts to the footman. - This is Rimsha.
The footman jumped onto the second horse and rushed after the lad. The gentleman was left alone in the carriage. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Rimsha appeared in front of him. He took out a twig from under the coat, shook it and asked:
- What is this, sir: birch or vine? I sold you an ox, not a goat!
He beat Rimsha Pan, took his money and went into the forest, to his dugout.
Rimsha later did a lot of good for poor people: he helped them with money and saved them from evil lords.
To this day, in the dense forest between Zapolye and Novoselki there is a mountain. They call it Rimsha Mountain. They say that the proud and brave guy Rimsha lived there.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru