The king lost his precious ring. He searched for a long time, but the ring disappeared into thin air. Then the king ordered it to be announced everywhere that the astrologer who helped find the ring would be enriched by the king for life, the voice of a herald and a peasant named Gambara, which means cancer. He could neither read nor write and was so poor that he did not have a single dollar to his name.
“Is it really that difficult to be a stargazer? – he thought. “What if we try our luck?” - and went to the king.
The king ordered him to be locked in a room where there was only a bed, a table and a chair. On the table lay a thick book on astrology and next to it - paper, pen and ink. Gambara sat down at the table and began leafing through a thick book. He didn’t understand a word of it, but still took a pen and began to make notes. And since he could not write, the signs were so strange that the servants who brought him food twice a day decided that he was the wisest of the astrologers.
It must be said that these same servants stole the royal ring. Their conscience was unclean. Every time Gambara cast stern glances in their direction, like a real stargazer, the servants trembled with fear - they thought: he knows everything!
There was no end to their bows and obedience: “I obey, sir astrologer!” What do you order, sir astrologer?
Gambara was not an astrologer, but he was a peasant and did not need to be taught cunning. He immediately realized that the servants knew about the ring and decided to set a trap for them.
One day, at the hour when dinner was usually brought, he hid under the bed. The servant entered - there was no one in the room. And from under the bed Gambara said loudly:
- First!
The servant got scared, dropped the plate and walked out the door.
The second servant entered and heard a voice that seemed to be coming from underground.
- Second!
And this servant ran away in fear. The third servant entered...
- Third!
The servants began to consult:
- What should I do? Everything has opened up. If the astrologer tells the king about us, we are lost.” And they decided to go to the astrologer and confess everything.
“We are poor people,” they began. “If you tell the king about us, we will die.” Here's a wallet with gold, just don't give us away!
Gambara took the wallet and said:
- Okay, I won’t say anything, but you do as I command: do you see a turkey walking around the yard? Let him swallow the ring. Leave the rest to me...
The next day Gambara went to the king and said that after much calculation he had finally managed to find out where the ring was.
- Where? - asked the king.
- It was swallowed by a turkey.
The turkey was gutted and the ring was found. The king generously rewarded the astrologer and gave a dinner in his honor, to which he invited all the counts, marquises, barons and grandees of the kingdom.
Among the many dishes, a dish of crayfish was served. It must be said that crayfish were unknown in this country. Now they were seen for the first time - it was a gift from the king of another country.
“You are an astrologer,” the king turned to the peasant. “Well, tell me, what is this?”
Our poor astrologer had never heard of such animals.
- O Gambara, Gambara, your end has come! - he whispered.
- Bravo! - exclaimed the king, who did not know the peasant’s name. “You guessed it, these are really crayfish.” You are the greatest stargazer in the world.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru