Once upon a time there were no railways, and people traveled on carts. One Jew once went to the tzaddik. It was Friday, he was in a hurry and, as luck would have it, got lost. He drives and drives, suddenly he sees a light, he came closer, he sees a fence, a gate, he drove straight into the gate, and there were two Jews standing in the yard. He asks them if he can stay here on Saturday. They answer him: yes, but if they come to us, they don’t come back. Then the Jew realized that he had fallen among the robbers, and began to ask to let him go, to have pity on him, but they answered with one thing: there is no way out of us. Then the Jew began to cry and offer money, and they answered: we don’t take money - we take the soul. Here the Jew began to beg and beg even more intensely. When one of the robbers says:
“You know what, we’ll ask our mother what she says, and we’ll do it.”
We went into the house. And in the house everything is like a Sabbath: there is a white tablecloth on the table, two candles. We approached the mother’s room - it was locked, but through the keyhole the guest saw that a woman was standing, reading Shmoinoesre. She prayed, opened the door and went out to them. Then the robber son told her about the guest’s request to let him leave the yard.
“That’s out of the question,” the mother replies. - One hundred and one are all one. My son has a light hand and a very sharp knife - you won’t even feel it.
Then the guest began to beg her even more, and she said:
“We can’t let you go.” Are we robbers? Do we go out onto the main road and grab people? We kill only those whom God sends to us. One hundred and one are all one. I am pious, and I fulfill the will of God - whomever Malchamoves cannot kill, the Lord God, blessed be His name, sends to us. Just don’t worry, choose any bed for yourself, and my son will do the rest, he has a light hand and a sharp knife, you won’t even feel it.
And he keeps asking to be released: so, they say, so, he left his wife, children, household at home. The robber replied:
- Don't talk nonsense. Children will live without you, they will run the household without you. One hundred and one are all one.
In short, the Jew saw that nothing was working out, and began to beg to at least postpone his death until tomorrow. And the robber says:
- No, it won’t be possible until tomorrow. We don't kill on Saturday.
“Then let it be on Sunday or Saturday evening,” the guest asks.
The mother of the robbers thought and decided:
- Okay, let it be on Saturday evening.
Well, the Jew spent the night with the robbers that night. In the morning I went out into the yard and saw behind the house a pile of human bones, severed heads, arms, legs - I almost fainted. He goes further and sees: a path. Wasn’t, she thinks she needs to run! If you don’t run away, they’ll kill you in the evening, but if you run away and get caught, you’ll still kill you. In short, the Jew started running along the path and ran until he got out into the field. And there the men were mowing rye. He asks how he can get to the place. They explained in detail that they had to walk to the river and swim across the river. A Jew approached the river, suddenly he heard a cry behind him: “Don’t go! Don’t go!”, he looked - a man was running towards him. He was afraid: was he one of those robbers from yesterday? No, a man is running. He ran up and said:
- Don't swim here, you can drown here. Go over there - you'll cross the ford there.
The Jew did just that, forded the river and ended up in a town.
That's it.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru