There lived two fools in San Marino. They themselves did not consider themselves fools, but the people of San Marino told them so every day. But the fools still didn’t believe. So somehow they both got together and began to consult on how they could find out whether they were fools or not. They thought and thought about who to ask.
“The judge,” suggested the first fool.
“Uh, no,” answered the second one. – I won’t go to the judge. About a month ago I filed a complaint against my neighbor for beating me with a stick. And the judge, instead of punishing this scoundrel, called me a fool and sent me away.
- Why did your neighbor beat you? - asked the first fool.
- Don't know. You see, I dreamed this. I just wanted to ask my neighbor why he was beating me, and at that moment I woke up. Let's go to the shopkeeper instead. They say about him that he is so smart that he can outsmart the devil himself.
“Eh, I won’t go to the shopkeeper,” answered the first fool. – Last Sunday I wanted to buy myself some shoes. The shopkeeper gave me some shoes. I looked, they were different: one had a sock pointing in one direction, the other - the other. No, I don't think you can fool me. And he asked him for two identical shoes. Here the shopkeeper says: “If you decide to wear two left ones, then pay for two right ones. If you don’t want to, get out, you fool.” Well, I went
- What should we do? - said the second fool.
They began to think again. We thought and thought and decided to go to the Pope himself. After all, the padre in church said that the Pope never makes mistakes.
The fools went to Rome to the Pope. They kissed his shoe as usual and began to complain.
- Holy Pope, judge between us and the people of San Marino. They called us fools, but we don’t believe it. If we really are fools, then we are fools, and if we are not fools, then tell our neighbors to call us smart.
“Well, I’ll judge,” the Pope agreed. –
Just tell me,” he turned to one of the fools, “why they called you a fool the first time.”
“But for what,” he answered. – About five years ago my mother sent me in the morning to fetch water. I took a bucket, came to the stream and began to pour water with a stick. I dip a stick and shake off a drop; dip a stick and shake off a drop. I kept collecting water until the evening, but the bucket was still not full. Then my mother came running and cursed me for a fool. Well, the neighbors heard. From then on it went: fool and fool! What was I supposed to do - pour it with my finger? Yes, I would completely freeze it in cold water.
- Why did they call you a fool the first time? – the Pope asked the second.
- Eh, such a trifle and I don’t want to remember. My grandmother sent me to the cellar for a jug of milk. I was poisoned, but the door there was low. I go through everything, but my head doesn’t go away. I asked my grandmother to make the doors in the cellar higher. But instead she called me a fool. And so it went from there.
Dad listened to them from the very beginning to the very end and thought:
“Explaining to a fool that he is a fool is like sifting flour in the wind. But it’s not for nothing that I’m called the Pope – I won’t let them go without an answer.”
He ordered his servant to catch the mouse and put it in the box. He gave the box to the fools and said:
- Here's my answer. Don't look into the box until you return to San Marino. But know: if you miss the answer, then you are the last fools.
The fools took the box, kissed dad's shoe according to custom, and went back the same way.
We returned home and locked ourselves in the room, tightly closing the doors and windows. Then they lifted the lid of the box, and something jumped out!
The fools rushed to catch the Pope's answer, but the mouse darted into a hole - and it was gone.
“Listen,” says one fool, “what is this answer?” It appears to be a mouse.
- Mouse? “I don’t know,” said the second fool. - I've never seen a mouse. And you?
- I saw it. She is small, grey, with a ponytail and a cat behind her.
- And here it was small, gray and had a tail. But there was no cat. It turns out it's not a mouse.
The fools looked at each other and said:
- Nothing can be done. We missed the Pope's answer. So we really are fools.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru