Once upon a time there lived a young man. Such a simple-minded, slow-witted person. His parents married him. A short time later, another wedding was held at his father-in-law's house. The young son-in-law was also invited to visit. The poor young man was completely uncouth - he couldn’t stand up or turn around. So his father sent a servant with him.
And the servant was on his own. All the way he instructed the young man not to talk too much when visiting, and to eat and drink in moderation. The young man remembered this clearly.
They came to their father-in-law's house. The young man does not say a word to anyone, but the servant speaks to everyone. Let's eat. The young man says:
- I don’t feel like eating. Feed my servant. No matter how much they tried to persuade him, no matter how much they called him to the table, he still refused. Apparently, he thought: “Since I refused once, now I can’t sit down at the table.” And he wants to eat, but he keeps repeating:
- I don’t want to eat.
But the servant ate to his fill.
It was summer time. They went to sleep in the open air. Women were sleeping in the courtyard, and a young man and a servant were laid out on the roof of some outbuilding. The servant just lay down and immediately began snoring, but the young man’s hunger did not allow him to sleep. Finally he became completely unbearable. He woke up the servant and said:
- Come up with something. I'm dying of hunger.
“I hardly ate anything myself,” the servant answers deliberately. - But what can you come up with at night? We'll see in the morning.
- No, I can’t wait until morning. I'll die of hunger.
The servant thought and thought and came up with an idea. In the closet on the roof of which they were laid to sleep was the kitchen of a sweets merchant. For light, a large hole was made in its ceiling; at night this hole was covered with a stone slab. So the servant says:
- Hold the dhoti. I'll climb down this hole and eat some sweets. And then you will climb.
The young man agreed. The servant went down to the closet and ate some sweets. The young man pulled him onto the roof and climbed himself. The servant helped him down, and then calmly lay down on the roof. He didn't even notice how he fell asleep. The young man satisfied his hunger and whispers:
- Pull.
But the servant snored as loud as he could. Where could he hear?
The young man speaks a little louder:
- Pull.
The servant does not answer.
Then the young man got scared. Calls even louder:
- Pull!
Unfortunately for him, one old woman who spent the night in the courtyard was tormented by a cough - she couldn’t let her close her eyes. She lies there and hears someone repeating: “Pull!” Pull!” The old woman got worried, woke up her neighbors and said:
“God knows what’s going on in the closet.” Someone there keeps saying: “Pull!” yes “Pull!”
Then others heard: “Pull!” and everyone was alarmed. “Who knows what it is there,” they think. “Aren’t thieves breaking in?” Two men with sticks climbed onto the roof, others hid at the door to the closet. And from there the same thing is heard: “Pull!” yes “Pull!” The family thought: “If there is a thief there, why would he make such a fuss? It could only be that evil spirits got into the closet.”
So they decided to send to the temple for a brahmana. The Brahman came and immediately explained everything. He began to brag:
- Yes, yes! This is not the first time I’ve kicked out such “pull” people. This damn thing is so dangerous. It's good that you called me. He, this devil, is white. Sometimes it will seem to people, sometimes it won’t. Beware, he changes his appearance too. Either he will turn into a man, or a horse, or a goat, or he will disappear completely. This is a trivial matter for him. He can't fool me. You open the door and I'll come in and grab him. Just don’t move away from the door, shout louder and keep your sticks ready. Then this “pull” will not leave us.
The family started screaming. The servant on the roof woke up from the scream. He got scared, but realized in time what to do, and said to those who climbed onto his roof:
- You climb down to guard. And here, at the top, I can manage it alone.
They got down.
The Brahman meanwhile entered the closet. In the darkness he could not make out anything. And there all sorts of things were laid out: where were the ready-made sweets, where were the various supplies, and on the side stood a whole tub of curdled milk. The brahman began to wave his arms and read spells, but in the darkness he stumbled and fell straight into the tub. He got out wet, covered in yogurt, and rushed to the door in fear. Shouts:
- Bring a lantern! Bring a lantern! It's dark in here! It's dark in here!
When the people at the door saw a white man, they decided that it was the “pull” who was running away. After all, the brahman had told them in advance that the “pull” was white. Oh, what started here! Everyone attacked the brahman with sticks. The poor brahman screamed, begged, but no one listened to him; they beat him with all their might.
Only when he fell unconscious did they stop beating him. They thought they had finished off the evil spirits. If you took a closer look, it’s the Brahman himself! That's why everyone was scared! But things can't be improved.
And while there was turmoil, the servant slowly pulled the boy out and saved him from reprisals.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru