Once upon a time, a monk took a fancy to a peasant’s wife. And in the spring, when a peasant was planting seedlings in a field, a monk came up to him, stood for a while, was silent, and then said:
“My son, it’s probably hard to work in the field for three, or even four months straight, rubbing calluses.” Life is much more free for us monks: read your prayers, ring the bell and wander wherever you want. Grace! We live in a high temple, closer to the sky, further from the earth, not like you mortals!
The peasant listened to the monk and thought: “The monks really have a comfortable life,” and he also decided to become a monk. He returned home and told his wife everything as it was. The wife heard that her husband decided to become a monk, let’s scold him:
- You old fool! After all, you will suffer, you will sit locked up in a monastery all day long. Can you really sit idle?! Truly, you saw how the monks eat cakes, but you did not notice how they took monastic vows. Get this nonsense out of your head!
The peasant thinks: “But his wife is right,” and he no longer wanted to become a monk.
The next day the peasant went to the field to work again. It's almost noon. The wife packed lunch - a cup of rice soup with dumplings - and took it to her husband in the field. They sat down on the edge, pulled dumpling after dumpling out of the soup with chopsticks, and ate them.
And the monk is right there. He watches how the peasant and his wife are having mercy, and he is overcome with envy. His blood began to leap more than ever! He passed once, passed again, but the woman did not turn her head. The peasant noticed that the monk was looking at his beautiful wife, immediately realized what was wrong, and decided to teach him a lesson.
They ate. The wife collected the cups and chopsticks in a basket and went to the house. A monk approached the peasant and asked:
- Well, how? Will you become a monk? Yesterday you and I had a conversation about this.
The peasant answers:
“I’m not against it, my wife doesn’t agree.” Now, if you became a merchant, then it would be a different matter.
The monk rejoiced and said:
- Well, start trading!
-Where can I get the money?
“I’ll give you a loan, I won’t even take interest.” You will return from the first proceeds. It is best to open a small shop. A very profitable business. So go quickly and get your goods.
The peasant was delighted and said:
- If you really give me money, thank you! When will you bring it?
The monk sees that his cherished desire is about to come true, he decided not to hesitate and says:
- The matter is urgent. I'll immediately run for the money!
The peasant planted a few more seedlings and returned home.
Just after eating, a monk comes in, carrying two hundred silver yuan. The peasant invited him to sit down and ordered his wife to prepare tea. The wife immediately realized what was going on and decided to help her husband. She makes tea, looks at the monk slyly, and his heart skips a beat.
The peasant says:
“I talked to my wife, she agrees.” I’ll hit the road tomorrow, I’ll be back in a month, I’ll thank you for everything.
The monk answers:
- What gratitude! What a ceremony!.. After all, we are friends!
The monk sat for a short time, said goodbye and left.
The wife got her husband ready for the trip, and at dawn he left the house.
The monk, just after evening, dropped everything and went to the peasant’s wife. They sit, talk, laugh. The monk is just waiting for an opportunity to talk about feelings. It won't be decided. The woman has a very unapproachable appearance, as much as “the bones soften and the muscles weaken,” as the proverb says, words get stuck in the throat. And the woman suddenly took the monk by the hand and led him upstairs. But just as he wanted to hug her, someone knocked on the gate with all their might. The monk was shaking with fear and immediately realized that his husband had returned. The woman hid the monk in an empty rice chest, where the thorn bushes were now kept. The thorns dug into the fat monk, but he endured, afraid to gasp.
Meanwhile, the woman went downstairs, unlocked the gate, and went upstairs with her husband.
Husband says:
“Our boat sank, so I returned.” And in addition, thieves attacked and took away two hundred yuan that the monk gave me. No luck! It’s better for me to continue working in the field. I just don’t know how to deal with debt? Eva! Got it! Let me give this rice chest to the monk to pay off my debt!
The husband and wife lay down and fell asleep as if nothing had happened. Only now did the monk realize what they were up to. He spent the whole night in the chest, and the next morning the peasant called two monastery servants and asked them to take the chest to the monk. The servants threaded the pole through the ring on the lid of the chest, lifted it and, bent over, dragged it into the temple. They carry it, and the chest on the pole swings from side to side. They approached the temple, and suddenly they heard someone shouting inside:
- Be careful! Hurt! Oh-oh-oh! Open soon!
The servants immediately lifted the lid. What a wonder! In the chest, the abbot sits covered in bruises and bruises.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru