There lived a poor man with his wife. They had a daughter. He needs to celebrate his homeland, but he has no bread to eat. What should you treat your guests to?
A poor man went to the river to fetch water. He collected buckets full and returned back. Lo and behold, a chick is lying in the bushes. Yes, so weak, so bad, that she won’t get up on her own.
The poor man brought water home and told his wife about the heifer.
“Then take it,” says the wife.
He returned to the river, took the heifer and brought it home.
“Come on,” he says to his wife, “let’s kill her: we’ll have something to treat our guests.”
My wife liked the chick - so colorful and white-fronted.
“No,” she says, “let it grow.”
- Yes, she’s quite weak. Apparently, someone abandoned her so that she wouldn’t die in the barn.
- It’s okay, maybe we’ll get her out. When my daughter grows up, she will have milk.
The husband listened to his wife, and they began to nurse the heifer.
The heifer has grown stronger and is growing by leaps and bounds. And my daughter is also growing by leaps and bounds. Yes, she turned out to be such a clever girl that even the old people willingly listen to her.
A glorious cow was raised from a mottled, white-fronted heifer.
The girl grew up, turned seven years old, and began to herd the cow herself.
One day a rich neighbor was staring at a poor man's cow.
-Where did you get it from? - asks. The poor man told him everything as it happened.
“Hey,” says the rich man, “that’s my chick!” It was I who threw her away - I didn’t think she would rise to her feet. No, then I'll take my cow back...
The poor man became sad.
“After all, I fed her,” he says. “Now she’s mine.”
The rich man disagrees:
“If you don’t give it back in an amicable way, we’ll go to the gentleman to sue.”
What to do? Let's go to sue the master. The rich man shook hands with the gentleman and said hello: as you know, the rich are his people. Pan tells him:
- Sit down.
The rich man sat down in a chair, and the poor man stood at the threshold and took off his hat. Pan doesn't even look at him.
- Well, what do you say? - he asks the rich man.
“Well, sir, what happened,” the rich man began to complain. “Seven years ago this man took my heifer, and now he won’t give it back.”
He listened to the lord and the poor man, and then said to them:
- Okay. My judgment will be like this. I will ask you three riddles: “What is the fattest thing in the world?”, “What is the sweetest thing in the world?”, “What is the fastest thing in the world?” Whoever guesses right will keep the cow. Now go home and think about it. Come back tomorrow with the answers.
The poor man returned home, sat down and cried.
- Why are you crying, daddy? - asks the daughter.
“Yes, the rich neighbor wants to take our cow away,” the father answers. “We went with him to the master for trial, and he asked us three riddles.” Whichever one of us guesses will keep the cow. But where can I guess those riddles!
- What kind of riddles, dad? - asks the daughter.
Father said.
“It’s okay, dad, don’t be sad,” says the daughter. “Go to bed.” The morning is wiser than the evening: tomorrow we’ll come up with something.
And the rich man came home and rejoiced.
“Well, woman,” he says to his wife, “the cow will be ours!” Only you and I need to solve three riddles: what is the fattest thing in the world, what is the sweetest thing and what is the fastest?
The wife thought and said:
- What a miracle! Yes, there’s nothing to guess here. There is nothing in the world fatter than my speckled hog, sweeter than the linden honey of our bees, and no one can run faster than our bay stallion: after all, no matter how he rushes, the wind will not catch him!
“It’s true,” the husband agreed, “that’s what I’ll tell the gentleman.”
The next morning a rich man and a poor man come to the master.
- Well, did you guess my riddles? - asks the gentleman.
The rich man stepped forward:
- Yes, there’s nothing to guess here: there is no one and nothing in the world fatter than my speckled hog, sweeter than the linden honey of my bees and faster than my bay stallion.
“And you,” the gentleman asks the poor man, “did you guess?”
- I guessed it, sir: there is nothing fatter than the earth - after all, it feeds us all; there is nothing sweeter than sleep - no matter how much grief happens, but you fall asleep, everything is forgotten, and there is nothing faster than human thoughts: after all, you yourself are still here, and your thoughts are already far, far away.
The poor man guessed correctly! And the master had to award him a cow.
“Who taught you how to solve my riddles like that?” - he asks the poor man.
“My seven-year-old daughter,” says the poor man. The sir was surprised: it couldn’t be that some poor young daughter could guess his riddles! He decided to look at the smart girl. One day I came to visit a poor man, and he was in the field at that time. The gentleman was met by his seven-year-old daughter.
“Girl,” asks the gentleman, “what should I tie the horses to?”
The girl looked at the sleigh and the cart that stood in the yard and said:
- You can tie it to winter, or you can tie it to summer.
Pan's eyes widened: how can horses be tied to winter or summer? Apparently the girl is laughing at him!
“Well, at least tie it to a sleigh, or even to a cart,” the girl explained to the slow-witted gentleman.
The sir sees that the poor man's daughter is indeed very intelligent. It's a shame, sir. If people hear that she is smarter than him, then at least run away from the estate.
The master talked to the girl and drove off, and told her that her father should come to him in the evening.
A poor man came to his master in the evening.
“Well,” says the master, “your daughter is smart.” But I'm still smarter than her.
The gentleman gave the poor man a sieve with eggs:
“Here, take these to your daughter and tell her to put a hen on them and bring me chickens for breakfast in the morning.” If he doesn’t do this, I’ll order him to beat him with a whip.
The poor man came home sad. He sat down on the bench and cried.
- Why are you crying, daddy? - asks the daughter.
- Yes, my daughter, what a problem; Sir asked you a new riddle.
- Which one?
Father showed the sieve with eggs:
“He told me to put a hen on these eggs and bring him chickens for breakfast in the morning.” Is it possible to do this?
The daughter thought and said:
“It’s okay, dad, we’ll figure something out tomorrow.” In the meantime, mom, take these eggs and fry some scrambled eggs for dinner.
In the morning the daughter says to her father:
- You've got a pot on, Tata, go to the master. Tell him to cut down the lyada in a day, uproot it and plow it, sow the millet, reap it and thresh it, and pour it into this pot to feed the chickens.
The father went to the master, handed him an empty pot and said everything that his daughter told him. He twirled his mustache and said:
“Your daughter is smart, but I’m still smarter than her.”
He took three flax stalks and gave them to the poor man:
“Tell your daughter that by morning she will pull out this flax, spin it, weave it and sew it for me to make a shirt.”
The father returned home sad. My daughter asks:
- What did the master tell you?
Her father gave her three flax stalks and told her what the master had wished for.
“Nothing,” the daughter answers, “go to bed, daddy: tomorrow we’ll figure something out.”
The next morning the daughter gives her father three maple sticks and says:
- Take them to the master and ask him to plant them, grow them in one night and make a weaving machine out of them, so that he has something to weave linen onto his shirt.
The poor man went to the master, gave him three sticks and said as his daughter taught him.
The gentleman blushed and said:
- You have a smart daughter - you can’t say anything. But I’m still smarter than her! So tell her not to come to me on foot, not on a horse, not naked, not dressed, and to bring me a gift, but such that I cannot accept it. If she does all this, then I will accept her as my daughter - she will grow up to be a panya! If she doesn’t do it, it will be bad for her...
Father returned home more saddened than ever.
- Well, what did you say, Tata? - asks the daughter.
- Yes, my daughter, you have caused trouble for both us and yourself with your answers...
And her father told her what the master had wished for. The daughter laughed:
- Nothing, dad! Somehow we’ll deceive the gentleman this time too. Just catch me a live hare.
The father went into the forest, set a trap and caught a hare.
The daughter took off her shirt, threw a fishing net over herself instead of a dress, sat astride a stick and rode with the hare to the master.
Pan stands on the porch and sees that his poor daughter has outwitted him again! He got angry and set the dogs on her - he thought they would tear the clever girl to pieces. And the girl let go of the hare and the dogs and rushed after him into the forest.
She approached the gentleman.
“Catch,” he says, “my gift: he ran away into the forest...
The lord had to take a smart girl as his daughter. The gentleman soon went abroad, and said to the girl:
- Be careful not to judge my people without me, otherwise things will go badly for you.
The girl was left alone in the estate. And this happened at that time. Two men went to the fair. One bought a cart, and the other a mare. They harnessed the mare to the cart and drove home. On the way we stopped to rest. They lay down and fell asleep. And when we woke up, we saw a young foal running around the cart. The guys started arguing. The one whose cart it was says: “My foal - it was my cart that was foaled!” And the one whose mare insists on his own: “No, my foal - it was my mare who foaled!”
They argued and argued and decided to go to the master for trial.
We arrived, but the gentleman was not at home.
“At least judge us,” the men ask the master’s adopted daughter.
The girl found out what their business was and said:
“Let the one of you whose mare is unharness her from the cart and lead her by the bridle, and the one whose cart is, let her drag her in the other direction.”
Whoever the foal runs after will be its owner.
That's what the guys did. The foal ran after the mare, and that was the end of their argument.
The gentleman returned from abroad and found out that the smart girl had judged without him. He got angry and raised a cry:
- Why didn’t you listen to me? Now you are not my daughter. Take whatever you want from the estate and go home so I don’t see you again!
“Okay,” says the girl. “But I’d like to treat you to wine as a farewell.”
“Treat me,” muttered the gentleman. “Just make it quick.” The girl gave him some wine, and the sir fell asleep without memory. Then she ordered the servants to harness the horses, put the gentleman in the Carriage and drove him home. At home with her father, she took him out of the carriage and carried him into the hallway onto a pile of peas.
“Here’s a bed for you,” he says, “instead of a feather bed.” Give yourself some rest.
The next morning the gentleman woke up and looked around: where is he? He saw his adopted daughter and asked:
- Why am I lying here, in a dirty peasant’s hut?
“You yourself wanted it,” the girl laughs. “You told me: “Take whatever you want from the estate and go home.” I took you. Get up, take an ax and a hoe, and go serve your father's lordship in your father's place. You are a strong man, you will be a good worker.
The gentleman heard this, jumped to his feet and waved back to his estate in such a way that only he was seen. He even refused horses and carriages.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru