It was a long time ago. In the village of Pithar, near a dense forest, there lived a woodcutter. Every day he went into the forest to get firewood, and in the evening he sold it in a small town that lay east of his village. This is how he made a living for his family. And his family was only two people: himself and his wife. Busy with his work, the woodcutter did not particularly care about food and clothing and was content with the little he had. But there were neighbors who were jealous that he lived so happily and tried to harm him in any way they could.
One day, while cutting dry branches from a tree, a woodcutter noticed a pearl in its roots. “What could this mean? Where does this pearl come from? - he thought and began to carefully watch from above. Soon he noticed a mouse that crawled out from under the roots of the tree, placed another pearl next to the first one and darted back into the hole.
“Probably there is a treasure in this hole,” thought the woodcutter. He quickly descended from the tree, dug out a hole with an ax and found a lot of gold and precious stones in it. The poor man was so happy that he forgot about the firewood and ran home with the jewelry. He told his wife about everything, but ordered her not to say a word to anyone about the find.
The woodcutter was very afraid that his wife would spill the beans. And in the end, that's what happened. The woman could not stand it and shared her great joy with the wife of an oil merchant who lived next door. The woodcutter was so angry that at first he could not find a place for himself, but, after thinking about it, he figured out what to do.
At midnight he went into the forest, scattered several coins around a tree, hung a dozen of them from the branches, and lowered two huge clay jugs into a pond nearby.
In the morning he took his wife into the forest.
- Look, it looks like it was raining gold coins here at night! - he exclaimed and pointed to the tree.
The woman was surprised at first, but when she saw coins on the branches and on the ground, she believed that it really was raining gold that night. Then they came to a pond.
- Look, there are clay jugs growing in the pond! - the woodcutter shouted.
The woman stared at them in surprise: indeed, she personally saw these huge jugs in the water! The woodcutter and his wife collected the money and returned home.
Meanwhile, the oil merchant learned from his wife that his neighbor, the woodcutter, had found a treasure in the forest. He immediately ran to the Raja and told him about this. The guards, obeying the king's order, seized the woodcutter and his wife, brought them to the palace and threw them into prison.
The next day the woodcutter appeared before the rajah seated on the throne. The poor man fell on his face.
“Tell the truth,” the Raja commanded. “I heard that you found a lot of jewelry in the forest.” Is this true?
- Oh Maharaj! - answered the woodcutter. - You were deceived. I swear! How can your devoted servant lie to you?!
- Hey, guards! - shouted the Raja. “Tie this man to a post and bring his wife here.” If she confirms that he found a treasure in the forest, we will execute the deceiver.
The woodcutter was tied to a post and his wife was brought in.
“Tell the truth,” the Raja ordered her. — Did your husband find a treasure in the forest?
“Yes, I found it,” answered the woman. “It happened yesterday when it stopped raining gold coins, and big, big jugs grew in the water.
- What?! Was it raining gold coins?! Jugs grew in the water?! Are you out of your mind? What are you talking about here?
- Yes, Maharaj! That’s how it was, I’m telling the honest truth.
- Get them both out of the palace! - cried the Raja, blushing with anger. “This woman is obviously out of her mind.”
“Yes, sir,” said the vizier, “she seems to be crazy.”
“You should have guessed this earlier!” - The Raja got angry.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru