Once a man took a cartload of dry birch firewood to the market. The master approached him and asked:
- How much do you ask for your straw?
- What are you talking about, sir, this is not straw, but birch firewood!
The master grabbed the whip, pulled the man across the back and asked again:
- So how much are you asking for your straw?
“It’s your choice,” says the man, “whatever you give.”
The master paid for the cart of firewood, as for a cart of straw, and left.
Another time the same man happened to take a bull to the market to sell. And again he came across the same master.
- How much do you want for your goat?
- What are you talking about, sir, this is not a goat, but a bull!
The master grabbed the whip, beat the poor fellow and asked again:
- How much do you want for this goat?
- It's your choice, sir, as much as you can give.
The master paid him as much as the goat was worth.
The man says:
- Let me at least cut off the tail of the bull - as a reminder that I once had a cattle.
The master allowed it.
- Thank you for that! - said the man. And having walked away a little, he shouted: “Wait, sir, you beat me twice, but for this you will be beaten three times!”
The master grabbed the whip, but there was no trace of the peasant.
How much or how much time has passed - the master decided to build a windmill. The man heard about this, dressed cleaner, shaved off his beard and mustache, took an ax, a saw and other carpentry tools - like a craftsman - and went to the estate to hire out for construction.
The master went with him to the forest to select trees for cutting. They left one servant with the horses, the other went with them into the forest.
The man was looking at the trees and suddenly started rummaging in his pocket.
- Oh, by all means! Arshin forgot! - speaks.
“It doesn’t matter, I’ll send a servant for a yard,” the master reassures him.
The servant ran to get the arshin, but the master and the carpenter remained in the forest, waiting for him.
“Your servant hasn’t been coming for a long time,” says the carpenter. “Well, that’s okay, there’s another way to measure trees.” You, master, hug the tree, notice its volume, open your arms, and I will stretch your arms and measure it. We don’t measure trees any other way.
The master grabbed the tree with his hands, then the man tied the master’s hands, pulled out a bull’s tail from his bosom and asked:
-Whose tail is this?
“Bull,” answers the master.
- What a fool you are! You can't tell a ox's tail from a goat's!
And well, whip the master with a bull's tail!
Then he pointed to the tree and asked:
- What is this?
- Birch.
- What a fool you are! You can’t tell straw from birch!
And again he beat the master. He fought as hard as he could, and when he left, he said:
“You’ve already got it once, I still have two more left.”
The servant returned, and his master was tied to a tree, barely alive. The servant untied him, poured water on him, and took him home.
The master fell ill, but he was ashamed to admit to the doctors that it was a man who beat him. They are not even allowed to examine it properly. They bring doctors to him from Vilnius and Kaunas, but even they cannot find out what kind of illness he has.
And our man glued on his gray beard, dressed in long clothes, poured cabbage brine into one bottle, beet brine into another, took three hemp seeds and went to treat the master.
He looked at the patient from afar and said:
- You were hit by a bull's tail.
The master was surprised. None of the city doctors could determine his illness, but this village doctor told the whole truth. He asks the man to take care of him properly and drive the disease out of him.
“We need to heat the bathhouse hotter and take a good steam there,” says the doctor.
The master immediately ordered the bathhouse to be heated. His servants took him there. The doctor also appeared with his medicines. He gives the servants three hemp seeds and says:
- Go home quickly, put this medicine in a bottle of water and shake it one by one until the water in the bottle turns white.
The doctor was left alone with the master. He pulled out a bull's tail from his bosom and asked:
-Whose tail is this?
- Goat, goat! - the master shouts.
- What a fool! Don't you see that it's bullish?
Wait, I’ll teach you how to distinguish a ox’s tail from a goat’s!
And again the man beat the master so hard that there was no living space left.
He taught him a lesson with the bull's tail and, leaving, said:
- You already got it twice, one more time for me.
The master barely recovered from his illness. He admitted to his doctors that it was the man who beat him. He is scared to death of the peasant, and doesn’t show his nose anywhere without servants.
And the man began to prepare to teach the master a lesson for the third time. He heard that the master had already recovered and was going on a pilgrimage to serve a thanksgiving prayer service.
The man went to the gypsy alone - he was famous throughout the neighborhood for his fast horse - and said to him:
“Help me beat the gentleman and you’ll earn a ruble.” The gypsy dressed up in peasant clothes, sat on his little horse and waited in the bushes for the master to ride. When I saw the master’s carriage, let’s shout:
- Got it twice, one more time for me!
- Catch him, tie him up and beat him to death! - the master tells the servants.
They started chasing the gypsy, but where could he go - he had already galloped far away on his horse! And then a man comes out from behind a bush. He pulled the master out of the carriage by the collar, stuck the bull's tail under his nose and asked:
- Well, sir, whose tail is this?
- What’s there to ask! - says the master through tears. - Hit me, don’t torment me.
The man beat the master again and, leaving, said:
“We’re even with each other for the firewood and the ox.” But you are again in my debt: I apparently cured you of your master’s illness forever!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru