Hey, should I amuse you with a fairy tale? And the fairy tale is wonderful; there are marvelous divas in it, wonderful miracles, and the farmhand Shabarsha is a rogue among the rogues; As soon as I got to grips with the tug, there’s nothing to say - for everything!
Shabarsha went to live as farm laborers, but a hard time came: no bread of any kind, no vegetables were born.
So the owner is thinking, a deep thought: how to dispel the evil sadness, how to live and live, where to get the money?
- Eh, don’t worry, master! - Shabarsha tells him. - If it were day, there would be bread and money!
And Shabarsha went to the mill dam. “Perhaps,” he thinks, “I’ll catch some fish; I’ll sell them, and here’s the money! Hey, there’s no string for the fishing rod... Wait, I’ll get one now.”
I begged a handful of hemp from the miller, sat down on the bank and, well, played the fish.
He forked and forked, and a boy in a black jacket and a red cap jumped out of the water onto the shore.
- Uncle! What are you doing here? he asked.
- But I’m twisting the rope.
- For what?
“Yes, I want to clean out the pond and drag you devils out of the water.”
- Eh, no! Wait a little; I'll go tell grandpa.
The little imp dived deeper, and Shabarsha went back to work. “Wait,” he thinks, “I’ll play a trick with you damned ones, you’ll bring me both gold and silver.
And Shabarsha began to dig a hole, dug it out and pointed his hat with the top cut out at it.
- Shabarsha, oh Shabarsha! Grandfather tells me to make a deal with you. What will you take so as not to drag us out of the water?
- Yes, fill this cap full of gold and silver.
The little devil dived into the water; turned back.
“Grandfather says that I should fight with you first.”
- Oh, where can you, little sucker, fight me! You can't get along with my middle brother Mishka.
-Where is your Mishka?
- And look, he’s resting in a hole under a bush.
- How can I call him?
“And you come and hit him on the side, and he’ll get up on his own.”
The little devil went into the ravine, found a bear and hit him on the side with a club. Mishka stood up on his hind legs and twisted the little devil so that all his bones cracked. He forcibly escaped from the bear's paws and ran to the old water man.
“Well, grandfather,” he says in fright, “Shabarsha has a middle brother, Mishka, who started to fight with me - my bones began to crack!” What would have happened if Shabarsha himself had started to fight?
- Hm! Go, try running with Shabarsha in races: who will overtake whom?
And now the boy in the red cap is again near Shabarsha; conveyed to him his grandfather’s speeches, and he answered him:
- Where are you going to run around with me? My little brother Zainka will leave you far behind him!
- Where is your brother Zainka?
- Yes, there I lay down in the grass, I wanted to rest. Come closer to him and touch his ear - he’ll run with you!
The little devil ran to Zainka and touched him by the ear; The hare burst out laughing, and the little devil followed him:
- Wait, wait, Zainka, let me catch up with you... Eh, he’s gone!..
“Well, grandfather,” he says to the waterman, “I started to run briskly.” Where! And he didn’t let him catch up, otherwise it wasn’t Shabarsha himself, but his younger brother who was running!
- Hm! - the old man grumbled, frowning. - Go to Shabarsha and try: who whistles the loudest?
- Shabarsha, oh Shabarsha! Grandfather told me to try: which of us whistles louder?
- Well, whistle first.
The little devil whistled so loudly that Shabarsha could hardly stand on his feet, and leaves fell from the trees.
“You whistle well,” says Shabarsha, “but everything is not my way!” As soon as I whistle, you won’t be able to stand on your feet, and your ears won’t be able to bear it... lie down on your face on the ground and plug your ears with your fingers.
The little imp lay down face down on the ground and covered his ears with his fingers; Shabarsha took the club with all his might and hit him in the neck, and he himself - whew-whew-whew!.. - whistles.
- Oh, grandfather, grandfather! Shabarsha whistled so well - sparks started to fly out of my eyes; I barely got up from the ground, and it seemed like all the bones in my neck and lower back were broken!
- Wow! You're not strong, you little devil! Go and take my iron club there, in the reeds, and try: which of you can throw it higher into the air?
The little devil took the club, put it on his shoulder and went to Shabarsha.
“Well, Shabarsha, grandfather told me to try one last time: which of us will throw this club into the air higher?”
- Well, you throw it first, and I’ll take a look.
The little devil threw up his club - it flew high, high, like a black dot in the sky! They waited with great effort until she fell to the ground...
Shabarsha took the baton - it’s heavy! He placed it on the end of his leg, rested his palm on it, and began to gaze intently at the sky.
- Why don’t you quit? What are you waiting for? - asks the little devil.
“I’m waiting for that little cloud to come over there - I’ll throw a club at it, my brother the blacksmith is sitting there, he’ll need the iron for his work.”
- Eh, no, Shabarsha! Don't throw your clubs at the cloud, otherwise grandpa will get angry!
The imp grabbed the club and dived towards his grandfather.
When the grandfather heard from his granddaughter that Shabarsha had almost thrown his baton, he got seriously scared and ordered him to drag money out of the pool and pay him off.
The little devil carried and carried money, he carried a lot - but the hat was still not full!
- Well, grandfather, Shabarsha’s hat is amazing! I moved all the money into it, but it is still empty. Now your last chest remains.
- Bring him quickly too! Is he twisting a rope?
- Viet, grandfather!
- That's it!
There is nothing to do, the little devil opened his grandfather’s treasured chest, began to pour Shabarshov’s cap, poured, poured... forcibly added!
From that time on, from that time on, the farm laborer lived a great life; they invited me to drink honey and beer with him, but I didn’t go: the honey, they say, was bitter, and the beer was cloudy. Why such a parable?
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru