Shardyn decided to start catching quails, but since this required a hawk, he decided to catch it using a snare with bait. However, he was unlucky - instead of a hawk, a crow was caught in the snare.
What was to be done? He tamed a crow and went hunting, placing it on his head.
He wandered around the valley for a long time. Suddenly a quail flew out from under his feet. Shardyn sent a crow at her. But the crow never caught quails. Out of habit, she sat down on the back of a buffalo grazing nearby and began looking for ticks.
- What happiness! What beautiful game my crow caught! – Shardyn exclaimed joyfully and drove the buffalo home.
But it turned out that she belonged to a rich man who sent his men to search for her. The next day they found something missing in Shardyn’s barn.
Shardyn drove away the visitors, declaring that the buffalo had been caught by his crow.
The owner of the buffalo complained to the authorities. Both were summoned to court. There Shardyn took the village elder aside and told him:
“If you arrange it so that the buffalo stays with me, then every day I will bring you a jug of curdled milk.”
The foreman loved to take bribes and promised to help him.
The plaintiff was questioned first. He stated that his buffalo was found in the barn of Shardyn, who wants to appropriate it.
What do you say to this? Do you agree with him or not? – the judge asked the defendant.
“Before answering the plaintiff,” said Shardyn, “can you explain what I don’t understand?”
“Of course,” answered the judge.
– This is what I don’t understand and what I wanted to ask you about: when people catch quails with hawks, do these quails belong to them or not?
“Of course they do,” the judge confirmed.
“If so, then what my crow caught belongs to me,” Shardyn concluded and bowed deeply to the judge.
Shardyn won the case, in which, of course, the foreman helped him.
From that day on, Shardyn carried the foreman a jug of curdled milk every day. For three months in a row, Shardyn kept his promise, then he got tired of it. Having filled the jug with buffalo dung, he whitened it on top with curdled milk and took it to the foreman.
He started to eat and suddenly felt a strange taste. He sank the spoon deeper and was horrified: instead of sour milk, there was buffalo dung in the jug.
The foreman became terribly angry. He decided to take revenge on Shardyn and complained to the authorities about him.
They called Shardyn and asked why he did this to the foreman.
“It’s been the third month that he’s been eating this curdled milk,” Shardyn answered gloomily, hinting at a bribe, “and so far he’s liked it.” I don't understand why he doesn't like her now.
Having guessed where Shardyn was heading, the foreman and the judge fell silent, and Shardyn, shrugging his shoulders, went home.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru