There lived two brothers. One was poor, and the other was rich. The poor brother ran out of wood. There is nothing to light the stove with. It's cold in the hut. He went into the forest, chopped wood, but there was no horse. How can I bring firewood?—?I’ll go to my brother and ask for a horse.
His rich brother received him unkindly. “Take the horse, but be careful not to put a lot of burden on him, and don’t rely on me in advance: give me today and give me tomorrow, and then go about the world yourself.”
The poor man brought his horse home and remembered: -? Oh, I don’t have a collar! I didn’t ask right away, but now there’s no point in going – my brother won’t let me. Somehow I tied the wood more tightly to the tail of my brother’s horse and rode off.
On the way back, the logs got caught on a stump, but the poor man didn’t notice and whipped up his horse. The horse was hot, rushed and tore off its tail. When the rich brother saw that the horse had no tail, he cursed and shouted: “He ruined the horse!” I won’t leave this case like this! And I filed a lawsuit against the poor man.
How much or how much time has passed, the brothers are summoned to the city for trial. They are coming, they are coming. The poor man thinks: “I haven’t been to court myself, but I’ve heard the proverb: the weak don’t fight the strong, and the poor don’t sue the rich.” They will sue me."
They were walking just across the bridge. There was no railing. A poor man slipped and fell off the bridge. And at that time, a merchant was riding below on the ice, taking his old father to the doctor. The poor man fell and fell right into the sleigh and bruised the old man to death, but he himself remained alive and unharmed.
The merchant grabbed the poor man: “Let’s go to the judge!” And three of them went into the city: the poor man and the rich brother and the merchant.
The very poor man became sad: “Now they’ll probably sue you.” Then he saw a heavy stone on the road. He grabbed a stone, wrapped it in a rag and put it in his bosom: “Seven troubles - one answer: if the judge does not judge by me and judges me, I will kill the judge too.”
We came to the judge. New things have been added to the old ones. The judge began to judge and interrogate. And the poor brother looked at the judge, took a stone in a rag from his bosom and whispered to the judge: “Judge, judge, look here.”
So once, and twice, and three times. The judge saw it and thought: “Isn’t the guy showing gold?” He looked again - it was a big promise. “If there’s silver, there’s a lot of money.”
And he sentenced the poor brother to keep the tailless horse until the horse grows a tail. And he said to the merchant: “Because this man killed your father, let him stand on the ice under the same bridge, and you jump on him from the bridge and crush him to death, just as he crushed your father.” That was the end of the trial.
The rich brother says: “Okay, so be it, I’ll take your tailless horse.” “What are you talking about, brother,” the poor man replies. “Let it be as the judge ordered: I will hold your horse until the tail grows.”
The rich brother began to persuade: -? I’ll give you thirty rubles, just give me the horse. -? Well, okay, give me the money. The rich brother counted out thirty rubles, and with that they got along.
Then the merchant began to ask: “Listen, little man, I forgive you your guilt, you won’t turn back your parent anyway.” “No, let’s go, if the court has sentenced, jump at me from the bridge.” “I don’t want your death, make peace with me, and I’ll give you a hundred rubles,” the merchant asks.
The poor man received one hundred rubles from the merchant. And just as he was about to leave, the judge called him over: “Well, give me what you promised.” The poor man took a bundle out of his bosom, unfolded the rag and showed the stone to the judge. “That’s what he showed you and said: “Judge, judge, look here.” If you had sued me, I would have killed you.
“It’s good,” the judge thinks, “that I judged by this man, otherwise I wouldn’t be alive.” And the poor man came home cheerful, singing songs.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru