In the old days there lived a poor shoemaker. He had many children. The shoemaker worked from dawn to dusk, without straightening his back, but his earnings were only enough to feed his children once. When there was no work in the village, the shoemaker took his box with an awl and nails on his shoulders and went to the neighboring villages.
One day a shoemaker was walking to a distant village. The road was unfamiliar, and the shoemaker got lost.
He walked for a long time and was tired. Finally, on the way he came across a house. The shoemaker knocked on the window, but no one answered him. Then he entered. The house turned out to be empty.
“Well, I’ll spend the night, and tomorrow I’ll hit the road again with fresh strength,” the shoemaker said to himself and settled down for the night.
In the middle of the night a loud noise and roar was heard. The shoemaker raised his head and saw a huge monster squeezing into the door. A single eye sparkles on his forehead. It was a giant yow.
- Who's in my house? - Dyau roared in a terrible voice.
- I am a shoemaker.
-What can you do?
“I sew boots,” answered the shoemaker.
- Oh, that's good. My boots were just worn out. Sleep, and in the morning you will work.
Having said this, the giant lay down at the very threshold and immediately began to snore.
The shoemaker lies there, pretending to be asleep, and he himself thinks:
“My life is over. If I die, then my children will die of hunger.”
Little by little, the fear passed, and the shoemaker began to think about how to save himself from the giant. He thought for a long time and finally decided to kill him. He took his sharp shoe knife in his hands, quietly approached the sleeping giant and, with all his might, thrust it into the monster’s eye.
The giant roared wildly in terrible pain and, blinded, began to rush around the room, spreading his arms to catch his enemy.
The shoemaker slipped unnoticed into the street and was gone.
When morning came, the shoemaker became sad.
- What will I do without a box, without it I’m like without hands - I won’t be able to work.
He grieved and grieved, and returned to the giant’s house to get his box. There was silence in the house. The shoemaker came in and saw:! The giant is stretched out in the middle of the room and not breathing. He became bolder, began to examine the Dyau household in the light and found a chest full of gold. The shoemaker, out of joy, forgot about his box, somehow lifted the chest of gold onto his shoulders and went home.
Since then, the shoemaker's family has never known poverty.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru