The poor old widow had three dwarf sons, and they were so small that no one had ever seen anything like them: the eldest was three inches tall, the middle one was two inches tall, and the youngest was an inch tall.
There was nothing to eat at home, and so they went to work to feed themselves and their old mother. One day they were luckier than usual: they came home and brought with them three goats and three loaves of bread as earnings. They considered their earnings to be real wealth and began to divide them: of course, everyone had a goat and bread. The more you have, the more you want to have; So our dwarfs also decided to try their luck to see if they would earn enough to no longer need it. The eldest goes to work, taking with him a goat and bread. He goes on his own high road, turns into all the villages and asks if they need a worker somewhere; Finally, passing through a field, he noticed a giant plowing the ground.
- Do you need a worker? - asked the dwarf. The giant looked at the dwarf, barely noticeable from the ground, and said mockingly:
“Perhaps a worker like you is just what I need; Hire yourself for a whole year: I won’t stand behind the price!
They bargained for a chest of gold.
“Well, since you have already hired yourself to work for me, then go to my house, roast your goat well and cut your bread into pieces; Let's have dinner together!
The dwarf went to fulfill the order of his new master. The giant's wife did not interfere in any way and left the worker in charge, knowing, of course, how it would all end.
In the evening the giant came home and wanted to sit down at the table; but there was neither a chair nor a bench in the house.
- Go to the yard and bring something to sit on. But make sure,” the owner added, “that this thing is neither made of stone, nor earth, nor wood!
No matter how much the worker searched, he could not find such a thing. When he returned, he noticed, to his chagrin, that everything he had prepared for both of them had been eaten by the owner. In his hearts he asks the owner:
- Where did my share go?
“Excuse me, please,” answered the giant, “I was so hungry; I'll eat you for a snack too! - With these words, he grabbed the dwarf and swallowed it.
The brothers waited a long time for the eldest to return. Then the middle one, wanting to also try his luck, decided to go to work; the youngest remained with his old mother. It so happened that the middle one took the same road along which the eldest walked.
It is not surprising that he came across the same giant: he suffered the same fate as his older brother.
Finally, Vershok decided to go to work. Since he also followed the same path, he, too, hired himself as a worker to the giant for the same fee for which his older brothers were hired. And the giant sent him to his house with the same order.
While the giant was plowing, he prepared a supper from his goat and bread; He divided all this in half and immediately dug a small hole, which he covered with the grass he had cut. In the evening the giant came.
“Go out into the yard and look for something to sit on.” But see,” he added, “that this thing is neither made of stone, nor earth, nor wood!
Vershok realized what was going on and brought in the iron plow that the giant used to plow.
- Sit down, idiot! - Vershok said at the same time.
The giant was surprised at his ingenuity and began to greedily eat his share. Vershok, of course, could not eat as much as the giant, and he threw what he didn’t eat into the pit unnoticed. The giant was more and more surprised, seeing Vershka’s gluttony; he was still finishing his share when Vershok, having finished his, began to puff smugly and stroke his belly.
“Please give me another piece of your share,” said Vershok, “I’m so hungry!”
“You’ve already eaten more than you should!” - the giant answered with annoyance.
- What you? - said Vershok. “I can still eat you too!” The giant, narrow-minded, finally believed and became afraid. The next day the owner went to plow with his worker. Clever Vershok kept deceiving his master, posing as a strong man; It was, in fact, the giant who was working, and Vershok only pretended that he was the one working and shouted at the owner; the giant starved for whole days, and Vershok tasted his portion, which he hid in the pit. The giant, of course, was burdened by all this, but it was already difficult for him to get rid of the smart dwarf, who had completely taken possession of him.
One evening they returned from the field; the owner hesitated in the yard, and meanwhile Vershok ducked into the little room and hid behind the fireplace. The dissatisfied owner came in and, thinking that Vershok was still tinkering in the barn, began to complain to his wife:
“You know, wife, our servant has extraordinary strength.” But it’s not a matter of strength: he’s smart beyond his height. “He will destroy us both,” added the giant, “if we don’t somehow put an end to him.” This is what came to my mind: when he sleeps, we will roll him over with a heavy stone!
The owner and his wife went to look for a suitable stone, and in the meantime Vershok prepared a bunch of reeds, wrapped it all in a blanket and laid it on his bed; he himself hid in his original place. The giant and the giantess dragged a heavy stone and threw the dwarf onto the bed; the reeds began to crack, and they imagined that it was the bones of a dwarf crunching.
“Well,” the giants said in one voice, “we are now done with the damned worker!”
Having gotten rid of the worker, as it seemed to them, they went to bed. Vershok also slept well in his corner. At dawn, he got up before everyone else, went up to the giants' bed and began to mock them.
“You thought, brainless giants,” said Vershok, “that you could deal with me so easily; I have more power than both of you. This pebble with which you thought to crush me tickled me nicely!
At this point the giants were finally convinced that they could not cope with the clever dwarf, and therefore decided to pay him off as soon as possible and let him go home. They gave him a whole chest of gold instead of the promised chest.
“Here is your payment,” said the giant, “for your service, even more than it should be; go home!
- What do you think, you stupid thing, to force me to carry such a chest; bring it yourself!
The giant was completely at a loss and, not knowing what to do with the smart Vershok, he shouldered the chest and set off. Vershok, not wanting to tire himself, jumped onto the chest and began to show the giant the way. Halfway along the path there was a large pear tree with ripe pears. Approaching him, the giant stopped, bent the tree and began to feast on pears; Vershok sat down on a branch and also ate pears. When the giant, having eaten his fill of pears, let go of the bent tree, Vershok, who was sitting on the branch, described an arc and flew to the other side. The dwarf would have fallen to the ground if there had not been a fox that caught him right between his legs. Sitting astride her and holding her tightly by the ears, the dwarf shouted:
- Look, giant, how slow-witted you are! You were eating pears, and when I saw a fox, I jumped over the tree and caught the prey!
- How is this so? - said the giant in bewilderment; he still didn’t guess what it was; After holding the fox for a while, Vershok let her go and jumped onto the chest again.
The respect and even some kind of superstitious fear that the giant began to have for Vershko had no limits from then on.
Before reaching the house, Vershok stopped the giant and said that he would go and ask his mother to prepare something to eat. After some time he returned and they went to Vershka's house. Mother Vershka fiddles around the fireplace and doesn’t say a word. The giant placed the chest near the old woman and, moving back, sat down at the door.
- Mother! - said Vershok. - Give our dear guest something to eat!
- What will I give him? - asked the mother.
- Like what? After all, when I went to work, I left you two giants I killed; have you already eaten them?
- Do you really eat giants? - the guest asked in amazement.
- Of course; We eat their meat every now and then. We’ll probably have to eat you too, like you ate my two brothers.” Having said this, Vershok began to close the door.
Not remembering himself from fear, the giant knocked down the door, and Vershok flew far to the side, and began to run without looking back. The top of this was all that was needed.
Thus Vershok became rich and lived a great life; but sometimes he laughed heartily, remembering what fools these giants were!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru