One day the padishah was going hunting with his wazir. A crow flew overhead, cawing.
-What did she croak? - the padishah asked the wazir.
- Don't know! After all, it was a crow!
- What kind of wazir are you if you don’t know? You should know everything. If you don't tell me by tomorrow what the crow cawed, I'll have you executed!
The gloomy wazir returned home from hunting.
“Father, what are you upset about?” asked his daughter.
“Oh, daughter, tomorrow the padishah will execute me.” And the wazir told his daughter what happened during the hunt.
“Don’t be upset, father, I’ll try to find out what the crow cawed.” The wazir's daughter was friends with a poor girl who lived in the same city and was famous for her intelligence. They even said that she understood the language of birds. The Wazir's daughter hoped for her help and ran to her at night.
“Don’t cry, I’ll tell you what the crow croaked,” said the smart girl to the wazir’s daughter. “The crow croaked: “A smart wife will make a stupid husband smart.” You will convey my words to your father - the padishah will leave him alive, but you do not tell anyone what I told you.
The Wazir's daughter came home and told her father that a crow had cawed. In the morning, when the wazir entered the padishah, he immediately asked him:
- Well, what did the crow caw yesterday?
- The crow croaked: “A smart wife will make a stupid husband smart.” The padishah could not object to the wazir. But he thought to himself: “The Wazir does not know the language of birds. How did he know that a crow had cawed? Apparently someone taught him. We need to find that person."
And then the padishah was informed that in his city there lived a smart girl who knew the language of birds.
Forty lazy people lived at the padishah's court. They amused the padishah with their laziness. For whole days they did nothing but eat and sleep. Finally, they got to the point where they were too lazy to move - move an arm or a leg.
The padishah wanted to know which of the forty lazy people was the laziest. To do this, he ordered the lazy people to be taken to a wooden house, locked there and set fire to the house from all sides.
The house was engulfed in flames. The wooden ceiling quickly caught fire, and burning poles began to fall on the lazy people.
- Eh, yes, you can die prematurely! - cried one lazy person and jumped up from his seat. Behind him, other lazy people began to break out windows and doors and jump out.
Only two lazy people did not move. One had already begun to burn, but he only stood up a little and said: “Oh, God!” The other didn't even move.
The padishah was told about this. The padishah ordered to put out the fire and bring the laziest lazy person to him. Then he ordered to call a smart girl and said:
“My wazir doesn’t know the language of birds.” Although you did not listen to what the crow was cawing, you taught him how to answer me. Now you must prove whether the crow told the truth. I am marrying you, clever girl, to the stupidest man in my country; Let's see if the crow said it right.
The padishah ordered the lazy man to be taken to the steppe. The girl was also taken there to him.
The lazy man lay motionless, did not even turn his head towards the girl and did not answer any of her questions.
“Okay, I’ll prove that the crow told the truth,” the girl thought.
She did not talk to the lazy man, left him lying alone in the steppe, and she herself went to the nearest village.
There she found a lonely, poor old woman, asked to live with her, and began helping her with the housework instead of her daughter, doing laundry, cooking, and sweeping the yard.
A day later, the girl took two cakes and went to the steppe to the lazy man.
The lazy man was very hungry, but when his wife appeared, he did not even get up. The girl placed one cake three steps away from him and said:
- Oh lazy fellow, maybe you will get up? I brought you a flatbread. The lazy man opened his eyes. The girl showed him the cake.
- Take it and eat it. “You’re hungry,” she said, and she sat down at a distance.
The lazy man looked at the bread once, twice. Hunger stirred up the lazy man. He slowly extended his hand, but did not reach the cake. Then he turned on his side and crawled
a little, took the cake and ate it greedily. The girl gave him the second cake and went home.
The next day she cleaned up the housework and again went to the lazy man with two cakes. This time she placed the bread ten steps away from him.
- Take it quickly, because you’re hungry! - she said to the lazy man.
The lazy man heard the girl’s words, turned his head and saw that the cake was lying far away from him, and the girl was sitting even further away. He turned away, but still had to crawl to the bread. The girl put the second cake away and went home.
On the third day she found the lazy man in the same position, barely alive. She placed the cake on the lower branches of the tree, far from the lazy man, woke him up and said:
- Get up, look at the bread, take it and eat it.
The lazy man looked and saw that the bread was far away from him, on a tree. He crawled to the tree, stretched out his hand, but did not reach the cake. Crawled some more. Again he extended his hand, but again did not take out the cake. The lazy man had to get up, go to the tree and take the bread. The girl placed the second cake near another tree and went home.
The next day she again brought two cakes. She placed one on a higher tree branch and said:
- Go get some bread.
The lazy man slowly got up, barely moving his legs and walked towards the tree. I reached out and couldn’t reach the bread. He had to climb a tree. Having reached the bread, he ate it greedily.
The girl put another cake on a stone by the road and shouted to the lazy man:
“There’s bread lying on the stone, go and get it!” The lazy man trudged towards the bread.
But the girl took the cake and moved it even further. The lazy man continued to drag himself for bread. Then the girl took the cake, hid it in her bosom and said:
- Do you want to eat?
“Uh-huh,” mumbled the lazy man.
- If you want to eat, follow me! - said the girl and went to the village. The lazy man trudged after her.
So she brought the lazy man to the old woman’s yard.
“This is not a padishah’s palace, so they can feed you for nothing!” Bread must be earned! If you want to eat bread, work. If you don't work, leave! - said the girl.
The lazy man stood thoughtfully and looked at the girl. She handed him a large jug.
- Go get some water from the house.
The lazy man took the jug, went to the house, scooped up water and brought it. She submitted. gave him an axe, pointed to the log:
“Chop some wood, I’ll boil some tea for you and cook lunch.”
Without saying a word, the lazy man took an ax and split the log into small chips.
From that day on, the husband and wife began to work in the old woman's house. Gradually the lazy man became a good worker, they lived together and knew no need.
One day they were recruiting people to serve the padishah. Together with others, the one who was previously lazy also ended up in the court of the padishah.
The padishah's chief vazir suddenly fell ill and died.
The courtiers released a falcon of happiness to indicate who deserves to become the chief wazir.
The falcon flew, flew and sat on the shoulder of the lazy man. So the lazy man became the chief wazir of the padishah.
In this position, he was able to show a lot of intelligence and resourcefulness, and the padishah was very pleased with him.
- Finally, I have a smart person at my court! — the padishah once said to his new wazir. “But where did you get such a mind?”
“A smart wife will make a stupid husband smart,” answered the Wazir.
And the padishah recognized the former lazy man in the chief vazir. So the smart girl proved the truth of her words.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru