Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife. We lived very amicably and didn’t say a harsh word to each other. The husband worked in the field from sunrise to sunset, while his wife spun, weaved and cleaned the house. The villagers admired the woman’s modesty and intelligence. Everyone praised her and praised her. Days passed in succession, months and years passed, and rumors about the woman spread everywhere. Once the wife of the village elder heard about this woman and almost burst with anger: “And why is she better than me, that everyone cannot praise her enough. I will die, but I will find and look at her.” The headman's wife waited a long time for an opportunity to leave the house. Once the headman went to the city for several days on business. As soon as the husband was outside the gate, the wife changed into rags and went in search of the woman. In one house, in another, finally, asking people, I found it. The headman's wife pretended to be a beggar, knocked on the gate and asked for alms.
The good woman gave it to the beggar and continued to work, and the headman’s wife looked into the yard and saw that the woman was sitting in the very sun, spinning wool, and next to her was a stale piece of bread and water in a ladle heated under the sun.
“Sister, why are you sitting in the sun and not in the shade of the trees?” - asked the headman’s wife.
“My husband is mowing wheat in the field at this very time under the burning sun,” the woman answered. “He has nowhere to hide in the shade.” And he has nothing to eat except stale bread and nothing to drink except warm water. Am I better than him? Just like him, so do I. Otherwise, I won’t understand what kind of man he is, what kind of work he does. And my husband, seeing my fidelity, pays me with love.
“Advise, sister, what I can do to make my husband love me more,” the headman’s wife asked the woman. She wanted to test her judgment.
“If you bring me a few lion hairs, I can teach you,” the woman answered.
From that day on, the headman’s wife began to look for the lion and finally found it in the padishah’s menagerie. He sees terrible lions in steel cages; just looking at them makes your veins shake. The headman’s wife thought and wondered for a long time and decided to feed the lion herself every day. She began to come to the animal two or three times a day, overcoming her fear, putting food through the bars, changing the water in the drinking bowl, speaking tenderly, and stroking its tail and back. After some time, she grew bolder and stroked the lion’s head. Leo began to recognize her. One day, while stroking the lion's head, she pulled out three hairs from his mustache. The headman's wife came to that woman and showed her the lion's hairs.
- How did you manage to tear off the mustache of such a predatory beast as a lion? - the woman asked.
The headman's wife told the woman how she treated the beast in order to pull out these hairs.
“Sister, go to your husband and treat him the way you treated the lion.” Then he won’t torment you, he will love you,” the woman said.
From then on, the elder’s wife began to treat her husband as the woman advised. The husband was very pleased with his wife. The headman's wife became convinced that the woman was actually very smart.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru