Once upon a time there lived a merchant. And he had a son. One day a son came to his father and said:
- Father, I don’t want to get married. And if I marry, it will only be to a girl who agrees that I spank her with my shoe five times every day.
The merchant began to think: where could he find a girl who would agree to such a condition? He sent his people everywhere, but no one wanted to give his daughter to his son. In the end, after a long search, they managed to find one girl, the daughter of a village merchant.
The wedding was celebrated cheerfully. Music was playing, people were singing and dancing everywhere, and so many lamps and lanterns were burning that no one could even tell whether it was day or night.
When the newlyweds arrived home, the stupid merchant's son took off his shoe and approached his young wife - he wanted to spank her. But she was resourceful and smart. Whoops, nothing has happened to him and says:
“Oh my husband, I will allow you to hit me with your shoe five times, but only when things that you yourself have earned appear in this house.” In the meantime, everything that is here belongs not to you, but to my father-in-law!
He had nothing to say in response. Indeed, all the property in the house belonged to the old merchant. The wife's words hit her husband not in the eyebrow, but in the eye. The merchant's son got angry and wanted to rashly spank his wife without her consent. But he didn’t dare and left with nothing. The next day he appeared to his father and said: “Father!” Give me some money. I want to go trade in foreign lands.
He decided that he would make a lot of money by trading, and then his wife would be completely in his power.
The old merchant did not object. He was pleased that his son decided to go into trading. He gave his son money and said goodbye to him.
And so the young merchant set off on his journey. He came to one village and stopped for the night. And not far from this place lived one thing. She learned about the merchant’s arrival, came to him and said:
- Honorable merchant! Why are you staying here and not with me? Come to my hut!
The merchant listened to her, collected all his belongings and moved into her house. At night, as soon as the merchant fell asleep, the veshya took her silver cup and hid it among the merchant’s things.
As soon as morning came, a terrible noise arose in the woman's house.
-Where is my silver cup? - she shouted. “Who took her?” O Ram! Where is my silver cup?!
Got ready. people. Veshya asked the young merchant if he had taken the cup.
- Why do I need your goods? I have a lot of my own! – he was surprised.
- Well, apparently I’ll have to look for the loss myself! Whoever I find it from, let him give all his property.
The merchant agreed to this condition - he could not even think that the missing cup was in his bag.
Veshya began to examine the things and soon took out her cup from the merchant's bag. And the merchant, as agreed, had to give all the goods to the cheat.
The merchant went further. He now had very little money left, and he never ceased to lament that he had so stupidly lost his goods. He walked and walked and found himself in the forest. It got dark. Suddenly he sees a lame man coming towards him. When they drew level, the lame man greeted him and said:
O most venerable one, I gave my leg as a pledge to your father. Take my money and give me my leg back.
The young merchant sees that they want to fool him again, but he doesn’t know what to do.
“I don’t have your leg...” he began.
But the rogue didn’t even let him finish the story. He repeats everything:
“You’ll have to give my leg back!” The merchant got scared and said:
“Here, take some money and the argument will be over.” So our merchant was left a fool for the second time. He moves on. He meets another rogue - one-eyed. He approached him and said:
- O generous sir! My eye is pledged to your father. Take the money and return my eye as soon as possible!
The young merchant had to give his last money to this rogue, no matter how sorry he was. So he was fooled for the third time, and now he was as naked as a falcon.
The merchant went further. About ten versts from there there was a village. He went into it and lay down under a tree. All night long, anxious thoughts kept him from falling asleep. When the day came, he decided that he needed to get someone to work for him. “I’ll save some money,” he thought, “and start trading.”
He began to wander around the village and came to a butter maker. He took him as his assistant. All day long the merchant sat near the press and squeezed oil from sesame seeds.
Many days passed like this. The merchant still worked at the oil maker. One day he remembered his father and wrote him a letter:
“I bow low to you, father!
I'm happy with my lot. I rose high, and great wealth accumulated in my hands.
Your son."
The old merchant received this letter and was very happy. He called his daughter-in-law and told her:
- Look, daughter-in-law, what a smart son I have. A lot of money now passes through his hands. I was already sure that he would get rich.
The daughter-in-law took the letter from her father-in-law and reread it herself. She realized that her husband had not become rich at all and everything that was written in the letter was simply fiction.
She sent people to find out what was going on in the surrounding villages, and then one day she came to her father-in-law and said:
– I want to go visit my husband. I'll see how he's doing.
The old merchant agreed, and soon everything was ready to leave. The daughter-in-law dressed up in a man's suit, hung a sword from her belt and set off on horseback with several servants. She did not stop anywhere on the road and after some time she arrived in the village where her husband worked as an oil maker. She came to the owner and said: “You have an assistant.” Give it to me, in return you can take whatever you want.
The greedy butter maker, when he heard about the money, immediately agreed to give up his worker, and for this he received as much gold as he wanted.
The young merchant did not recognize his wife in a man's outfit and went to serve her. She led him to her tents pitched near the village. Her servants were all new, and none of them recognized her husband. Therefore, without suspecting anything, he began to do everything that the new owner demanded of him.
Several days passed like this.
One day the wife of the merchants prepared very tasty cookies and salty dishes and said to the servants:
– Eat as much as you want, but don’t you dare drink. Whoever disobeys, I will punish him.
The merchant's son had not had such delicious food for a long time. He didn’t hesitate and ate to his fill. And he wanted to drink. But he remembered his master’s threat and decided to wait for the right opportunity.
Night has fallen. The merchant's wife lay down and placed a jug of water next to her bed. The merchant's son was dressed up to keep watch, but he was only thinking about how to get a drink. “When the owner falls asleep better,” he thought, “I will go to the jug and drink.”
The merchant's wife lay with her eyes closed and snored loudly for wine. As soon as the merchant's son saw that his master was fast asleep, he grabbed the jug and began to drink greedily. But his wife was just waiting for this: she jumped out of bed, looked at him angrily and said that he would be punished immediately for violating the order. Immediately she called the other servants and ordered: Go quickly to the village and bring two lit pipes!
The servants brought smoking pipes and, by order of the mistress, they applied them to the merchant’s back - they gave him two brands. The merchant's son squirmed in pain, but was afraid to scream. After that, she allowed him to drink water, gave him a lot of money and told him to go to sleep peacefully. So the merchant didn’t guess anything.
Many days have passed. One day, the merchant's wife ordered the camp to be dismantled, and everyone set off on their way back. On the way, she shot a deer and ordered the servants to take with them one deer leg and an eye.
They drove a little further and met that one-eyed rogue who demanded his eye. He started singing his old song. Then the woman says to him:
“Many people gave us their eyes as pawns.” Well, take out and weigh your eye, and then we will select one that is equal in weight to it.
Here the rogue became confused. “Well,” he thinks, “I lost one eye a long time ago, and now I have to risk the second one? This won’t happen!”
And says out loud:
“Oh, most respected one, I don’t need any eyes!” He said so and went away.
They drove on. A second rogue, a lame one, hobbles towards them. The woman gave him the same answer: they say, tear off and weigh your leg first, then you will get exactly the same one.
“Eh, yes, this is obviously an experienced rogue,” thought the lame man, “you need to stay away from him, otherwise you’ll lose your other leg.”
The riders moved on. Night overtook them on the way, and they stopped in a house near the very thing where the merchant’s son had once spent the night. This time too, Veshya acted as usual with the travelers: she took her silver cup and hid it among the things of the merchant’s disguised wife, and she went to bed. But she didn’t close her eyes. As soon as the rogue thing fell asleep, she took out the cup and put it in its original place.
In the morning the thing made a noise. They began to look for the cup and found it not with the travelers, but in the belongings of the hostess herself. Therefore, as was previously agreed, the merchant’s wife received all the good things and left this village.
When they arrived at their native village, they pitched tents again. The merchant's wife gathered the servants and said:
- Take good care of everything, but I need to go to the village for a while on business.
She came home, changed into her usual dress, and went to her father-in-law.
He saw her and asked impatiently:
- Where is my son, daughter-in-law?
“He’ll be home soon,” was the answer.
Meanwhile, the young merchant, seeing that the owner was not returning for a long time, decided to take advantage of this and see his parents. He says to the other servants:
- Brothers, I’m running away to this village - my mother and father live there. I want to see them. If I don’t return by nightfall, then figure out for yourself what to tell the owner about me.
The young merchant came home. The father rushed to his son and hugs him. He is only sorry that his son returned as a servant. Well, what happened is past. The young merchant washed himself, put on a new dress and went to his wife. Yes, it’s clear he hasn’t learned much. He came to her and said:
– I visited distant countries and brought back great wealth. Now I can treat you to a shoe.
But she, hearing his boast, just laughed. The husband was surprised by this and became even more self-important. And his wife says to him:
- First of all, tell me who put the marks on your back? Who bought you and brought you home? After all, all the money you took from home is gone. What kind of riches have you obtained that you are so arrogant?
It was only then that the merchant realized how stupid he had acted. He remembered everything that happened to him during this time. He felt very ashamed. He fell to his knees and asked his wife for forgiveness.
And the wife picked him up and said:
- Get up, no good comes from stubbornness. The one who succeeds in life is the one who acts wisely and does not waste his energy. And you should never boast about what was earned not by you, but by others.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru