The master spoke to the soldier; the soldier began to praise his overcoat:
- When I need to sleep, I will put an overcoat on my bed, and put an overcoat in my head, and cover myself with an overcoat.
The master began to ask the soldier to sell him his overcoat. So they bargained for twenty-five rubles. The master came home and said to his wife:
- What kind of thing did I buy! Now I don’t need a feather bed, pillows, or blanket: I’ll put an overcoat on my bed, and I’ll put an overcoat in my head, and I’ll dress in an overcoat.
His wife began to scold him:
- Well, how are you going to sleep?
And sure enough, the master laid out his overcoat, but there was nothing to put his head on and put on, and he had a hard time lying down.
The master went to the regimental commander to complain about the soldier. The commander ordered to call the soldier.
They brought a soldier.
“Why, brother,” says the commander, “deceived the master?”
“No, your honor,” the soldier answers. The soldier took his overcoat, spread it out, put his head on the sleeve and covered himself with the blanket.
“It’s so nice,” he says, “to sleep in an overcoat after a hike!”
The regimental commander praised the soldier and gave him another glass. And he said to the master:
“He who works and gets tired will sleep on a stone, and he who does nothing will not sleep on a feather bed!”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru