Once upon a time, a rich man went to a fair.
On the way he met a beautifully dressed gentleman. It was the devil himself.
“You’re kind of sad,” the devil said to the rich man.
-What should I be sad about? - answered the rich man. - After all, I have everything I need.
- That's true, but if you had children, you would be many times happier.
“And it’s true,” said the rich man.
“So,” the devil continued, “in exactly nine months, day after day, you will have two children, if only you promise to give one of them to me.”
“I promise,” said the rich man. Nine months later, to the same day, the rich man's wife gave birth to two boys, Jean and Jacques. Soon the devil came and took away one of them - Jacques. He took him home and raised him as his own son. The boy became big and strong, at the age of thirteen he had a beard like a sapper.
The devil was holding a spinning mill. One day he said to Jacques:
“I need to go, in my absence you will look after the spinners.” Make sure they work properly.
- Okay, father.
While looking after the spinners, Jacques decided to shave at the same time. While doing this, he saw in the mirror that one of the spinners was making horns for him behind his back. He gave her a slap on the head, and immediately all the spinners - and there were twenty-five of them - gave up the ghost at once.
Soon the devil returned home.
-Where are the spinners? he asked. — Did they work properly?
“They’ve all settled down—come and look.”
THE DEVIL tried to push them aside; Having made sure that they were dead, he began to reproach his son.
“Don’t try to do this another time,” he told him.
- Okay, father, I won’t do it again.
The devil brought twenty-five women to replace those who died, and then said to his son:
- I need to go away; see that the spinners do not waste time.
- Okay, father.
While the devil was not at home, one of the spinners again annoyed the guy with something. He slapped her, and all twenty-five women fell dead at once.
When Jacques went out for a walk in the garden after this, he saw a beautiful lady in white. She called him over and said:
- My friend, you are in a bad house.
“What,” the guy exclaimed, “is my father’s house really unkind?”
“You don’t live with your father,” the lady continued, “but with the devil.” Your real father is a rich man, he lives far from here. One day, when he was going to the fair, he came across the devil, who said that he was sad about something. Your father replied that he had nothing to be sad about, but the devil did not let up and said: “If you had children, you would be many times happier. So, in nine months, day after day, you will have two children, if only you promise to give one of them to me.” Your father agreed, and the devil took you to his place. Now, my friend, try to get out of here as quickly as possible. But first, look under the devil's pillow. There you will find old black pants, take them with you. The more money you take out of the pocket of those pants, the more money there will be left in there.
Jacques told the lady that he would follow her advice and returned to the house.
And the devil, upon his return, saw that all the women were dead again. He became very angry.
If you do this again,” he said, “I will kick you out of the house.”
And that’s all Jacques needed. Therefore, as soon as the devil again instructed him to look after the spinners, he killed them all in one fell swoop. This time the devil drove him away.
Jacques took the black pants and went straight to his parents. At first they did not recognize him there, but he still looked like his brother, and they soon began to treat him like his own son. However, the father did not have to rejoice for long that such a strong man showed up in his house.
Jacques's parents, although they were rich, still went behind the plow themselves; so his brother one day took him with him to the field. While they were plowing, one of the horses became stubborn.
“Whip her with the whip,” Jean shouted.
Jacques grabbed the horse with a whip so hard that he cut it into two. Jean ran home to tell his father what happened.
- Nothing can be done! - said the father. “Leave him alone, or he’ll kill us all.”
Soon the strongman returned home. He carried the plow on his shoulders, and in each pocket he had half a horse: he plowed the entire field with a whip.
“Father,” he said, “I lashed the horse with a whip, and it fell apart in half.”
- It’s okay, son, we’ll buy another one.
A short time later, a holiday was celebrated in a neighboring village. My brother suggested going there. Jacques agreed. Jean walked in front with his bride, and Jacques behind. They reached the square where the peasants were dancing. Jacques, without saying a word, looked at the dancers until one of them decided to trip his leg for fun.
“Be careful,” Jean said to the joker, “with one click he can knock you out on the spot.”
“I’m not afraid of you or your brother,” he answered and repeated his joke.
Then the strong man ordered his brother and his bride to step aside, closer to the musicians, and he himself hit the mischievous man so hard that all the dancers fell dead at once. Jean ran away headlong, forgetting about the bride, and Jacques took the girl to her parents. Having reached their house, he asked her:
- Do you live here?
“Yes,” answered the girl.
- That's good! Go home. He left her and went home.
At home, Jean already told everything that happened.
“The gendarmes will come,” he said, “our family will be glorified throughout the district.”
And the strong man, having arrived home, locked all the doors with hooks and bolts and said to his parents:
- If the gendarmes come for me, say that I am not at home.
And in fact, at about one o'clock in the morning twenty-five gendarmes arrived; The threshing floor was opened for them and they were all allowed in. As soon as the strong man saw them, he took a pitchfork and grabbed the one who was walking in front of everyone with it - twenty-four gendarmes immediately fell dead, and the twenty-fifth ran away as fast as he could to notify his superiors. However, things stopped there. The next day, recruiters walked through the village with the beating of drums: they announced that all those who signed up as soldiers would receive a generous pay. Jacques told his parents:
- I want to go serve.
“Son,” said the father, “we are rich enough to feed you, you don’t need it.”
“Father,” said the son, “I see for myself that I will continue to cause you nothing but trouble; I'd rather LEAVE the house. “And so he left and entered military service.” One day the colonel gave Jacques and two other soldiers a note asking for beef—they were to bring fifteen pounds each. All three went to the butcher, and he gave them beef.
“How,” said Jacques, “is that all?” Yes, I would eat this portion alone. Kill us three bulls alive!
- This, my friend, requires money.
Then Jacques put his hand in the pocket of his black pants, and since he did not know how to count, he began throwing handfuls of money onto the counter. The butcher collected the money and slaughtered three bulls.
“Now,” the strong man said to his comrades, “we will each carry an ox.”
At these words, the soldiers looked at each other.
“If this is difficult for you,” said the strong man, “I can do without you.” “He asked the butcher for a rope, tied it around all three bulls and put them on his shoulders. On the street, all passers-by stopped and looked at him in amazement. The colonel also couldn’t believe his eyes. The next day, Jacques was sent for wine; he brought three barrels at once: he tied them with a rope and put them on his back.
The colonel did not like all this - he would be glad to get rid of such a strong soldier. To discourage him from military service, he sent him into the field to guard a cannon so heavy that thirty horses could not move it, and ordered him to stand guard all night long. The guy soon got bored with this activity, he lay down on the ground and fell asleep. An hour later he woke up, put the cannon on his back and carried it into the courtyard of the house where the colonel lived. The yard was paved. When he placed the cannon on the ground, it went through the pavement. The young man shouted:
- Colonel, here is your gun! Now you no longer have to fear that it will be stolen,
Jacques was enlisted as a soldier for eight years; but he was a simpleton and thought that he only had to serve for eight days. When eight days had passed, he went to the colonel and asked if his term of service had already ended.
“Yes, venerable,” said the colonel, “you have already served your time.”
Having received such an answer, Jacques said goodbye to the regiment and went to hire himself to a peasant. Only the mistress was at home; the young man asked her if they needed a worker. She replied:
— My husband just left to look for a worker, wait until he comes.
A little later the peasant returned; he couldn’t find anyone, and the guy said that he was ready to remain in their service: he didn’t need a salary, but when he had served for a year, the owners would give him as much grain as he could carry on his back. The peasant consulted with his wife.
“There’s no doubt about it,” they said to each other, “he’s a tall, sturdy guy, but he can’t possibly carry more than fifteen boisseaus.”
They shook hands. The peasant showed him his fields and ordered him to plow them. The plow was harnessed to two skinny horses. Fearing that even a light blow of the whip would cut them in half, the strong man spread his jacket on the ground, put both horses on it, and himself harnessed himself to the plow. The peasant’s wife looked out the window and told her husband.
- Look, the new worker is plowing on his own. We will not be able to pay for it: all our grain will go to pay it off. How to get rid of him!
Jacques finished plowing, put a horse in each pocket and returned home. The host and hostess pretended to be very glad to see him.
- Why didn’t you come to dinner? - they asked him.
“I wanted to finish my work first,” answered the guy. - All your fields are plowed.
“Okay,” said the peasant, “you can rest for the rest of the day.”
The strong man sat down to dinner; he would willingly have eaten alone everything that was served on the table, but he had to be content with his Share.
The next day, the owner, deciding to destroy him, ordered him to take the grain to one mill, from where no one had ever returned. Jacques set off, whistling cheerfully. Arriving at the mill, he saw twelve Devils, who took off running as soon as he approached.
“Okay,” he said, “I guess I’ll have to grind the grain myself.”
He began to call the devils, but the louder he called them, the faster they ran. He began to grind the grain himself, and when he had completed this task, he ordered the master’s horse, which he had brought with him, to go back home. Seeing the horse alone, without a worker, the owner was delighted: she thought that the guy would not appear again. But he soon returned, dragging the mill and the mill stream behind him. Having dragged them to the master's house, he said:
“Now it will be more convenient for me, I won’t have to walk so far to grind.”
“Lord God,” said the owner and hostess, “what a strong man you are!”
They pretended to be very pleased, but in reality they were very annoyed.
One day the owner told Jacques.
- I need stones - go to the quarry over there for them.
The strongman took a pick and everything needed for cutting the stone and went down into the quarry, and it was a good hundred feet deep; no one dared to go down there, because heavy stones were constantly falling off the walls. He began to break off huge blocks and threw them over his shoulder with all his might, so far that they fell on houses and pierced the roofs. Soon the owner came running and started shouting:
- Enough! Enough! Watch out! After all, the boulders you throw destroy houses.
“Well, here’s another thing,” said the simpleton, “these pebbles!” Not knowing what to do, the peasant sent Jacques with a letter to his brother, who served as a jailer, and told him to wait for an answer. Having read the letter, the jailer put Jacques in chains and locked him in prison, but he did not resist, thinking that this was the custom in this region and that people were waiting for an answer here.
But finally he got tired of waiting, he broke the chains, stretched well and kicked the door so hard that the door flew up onto the roof. After this he went to the jailer and asked:
- Well, how? Where is the answer?
“That’s right,” said the jailer, “I completely forgot.” Подожди минутку.
The jailer wrote to his brother to get rid of the strong man as best he could, but he himself would not undertake this. Jacques put the letter in his pocket and set off, but, realizing it, he took the prison with him along with the jailer and placed it near the master's house.
“Now,” the guy said to the owner, “you will be able to see your brother often.” “And he added: “Haven’t I already served for a year?”
“So it is,” answered the owner, “the year has just ended.”
“Then give me grain, as much as I told myself.” At these words, the husband and wife began to cry and lament.
“We will never be able to get as much grain as you need,” they said, “if we collect all the supplies that are in the village.”
The strong man at first pretended to demand payment, but finally said that he did not want to offend them, and, rummaging in the pocket of his black pants, he even gave them money.
Leaving the peasant, he walked wherever he could and reached the seashore; there he boarded the first ship he came across. But one of the sailors, having learned that he had pants in the pockets of which money could not be transferred, stabbed him while he was sleeping and stole the pants. I saw a sailor today, he was walking around in these same pants.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru