There lived three brothers. They all lived together and were very poor. One day the older brother says:
- Let me go find a job as a shepherd or farm laborer somewhere* I’ll earn some money and buy some cattle!
He got ready and hit the road. He walked and walked, and after a long walk he met a man on the road. And this was a stingy rich man named Spinodral. He was just looking for a cheap shepherd.
- Why and where are you going? - asks Spinodral.
“I’m going to hire myself as a laborer,” the poor man answers. “I want to earn money and buy some cattle.”
“Come to me,” Spinodral tells him. “You will serve as a shepherd with me until next spring, until the cuckoo crows, and you will earn enough to buy cattle.”
The elder brother agreed. But after they had agreed on the payment, Spinodral said:
“From this day on, you will serve me, but know that I adhere to the custom: whoever of us is the first to be offended will have a piece of skin torn off his back.” If I'm the first to be offended, you'll rip the skin off my back!
The older brother didn’t like it, but there was nothing to do. He had to agree. He went for Spinodral. In the evening they had dinner and went to bed. And the next day, early in the morning, Spinodralus approached his shepherd and said:
- Get up, get up quickly! Go plow my field!
- What are you doing, master?! - the shepherd answers. “You hired me as a shepherd, why are you sending the land to plow?” I don't want this!
And the shepherd wanted to leave, but Spinodral said to him:
“You see, you’re already offended!”
He knocked down the shepherd and cut a piece of skin from his back. The elder brother did not suffer long and died from this wound. Soon after this, the second brother went to work. He also met Spinodralus. They agreed about the service, and Spi-
again he set his condition: whoever gets offended first will drown a piece of skin from his back.
What should a poor man do? He agreed. Spinodral brought him to his house.
In the evening they had dinner and went to bed. The next day, early in the morning, Spinodral said to the shepherd:
- Get up! Go plow my field!
- Here's another! I didn’t hire you to plow! - the shepherd answered and wanted to leave.
But Spinodral said:
- Yeah, you were offended too!
He knocked down the shepherd and tore the skin off his back.
The middle brother also died in agony.
The youngest waited a long time for his brothers, but he never came.
He also went to look for work.
He walked and walked and met Spinodral on the road.
-Where are you going, good fellow? - asks Spinodral.
- Yes, I’m looking for work.
- Hire me as a shepherd! - Well, I don’t mind - I’ll graze your cattle. They agreed on pay, that they had to work until the day the cuckoo crowed. Here Spinodral says:
“Now listen to what the condition will be: whoever of us gets angry first will have a piece of skin torn off his back!”
Younger brother says:
- Okay, I agree! I accept your condition!
After this they went to Spinodral's house. We had dinner and went to bed.
The next morning Spinodralus says to the shepherd:
- Go plow my field!
- Where is your field and what should you plow it with? - asks the shepherd.
“Here are the harnessed oxen, and my dog Pyrpyl will lead you to the field,” Spiodral answers. “Pyrpyl will run ahead, and when he comes running to my field, he will stop and start digging the ground.” Start plowing from there.
The shepherd took the plow and followed the dog.
. Pyrpyl ran and ran, then suddenly stopped in the middle of the forest and began to dig the ground.
- May Alyshkyantyr take you! Why are you digging here in the middle of the forest? - the shepherd shouted and cut off the dog's tail.
Pyrpyl rushed home with a squeal. When he arrived, Spinodral noticed that his dog's tail had been cut off.
“If my shepherd did this, it’s not good! But it’s okay, let’s see what he does before evening!” - thought Spinodral and stayed at home.
Meanwhile, the shepherd cleared a very small place, lit a fire and went to the parking lot, which was visible behind the forest.
[Alyshkyantyr is the deity of dogs.]
Neighboring plowmen were resting at that parking lot. A shepherd approached them and said:
- There, in the forest, at noon I will make a sacrifice to Aita-ru, come there. I have good bulls for the victim. I alone cannot cope with them. Send me two guys to help!
[Aitar is the god of cattle breeding.]
- How can we not send our guys to help the one who makes a sacrifice to Aitar! - the plowmen answered and sent two pariahs.
- Thank you, thank you! - answered the shepherd. - Don’t forget to come to the forest by noon.
The shepherd and his assistants came to the cleared place, and they set to work. They slaughtered the bulls, skinned them, broke a plow for kindling, then fried the meat and spread it on leaves.
It's noon. All the invitees had gathered.
“May the one to whom you sacrificed have mercy on you!” - the guests said and began to eat.
They sit, eat, talk. Suddenly the shepherd heard footsteps, looked around and saw: Spinodral’s wife coming towards him. She walks and spins as she goes, and carries a jug of water on her head. The shepherd stood up and addressed her:
- Why did you come? I worried in vain - I don’t want to drink! Here I met my peers, we had a small feast and ate well. Help yourself too - we have plenty of meat!
Spinodral's wife immediately guessed that the shepherd had slaughtered their bulls. She turned pale and her face changed.
- You seem to be offended by something? - the shepherd turned to her.
- No, what are you saying, why should I be offended! - Spinodrala quickly answered, turned and hurried home.
At home, she told her husband what she had seen. The spinodral grabbed his head, began to tear his hair and did not know what to decide. And in the evening the shepherd - the plowman - returned. In his hands he carried a ploughshare and an ax.
-Where are the bulls? - Spinodral asked.
“Where your Pyrpyl led me, I met the peaks of the same age, and to celebrate we had a feast. If you had come, we would have treated you to some great fried meat!
- How, did you slaughter my bulls? - Spinodral exclaimed,
- Oh, so you’re already offended? - asked the shepherd.
- No, no, not at all! - Spinodral answered. “You just imagined it.” But still the bulls should not have been slaughtered!
The next morning, as soon as it was dawn, Spinodralus said to the shepherd:
“Today you will herd my goats.” You owe them like this
feed them so that in the evening, when you bring them home, they are all smiling with joy.
- Fine! - the shepherd answered and drove the goats to the pasture. All day long he tended the flock, and in the evening, when it was time
drive the herd home, took it and cut their lips crosswise. The goats showed their teeth, and so he drove them home.
“Here I fed your goats,” said the shepherd Spinodra-lu. “Look, they are all smiling.”
- What have you done! - Spinodral got angry.
- You, I see, are ready to be offended? - asked the shepherd.
- Not at all! What you! There is something to be offended about! - Spinodral exclaimed in fright.
The next day Spinodralus again sent the shepherd to graze the cattle.
“These sheep,” he said, “feed them so that in the evening, when you bring them back, they will dance.”
- Fine! - the shepherd answered and drove away the sheep.
He herded the sheep all day, and in the evening he drove them home over the dry thorns. The sheep began to bleat and jump. So we ran home.
Spinodralus saw that his sheep began to gallop, forgot about the agreement and shouted at the shepherd:
- What have you done?! Shepherd says:
“You ordered the sheep to dance, and so they dance and cannot stop.” And you should be offended in vain, master!
“I’m not offended at all,” said Spinodral, “it seemed to you...
Spinodralus sees that the shepherd is not a simpleton. He began to consult with his wife.
- What should we do, how to drive the shepherd away? After all, he can completely ruin the pass! - they said, but they couldn’t come up with anything.
Finally they came up with such a trick. There was a large shady beech tree in front of Spinodral's house. Spinodral's mother was supposed to climb onto it at dawn and crow like a cuckoo. Then they will say to the shepherd: “Spring has come, your time is over. It's time for you to leave!
A week has passed. And so at dawn the old woman climbed a beech tree and began to crow. Then Spinodralus said to the shepherd:
- Spring has come, the cuckoo is already calling. It's time for you to leave!
-Where is spring? This cuckoo is kind of unlucky - it didn’t arrive on time,” the shepherd objected. “Now I’ll teach it a good lesson for this!”
He grabbed a large stone and swung it. The old woman saw this, got scared, wanted to jump out of the tree, but was hit by a branch and hung.
The shepherd laughed;
- That's how old the cuckoo is! Yes, master, no way, it’s your mother?.. And you yourself seem to be offended?
- What are you, what are you, not at all! - says Spinodral. - The old woman is strong, what will happen to her!
Spinodral realized that he could not outwit the shepherd. He decided to leave his home and run away wherever he could.
“That’s the only way we’ll get rid of him!” - Spinodral says to his wife.
They slowly, unnoticed, collected the most valuable property to put it in a large chest at night.
“We’ll put the chest on the cart,” they say, “and we’ll go to our relatives before dawn.” He won't find us there!
And the shepherd guessed everything and decided to teach Spinodraia a lesson.
He climbed into the chest where Spinodrale and his wife began to hide their belongings, lay down at the bottom of the chest and covered himself with a folded dress.
Spinodralus and his wife did not notice anything, put the chest on the cart and set off before light.
The shepherd lay and lay and fell asleep in the chest. But on the way, he woke up from the tremors and began pounding on the lid of the chest. The frightened Spinodral opened the lid and saw a shepherd. At this point he could not restrain himself and shouted:
- There is no justice for this robber!
- And finally, you got offended! - answered the shepherd and climbed out of the chest. - Well, now it will be bad for your back!
Spinodrale and his wife jumped off the cart and rushed as fast as they could in different directions. And the shepherd turned the cart back and took possession of all the house and property of Spinodral. Only one thing darkened his luck, it bothered him that he could not share the good with his dead brothers.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru