Once upon a time there lived a young man. His parents found a bride for him, got him married, and then his wife’s relatives invited him to visit. Having learned about the invitation, the young man asked his father:
- Send someone with me. It’s somehow awkward for me to go alone.
The father called a barber from the same village and asked him to go with his son. But the barber replied that he had a lot to do right now and refused. But the young man never wanted to go alone. Then the father called the barber again and asked:
“Perhaps you will still agree to go with my son?”
“Okay,” the barber answered after thinking, “I’ll go.” With only one condition: let them make the same clothes for me as his.
The father agreed. They sewed identical clothes for them, and they got ready and set off.
When the young man and the barber were already not far from the village where they were heading, the barber said:
“I’ll go ahead and let you know you’re coming.” And you sit here with your things for now.
The trusting young man agreed.
The barber approached the house where the young man’s new relatives lived. They had been waiting for their son-in-law there for a long time. When they saw the smart barber, everyone thought that this was his son-in-law, and received him with great honor. He was asked, as expected, about the health of his father and mother. The barber replied that they were healthy, and then, as if just remembering his companion, he exclaimed:
- Oh, I completely forgot! Send someone for the village. A guy from the barber caste came with me. He was left on the road with his luggage. We need to help him bring his things here.
None of the owners could even think about deception, and they did not know their son-in-law by sight. The servant went outside the village and helped the young man carry his things. So the barber became a son-in-law, and the son-in-law became a barber.
A soft bed was laid out for the barber, and the poor son-in-law had to settle down in the corner on a torn mat. He sits and grieves. No one cares about him, and the barber basks for his pleasure on a soft bed. Everyone is vying to look after him, and the poor son-in-law is ready to fall into the ground out of shame, but out of timidity he does not dare to say anything.
Even this seemed not enough to the barber. He decided to humiliate the timid young man even more and said to the owners:
- My barber is sick. He cannot eat anything except khichri (Khichri is a porridge of rice with peas or beans).
It's time to eat. A lot of the best and most delicious dishes were placed in front of the barber, and the poor son-in-law was given liquid khichri, which you couldn’t even grab with your fingers.” The young man was even more saddened, but out of timidity he still could not say anything.
The next morning they started preparing food in the kitchen. The firewood turned out to be damp - it smokes, but does not ignite. The barber saw this and said:
– Why put raw wood in the stove? Tell my barber to go into the forest and let him bring some dry ones.
The owners liked that their son-in-law was so caring. They sent the poor young man into the forest to fetch firewood. The real son-in-law didn’t dare say anything this time either.
He collected dry branches in the forest and then suddenly realized that he had forgotten to take the rope. He had nothing to tie firewood with. The poor young man completely lost heart, sat down on the ground and began to mourn his bitter fate.
It so happened that the god Mahadeo and his wife Parvati were passing by. Parvati saw the crying young man and turned to Mahadeo:
- Maharaj! Who is this young man? What is he crying about?
– Don’t pay attention to him, Parvati! – answered Mahadeo. “Such is the human world.” It’s always like this among people: some cry, others laugh. What do you care about him?
But Parvati said again:
- Oh my lord! It seems that someone offended him. We need to console him.
Mahadeo tried to dissuade Parvati, but to no avail. Then he approached the young man, asked what had happened to him, and advised him:
– You tell the firewood: “Stick it, Mahadeo!” - and they will stick together. And from now on, no matter who you say these words to, everyone will stick together. If you want to separate what has stuck together, say: “Let go, Mahadeo!” - and everything will be your way.
Mahadeo and Parvati moved on.
The young man was delighted. He looked at the wood and said:
- Stick it, Mahadeo!
And at that very moment the branches stuck together. The young man lifted the bundle onto his head and carried it to the village.
Now he began to wait for an opportunity to get even with the barber. In the evening, his sister-in-law brought the barber a cup of milk. As soon as he raised the cup to his mouth, his son-in-law quietly said in his corner:
- Stick it, Mahadeo!
And immediately the barber’s hand and lips stuck to the cup. The sister-in-law was waiting for her son-in-law to return her cup. I stood there and couldn’t stand it.
– Is it really so difficult to drink a cup of milk? – she asked.
The barber is silent. The sister-in-law waited some more, then thought: “Let me see, what happened?”
He looks - the cup is stuck to his son-in-law’s lips. She extended her hand to take it, and the young man again whispered from the corner:
- Stick it, Mahadeo!
Here, too, my sister-in-law’s hand stuck to the cup. The frightened barber and sister-in-law are standing there, not moving, silent.
A little time passed, and the mother-in-law became worried: “The youngest daughter went to give her son-in-law some milk and still hasn’t come back. Did something really happen?” She came in, saw her son-in-law and her daughter and thought that they had quarreled over milk. It seemed to her as if her daughter was snatching the cup from her son-in-law and not letting him drink.
The mother-in-law ran up to push her daughter away, and the young man again quietly said:
- Stick it, Mahadeo!
And the mother-in-law also stuck to the cup. The mother-in-law screamed, and neighbors began to come running to her scream. They look - the mother-in-law and sister-in-law are not allowing their son-in-law to drink from a cup! Has this been seen before? The father-in-law came running to the noise and became terribly angry:
– Why don’t you let him drink? Move away!
He rushed to his wife and daughter, wanted to pull them away from the cup, but suddenly he himself stuck to it, because the young man again cast his spell. Here others rushed to help, but no matter who approached the cup, everyone immediately stuck to it.
The neighbors were frightened by such witchcraft and ran away. But as soon as the son-in-law repeated his spell once again, everyone immediately rooted to their places: both those who stood at the threshold and those who ran away without looking back. Those running stood frozen: one leg in front, the other behind. Young women peered into the house from the doors, curious to look at the guest; As they stood along the wall, hiding behind each other out of embarrassment, they stuck to it.
It was an amazing sight! Everyone was screaming, but they couldn’t move! No one else from the village dared to come close to this house. People were surprised, but stayed away: it was scary. After all, so many people can’t move! Only the young barber walks among them as if nothing had happened.
Everyone began to think about what to do next. And they remembered that not far from the village lived a Mahatma (Mahatma is a pious person, revered as a saint.), who, as they said, was knowledgeable in witchcraft. We decided to call this Mahatma. But who should go after him? All the relatives of the owner of the house and all the neighbors could not budge. And the rest didn’t want to interfere: how long until trouble? Then people began to beg the young man, whom they took for a barber:
- Brother, take up this matter, bring the Mahatma. It's not far here, ride a camel. Persuade the holy man to help us in trouble.
The young man agreed. He mounted the camel and rode off. He found the Mahatma and told him why he was being called to the village. Mahatma decided to help people and went with the young man to the village.
Halfway there, the Mahatma became thirsty. He got off the camel and drank by the stream. Seeing that the Mahatma was returning, the young man grabbed the reins, forced the camel to rise to her feet and began to pull the reins, turning her first in one direction, then in the other. One might think that the camel was reluctant and did not obey the young man sitting on her back. The young man began to shout:
- Save me, venerable Mahatma! Save! Mahatma hastened to help. He caught up with the camel, contrived and grabbed her by the tail.
- Stick it, Mahadeo! – the young man said quietly.
And the Mahatma’s hand immediately stuck to the camel’s tail. The camel got scared and started running. And the Mahatma dangles on her tail, knocking against the camel’s legs. Out of fear, the camel galloped even faster.
So they rushed to the village. People saw the camel from afar and were happy. But when she ran closer, everyone got scared. By sending for the Mahatma, they hoped that he would help them in trouble. But it turned out that the one from whom they expected salvation was himself attached to the camel’s tail! Moreover, as she ran, the camel kicked him so hard with her hind legs that the poor Mahatma could barely breathe.
“What kind of misfortune is this?” - people thought sadly.
And then suddenly someone noticed that all the people were stuck and only one young man walked among them without any fear. Wasn't he the one who did everything? And he brought the firewood without a rope!
This man told others about his suspicion. “That’s right!” people thought. And they began to persuade the young man to free those who were stuck, begging him to forgive them if they had accidentally offended him in some way.
Then the young man spoke about the barber's tricks and about his meeting with Mahadeo and Parvati. People understood what was going on and became angry with the deceiving barber. Again they began to ask the young man to free them:
- You will see for yourself how we deal with the deceiver! The young man took pity on them.
- Let go, Mahadeo! - he said.
At the same moment, everyone stuck to them received freedom. The barber realized that he was in danger. He started to run, but they grabbed him and gave him a good beating.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru