Once upon a time there lived in a village a boy named Saburo. He was so stupid that his neighbors nicknamed him Stupid Saburo. If they entrust him with one task, he will somehow do it, but if he is entrusted with two, he will mix everything up. He always got into trouble. The parents were very upset, but still hoped that Saburo would someday wise up. One day his father says to him:
- Go, Saburo, and dig up the sweet potatoes. Place everything you get out of the ground on the garden bed and dry it in the sun.
“Okay,” answered Saburo and went to the field. He had just begun to dig the sweet potatoes when suddenly the hoe hit something hard. Saburo dug deeper and pulled out a large pot. I opened it, and it was full of gold coins - a whole wealth.
“Father said that everything I get out of the ground should be put out to dry,” Stupid Saburo remembered and laid out the coins on the beds.
Then he went home and said:
– Today I found a pot of gold, now the gold coins are drying in the beds.
The parents just threw up their hands. They ran to the field, but the gold had long since disappeared.
“Next time,” the father instructed, “when you find something, wrap it up and bring it home.”
“Okay,” replied Saburo.
The next day he saw a dead cat on the road. I wrapped it up and brought it home.
- Well, you can’t be so stupid! – the father got angry. “We should have thrown her into the river.”
The next morning Saburo saw a huge stump. The stump was terribly heavy, but Stupid Saburo well remembered his father’s order - he grabbed the stump and dragged it to the river.
At this time, a neighbor was walking by.
- What are you doing, fool! This stump is also suitable for a firebox. It was necessary to cut it up and take it home.
“Okay,” said Saburo, “next time I’ll do that.”
He went home and suddenly saw a beautiful cup lying on the side of the road. Apparently someone lost it. Saburo picked up the cup and it slammed on the ground! The cup shattered into pieces. Stupid Saburo collected them and took them home.
- Look, mom, what I found today!
The mother looked: these were fragments of the cup that the father took with him to the field!
In the morning the parents decided:
“Everything you do is no good.” We'll go to the field today, and you sit at home.
And they left Saburo alone. “I don’t understand why people call me Stupid Saburo? – thought the boy. “I do everything exactly as they advise me.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru