There lived two brothers - one poor, the other rich. The poor man worked day and night, but still poverty peeked out from all corners. His children sat on the stove in winter - there was nothing to dress them in or put on shoes. The dry crust was moistened with tears.
One day a poor brother walks past his rich brother’s barn in late autumn. He hears threshing in Riga. I looked into Riga, and there were nine unfamiliar little men working with all their might.
-Who are you? - asks the poor brother.
“We are your brother’s happiness.” He sleeps, and we work for him.
“Look at how much happiness my brother has, that’s why he’s rich!” the poor man thinks. He asks the men:
- Do I have happiness? And where can I find it?
“Your happiness is sleeping on the shore of the lake under an old log,” the men answer. “Break a rowan branch, whip him with that branch three times and say: “You are still sleeping, but my children are dying of hunger!”
In the morning the poor brother went to look for his happiness. And so it is: on the shore, under a rotten log, a little man in a red shirt is sleeping. The poor man broke off a branch from a rowan tree, hit the peasant three times and said:
“You’re still sleeping, and my children are dying of hunger!” The man rubbed his eyes with his fists, yawned and sat down.
“What do you need?” asks.
“Help me with something,” the poor man asks. The man rummaged in his pockets and pulled out a gold coin.
- Here's a coin for you. Once you transfer it from palm to palm, you will have another coin of the same kind. The number of times you reroll, the number of gold coins you will get.
The poor man was delighted, thanked the man in the red shirt, and went home.
He began tossing the coin from palm to palm and a pile of gold grew on the table. And it’s a well-known fact that you can buy anything with gold. And the poor man began to live without bothering.
The rich man became envious. He came to the poor brother and asked:
- How did you, brother, manage to get out of poverty?
But the poor brother was kind and trusting - he told the rich man everything. And he even showed me a gold coin. The rich brother’s eyes lit up and he began to ask:
- Give me this coin for a while, I want to build a new house, I need money.
The brother gave the coin. The rich man filled bags full of gold and hid the coin at the bottom of the chest. A little time passed, a lot, and the poor man ran out of all his supplies. He went to his rich brother for a coin.
- Give me back my coin, brother! - He says, “I need her now.”
The rich man answers:
-What coin are you talking about? I have never taken anything from you and I don’t intend to take anything.
And he kicked the poor brother and drove him out of the yard.
The poor man returned home with nothing, but remembered his happiness - the little man in the red shirt. He comes to the shore of the lake: and the peasant is sleeping in the same place. The poor man took a rowan branch, hit the peasant with it and said:
“You’re sleeping, but I’m in trouble!”
And he told the peasant everything. He became angry with the poor man.
- Why did you, simpleton, give away the coin? Well, okay, this time I will help you, but don’t come again.
The peasant gave the poor brother a canvas tablecloth.
“As soon as you spread this tablecloth,” he says, “food will appear on it that you have never dreamed of in your life.” Just be careful not to give the tablecloth to anyone.
The poor man came home and laid out the tablecloth:
- Well, wife and children, what would you like to eat? Say - everything will be.
The wife said:
- Now I’d like to eat some porridge with butter!
As soon as I said this, a pot of porridge appeared on the table, the porridge was oily and crumbly. They ate themselves and fed their neighbors to their fill.
A rumor about a wonderful tablecloth reached the rich brother and he came to his brother.
“I heard that you have an extraordinary tablecloth.” Here the poor man wanted to show off to the rich man.
He spread the tablecloth and said:
- You, brother, have never treated yourself to me. And now, you see, I can treat you to everything you want.
“I want a roast goose and a barrel of sweet overseas wine!” says the rich man.
As soon as he said it, a dish of roast goose and a barrel of wine appeared on the table.
The brothers sat down at the table. The rich brother doesn’t drink himself, but pours more and more for the poor brother.
The poor man got drunk. He felt happy. Even his greedy brother, from whom you can’t beg snow in winter, rejoices. And this is all the rich man needs:
- Give me your tablecloth, brother. Tomorrow is my name day, and I would like to treat my guests to a great time.
Here the poor man should remember his coin, but where is it!
“Take the tablecloth!” he says. “I’m not greedy, but there won’t be any shortage of tablecloths.”
The rich man grabbed the tablecloth and took it home. He called together priests and merchants, various rich people. The poor brother also decided to congratulate the rich brother, even though he had never dared to visit him on holidays before. But now it’s a different matter: all these rich guests will be treated to food from his tablecloth. Before he had time to step over the threshold and say hello, his brother shouted:
-Where are you going? Don't you see what kind of people are sitting here?! Do you want to embarrass me?
The poor man returned home, almost crying from resentment.
Several days have passed, and the brother still does not bring the tablecloth. Not a crumb was left in the poor brother's house. What to do? I had to go again to the little man in the red shirt. He came and woke up the peasant - his happiness. He was seriously angry.
I gave you a coin, I gave you a tablecloth - I wish you could live, but you keep bothering me! Apparently you are not smart enough.
Something came to the peasant’s mind, he became cheerful, winked and said:
- Do you want me to make you smarter? Take this bag, hang it over your shoulder, hit it with this stick and say: “Suma, give me some sense!”
The poor man did just that. As soon as he said: “Sack, give me some sense!”, seven men jumped out of the bag and started hitting him with sticks!
The poor man prayed:
- Have pity, my dear! Tell them to stop! The man in the red shirt waited a little, then said:
- Suma, stop being smart!
And the seven peasants immediately disappeared into the bag.
- Well, have you gained your senses? Do you know what to do next?
- I know! - said the poor man.
He went home and on the way he met a rich brother.
He saw the bag - and the bag was beautiful, made of calfskin - and said:
- What kind of bag do you have, brother?
- Oh, in this bag the mind of the whole world is hidden. Now I will be the smartest person in the world!
The rich brother’s eyes lit up: “Perhaps it’s not bad to be the smartest. And honor, and respect, and most importantly, with intelligence you can become even richer.”
He says to his brother:
“Won’t you give me this bag, brother, for a little while?” The poor brother replies:
- Take it, perhaps. When you come home, hit your bag with this stick and say: “Suma, give me some sense!” That's where you get your mind.
The brothers went home. And the poor brother’s wife had just heated the bathhouse, so he went to take a steam bath.
A little time has passed, the rich brother’s wife runs and shouts from the doorway:
- Where is the owner?
- What's happened? - asks the poor man's wife.
- Your husband gave my master some damned bag! Seven men jumped out of the bag and beat the husband with sticks. They'll kill you!
The women ran to the bathhouse and called for their poor brother. And he shouts to them from the bathhouse:
- I'm still worried! It doesn’t matter, let your brother gain his senses. The poor man washed himself, dressed slowly and went to the rich brother. Already from a distance he hears a cry:
- Oh-oh, brothers, darlings! Let go! Have pity!
As soon as the poor man crossed the threshold, the rich brother prayed:
- Brother, dear, help me out! Tell them to stop!
“Now we’ll find out,” says the poor brother, “if you’ve gained your senses.”
And the men from the bag continue to beat the rich man. He had already figured out why his brother gave him this bag, but he was so greedy that he didn’t want to give away the gold coin and the tablecloth: maybe his brother would feel sorry for him anyway. And the poor man sits calmly on the bench and says:
- No, you haven’t gained your mind. Let them increase it a little. The rich man could not stand it and shouted to his wife:
- Wife, get a gold coin from the bottom of the chest! But for now he is silent about the tablecloth.
The wife brought a coin and gave it to the poor man. And the poor man still sits and waits. The rich man's wife had to get the tablecloth. Only after this the poor man said:
- Suma, stop being smart!
The seven men instantly ducked into the bag. The poor man took a coin, a tablecloth and a bag, and said goodbye:
“You were cunning, but you lacked intelligence.” Now I’ve gained my mind, just be careful not to lose your mind! - And he left.
And after that, the whole family steamed and rubbed the rich brother in a bathhouse for three days. He barely survived.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru