One man had a quarrelsome wife. She constantly started quarrels with him. One day she made him so angry that he could not resist slapping her. At this time, the wife's father came to them. He was passing by and decided to visit them on the way. The daughter began to tell him about what happened.
“He hit me so hard,” she said, “that my eyes popped out of my head.”
The husband was sitting nearby and heard everything.
- I'll hit you again! - he said in anger.
“You want to hit my daughter in front of me?” - asked the amazed father.
- Oh yes, sir!
Hearing this, the daughter grabbed a stick and hit her husband in the face so hard that he started bleeding. Then he also took a stick and hit her so hard that she fell to the ground. Here the father-in-law swung at his son-in-law, but he intercepted his blow, breaking his stick in two, and hit his father-in-law on the back. The father-in-law ran home. The next morning he returned with two sticks. His daughter also grabbed two sticks. The man thought: “It’s not good if I beat her father,” and ran away. The father and daughter chased him, but could not catch up and returned home.
Soon the man sent a messenger to his father-in-law's house.
“Tell the old man,” he told him, “let his daughter no longer appear in my house.” And let him give me back the ransom for it.
The messenger conveyed these words. Father-in-law replied:
- Okay, I myself want her to stay with me. But he won’t get the ransom back because he hit me on the back with a stick.
Because of this ransom, they began a long dispute. The son-in-law told his father-in-law:
- Okay, let’s say I hit you, but that’s no reason not to return the ransom to me. Your daughter hit me too, and she was the first. I want my ransom.
But the father-in-law stood his ground.
“Go and complain if you want,” he said.
Well, the man went to complain to the Sultan. He outlined the essence of the matter to the ruler of the country. The Sultan listened to him and ordered to call the other side: father and daughter. Before starting his speech, the old man showed his back to the Sultan:
- Look, Sultan!
-What's on your back?
- He hit me!
- Really? - The Sultan almost laughed. “Apparently you did something very wrong to him?” Or has he gone crazy?
“Yes, he’s gone crazy,” said the father-in-law, “he’s lost his mind.” He complains about my daughter every day.
-Did you really hit him? - asked the Sultan.
“No,” he answered, “I haven’t hit him yet, I’ll just start now.”
- Are you really going to beat me? - the father-in-law began to lament.
“But you yourself, you and your daughter, beat me!”
“Yes, this matter is not easy to understand,” said the Sultan. “You all beat each other.” But your daughter remained with you, and he no longer has a wife. So you must return the ransom to him.
But the father-in-law continued to shout:
“He hit me, and I have to give him the ransom!”
“Don’t start the argument again,” said the Sultan. - If you don’t want to give the ransom, return your daughter to him.
- So that my daughter returns to him?! He hit me, he will beat my daughter if she returns to him.
-Are you that afraid of him? - the Sultan laughed. “He won’t beat you anymore, but bring your daughter back to him.”
Here she herself exclaimed:
- No, I never want to go back to him, because he’s crazy! Look, Sultan, how he hit my father on the back!
And the husband also said:
- No, I don’t need her anymore, I only need my wedding ransom.
“If so,” said the Sultan, “then you, old man, will have to give him the ransom.”
“Ah,” said the father-in-law, “I don’t care anymore.” I'll give him the ransom. I will collect it, but he will only be able to receive it in a month.
- Thirty days?! - the husband exclaimed angrily. -Who would wait that long? Then let your daughter live with me for these thirty days. When you pay the ransom, you will get it back.
“Yes, that will be right,” the Sultan concluded.
The father-in-law was no longer able to argue.
- What about my back? - that’s all he said. - What will he give me for a blow on the back?
The Sultan laughed again.
“He won’t pay you anything for this.” After all, you and your daughter also beat him. Does a wife have the right to beat her husband?
“Ah, now I don’t care,” said the old man. “He will receive his ransom in four days.”
- Do you agree? - asked the Sultan.
- No, I don’t agree to four days. Let him pay me today. As soon as I receive my wedding price, I will go my way, and he and his daughter will go theirs.
“No, Sultan,” the woman’s father was frightened, “today I cannot pay.” Help me.
- What can I do? - objected the Sultan. - That's the law. And your daughter hit her husband.
- So he hit me too! - My father-in-law almost cried.
“I’ve already heard all this,” said the Sultan, “and I don’t want to listen anymore.”
The old man went to his place and collected the entire ransom. To do this, he had to go into debt. He brought all this to his former son-in-law, and he returned to his home without his wife, and she went with her father.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru