There lived one merchant. No matter what happened to him, he praised God for everything.
His mule dies, and he says:
- Thanks be to the merciful God! My sheep are still alive!
The mice will spoil his grain, and he says:
- Thanks be to the merciful God! The mice did not touch my jug of honey.
That’s what everyone called him: “Thanks be to God.”
One day he went with a neighbor to the city on trade business.
They were on the road all day, and when it got dark, they decided to take a break. And they had just left the road to choose a suitable place to spend the night when they suddenly saw a goat in the tall grass. The goat was so frightened when they approached it that it could not even move for fear.
Then the merchant said:
- What a stupid goat! She comes into our hands. Apparently, God sent it to us for dinner! Great is the mercy of God!
But before slaughtering and roasting the goat, the travelers lit a fire, kneaded golden eagle (unleavened flatbread) from flour and water and placed them near the fire so that they could bake faster.
And they themselves went to collect dry branches. After all, in order to roast a goat, you need a big fire!
Meanwhile, the goat recovered from its fright and ran away.
The travelers returned with armfuls of brushwood and saw that the goat was gone, and their golden eagle had been burned.
While they were looking for the goat, it started to rain. Their fire went out, and they went to bed hungry, chilled, and wet.
The merchant lay down on the cold ground and said:
- Thank God! This day passed in prosperity! May God help you to make the night the same!
His neighbor heard this and got angry:
- Yes, God helped us! The goat ran away from us, our golden eagle burned, our fire went out. We walked all day and didn’t have any crumbs in our mouths. And we go to bed hungry too. We should not praise God, but scold ourselves for our stupidity!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru