Once upon a time there lived a Sly Man and a Strong Man. And the Sly Man had a mother, and the Strong Man had a mother. Then one day the Sly Man says:
“I,” he says, “came up with an idea: in the village that lies downstream of our river, a lot of people live.” “You,” he says, “are a strong man, go to this village and steal a fat pig there.” “You,” he says, “are a strong man, drag her alive.” Go tonight, and tomorrow we will kill her and eat with you.
The Strongman went, stole a pig at night, brought it in, and killed it the next day. The cunning man says to the Strongman:
- But I am the owner of this pig! - speaks. “After all, I came up with this trick and sent you.” And the Strongman says:
- No, I am the owner, since I brought it.
Then the Sly Man says:
“Let’s go,” he says, “to the prayer site, where we make sacrifices to the spirits of heaven.” And let the sky indicate which of us is the master.
The strong man got angry and went home. And the Trickster went to the prayer site. He lit a fire under the tree to which they usually made sacrifices to the spirits of heaven and cooked the millet, as it should be. Then he dug a hole under the tree and hid his mother in this hole. At the same time, the sly man said to his mother:
- When I say: Heaven, indicate who is the owner of this pig, you say: The cunning owner.
Then the Strongman came.
The cunning man says to the Strongman:
- Let's ask heaven for good luck - heaven will indicate which of us is the owner of the pig. And after this the Sly Man says:
- Since ancient times, the place of offering our prayers, our place of prayer, which of us is the master, indicate! Then a voice was heard from under the root of the tree:
- Hi-i-tre-e-ts ho-o-zya-i-i-n!
The simple-minded Strongman, angry at the sky, grabbed a stick and began to poke it at the place from which the voice was heard.
And then he went home. The cunning man pulls out the mother he had hidden in the hole - she, it turns out, is already dead.
The sly man carried his mother home. And he dressed her in various silks from her wedding trousseau. He dressed her in silk Chinese robes, sat her on a sled and took her down the river. It was winter.
He reached the shore where the village was located, and there he placed his sled at the very edge of the ice hole. And he himself went to the village elder. That foreman has a daughter-bride - oh, and she was a beauty! So the Sly Man is asked:
- And there, under the shore, on your sled, what kind of woman is sitting?
- And this is my sister, the rich, very rich bride!
- Why doesn't she come here?
“I’m ashamed, so I don’t go.”
- It’s okay, let her come here, why should she be ashamed!
The village elder's daughter says:
- I'll go get her. Here the Sly Man says:
“Her ears are bad, she’s deaf, she won’t hear, you push her harder.”
Then the girl ran, reached the sled, and pushed with all her might, bang! - and fell into the hole. The girl got scared and ran home.
“The Sly One’s sister fell into an ice hole,” he says. Here the Sly Man became angry:
“You,” he says, “killed my sister, now let your village elder give me his daughter in exchange for her, according to custom.”
The village elder gave his daughter to the sly man. So the Sly Man got himself a wife by deception and went home. He reached home. He and his wife began to live together. They hauled wood and lit a huge fire in the street. When the fire burned down, they collected the coals and filled seven bags with them tightly. Then they set off up the river, carrying their luggage on a sled. As they walked and walked, they met: two people were walking and were carrying seven bags with different goods. The sly man asks these people:
-Where are you going and what are you bringing?
And those people answer:
“We have various goods, seven full sacks: we’re going to buy furs.”
Then the Sly Man says:
“And I’m carrying seven sacks of different furs, chock full,” he says, “if you need furs, then let’s exchange the load right with the sledges,” he says, “I’ll give you my furs, and you give your goods along with the sledges.”
They gave the Trickster their goods along with the sledges, and the Trickster gave them his cargo along with the sledges.
The sly man drags his goods, brought them home and pawned the whole house with goods. Then the Strong Man comes and asks the Sly Man:
- Where did you get the goods from, where did you get it? And the Sly Man says:
“I exchanged it for seven sacks of coal,” he says, “in a village located upstream of the river.” Then the Strongman says:
“Well, tomorrow I’ll haul the wood and light the coal, then I’ll go and exchange the goods.”
Well, the next day the Strong Man hauled wood and lit coal. He loaded seven sacks of coal onto the sled and dragged it up the river. He walked and walked and met two people in the upper reaches of the river who were carrying seven bags on a sled. They ask the Strongman:
- What are you bringing?
And the Strongman says:
“I’m bringing,” he says, “seven sacks of coal to exchange for goods.” Then those people got angry:
- And before that we were also deceived! This is how deceivers buy goods!
And they beat the Strong Man for the sacks of coal, as soon as he got to his mother. And the Sly Man became rich from the good of these people.
This is the end.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru