The headman was walking to the workers and met a stranger on the road; he asks:
-Where are you going?
- I’m going to the workers! What kind of gentleman are you that you dare to ask me?
- I'm the devil myself!
– That’s how it is – then it’s a different matter! – the elder answered and walked next to the devil.
They walked a little and saw that a pea-haired hog had wandered in and was trampling. The shepherd noticed the headman, got scared and ran to drive out the hog:
- Get out, you bastard! May the devil take you? Only poisons peas!
- Do you hear: the hog is giving it to you - take it! - the headman egged the devil on.
And the devil answered him:
- Should we take it then? What will a person say out of evil? Then he will come to his senses and regret it.
They walked thirty steps, the woman, a worker, noticed the headman, weaned the baby and quickly got to work. And the child is crying, turning blue; the woman shouts at him:
- Damn you! I just fed her and she’s already screaming again!
- Do you hear, he’s giving the baby to you - take it! – the headman encourages.
- Should we take it then? They will say a lot out of spite and then regret it.
They walked a little more, they saw a mountain, and there the workers had just sat down to rest, and, noticing the headman, they jumped to their feet and scolded:
- Look, the headman is looking at our head again! If only the devil could break his neck!
The devil heard and grabbed the headman by the forelock, twisted his neck and dragged him straight into the heat.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru