The poor old woman had three sons. They were so small that no one had ever seen such small people. The eldest son was three inches tall, the middle son was two inches tall, and the youngest was only one inches tall. They called the youngest one Baby.
Every day the brothers went to work, worked as laborers somewhere - they had to earn bread for themselves and for their old mother. One day the brothers were very lucky, they earned more than ever: they brought home three goats and brought three huge loaves of bread!
- Oh, how rich we have become! - said the old mother.
- We will become even richer! - answered the older brother. “We need to divide our earnings equally and go try our luck.”
“Well, let’s split it,” said the middle brother.
They shared their wealth. Everyone got a goat and a loaf of bread. Elder brother says:
- I'll go first.
He took the goat and bread and walked along the high road. In all the villages he asked if a worker was needed, but nowhere was he hired. He went out into a huge field and saw a giant. He was plowing the ground. The older brother approached him, greeted him and asked:
- Tell me, giant: do you need a worker?
The giant looked at him, then looked at the goat, at the bread and said:
“It’s just a worker like you that I need.” Hire for a year. I'll give you a chest of gold.
The elder brother was delighted and said:
“I’m ready to start work now.” What should I do?
- Oh, I’ll find something for you. Do you see my hut under the mountain? Go there, light a fire, roast your goat, cut some bread. Let's have dinner together.
The elder brother came to the hut and prepared dinner. Divided it into two parts. At sunset the giant returned from the field. He wanted to sit down at the table, but there was nothing to sit on in the hut. Giant says:
- Look in the yard for something I could sit on. But look, this seat should not be made of stone, earth or wood!
The elder brother came out of the hut and looked around. He did not see anything that was not made of stone, earth or wood. The worker walked around the yard for a long time, and when he returned to the hut, the entire dinner had been eaten.
- Where is my share? he asked.
- Yes, really, where is your share? — the giant grinned. “Apparently, I didn’t even notice how I ate it, I was really hungry... I ate your share and wasn’t full.” I'll have to eat you for a snack! “With these words, he grabbed his new worker and swallowed it.
The brothers did not wait for the eldest. And then the middle one said:
“Now it’s my turn to go try my luck.”
He took the goat and a loaf of bread and walked along the same road. He hired himself as a worker to the same giant, and just like his older brother, he was swallowed by the giant.
It's Baby's turn. And he hired himself as a worker for this giant, and the giant ordered him to prepare dinner. The kid roasted the goat, cut the bread, and divided the dinner in half. Then he dug a hole near the wall of the sakli and covered it with brushwood and grass. At sunset the giant returned from the field.
- Well, have you prepared dinner? he asked.
“Yes, I did,” answered the Kid.
“Then look in the yard for something I could sit on.” You see, I have a table, but no bench. But look, the seat should not be made of stone, earth or wood!
The kid looked around and quickly figured out what to do. He dragged the giant's iron plow into the hut.
- Sit down, here's an iron seat for you! - he shouted.
The Giant was surprised at the Kid’s ingenuity. They started eating. The giant quickly devours his share of meat and bread. The baby can’t eat so much; he unnoticedly throws the pieces into the hole. The giant sees that their food is decreasing equally, and is even more surprised at the new worker. "What a gluttonous one I got!" - he thinks. Before the giant had time to finish his share, the Kid no longer had anything.
“Give me a piece, I ate everything and am not full,” says the Kid.
- Enough, you've already eaten too much! - the giant answers.
- Is it a lot? - The Kid laughs. - Yes, I can eat you too for a snack!
The giant believed and became silent.
The next day they went to plow the field together. The kid only pretended to work - one giant plowed, and his worker only grunted and shouted. In the evening there was nothing to eat, the giant went to bed hungry, and at night the Kid quietly ate what he hid in the hole.
On the third day, the giant realized that he could not cope with this worker.
- What to do? - he asked his wife. “We have to get rid of him somehow.” Our new employee is not only an extraordinary strongman and a glutton, but he is also an unprecedented cunning man. Let's crush him with a huge rock tonight.
The kid, of course, heard all these words - he sat quietly in his hole.
The giant and the giantess went to the mountains to get a stone. Meanwhile, the kid prepared a bunch of reeds, put it on his bed and covered it with a blanket, and hid in the hole. The giant and the giantess dragged a whole rock.
“Okay, our worker is already asleep,” said the giant.
He and the giantess lowered the rock onto the Baby’s bed. The reeds crackled.
- His bones crunched! — the giantess laughed.
- So we got rid of this employee! - said the giant.
They went to bed. The baby also fell asleep in his hole. In the morning he got up earlier than his owners, woke them up and began to laugh at them:
- Stupid giants, you decided that you are stronger than me! I saw how you two barely dragged this pebble! But for me he is like a fly! I decided not to throw it off and slept quietly under it all night.
The kid laughed and left the saklya.
“We can’t handle him.” “We can’t defeat him,” said the giant.
“We need to pay him off and send him home,” said the giantess.
- Right! - the giant agreed. He called the Kid and said:
- You did a good job. Even very good. You earned not a chest, but a whole chest of gold. Here it is, take it and go home quickly. - And the giant placed a heavy chest full of gold in front of the Kid.
The kid laughed again:
“You want me to leave quickly, and you also force me to carry some kind of chest.” Carry it yourself. I worked for you, now you work a little for me!
The giant was surprised, did not find what to answer, shouldered the chest and set off.
“You probably don’t know where to go, so I’ll sit on your chest and show you the way.”
The baby climbed onto the chest, and the giant walked along the road. Soon they came across a pear tree with ripe pears. The giant stopped, bent down the tree and began to pick the most delicious pears from the top of its head. The kid moved to a branch, also reached for the pear and began to eat it. Soon the giant had eaten and released the tree.
The kid flew through the tree, and a fox was running there. The baby fell on her neck and grabbed her ears. The fox ran out to the giant's feet. The kid shouted:
- Look, giant, while you were eating pears, I saw a fox, flew over the tree and caught it. See how clever I am! However, I don’t need the fox, let him run! — The kid jumped off the fox and climbed onto the chest.
The giant walked and thought: “Oh, what a clever guy! He’s much more dangerous than I thought! How good it is that I’m parting with him, how good it is that I’m walking him home!”
Not far from the house, the Kid stopped the giant:
“Sit here for a while, and I’ll go tell my mother to prepare dinner for us.”
Soon he returned, and together they entered the Baby's house. The giant put the chest down and sat down at the door. Kid says:
- Mom, I came with a guest, give him something to eat.
The mother looked at the guest and said:
- What should I give him? He probably doesn’t eat his fellow creatures, and when you went to work, you left me only a dead giant.
The giant perked up and asked:
- What, do you eat giants?
“Oh, we love them very much,” answered the mother.
- Yes, we love you! - the kid said loudly. - Your meat is delicious!
The giant jumped up.
“Mom,” continued the Kid, “maybe we can eat this?” Let's eat him like he once ate my brothers! - With these words, the Kid stepped towards the giant.
The giant knocked down the door and started running without looking back. The baby and his mother laughed after him. That's all they needed. They were left with a chest of gold, and from then on they lived happily ever after.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru