There lived one poor peasant. He had a wife and children. The peasant worked from dawn to dark, without straightening his back, but still could not feed his family. One day a poor man asked his wife:
- Why can’t we get out of need, am I really not working enough?
“You work harder than anyone else,” answered the wife.
- In this case, it is not clear why God is punishing us? Something's wrong here.
“You haven’t killed anyone, you haven’t robbed anyone, but you’re working, why should you be punished?” - the wife objected.
“No, there’s something wrong here,” the peasant insisted. “Look how our neighbors live.” They don’t work as hard as I do, but they live happily: they have good houses and a lot of livestock. Apparently, fate has passed me by far, therefore we do not see happiness, and there is no use from my labors. I'll leave you and go wherever my eyes look. I will look for the reason for our poverty and until I find it, I will not return. Maybe you'll live better without me.
- How can we live without a breadwinner? We will die without you.
But no matter how hard the wife tried to persuade her husband, he left. All she said to him at parting was:
- Have a good trip.
The poor man wandered for a long time, but never learned anything about the cause of his failures. Finally, he decided to hire himself as a worker for a rich man. He listened to his request and said:
- If you work well, then in a year I will pay you a hundred rubles.
The peasant worked diligently all year. When the appointed time arrived, the owner called his worker and said to him:
- Here are a hundred rubles, you earned them by honest work. But if you want, I will give you advice. Choose: advice or money?
The peasant thought and decided:
- Keep the money for yourself, give advice.
“Well, listen: no matter what trouble befalls you, no matter what threatens you, don’t answer people’s questions without thinking properly.”
Having said this, the owner hid the money in his pocket.
- Well, now what will you do, will you stay with me or will you go around the world again?
The peasant thought, thought and answered:
- I have no other choice. If you don’t send me away, I’ll stay with you.
“Okay,” agreed the owner. “Stay.” In a year I will pay you two hundred rubles.
And for the second year the peasant worked just as diligently. The owner was pleased with him. But now the time has come again. The owner counted out two hundred rubles and placed it in front of the peasant.
- Here's the money you earned. You can take them. But if you want, in exchange for money I will give you advice. “Choose,” he suggested.
The poor man thought for a long time and finally said:
— Good advice is worth more than money. Keep the money for yourself, give me advice.
“Remember: don’t take on a task that is beyond your strength,” said the owner and hid the money. “Will you stay with me or leave?” he asked.
- If you don't mind, I'll stay.
- Okay, let it be your way, work. At the end of the year, I will give you three hundred rubles.
Another year passed day by day. The rich man counted out three hundred rubles and said:
“Here’s your money, but if you want it, you’ll get advice in return.”
And again the peasant chose the council.
“Here’s my third piece of advice,” said the owner, “If you don’t see it with your own eyes, don’t believe what you hear.”
The poor man left all the money he had earned to the owner and went back to wandering around the world in search of the reasons for his failures. Before leaving, he said to the owner:
“I worked for you for three years, but I’m leaving without a penny of money.” Give me at least some churek for three days.
“Although I don’t owe you anything,” answered the rich man, “but here’s a churek for you.”
So the poor man left the rich man, seemingly with nothing. He fits
somehow to a large yard surrounded by a picket fence. Sees: on
Each corner has a human skull. The poor man got scared
and started to run, but the guards caught him and took him to the king*
It turns out that there was a royal palace here.
- Who are you? - asked the king.
“I am a man who is haunted by misfortune everywhere,” answered the frightened peasant.
- Why did you run away from my palace?
“I saw human skulls on the stakes and got scared,” the poor man admitted.
“You won’t leave here so easily,” said the king. “Come on, I’ll show you something.”
They took the poor man to the royal chambers. In one of the halls he saw on a table a toad the size of a buffalo.
“If you guess who it is,” said the king, pointing to the toad, “then happiness will turn its face to you, and if you don’t guess, then your head will be impaled.” Just in my fence one stake is free; he is apparently waiting for your head.
And at that moment the poor man remembered the rich man’s advice, which he had bought for a hundred rubles.
- Let me, king, let your troubles fall on me, think for three days.
“Think as much as you want,” the king agreed. “But don’t test my patience too much.”
They locked the poor man in a separate room. Three days passed, and then again the poor man appeared before the formidable king.
- Well, who is this? - he asked the poor man.
“Let your troubles fall on my head, king,” answered the poor man. “Do not consider me stupider than I am.” This is not a toad, this is an angel, a beautiful princess.
As soon as the poor man began to speak, the toad began to move, and as soon as he spoke, he shook himself and stood up. And the poor man sees: before him is truly a beautiful princess, such a beauty as the world has never seen.
What happened? Once upon a time the devil wanted to marry a princess, but she never wanted to marry him, but instead married the king. The devil, in revenge, turned her into a huge toad until someone guessed the princess in her. The heads impaled on the stakes of the royal fence belonged to those unfortunate
to the unfortunate losers who could not guess the princess in the toad, but our poor man was lucky.
Fun and joy came to the royal palace. They feasted there for many days and nights. Then the king ordered the horses to be harnessed to twelve carts and loaded with valuable gifts. In addition, he gave the peasant as much money as he could carry.
“Escort the peasant to his house, leave him the horses and carts,” the king ordered his people.
Here is our cheerful peasant on his way home. Along the way, he comes to a large clearing, in the middle of which stood a spreading tree. Here the peasant decided to rest. At this time, a merchant arrives in a carriage drawn by horses with bells. He looked at the royal gifts, and his eyes lit up with greed.
“Come on,” he says to the man, “let’s argue.” There's a kite sitting on the top of the tree. If you cannot, without scaring him, snatch a feather from his tail and deliver it to me, then I will take your wealth away from you.
At this time, the peasant remembered the second piece of advice that he bought from a rich owner: “Don’t take on a task that is beyond your strength.”
“No,” says the peasant. “You proposed a dispute, you try first.” If you pluck a feather from a kite without scaring it, then I will give you my wealth, and if not, then your horses and carriage will go to me.
The merchant was overcome by greed. He so wanted to take possession of the royal gifts that he could not resist and climbed a tree, and the peasant followed him. Seizing the moment, the peasant quietly pulled off the merchant’s shoes and dismounted. And the merchant began to approach the kite, but the bird noticed him and flew away.
The merchant got down from the tree and began to grieve:
- My business is gone, the kite has flown away!
- Well, the kite took away your shoes too? - asked the peasant.
The merchant looked at his bare feet and became even more upset.
- Well, will you keep your word, will you give up the carriage and horses? - asked the peasant.
“The word is the word,” answered the merchant. “I started the argument myself, and I myself was punished.” Take the horses and carriage.
- Because you kept your word, I return your shoes to you.
The merchant left on foot, and the peasant and his companions drove on. They approach the peasant’s native village. He asks the first person he meets if he knows such and such a person and gives his name.
“I knew him,” replies the stranger. “He went somewhere to look for the reason for his failures in life, and he disappeared somewhere.” Missing in action.
— Is anyone from his family left?
“His wife died of hunger, and people took away his children,” answered the man he met.
- Woe is me, woe! - cried the saddened peasant. - All my wanderings are in vain. Why do I need this wealth if I cannot share it with my family! I'll go back and look for happiness.
But then he remembered the third advice of his former master.
“How can I go back, believing what I heard, but did not see,” said the peasant and headed to his native village. Here he is driving into his yard.
- Hey, is anyone home? - he shouted. .
He hears the weak voice of his wife coming from a poor, dilapidated hut:
- Who is calling us?
She was so weak from hunger that she could no longer rise to meet the guests. The peasant ran into the house.
- Oh, uanajalbate '. Is it really you? - cried the delighted woman. “A little more, and you wouldn’t have found me alive.”
-Where are the children? he asked.
“They herd other people’s cattle, nurse other people’s children so as not to die of hunger,” answered the wife.
The peasant sent people for the children and they were soon brought back. The children were in torn clothes, barefoot, and hungry.
That was the joyful meeting of the peasant with his family. They lived richly and happily. I visited him, and now I’ve come to tell you about the peasant’s misadventures. Believe it or not, people in that village are still not surprised at how the peasant found his happiness.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru