In one village there lived a ruthless, stingy rich man. He had a large flock of sheep and goats. Out of stinginess, he kept only one shepherd, burdening him with backbreaking work. When the time for reckoning came, the rich man accused the shepherd of having caused him a loss by not looking after the flock, kicked him out without paying anything, and hired another.
One day the rich man kicked out one shepherd and began to look for another. I searched and searched, but no one wants to work for him anymore. Then he found a rootless orphan boy and took him as a shepherd for a period of five years. For this, the rich man promised to give him five goats with offspring, when the Boy began to graze the herd with great zeal. It was difficult for him, but he patiently endured all the hardships. He lived in a meadow where a herd grazed, in a hut by the lake.
Time passed, and the fifth year was already coming to an end. One day, when the herd was resting and the shepherd was sitting thoughtfully on the shore of the lake, an old man with a long gray beard, along which drops of moisture flowed, approached him. He greeted and, after a pause, said:
- I'm tired of water. I really want some milk... Could you give me some?
- Dear old man! - responded the shepherd boy. — The owner keeps all the milk accounted for, and I don’t want to deceive him. But let me treat you to my share - it is modest, but I can offer it to you from the bottom of my heart.
The old man drank the milk, praised and thanked the shepherdess and disappeared into the willow thickets.
its service life will end.
That night the shepherdess had a strange dream. It’s as if his flock is grazing at the bottom of the lake, and he is there, with it. When it began to get dark, the cattle pulled towards the shore, but he could not swim out. Then the old man appeared, whom he treated with milk, and grunted something to the goat, the leader of the herd. The goat returned, hooked the boy by the waist with his horns and dragged him to land. The herd gathered, and two guard dogs greeted the shepherd with a joyful bark... From this bark he woke up. The sun had already risen, the goats and sheep were bleating, reminding them that it was time to milk them. The boy could not come to his senses for a long time and went about his usual business.
The last day of service under the contract with the rich man came, and the shepherd began to ask him for the promised five goats with their offspring. But he had no intention of fulfilling the agreement. He yelled at the shepherd and said that during this time, due to poor care, the sheep’s wool had thinned, the goats began to produce less milk, and the livestock’s offspring had decreased. Let the shepherd go wherever he wants before he beats him.
What could the poor guy do? He tied his miserable belongings into a bundle, hung it on his shepherd's crook, threw it over his shoulder and, almost crying, left his hut. The rich man looked after him angrily. As he was leaving, the shepherd noticed that some kid had strayed from the herd, which had already moved towards the lake. The kid, bleating, ran up to the shepherd and began to rub his forehead against his knee.
Here the boy could not stand it and turned to the rich man:
- Give me this kid at least!
The rich man, in a hurry to catch up with the herd, spat after the shepherdess and shouted:
- Take it, just leave me alone! This lousy kid is just right for you.
The boy walked along the road, not knowing where, and next to him, not lagging behind, was a kid running. By evening, the shepherd found himself on the opposite shore of the lake, near which he had previously grazed his flock.
Tired of the journey, he decided to spend the night. He collected twigs, lit a fire and, putting the bundle under his head, went to bed. The kid settled down at his feet. Two or three times a night the boy threw brushwood on the fire and, half asleep, called out to the dogs: “Dog, oh, oh!”, as if he were still tending a herd.
He woke up from the morning cold. Looking around, I saw that the fire had gone out, the owner’s herd was located around and the leader goat was looking at him, and the kid, shaking his head, was nibbling fresh grass.
At this point a river flowed into the lake. The shepherd went upstream, and the whole herd followed him. So they came to the mountains, from where a river flowed. Here the shepherd set up a hut and continued to graze the flock.
Several years have passed. The boy became an adult, married a girl from a nearby village and started a family. Now he himself had shepherds, for whom he lived well, since he remembered his former bitter lot.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru