Three envious people complained to their fellow villagers about the cunning Petre - and then the peasants gathered at a meeting, and they sentenced him to throw the cunning Petre into the sea. They grabbed him, put him in a sack and sewed him up tightly. Then they shouldered the sack and off to the sea. They came, laid the burden on the ground and suddenly (I don’t remember for what reason, it seems something happened nearby) they ran in different directions: some up the mountain, some into the valley - to see what had happened. And Petre keeps shouting from the bag:
- I don’t want, I don’t want! I don't want, I don't want!
And some rich owner was driving sheep along the shore. He saw the bag and heard a cry: “I don’t want, I don’t want! I don’t want, I don’t want!” - He came closer to the bag and asked:
- What don’t you want?
Petre instantly knew what to answer:
“The peasants want to make me king, but I don’t want to.” Well, they decided to drown me for being stubborn.
The rich man was surprised:
- Don’t you want to be a king? What a weirdo! And I wouldn’t mind.
“Well, then untie me,” answered the cunning Petre, “and climb into the bag.” The peasants will come, you say that you agree, and let it be your way. And you will become a king. Very simple!
The rich man quickly untied the bag, exchanged clothes with Petre and got into the bag, and Petre tied the bag well and disappeared.
The peasants returned, picked up the bag and began to swing it to throw it further into the sea. After all, they did not know what happened while they were not on the shore. The rich man screamed: “I want it! I want it! I agree to be king! I agree!” The peasants decided that Petre had gone crazy with fear, and they thought: “We need to get rid of him as soon as possible.” Yes, they threw him into the sea, they didn’t even realize that they didn’t drown Peter, but someone else entirely.
They went away. Petre goes to meet them and drives the sheep with twigs. The men were dumbfounded: where did he come from?
“Listen, Petre, we threw you into the sea, and there you are, alive and got a flock of sheep!”
“Very simple,” Petre answered them. “You threw me into the sea, you wanted to drown me, but I saw a huge herd there.” Why should good things go to waste? I counted out as many sheep as I wanted and drove them ashore.
- Is there much left there? - asked the peasants.
- Fairly! - answered Petre. “They graze at the very bottom—the grass is richer there.” All sheep are black. If you don’t be lazy, you can make a lot of money!
The peasants feasted on their food and climbed into the sea. They decided, however, that the priest would be the first to fall into the abyss, and if there was luck, everyone else would jump too. Well, the priest jumped first, and was in such a hurry that he forgot to take off his kamilavka. Pop, of course, sank like a stone, and the kamilavka floated to the surface. The men saw her and thought that it was the priest’s prey - a black sheep - and immediately they all jumped into the sea. All they saw was them... They drowned.
This is how the cunning Peter took revenge on the greedy fools because they wished him an early death.
Since then, there has been a proverb: “You take him to the sea, he will soon emerge rich.” And they also say: “The good fellow disappeared, but no, he acquired a flock of sheep.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru