For three years the shepherd tended the landowner's flocks. And when the time was up, the landowner gave him a goat and a goat, a sheep and a ram.
Then the shepherd said: “I won’t work as a laborer anymore.” I now have a whole herd - a goat and a goat, a sheep and a ram. I will become my own master.
How he looked after his flock is impossible to tell. He collected food along the blade of grass and brought it back in his jacket - he didn’t have a basket! And he carried water from a distant spring in his hat - there was no bucket either!
And a year later the goat brought him two kids, and the sheep gave birth to two lambs.
A year later, each of the three goats brought two kids, and each of the three sheep brought two lambs.
And so it went: no matter the year, the herd grows and multiplies. The shepherd became a rich man. He lives in a new nice house, with poor neighbors and has stopped saying hello. Previously, the shepherd was quick to joke and generous to help others. And now he walks around pouting like a turkey, moving his lips all the time - silently counting the profits.
If anyone ever heard a kind word from him, it was only his brothers. It is known that the weather outside is the same in the shepherd’s heart. Where does the weather come from? Yes, they say, the brothers bring it with them in their knapsack for months.
So the shepherd tried to appease the brothers. He came out to meet everyone, bowed low, and showered everyone with praise. He will praise, praise, and even ask for what he needs. Either the month of May should grow the grass thicker and higher, then the month of July should reduce the heat so that the sheep do not lose weight, then the month of January should hold back the frosts so that the goats do not tremble. He asks, and then praises again.
And it’s an amazing thing - they believed, for months, that he really loved them so much, but they were always favorable to him. What he asked for was sent to him.
But the most frightening thing for a shepherd is the fickle month of March. March is an unkind month for livestock: it will rain, it will be scattered with hail, or else a pestilence will be sent to the herds. So the shepherd flattered him more than the others.
So in the year about which the fairy tale tells, when the month of March came, the shepherd set to work:
– You, month March, are both strong and beautiful. And how long it is - well, where is February before you!
From morning to evening the shepherd Mart praises, and Mart makes his ears tick. If a hailstorm breaks out, the hail will pass by, cripple half of the neighbors' sheep, but the shepherd's entire flock will be intact. March will rage with a storm - it will scatter the neighbors' herds across the mountains, go and gather them later! The shepherd's sheep and goats will be gathered in a heap in the same storm, they will be warm, and not one will get lost.
And so March passed, he had one last day left - the thirty-first.
Mart decided to take one last walk. He whistled, howled in different tones, and swirled snow whirlwinds.
The shepherd woke up, looked out the window and even shook with anger. And he walked out onto the threshold and smiled sweetly.
- Oh, what a joker you are, the month of March! People are offended by you. And I always tell everyone: you are stupid, how can such a hero not have fun, not play freely.
Mart liked these words. He got even more playful.
So the day is over, evening has come. It's almost midnight, but March won't let up. Here the shepherd could not stand it.
- Why are you angry! After all, you're almost through. Oh, I’m so tired of you, March, this month of March! I'll tell you straight: you are the worst month ever. You are both mean and dirty. You better get out of here!
The month of March heard this, and his anger took his breath away, even the blizzard immediately subsided, the wind calmed down. And when Mart came to his senses, it was really time for him to leave! He took his belongings - winds and snowstorms, wetness and ice, put everything in a knapsack and went home.
And April is coming towards him. The brothers met on the road exactly at midnight. Here Mart says:
- April, my younger brother, give up three of your days to your older brother. You have a gentle disposition; you can give away spring gifts in twenty-seven days.
The month of April was indeed kind, and for the elder brother he did not regret anything at all. He respected him very much for his strong character.
March received three days as a gift from April and got down to business. It seemed to him that what was in the knapsack behind his back was not enough. Instantly he flew around the earth. On the tops of the mountains he woke up storms tired of winter labors, driving clouds with hail and downpours ahead of him. And as he flew over the rotten swamps, he caught a fever. And everything he collected he threw down on the shepherd’s flocks.
On the first day it rained and hit them with hail. A third of the herd died.
On the second day, March sent storms to work. The winds whistled and scattered the sheep and goats over the rocks and gorges. Another third of the herd disappeared.
In the end, Mart developed a fever.
The last busy day has ended, the spring month of April has arrived. Warmed the earth, grew grass, blew a warm breeze. Why does the shepherd need all this? After all, all he had left was a goat and a goat, a ram and a sheep.
Where the shepherd started is where he stayed.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru