In ancient times, there lived a tailor in one city. A customer will come to him, bring two arshins of cloth and say:
- Hey, tailor! Sew me a good beshmet.
The tailor will look: there is not enough cloth for the beshmet. But still he won’t refuse, he’ll start thinking: he’ll figure it out this way and that, and he’ll sew it together. And the customer will not only not thank him, but will say:
- Look, you probably hid the remains of my cloth for yourself?
It was a shame for the tailor. He was tired of needless reproaches and conversations. He got ready and left the city.
“Let them,” he thinks, “look for another tailor like him!..”
He is walking along the road, and a skinny little imp is hobbling towards him.
“Hello, venerable tailor!” says the imp. “Where are you going?”
- Yes, I’m going wherever my eyes lead me. I’m tired of living in the city: I sew well, honestly, but everyone scolds and reproaches me!
Imp says:
- Oh, tailor, my life is the same!.. Look how skinny and weak I am, and when anything happens it’s all on me, they blame everything on me, they blame me for everything. I can't live like this! Take me with you, the two of us will have more fun.
“Okay,” the tailor answers, “let’s go!”
They went together. A bear comes across them.
“Where are you,” he asks, “are you going?”
The tailor and the imp told the bear that they were getting away from their offenders. The bear listened and said:
- That’s how it is with me. In a neighboring village, a wolf will kill a cow or a sheep, and the blame will fall on me, the bear. I don’t want to be guilty without guilt, I’ll leave here! Take me with you too!
“Well,” says the tailor, “let’s go together!”
The three of them moved on.
They walked and walked and came to the edge of the forest. The tailor looked around and said:
- Let's build a hut!
Everyone set to work and soon built a hut.
One day, the tailor and the imp went far away to buy firewood, but left the bear at home. How much or how much time has passed - the evil monster wandered into the hut of the divas and asked the bear:
- What are you doing here?
Bear says:
- I guard our farm!
He pushed the bear away from the door, climbed into the hut, ate and drank everything, scattered everything, broke everything, distorted everything. The bear wanted to drive him away, but could not cope with him: the div beat him half to death and left.
The bear lay down on the floor, lying there, groaning.
The tailor and the imp returned. The tailor saw that everything was scattered and broken, and asked the bear:
- Did anything happen without us?
And the bear is ashamed to say how the diva beat and pounded him, and he answers:
- Nothing happened without you...
The tailor did not ask any more questions.
The next day he took the bear with him and went with him to get firewood, and left the little imp to guard the hut.
An imp is sitting on the porch, guarding the hut.
Suddenly there was a noise, a crackling sound in the forest, a shower came out - and right to the hut. He saw the imp and asked:
- Why are you sitting here?
- I guard our hut!
The diva didn’t ask any more questions - he grabbed the imp by the tail, swung it and threw it to the side. He climbed into the hut himself, ate everything, drank, scattered it, almost broke the hut and left.
The imp crawled into the hut on all fours, lay down in the corner, squeaking.
The tailor and the bear returned in the evening. The tailor looks - the imp is all huddled, barely alive, there is chaos all around. He asks:
- Did something happen here without us?
“No,” the imp squeaks, “nothing happened...
The tailor sees something wrong. I decided to check what was going on here without him. On the third day he says to the imp and the bear:
“Go get some wood today, and I’ll guard our hut myself!”
The bear and the imp left. And the tailor made himself a pipe out of linden bark, sits on the porch, plays songs.
The diva came out of the forest, went up to the hut and asked the tailor:
- What are you doing here?
“I’m playing songs,” the tailor answers, and he himself thinks: “So that’s who comes to our hut!”
Div says:
- I want to play too! Make me the same pipe too!
“I wish I could make you a pipe, but I don’t have any linden bark.”
- Where can I get it?
- Follow me!
He took the tailor's ax and led the diva into the forest. He chose a linden tree, which one was thicker, chopped it lengthwise and said to the diva:
- Hold it tight!
As soon as he put his paws into the crack, the tailor pulled out his ax - the paws and pinched them tightly.
“Well,” says the tailor, “answer: didn’t you come to our hut, eat and drink everything, break and spoil everything, and even beat up my bear and imp?”
Div says:
- No, not me!
- Oh, so you’re also lying!
Then the tailor began to beat the diva with a rod. The diva began to beg him:
- Don't hit me, tailor! Let go!
A bear and an imp came running to the cry. They saw that the tailor was beating the diva, and they did the same. The diva shouted here in a voice that was not his own:
- Have mercy, let me go! I will never go near your hut again!
Then the tailor drove a wedge into the linden tree - he pulled his paws out of the crack, and ran into the forest, only they saw him!
The bear, the imp and the tailor returned to the hut.
Here's the imp and the bear, let's show off to the tailor:
- It was us who got scared! It was he who ran away from us into the forest! You couldn't handle him alone!
The tailor did not argue with them. He waited for a while, looked out the window and said:
- Wow! The divas are coming to our hut, but not just one is coming - he’s bringing a hundred more divas with him!
The imp and the bear were so frightened that they immediately jumped out of the hut and ran away to God knows where.
The tailor was left alone in the hut.
We learned in the neighboring villages that a good tailor had settled in these parts, and began to go to him with orders. The tailor does not refuse anyone: he sews for everyone, both old and young. He never sits without work.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru