Once upon a time there lived two brothers. They became completely impoverished and did not know where to get money. Finally the elder thought:
- That's it, brother, let's go around the world and make money by lying. One will go forward, and the other will follow him, confirming the lie.
And so they did.
The elder brother came to the village and let’s shout that he knows amazing news, and whoever wants to know it, let him lay out his money. The people came running, and the liar said:
— In such and such a village, a seven-armed child was born.
People gaped, threw money at the guy for the news, and he hurried away. There were some people here who were distrustful - they decided to go check if the stranger was telling the truth, and the younger brother was right there - he supposedly was coming from there. They ask him if he has seen a seven-armed baby in the village. The guy answers:
- No, I haven’t seen such a baby, I only saw how a vest with seven sleeves was drying on a line.
“So it’s true,” the people decided, and they also gave the second liar money.
Meanwhile, the elder brother was walking through another village and telling everyone he met what a wonderful miracle he had seen: someone had built a mill on the top of a pine tree. Again he filled his pocket full of money and - remember his name. As soon as the people began to doubt, the younger brother came.
- Hey, passer-by, have you seen a mill on a pine tree?
“To tell the truth, I only saw some guy coming down from a pine tree with two bags of flour,” answers the younger brother.
“So it’s true,” the simpletons were delighted and generously rewarded the swindler.
And the younger brother went further - to catch up with the older one and compose new fables.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru