One cruel king issued an order to exterminate all the old people.
“What good are they?” he said, “they can neither plow, nor reap, nor chop wood.” It’s just in vain that they eat bread and get in the way in the house. Life will be better without them."
The royal executioners got down to business. All the old people were killed. There was only one old man left - the boyar's father. He felt sorry for his old father, he hid him in a secret place and began to steal food for him.
The cruel king had a restive black horse. He kicked, bit, reared and threw riders off of him. Nobody could get around him. The king learned that a wise healer lived in the capital. He ordered her to be brought to the palace and began to ask how to tame the zealous horse.
- Order, sir, your boyars to weave a rope out of sand and let them hobble the horse with this rope. He will become meek, like a lamb.
The Tsar scratched his head and called the boyars.
“Hey, boyars,” he shouted, “listen to my order; so that tomorrow morning I will have a rope made of sand! If you come to the palace without a rope, I will blow your heads off your shoulders!
The boyars dispersed, hanging their heads. It never occurred to any of them how to weave a rope out of sand. And among the boyars there was one who saved the life of his father. He came home, thoughtful and sad, so the old man asked him.
- Why are you so gloomy, son? The boyar told him about the royal order.
“It’s easy to help your grief,” said the old man. “Tomorrow morning, when you come to the palace and the king asks: “Where is the rope?”, you answer him like this: “Tsar, we are ready to weave a rope from sand, but we don’t know what it should be - thick or thin, yellow or red. Give us a sample."
The next day, the king, having heard such an intelligent answer, bowed his head and said:
“You’re right, I should give you a sample, but I have nowhere to get it from.”
And the king gave his boyars life.
That same summer there was a drought in the country. Under the rays of the scorching sun, everything burned: grass, bread, and fruits. The rivers and wells have dried up. The barns stood empty, not a single grain remained in them. People were afraid - everyone was in danger of starvation. The king thought. He called his boyars and ordered them:
- Do what you want, only if tomorrow morning you don’t tell me how to find grain for sowing, I will order your heads to be blown off your shoulders.
The boyars left, saddened; it is not an easy task to find grain. The old man saw that his son had again come from the king, blacker than a cloud, and asked what was wrong with him?
“This time, father, you won’t be able to help me either,” the boyar answered.
- Why?
- Because the king needs grain for sowing, but there is none in the whole country.
- Don't worry, son. When you come to the king tomorrow, you advise him to order the peasants to dig up all the anthills. They have a lot of grain. The ants collected it grain by grain.
And so it turned out. The peasants went out into the fields, dug up anthills and found in each a bag of selected grain. The king was very surprised at such a find.
- Tell me, who gave you this wise advice? - he asked the boyar who saved his father’s life.
“I don’t dare say it, sir, because you will destroy me.”
- I promise that not a single hair will fall from your head?
Then the boyar admitted that he was hiding his father and that his father taught him how to make a sand rope and where to find grain.
Then a new law came out: it was forbidden to offend old people, and when meeting them on the street, everyone must give way to them.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru