In times long past, there was a young king in one city. He disliked the old people and ordered them all to be killed. Only one boy saved his old father by hiding him in a dungeon.
Soon the king of a neighboring state declared war on the young king. The young king began to gather an army. Eget, who hid his father, went down to his father’s dungeon before setting out on a campaign to say goodbye. His father admonished him with these words:
- My son, you are going to very distant places. You will suffer hardship and hunger there. It will come to the point where you will cut up all the horses and eat them. Even the commander’s horse will be slaughtered. After this you will turn back. On the way back, all the warriors will throw away the saddles and bridles taken from their horses. And don’t give up, even though it will be hard to carry. You will meet a horse of unprecedented beauty. To someone who does not have a saddle and bridle, he will not be given into your hands, but will run up to you, stop in front of you and bow his head. You put a bridle on him and take him to the commander. For this, the military leader will bring you closer to him and consider you his friend. Well, goodbye, go.
Everything happened as the old man predicted. During the campaign, the army ran out of all its food supplies, and the soldiers began to eat the meat of their horses. In the end, they slaughtered the warlord’s horse, ate it and moved back. To free themselves from the burden, the warriors threw away the saddles and bridles taken from the slaughtered horses. Only one eget, the one who remembered the words of his father, did not throw away either the saddle or the bridle.
On the way back, a horse of unprecedented beauty ran out to meet the army. Everyone rushed to catch him, but he didn’t fall into anyone’s hands. Finally, he himself ran up to the eget, who had a saddle and bridle, stopped in front of him and bowed his head. Eget put a bridle on the horse, took it to the commander and gave it to him. Since then, the eget became a friend of the military leader.
One day the king went with his army for a walk to the seashore. From the shore, the king saw something shining at the bottom of the sea. He ordered his soldiers to get what was shining from the bottom of the sea. Many warriors dived and did not emerge.
The turn of the young eget, a friend of the military leader, was approaching.
Eget quickly jumped on his horse and rode home. He went into his father’s dungeon and told him about what was happening on the seashore. The old man listened to his son and said:
“My son, there is a tall tree growing on the seashore. At the top of that tree there is a bird's nest, and in that nest lies a large diamond. The radiance from this stone is reflected on the surface of the sea and illuminates it. When it’s your turn to dive, you tell the king: “Sir, I will have to die this way and that, and therefore allow me to climb this tree and look for the last time towards my home.” The king will give you permission, and you take that stone out of the nest and give it to the king.
Eget returned to the seashore, and when it was his turn to dive, he said to the king:
“Sir, I will have to die this way and that, and therefore allow me to climb this tree and look for the last time towards my native hearth.”
The king allowed him. Eget climbed the tree; As soon as he reached the nest and grabbed a stone from there, the glow on the sea stopped, and all the people fell down. Eget came down from the tree and presented the king with a diamond.
- My friend, how did you find out about this? When we went to war, you gave the commander a horse, and now you took out and gave him a diamond,” the king was surprised.
“Oh, sir,” answered the eget: “you can say it’s scary, but you won’t say it’s hard.” Well, okay, I’ll rely on your mercy and say: I sheltered my father when you ordered to kill all the old people, and everything I did, I learned from him. Oh my lord, if you had not ordered to kill all the old people, they would have given a lot of good advice!
After this, the king ordered the old man to be released from the dungeon, began to keep him with him and showed him great honor. Then the king turned to his troops and said:
“My warriors, I made a big mistake when I ordered to kill all the old people. If they were alive, our whole city would be full of wisdom.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru