Ancient tales neglect petty morals. For example, in “The Thief’s Apprentice” the narrator proudly portrays a rogue and a deceiver, but both the masters of his craft and the young listeners dote on him. This is an instructive story.
The king, greatly annoyed that his coachman's son Jack was stealing everything he could from the castle, ordered his father to teach the young swindler any craft - any one he chose. But in order to earn forgiveness from the king for himself and his father, the young rogue had to, by the end of his seven years of training, master his craft in such a way as to complete any three of the king’s tasks.
Since Jack was given the choice, he followed his inclinations and settled on theft. Together with their father, they hit the road and traveled until they met a thief of thieves in a distant place. And he agreed, for a faithful seven-year friendship, to make Jack a master of his craft, like himself.
Towards the end of the seventh year, Jack returned home and his father took him to the king to be tested.
– What craft did he choose? – the king asked his father.
- Theft. Now he's a master thief!
“Well, we’ll see about that later,” said the king. “Tomorrow I am sending my faithful shepherd to Dublin to buy two dozen sheep for me.” Keep in mind that when he sets out on a journey, he does not part with a loaded musket! You must steal these sheep from him tomorrow, but in such a way as not to harm either yourself or him. Let him not even know about it. And bring the sheep to me.
That same night, Jack stole the king's shoemaker's best pair of shoes and took them with him on the Dublin road. There he climbed a hill to get a better view. As soon as he saw a shepherd returning with a flock of sheep, he threw one handsome shoe in the middle of the road, but before that he smeared it with mud to a disgrace, and he walked a little towards the castle and put the second shoe on the road, right in the very middle. Then he hid nearby.
And rest assured, when the honest shepherd reached the first shoe, he looked at it, turned the dirty shoe over with his foot, and in his heart cursed the fool who had lost or abandoned only one beautiful shoe on the road: well, who needs it if there is no pair? And he walked further with his herd until he reached the second shoe, clean and smart. When he saw him, he led his herd to the meadow, laid the musket on the ground to make it easier to run, and God bless his feet - behind the first shoe.
Meanwhile, Jack picked up his musket and drove the herd straight to the castle.
The king was very surprised.
“So far everything is going well,” he said. “But perhaps it was too simple.” So tomorrow I am sending my two most reliable plowmen on a pair of the best horses to plow the field behind the hill, which I am going to sow with wheat. I will give them muskets, and in addition I will send two armed guards with them. All four will be warned that they will pay with their heads if they overlook you and do not shoot you when you start stealing horses from them. And yet you must bring these horses here to me tomorrow evening, before dark. And if you don’t bring me or you don’t lie dead on the field, I’ll order you to be brought here and I’ll shoot you with my own hands!
Jack slept soundly and sweetly that night, at dawn he visited the hill, covered the hare in her nest, caught her and brought her home. And those four went out into the field and plowed all day, keeping an eye on everything that was happening around them. When the sun touched the ground, they began to unharness the horses to take them home, and then all four had a good laugh at both the coward Jack and the simpleton king.
- Look! Look! – one of them suddenly shouted.
A lame hare hobbled through the ditches. All four dropped everything and ran after her. But the hare turned out to be not so lame and gave a good screech. It seemed to everyone that he was about to grab her. When they finally caught her and returned to the field with victory - those were the times! - the horses were gone. And muskets too!
The king was surprised and furious when he saw Jack enter the courtyard of his castle in the evening, carrying four muskets on his shoulder and leading his horses.
“You are a dashing scoundrel,” he said. - You can’t say anything! And yet you’re not such a reckless driver that I couldn’t get around you. Tomorrow night,” he continued, “you will have your final test.” And it will be the last one in your life! When the Queen and I retire tomorrow evening, there will be six armed servants at the front doors of our castle, another six at the inner entrance, and another six at the door of our bedchamber. Everyone will have loaded muskets, which they will not dare to let go of from the very dawn until the first rooster. They will all be ordered to shoot anyone who approaches. Moreover, my wife and I will also put a loaded musket next to us. And here is your last trivial task, so that you can prove your skill: manage to steal the sheet from under us from the bed before dawn!
Shortly after midnight, the king was awakened by some noise outside the window. A little later he made out the head of a man trying to get into the room. The king took aim and fired. The scoundrel fell down and never showed up again. Then the king jumped up and went to the window. He saw his victim on the ground at the foot of the ladder and told the queen that he himself would quietly remove the corpse to avoid the noise that, of course, the investigator and the court would raise. Then he climbed out of the window and went down the stairs to bury the dead man.
A few minutes later the queen sees him climb through the window again.
“I need a sheet to wrap this scoundrel in and carry away the corpse,” he says in a whisper, pulls the sheet out from under the queen and disappears with it out the window.
Half an hour later the king returns through the window.
- Buried him?
- I buried it, thank God. Now he can no longer bother us, this rogue.
“Why didn’t you bring back our beautiful sheet?”
-What sheet? What are you talking about?
- Yes, the sheet for which you returned through the window to carry away the corpse.
- What? What? - cried the king. - Help! Help! We're on fire! They're robbing! They are killing!
Immediately the bedroom was filled with armed men. But it was too late. Fraudster Jack, a master of his craft, managed to steal a sheet from under the king and queen. And in order to wake up the king and force him to shoot, Jack raised a dead man from the royal cemetery to the window. Virtue is rewarded.
And Jack was appointed keeper of the royal castle for life.
And the narrator describes him to his listeners as an immortal hero.
In the old days they said:
A good song can be laconic.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru