One man had three sons. One day my father fell ill. He called the elder
son and said to him:
— In the yard, under a plane tree, there is a pot of gold buried. If I die, take the gold for yourself and don't tell your brothers.
Then the father called his second son to him.
“If I die,” the father said to his second son, “dig out the gold from under the plane tree and take it for yourself.”
He said the same thing to his third son.
The father was very surprised and upset that not a single son asked him to divide the gold equally between the brothers. That same night my father died.
While the older brothers were busy burying their father, the younger brother hurried to dig up the gold and hid it.
Having buried his father, the elder brother began to dig in the yard under the plane tree and look for gold, but did not find it. After the elder brother, the middle brother looked for gold under the plane tree, but also found nothing. When the eldest brother and the middle brother found out that their father had told them the same thing, they decided to ask the younger brother if he had taken the gold.
“I didn’t take gold and didn’t know anything about it,” said the younger brother. Then the brothers went to the judge to find out who dug the gold out from under the plane tree.
They walked along the road in silence.
“Look, a camel passed here, blind in one eye,” said the elder brother. “All the thorns were eaten off on one side of the road, but not on the other.”
“That’s right, a crooked camel passed here,” agreed the middle brother. “He had a jug of honey hanging on his left side, and honey dripped onto the road, so here
wasps fly. On the camel's right side there was a dish with vinegar, which spilled on the road - that's why there are midges hovering over the road.
“There was a man sitting on a camel,” said the younger brother. “He was resting here by the road.” This can be seen from the trampled grass.
The brothers fell silent again and moved on. Soon they met a crying man.
-What are you crying about? - his brothers asked.
“I lost my camel and don’t know where to look for it.”
— Is your camel crooked in one eye? - asked the older brother.
- Yes.
— Was there honey and vinegar on the camel? - asked the middle brother.
- Yes.
— Was there a man sitting on the camel? - asked the younger brother.
- Yes, yes. Where did you see my camel? - asked the delighted man.
“We haven’t seen your camel,” said the brothers.
- Well, I really can’t believe this! After all, you said everything exactly!
“We just guessed it,” said the brothers.
But the camel's owner did not believe the brothers and took them to the judge so that he could judge them.
“Okay,” said the judge, after listening to everyone, “now I’ll check whether they really didn’t see the camel, but only guessed what was on it.”
The judge went into another room, took an apple, wrapped it in a scarf and went out to the brothers:
- Well, guess what’s in my hand?
“Whatever it is, it’s round,” said the older brother.
“And something sweet,” added the middle brother.
“I would say straight out that this is an apple,” said the younger brother.
“That’s right,” said the judge. “That means they didn’t even see your camel, but only guessed that such a camel had passed along the road.”
This is how the judge decided their dispute. And the owner of the camel quickly ran to look for his crooked camel along the path indicated by the brothers.
The judge liked the brothers’ observation and he told the padishah about them.
The padishah slept poorly at night, rustling noises haunted him, and he saw enemies everywhere. He ordered the three brothers to be called and said to them:
- Guess who bothers me at night.
The eldest brother was the first to watch in the palace at night - he did not notice anything. The next night the middle brother was on guard and also did not notice anything. On the third night, the younger brother kept watch.
At midnight he stands at the head of the padishah and hears some rustling. The younger brother looked closely and saw: a huge snake was crawling up to the padishah and opening its mouth to sting him. The brave young man drew his sword and killed the snake. He put the dead snake under the bed, wiped the blood from the sword and wanted to hide it in its sheath. At that moment the padishah woke up and saw a young man standing in front of him and sheathing his sword.
“He wanted to kill me,” thought the padishah and called his servants.
“Bring me his brothers, the wazir, the courtiers and the executioner!” - ordered the padishah.
Everyone he called gathered.
- Take him and execute him, he wanted to kill me! - said the padishah, pointing to his younger brother.
“Lord, listen to me first,” cried the elder brother, “and then have him executed!”
“Speak,” said the padishah.
“Once upon a time there was a padishah,” the elder brother began his story. “He had a learned parrot, and the padishah loved him. One day the padishah approaches the cage and sees that the bird is very boring.
- What's wrong with you? - the padishah asks him.
“My daughter is getting married in a distant country, she sent for me, but I can’t fly to her wedding, that’s why I’m sad.”
“I’ll let you go to the wedding if you promise to come back.”
- I promise to return in forty days. The padishah released the parrot, and it flew away. His wazir was with the padishah, he said:
- I'm sure the parrot won't come back. Want to bet? If the parrot returns, I will fill your treasury with gold. And if the parrot does not return in forty days, I will become a padishah, and you will be my wazir.
The padishah made a bet. He loved the parrot and believed in it.
It was the fortieth day since the parrot flew away. The padishah was already afraid that he had lost. But at that hour, when exactly forty days were completed, the parrot returned to the palace. The cunning wazir was left with nothing. He hated the parrot and began to look for an opportunity to take revenge on him.
The padishah asked the parrot:
- What gift did you bring me from the wedding?
“I couldn’t bring anything big, I brought what I could,” answered the parrot and put a small seed on the padishah’s palm. “Tell him to plant it in the ground and grow it.”
By order of the padishah, the gardener planted a seed in the ground and watered it. The next day an apple tree grew out of it, a day later the tree blossomed, and soon
The apples ripened on it. The gardener picked apples from the floor of his robe and hurried to the padishah.
-Where are you running? - the Wazir asked the gardener.
“I’m bringing the padishah apples from a wonderful apple tree,” said the gardener.
“Give me the apples and go get the golden tray,” the Wazir ordered.
While the gardener was getting the tray, the wazir smeared poison on the apples. The gardener served the padishah apples on a golden tray and told him about the wonderful apple tree. The padishah took the beautiful ripe fruit in his hands and wanted to try it. The Wazir snatched the apple from him and said:
- The apple may be poisonous! Let someone else try first.
They brought a criminal from prison, gave him an apple to eat - he died immediately.
“Oh, that’s how you repaid me for my love!” - the padishah said to the parrot. “Did you want to kill me?”
And the padishah ordered to kill the parrot.
Then the padishah decided to go look at the apple tree. He ordered to call the gardener. The gardener was nowhere to be found.
“Apparently he ran away, afraid of punishment,” said the servants. The padishah ordered to call the gardener's parents. A boy and a girl about fourteen years old came running.
- We are the gardener's parents! We tried apples from a wonderful apple tree and felt rejuvenated.
The padishah was surprised. He went up to the apple tree, picked one apple and ate it. In front of everyone, the padishah began to grow younger and turned into a fourteen-year-old boy. Then the padishah realized that he had killed the parrot in vain, and took pity on his faithful friend. From that day on, the padishah began to grieve for him so much that he soon died. melancholy."
After listening to the story of his elder brother, the padishah did not understand anything, did not have mercy and ordered the execution of his younger brother.
- Lord, listen to me now! - said the middle brother. The padishah agreed to listen to him too. And the middle brother said:
“Once upon a time there lived a padishah. He had a falcon. The padishah loved the falcon very much and often went hunting with it. One day the padishah was hunting on a hot day under the burning rays of the sun and became thirsty. At this time he approached a high mountain, from which clear water was falling down in drops. The padishah was tormented by thirst, he held up his golden cup and poured half a cup of water drop by drop. But just as the padishah wanted to get drunk, his beloved falcon flew up to him, hit the bowl with its wing and spilled all the water. The padishah became angry with the falcon and again set the cup. And again the falcon spilled water when the padishah wanted to drink.
In anger, the padishah hit the falcon and killed it. He himself climbed the mountain to drink water directly from the source. But above, on the mountain, the padishah saw a huge dead snake, from whose mouth transparent poison was dripping into the spring.
The padishah understood: the falcon saved him from death twice, and in anger he killed him in vain. Since then, tormented by repentance, the padishah never went falconry again.”
After listening to his middle brother, the padishah again did not understand anything and wanted to execute his younger brother.
Then the younger brother said:
“Sir, why do you want to kill me?” Look under your bed!
Then the padishah saw a cut snake and realized that the young man had saved him from death, and had not attempted his life. Instead of gratitude for saving him, he wanted to execute an innocent man!
The padishah offered to reward the young man with whatever he wanted.
The brothers asked the padishah to resolve their dispute and told him their story.
“I am not able to resolve your dispute,” said the padishah and released the brothers. The brothers traveled around the world for a long time, but no one could guess which of them
took the gold. Finally, they were told that in one village there lived a girl who solved all the riddles. The brothers went to this girl.
- Judge us and tell us what to do! - the brothers turned to her. The girl listened to the brothers and said:
“Once upon a time there lived a poor man. He had a beautiful daughter. She fell in love with the son of a poor man like her father. But her father did not want to give his daughter in marriage to the son of a poor man. He wanted to find her a richer groom. The daughter said that she would only marry the person she loved.
The father did not believe his daughter and decided to marry her to a rich merchant. They began to celebrate the wedding. The bride took a knife and vowed to kill herself, but not to be the merchant's wife. When the merchant found out about this, he took pity on the beauty and let her go, giving her everything he had prepared for his wife. She refused the gifts and left.
When she was walking to her beloved, she was seen by a padishah passing by. The beauty of the girl amazed him. Using his power, he threatened to put her in prison if she did not marry him. But the girl said that no one in the world would force her to marry someone who was not dear to her. And the padishah let her go. As soon as the girl left the padishah, she was captured by robbers. The leader of the robbers liked her, and he decided to marry the beauty. Then the girl told him what happened to him. her and that she vowed not to marry anyone other than her beloved. The robber was touched by her fidelity and released the girl.”
Having finished her story, the girl said:
- Well, now tell me, who treated the girl best? The elder brother said:
- Merchant. Middle brother said:
- Padishah.
And the younger brother said:
“The robber did the best.”
“So it was you who took the gold,” said the girl. “Because what surprised you most of all was the kindness of the robber.”
The younger brother was amazed at her insight, confessed that he had taken the gold, and agreed to divide his father’s inheritance equally between the brothers.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru