There lived three brothers. They had no property, the brothers had only three donkeys, and were in great need.
And so the elder brother decided to sell his donkey. And then - come what may! He took the donkey by the leash and went with it. He walked and walked and came to the estate of some prince. The prince saw a man with a donkey and sent his servants to ask what he needed here.
“I want to sell the donkey,” answered the elder brother. The servants returned and reported to the prince;
- This man is selling a donkey.
Then the prince called the poor man to him and said to him:
“If you can tell about what I have not seen, about what I have not heard, you will receive as much gold as your donkey and you yourself can lift; and if you can’t, I will take away your donkey.
The poor man was unable to come up with anything, and the prince took the donkey from him.
The poor man cried bitterly from insult and returned home.
Then the middle brother decided that he would not be at a loss and would be able to sell his donkey and set off on his journey.
He ended up with the same prince, but was unable to answer the prince’s questions and also lost his donkey. He cried and returned home empty-handed.
The younger one - his name was Jir - took pity on the brothers, took his donkey and went to sell it.
And Jir ended up with the same prince who robbed his brothers. The prince sat him down, twirled his mustache and said:
“I’ve already taught two fools a lesson, but here’s a third one!” Well, answer me: do you want to sell your donkey?
“I want to,” answered Jir. “That’s why I came here.”
“Okay,” said the prince. “I’ll give you as much gold for a donkey as you and your donkey can raise, and in addition I’ll give you two donkeys, which were left behind by smart people like you.” But know this: if you can’t tell me about what I didn’t see and what I didn’t hear, you will go back without a donkey and without money!
Jir immediately guessed that this was the same villain who had taken the donkeys from his brothers.
“Apparently you think that I won’t be able to do this?” - he said to the prince. - Well, listen! One day in the spring I drove the herd into the mountains, but did not bother myself much. I didn't look after the cattle so much as I spent my time hunting.
One day I got up before dawn, took a gun, a supply of bullets and gunpowder and went hunting. I climbed the rocks for a long time, but I still didn’t come across any game. Finally I got tired and decided to rest. He sat down, leaning against the cliff, put the gun between his knees and quietly dozed off. I woke up from some kind of whistle. I turned around, looked at the sky and saw that some kind of monster was flying straight at me.
Before I had time to come to my senses, the monster flew up, grabbed me with a gun and a cloak, and lifted me up so quickly that I didn’t even have time to utter a word.
We flew over the mountain range for a long time, until finally the monster landed on a high rock. At the top of this rock there was a small platform.
The monster threw me onto a bare stone, and sat down a little further away on a rock ledge, ruffled its feathers and stared at me. Frightened, I lay there and did not even dare to move. But then I imperceptibly squinted my eyes and saw that the bones of people whom the monster had apparently devoured before me were lying everywhere.
“Oh, I’m unhappy! And my bones will be added to these,” I thought, but I still pulled myself together and began to look at the monster. I decided to shoot it when it turned its head to the side.
Just at that moment the monster shook itself and looked back. I aimed my gun at his chest and fired. The bullet hit where I was aiming. The monster screamed, fell and died.
I stood up and began to examine the top of the rock. The cliffs were so steep that it was impossible to go down them... What happened next? Don't know? OK!
Far below, a mountain river sparkled and reflected the sun's rays. There are stones, cliffs all around and not a single living soul. I began to think about how I could get out of here. And finally I decided: “I’ll take off the skin with wings from the killed monster, wrap myself in it and throw myself down.” I took the noah, removed the skin from the monster and stretched it in the sun so that it dried. Then I put on the skin and started jumping up and down to learn how to fly. It didn’t come to me right away. When I learned to fly, I spread my wings and flew down. Out of fear, my soul almost flew out of my body - it’s good that it got stuck in my throat...
I flew as long as I could and finally landed on the ground. I took off the skin of the monster and trudged home. I arrived just as my family dressed in black and began to mourn me. When I began to talk about what I experienced, no one wanted to believe me, everyone took my stories as empty inventions. Then I showed the monster's feather, which I had grabbed instead of a stick. At this point everyone could only be surprised...
“What an adventure I went through! You never saw all this in your dreams!”
“Yes, I admit it,” the prince agreed.
“Now listen further,” continued Jir. One peasant had a large apiary, but it never happened that even one bee died or was lost.
One day one of the bees flew away for a bribe and did not return. The beekeeper thought: “What happened to her? Why didn't she come back? He saddled his horse and went in search.
He rode and rode, rode for a whole week, and suddenly he saw: some people were plowing the field with his bee. On one side of the drawbar they harnessed a bee, and sweat poured from it, and on the other side of the drawbar there were five pairs of buffaloes. The beekeeper scolded these people for such cruelty and heartlessness and unharnessed his bee. Then he took out some peanut butter and smeared it on her neck, which had been rubbed by the drawbar.
The next day he again passed by that place and saw a walnut tree showered with many ripe nuts. It turns out that when he smeared the bee's neck with nut oil, a few drops fell to the ground, and overnight this large tree grew. Our beekeeper picked up a lump of earth and threw it at the top of the tree to knock down a few nuts, but the lump got stuck among the dense branches; so he never ate the nuts... If you have heard about all this, then continue further,” Jir told the prince.
But the prince was forced to admit that he could not continue the story.
“And then this is what happened,” said Jir. - A light rain began to fall, and a lump of earth, thrown by the beekeeper, swelled, turned into a whole field and lay in a layer on top of the tree. The beekeeper, without hesitation, sowed wheat on it. When the wheat was ripe, he took a sickle and went to reap bread. But a pig got into the wheat. The beekeeper threw a sickle at her, the sickle hit her in the back leg and got stuck. The pig began to run around the field with a sickle; She had nowhere to run, and she reaped the wheat, and the beekeeper, barely keeping up with her, knitted sheaves. So he cleared away the entire field... Now, prince, tell me: did you have to hear about all this?
“No, I didn’t hear,” answered the prince in impotent annoyance.
“Then listen further,” said Jir. “The year before last I sowed corn at the foot of the mountain, and the corn grew so large that the stalk could withstand the weight of a man if he climbed on it. The stalks had such cobs that they could stun a bear.
But a misfortune happened to me. Every year the wild boars ate my corn and trampled it under their hooves. So I guarded the cornfield. I lit a fire near one field, and chose a place for patrol in another.
I was sitting and looking... suddenly I heard noise and crackling. Vizhug a large boar jumped out. He cut off a stalk of corn with his fangs and began to eat the cob. I aimed my shotgun at him and fired. I ran up there and looked - there was no boar. Then I remembered that when I was loading the shotgun at home, I forgot to add buckshot and loaded it with beans. Suddenly I see that the boar is climbing again. I took aim at him and shot. Is it really possible to kill a huge boar with beans? He grunted and ran into the forest.
The next year the same thing continued - again the boar came to devour my corn. One night I went to guard a cornfield. This time I managed to shoot a wild boar, although it was completely dark. When I ran up to the boar, it was already dead. But then I saw something completely unprecedented... Tell me, what did I see?... Don’t you know? OK! I’ll tell you myself: the wild boar was completely entwined with bean stalks.
This morning a neighbor came up to me. He shook his head and said: “It turns out that someone fired a shotgun at this boar not with buckshot, but with beans.”
And then I remembered that it was I who shot the boar with beans! My neighbor and I collected beans that had grown on the body of a boar, weighed them, and it turned out to be exactly half a pound... Have you ever heard of such things, prince? – asked Jir. - I haven’t heard, I’ve never heard! - the prince exclaimed with annoyance, - You won so that lightning would strike you! All red from anger and from exertion, the prince loaded Jir and his donkey with gold and gave in addition two more donkeys, which he had taken from his older brothers. The cheerful and satisfied young man went home.
But the two donkeys, who had eaten enough from the prince and became very lazy, did not at all want to return to their former owners to work until they lost strength and live from hand to mouth. And so, at the parking lot, they persuaded the third donkey to lie down on the ground with them and refuse to go further. No matter how hard Jir urged them, nothing happened: the donkeys did not even think of getting up.
“Will the donkeys really overrule me after I dealt with the prince himself?” thought Jir.
And he resorted to such a trick. He ran behind the bushes and began shouting:
- Blacksmith, blacksmith! Put the iron rod into the fire. Let it lie there until tomorrow, and then I’ll use it: I need to cheer up my donkeys.
The donkeys heard this, got scared and decided:
“We shouldn’t lie around the whole night and wait for them to whip us with a hot rod. It's better to give in! Let it be what will be!..”
They got up and left.
Jir returned to his brothers, brought them their donkeys, and also gave them a lot of gold. From that time on, they all began to live amicably, well, and no longer knew need and grief. And the tyrant prince lost his mind from frustration and soon died.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru