A long time ago, a poor man lived in the free steppe. One day he agreed with a rich man to cultivate his land for a quarter of a tithe of grain. He began to work for this rich man and worked until late autumn. When the harvest time approached, a large frost fell and froze the poor man's share of the bread. It turned out that the poor man had worked all year for nothing.
The next year he again went to the same rich man and agreed to take half a tithe for the work, but from the middle of the owner’s fields. When autumn approached, the poor man's bread froze again. But the owner’s bread survived again. And this time the poor man got nothing.
“What a miracle, why the rich man’s bread didn’t freeze, but mine did,” thought the poor man. And his chest sank with grief. He decided to find Frost the villain who was freezing his bread. For three days and three nights he sharpened his ax. Then he hit the road. He went straight to the west - to where even the deer could not reach, where even the king bird could not reach. He goes on and on, there is no end to his path. Suddenly he sees a mountain rising to the skies in front of him. He climbed this mountain and somehow reached the top. There it turned out that the place where winged animals did not fly and ungulates did not reach.
At the very top of the mountain, the poor man saw a house. He comes in, and in front of him is a silver table, on the table are all sorts of dishes. The poor man ate enough and hid under the table.
Suddenly people come in, voices are heard:
- Ai, someone ate our food!
- What smell do I hear, who could come in? - asks Frost.
- Freezing! I'll cut off your head with my ax! - the poor man answers from under the table.
- Why did you want to cut off my head? - asks Frost.
- Why did you freeze my plot of grain for two years, but didn’t freeze the rich owner’s?
- My boy, I didn’t know what I was freezing. Come out here,” says Moroz.
When the poor man crawled out from under the table, Frost sat him down at the silver table and began to treat him.
“Don’t be angry... I’ll give you something so that you won’t starve or freeze until your death,” said Frost. And he gave the poor man a bag. “You will open this bag when you need it.”
The poor man took this bag and went home. On the way he became very hungry and cold. Opened the bag. Two girls came out and placed all kinds of food in front of the poor man. After feeding him, they went into the bag again. He came home and opened the bag again. The same girls came out, threw out all the dirty, torn things from the house and filled the house with everything new and beautiful. The poor man did not need anything.
One day the owner came to him to find out why the poor man did not go to work.
“Where did you get such wealth?” he was amazed.
“Should I really be in need all my life?” the poor man answers proudly.
Envy overcame the rich man. He invites a poor man to come and treat him to meat and strong vodka. He gave the poor man something to drink and began asking questions. The poor man could not resist - he revealed his secret. Then the rich man and his wife began to drink vodka even more diligently, entertain him, and persuade him.
The poor man completely lost his mind from such honors and vowed to sell his bag. The poor man lost his magic bag and began to live his old life. He was hungry again, freezing as before, crying and grieving. And he decided to go to Frost again.
He took the ax and hit the road again. He came to the same high mountain, went into the house and began to wait for the owners.
Frost came in the evening.
“Frost, you have frozen my bread for two years and are still making me hungry and freezing,” the poor man told him.
“My friend, I gave you something that could feed and clothe you all your life.”
“The rich man deceived me and took her away.” Kill me or save me.
Then Frost gave the poor man a bag more beautiful than before.
- Give this bag to the rich man, and take yours back.
On the way, the poor man was tired and hungry. Unable to bear it, he opened the bag. Two hefty, red-faced guys came out of it and started beating the poor man.
- Here you go, here you go, here you go!
The poor man quickly closed his bag and went home.
He went to a rich man.
“Where did you come from?” he asks.
- I came to show you the bag. “It’s much better than before,” the poor man replies.
The rich man really liked the bag.
“You and I are friends, let’s change,” says the rich man and extends his hand to the bag. They exchanged bags.
The rich man decided to invite all his rich friends and began to prepare for a big feast. The guests have gathered and are sitting at the table.
- I have become even richer. Look! says the owner. He brought his bag and opened it. Two hefty guys jumped out of the bag and started beating the owner and his guests with iron sticks. They all ran away.
And the poor man, they say, lived a happy life.
And the khan decided to test her wisdom and wit. And he ordered the fattest and, as it was believed, the wisest noyon Badme to go to that girl. He mounted his fat, overfed horse, just like the owner, and boasted once again:
- The most powerful Khan! A fat horse is considered good, and a rich man is considered wise. Rely on me!
The important noyon rode for a long time across the steppe, and when he arrived at the poor shepherd’s yurt, he saw nothing to which he could tie his horse. There wasn’t even a post near the yurt - the old man lived so poorly. The noyon stomped around in one place and shouted:
- Hey, who's there in the yurt! Why tie a horse to a rich noyon?
The door of the yurt opened, and a black-haired girl with lively, sparkling eyes looked out. A sonorous voice was heard:
- If you want to tie a horse, then tie it during the summer or during the winter...
“What did you say?” the khan’s servant was dumbfounded.
- I said - tie the horse for the summer or for the winter.
Noyon Badma became furious.
- Stupid girl! Do you really think that the Khan’s noyon is more stupid than you?.. Or don’t you know that a fat horse is considered...
However, Badma never finished his favorite proverb. The nimble girl slammed the yurt door and disappeared.
“Stupid as a sheep, stupid,” thought the fat man Noyon and quickly drove his horse back to please the khan with the news that there are no smart people among the common people. And the days in the steppe were hot. The sun was burning. Badma’s overly fat, poorly ridden horse soon became limp and refused to carry his fat owner any further. In a word, not every fat horse is good... Noyon came to the palace on foot, dusty, in torn boots, but still smug and arrogant.
- Well, what interesting things did you see? - the khan asked him.
“Nothing interesting,” Badma chuckled after catching his breath, “nothing interesting.” She is stupid, the almighty khan, stupid as a sheep.
And Noyon told the khan about the conversation with the shepherd’s daughter. Khan thought for a moment and asked:
- What else did you see near their yurt?
- Nothing but a skinny cart and sleigh.
“You yourself are a fool, Badma,” the khan frowned, “summer and winter are the cart and the sleigh...” And then the khan thought that he and his stupid noyons would not reign for long over the people.
This, guys, was the case in the old days.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru