Once upon a time there lived two brothers. The younger brother was poor, and the older brother was rich. The elder did not want to know the younger and made friends only with rich people like him.
Every time the younger brother visited the elder, she loved to brag about her friends, saying:
“What’s the use of relatives, even your own brother?” Another thing is my faithful friends. I am sure that in difficult times only they will come to the rescue.
One day, when the younger brother left, offended by her words, the elder’s wife said:
“It seems to me that your brother is a worthy person and you are in vain to offend him.”
“Still, I prefer my friends,” the husband persisted.
“So let’s test their loyalty,” suggested the chewing
- But how to do this? - asked the husband.
“We will slaughter the goat, put it in a bag and say that this is the corpse of the person you killed.” Let's ask our friends and brother to help us hide the imaginary murder and then we will be convinced of their loyalty.
“Okay,” the husband agreed and at night he went to call his friends for help.
First he knocked on the house of his closest friend and, when he came out, he said sadly:
- A terrible misfortune happened to me. I accidentally killed a man and don’t know where to hide the corpse. Won't you help me, oh friend?
The friend began to swear that he was very ill and was unable to leave the house.
The second friend also refused to help, citing his wife’s illness. The rest of his friends simply drove him away, saying that they did not want to have anything to do with the killer. After visiting all his friends and being refused everywhere, he went to his brother.
After listening to the elder brother's story, the younger one hastily dressed and silently left the house. Entering his older brother's house, he put the sack on his back and was about to leave.
- What are you planning to do with this bag? - his wife asked his older brother.
“I want to hide it in a secluded place until morning.”
“It’s better to leave him where he is, he will be useful to us,” said the elder brother and told the whole truth.
Then the goat carcass was completely cooked and the brothers feasted all night. Although goat meat is slightly inferior to lamb, they found it very tasty that night.
Since then, the older brother abandoned his unfaithful friends and became friends with the younger brother, helping him in everything.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru