One vardapet (monk) had a servant. Whatever the vardapet asked, the servant always did the opposite. Therefore, the Vardapet was forced to give his instructions the other way around. If he wanted a servant to bring water, he would say, “Don’t bring water.”
One day the vardapet loaded his things onto a mule and went with his servant to the neighboring village. The servant was driving the mule. They reached a deep river. The mule with the burden entered the water. In the middle of the river, the burden tilted and almost fell into the water. Vardapet shouted:
- Hey, guy, tilt the burden, tilt the burden!
Vardapet knew the servant’s habits and was sure that the servant would do the opposite and even out the burden. The servant, hearing the cry of the vardapet, tilted the burden and it fell into the water.
- Hey, guy, what have you done? After all, I asked you to tilt the burden. “Holy Father, you said “tilt,” so I thought: no matter how long I eat this man’s bread, let me at least once fulfill his order exactly. As you said, that's what I did.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru