Leonti Cureraru was known as a great joker. As soon as he cracks a joke, the news about it will spread throughout the area. Two or three people will gather somewhere, talk about him, and begin endlessly going through his inventions, one worse than the other. This, for example, is also what they tell about him. Once merchants came to our village and, having finished all their business, began to look for someone to take them to the station. They came across Petrya Dudu-ka, who had a pair of nags - skin and bones - to match their miserable owner, and they agreed with him. Petry put two bags of straw in the cart instead of a seat, covered them with a zipun and off he went.
At first the road was smooth, and Petrya gallantly urged the horses on. But then, three miles from the station, a steep climb began; It used to be that a man would work and shout a lot until he got to the top.
At the foot of the mountain, Peter stopped his horses to rest, looked at the merchants, hoping that their conscience would speak to them, but they sat there as if nothing had happened, and did not think of getting off the cart. Petrya rested his shoulder on his hand, cracked his whip and urged the horses:
- Well, horses, slowly, well, forward!
The horses are trying, exhausting themselves, pulling and pulling! - where there! The climb is painfully steep and the merchants sit in the cart as if under a spell. In the middle of the mountain, lo and behold, Leonty Kureraru appeared, going down the mountain lightly, apparently, he also took people to the station and is now returning home. As the carts drew level, Leonty reined in the horses. -Is that you, Petrya?
- I, brother Leonty.
He looked at the horses and the merchants and frowned.
- Stop, go to hell, I finally caught you! Petrya's eyes widened and he didn't understand anything.
“Yesterday, when I was climbing the mountain, in this very place, why did you whip my horses?” And are you still pretending that you don’t know anything? Now I’ll give yours a whip too.
Yes, when he started lashing, he lashed anywhere, and more and more hit the backs of the merchants.
The merchants are squirming, yelling obscenities and jumping against the carts, in all directions, and Leonty is still catching up with his whip; He whipped them for their dear souls, and then as soon as he let the horses go and flew down the mountain - only the knitting needles flashed.
The merchants no longer wanted to get into the cart, they went on foot, still swearing and spitting, and Petrya Duduka grinned and urged the horses lightly.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru