Once upon a time there were two thieves: one young, the other older. One day they went to wander around the world. At the first stop, it turned out that both of them, among other supplies, had half a churek with baked eggs.
“My mistress baked this churek for me,” admitted the younger thief.
- And for me - mine! - exclaimed the elder.
But when the pieces were put together, both halves came together. And the thieves realized that they had one mistress between them.
- What should we do? - said the younger thief. - After all, you can’t separate your mistress like a churek!
“Let it go to the most dexterous of us,” the elder suggested, and the younger agreed.
After their meal, they noticed a bird's nest on a tree.
“I can steal the egg without the bird noticing,” said the elder thief and climbed up the tree.
And at that time the younger one quietly took off his pants.
- Which of us is more dexterous? - asked the older thief when he climbed down from the tree and showed his friend the egg.
- Of course you are! - the younger one laughed and showed his pants
“This time you won,” the elder admitted, “but there’s still more to come!”
Soon they reached the big city and walked towards the Khan's palace. The younger thief killed the gatekeeper, cut off his head and moved into the inner chambers. The elder followed. Suddenly a lion rushed at them. The younger one put the dead man's head into the lion's mouth and killed the beast with a blow of his dagger. Then the thieves entered the kitchen, lit a fire and placed on it a butchered lamb carcass that was hanging on the wall.
“You watch the fire, I’ll be back soon,” said the younger thief and entered the khan’s bedchamber.
Here he strangled the Khan's storyteller and lay down on his bed. Soon the khan came and also lay down.
- Hey, storyteller! I can't sleep for some reason. Tell me a fairy tale,” he demanded.
- Listen, Khan. The tale will be especially interesting,” the thief answered and began to tell everything that had happened to him and his friend since they left their hometown. The thief ended the tale with the words: “in the morning the thieves left the palace safely” and asked the khan:
- Which of them is more dexterous?
“Of course, junior,” answered the khan and fell asleep.
- Did you hear what the khan said? - the younger thief shouted loudly so that the older thief could hear. “He judged us fairly.”
And the elder admitted himself defeated. Then the thieves tasted the meat of the Khan's lamb and went their separate ways: the younger one went to his hometown to marry his mistress, and the eldest one to seek his fortune elsewhere.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru