One cruel king issued the following law: kill all old people.
“Old people can neither reap, nor plow, nor cut down trees,” he said. “They just sit at home, eat bread for nothing and get underfoot.”
And so the royal executioners rolled up their sleeves and took axes in their hands. All the old people were killed. Only one old man remained on that land - the father of a certain boyar. The boyar took pity on his old father and did not hand him over to the executioners, but hid him in a hiding place and fed him there. No one knew about him, no one knew.
The cruel king had a black horse, and such a restive one that the world had never seen. Not only to drive around him, but no one dared to approach him. There lived in the royal palace one healer, a cunning woman. Once the king asked her how to ride a horse. And she answered him:
- How to get around? And order, sir, your boyars to make a lasso out of sand. If you lasso your black horse with a sand lasso, he will become humbler than a lamb.
The king summoned all the boyars and declared his will:
- Tomorrow, deliver me a lasso made of sand. And if you come to the palace without a lasso, I will kill every single one of you.
The boyars dispersed, hanging their heads. No one understood how it was possible to make a lasso out of sand. Among the boyars there was one who saved his father from execution. He returned home, and the old man asked him:
- What's wrong, son?
The boyar told what the king demands.
- That's all? - says the old man. - Well, you have nothing to be afraid of. Tomorrow morning, when you all gather in the palace, the king will ask you: “Where is the lasso?”
The son followed his father's advice. The next day the king listened to the clever excuse, bowed his head and said:
“It’s true, it’s true, I should give you a sample, but there’s nowhere to get it.”
And the king did not execute the boyars.
That summer there was a great drought, the likes of which had never happened on earth before. Everything burned out - both grass and bread. The granaries were empty, not a grain was left for seed. People were scared - they wouldn’t die of hunger! The king also has considerable concerns. He again called his boyars and ordered:
- Listen to the king's word! Tomorrow, come to the palace and report to me where to get grain for sowing. Otherwise I'll take your heads off.
The boyars who left the Tsar were not their own. What should I do? There's not a grain anywhere - even if it's a ball! And then the old man - the one who lived in the hiding place - sees that his son is spinning again. He began to question his son, and he answered him:
- Well, father, this time you won’t help me either.
- Why?
“Yes, because there is not a grain in all our land, and the tsar ordered us, the boyars, to report to him tomorrow where to find seeds for sowing.”
- Don't be afraid, son. So tomorrow you will come to the king, and you will advise him to order the peasants to dig up all the anthills that are in our kingdom. There they will find grain that was collected by ants.
The next day, the peasants dug up anthills and collected a bag of large grains from each. Then the king treated the boyar mercifully and asked:
- Tell me, who gave you such wise advice?
- I don’t dare, sir. If I tell you, you will order me to be hanged.
- Speak! Not a hair will fall from your head.
At this point the boyar admitted that he had hidden his father, and the old man taught him how to talk his way out of the sand lasso and showed him where to find the hidden grain.
And then a new law was issued: no one dares to offend old people, and when they walk down the street, everyone must give way to them.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru