A long time ago, an old man lived in this world with an old woman and a seven-year-old son. They had all the goods - a lame white horse, three skinny black goats and an old dilapidated yurt. An old man lived in great poverty, but his son grew up dexterous and quick-witted.
One day, an official came to spend the night with the old people in the yurt. He was a man without honor or conscience, so ferocious that the whole neighborhood was afraid of him. When he entered the yurt, a seven-year-old boy was sitting on a felt mat and drinking kumiss from a large cup. The official looked at the child and laughed loudly.
- This is a cup! Not a cup, but a real deck. The boy stopped drinking and stared at the guest in surprise.
- Honorable sir, do you really have so few cattle that they can be watered from such a “deck”?
The official was embarrassed and could not find words to answer.
In the morning, when he got ready to set off, it turned out that during the night the goats had chewed the girth of his horse. The official got angry and said to the old man:
- Pay for the loss, otherwise it will be bad! The wise kid stood up for his father:
- Honorable guest! The goats chewed up your horse's girth. So make them pay.
The official remained silent, jumped on his horse and set it off at a gallop. But then the horse fell with his foot into the wormhole, and the rider flew to the ground. The official became furious and began to whip the horse with all his might.
The baby saw this and began to laugh loudly.
“What are you laughing at, stupid boy?” asked the official.
- How can I not laugh? People say: if someone is used to lying a lot, his horse will someday fall into a wormhole, and he himself will flop to the ground. That means you are a liar and a deceiver!
The official did not answer anything to the impudent words, took the horse by the bridle and trudged off on his way. So the wise kid put the official to shame.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru