In the old days, a rich peasant had a worker. He loved to play cards and was always in debt. One day, creditors waylaid him and took away the owner's buffalo, which the worker was driving into the field.
The poor fellow completely lost heart; he lay down on the edge of the field and remained motionless. “How can I show myself to the owner now?” - he thought in despair.
Two crows noticed him; they thought he was dead and wanted to peck out his eyes. But the worker contrived, grabbed one of them and angrily exclaimed:
“Did you want to taste my eyes, you wretch?” Now you will find out whether I am alive or dead!
“Let me go,” the frightened crow begged, “I will give you such a reward for this that you will not regret it!”
-Where is your reward? - said the worker. - Come on now, otherwise you’ll be finished!
The crow gave him a piece of jasper and said:
“This jasper will give you everything you want.”
“I want the master’s buffalo to come back to me,” the worker wished and held the jasper tightly in his palms.
As soon as he said this, the buffalo was already standing in front of him. Then he released the crow, drove the buffalo home and told the owner that he would no longer work for him.
Then he wished for himself a rich house, all decorated with dragons and phoenixes. Before he even had time to finish this, he looked - and in front of him was a house, exactly the way he wanted, and even full of expensive utensils.
Then the worker wanted to get a wide and convenient field for plowing. When this desire was fulfilled, he decided that he did not need anything else, and lived richly and happily.
But one day he had another desire:
“I want to have a wife,” he said, taking the jasper, “and for her to be beautiful, like a fairy who descended from heaven.”
As soon as he said this, a girl from a rich house, the most beautiful in the province, appeared and asked him to take her as his wife. They lived well for some time, but then the wife began to ask:
- After all, before you were a poor man, how did you manage to get such wealth?
Her husband honestly told her about the whole story with the crow and the magic jasper.
Having learned everything she needed, the wife planned something evil. One day, seizing a moment when her husband was not at home, she stole jasper and ran away with it to the house of her rich parents.
When the peasant realized that both his wife and the jasper had disappeared without a trace, he fell into despair and wandered wherever he could. He went into the mountains, sat there and wept bitterly.
Then Buddha appeared to him and asked why he was crying.
“I had a magic jasper, and my wife stole it,” answered the peasant. “So I sit here, mourning my grief.”
“Don’t be sad,” said the Buddha, “I will give you good advice, and you will get your property back.”
And Buddha handed him two flowers - white and red.
“Put a white flower in the door of the house where your wife fled,” he said, “and funny things will happen there.” Then you will give the inhabitants of the house to smell another flower, and they will happily return the jasper to you.
Following the Buddha's instructions, the peasant immediately went to the house of his offenders and attached a white flower to the door. An extraordinary aroma permeated the rooms; the whole family came out to see the miracle. Father, mother and daughter, pushing each other away, tried to sniff the flower as quickly as possible.
But what is it? Having sniffed, the head of the family suddenly felt that his nose had grown a good arshin. The same thing happened to his wife and daughter. Their noses drooped and began to dangle, like the trunks of elephants.
Looking at each other in despair, they began to sob. What kind of misfortune happened to them? They tried many medications, visited many doctors, but it was all in vain: their noses did not become an inch shorter.
A few days later, the peasant visited his father-in-law’s house as if nothing had happened. Seeing the long noses, he couldn't help but laugh.
“We don’t know what we did wrong and why heaven sent us such punishment,” his father-in-law and mother-in-law complained to him, bursting into tears.
“All this is because you have coveted someone else’s property,” the peasant told them. “If you return the jasper to me, I will immediately cure you.”
The old men ordered their daughter to immediately return the jasper. Having received his jasper, the peasant gave them the red flower to smell. So what? Everyone’s noses immediately took on their normal appearance, and my daughter’s nose became as beautiful as before. She obediently returned to her husband’s house and from then on was afraid to even touch the jasper.
The couple lived in peace and harmony for a long time. Their children were as beautiful as jasper, and so smart that no one could compare with them.
When the peasant finally grew old and it was time for him to die, two crows flew to his house and croaked:
- Hurry, hurry!.. Hurry, return the jasper! A dazzling light suddenly flashed in the house, and the jasper disappeared, as if it had never existed.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru