Pedro di Urdimalas sat by the road under a tree and tossed a few pesos into his palms. The coins jingled sadly because there were too few of them. So Pedro was thinking about how to get more of them.
Suddenly he saw a cloud of dust on the road in the distance.
“It seems that this is what I need!” Pedro di Urdimalas was delighted.
He stuffed all his pesos into the branches of the tree and waited. Meanwhile, the cloud of dust on the road grew and grew and turned into a whole cloud. A herd of mules was moving in this cloud. They were driven by drivers, and the owner, the owner of a large ranch, rode next to him on a horse.
Pedro waited until the riders caught up with him, and began to shake the tree with all his might. The drivers and the owner even opened their mouths in surprise: gold coins fell to the ground from the tree with a clang! And Pedro calmly picked up his pesos from the ground, put them in his pocket and said:
“Well, that’s probably enough for today!” The ranch owner's eyes lit up.
- Hey, Pedro! - he shouted. “What a wonderful thing this is.” tree? Would you sell it to me?
“Really, I wouldn’t want to,” Pedro began to refuse. “I inherited this wonderful tree from my father, and it would be hard for me to part with it.” Although, on the other hand, such a tree must be protected and
, day and night, and I love to wander around the world. So if you give me the right price, I might consider it.
They began to bargain. Pedro gave in little by little, and the buyer increased little by little. Finally we made a deal. The rancher counted out a hefty sum to Pedro, who left with coins jingling in his pocket. Now they rang cheerfully, because there were many of them. And the happy owner of the precious tree ordered the drivers to carefully dig the tree out of the ground. The tree was brought to the ranch and planted in front of the house.
They sat him down and began to shake him. But no matter how much they shook, not only the peso, but not even a single centavo fell from the tree.
“Pedro probably shook all the coins, and the new ones haven’t grown yet,” the owner decided.
He waited a day, waited another, and the pesos did not fall from the tree, and that was all.
Finally the rancher realized that Pedro had deceived him. He got angry, shouted to the drivers and galloped with them after Pedro. They galloped and galloped and overtook him on the river bank.
Pedro di Urdimalas was fast asleep, and next to him stood a large bottle of wine, covered with straw.
“Hey, Pedro!” the ranch owner exclaimed when he saw this. “I swear that for the rest of your life you will never drink anything except river water!” And you’ll drink plenty of it!
Together with his drivers, he pounced on the sleeping Pedro and put him in a grain sack. The bag was tied tightly, and the rancher said:
- It's done! Now all that remains is mere trifles - throwing the bag with this deceiver into the river. So we have nowhere to rush. Let's drink the wine bought with the harvest from the wonderful tree of Pedro di Urdimalas.
The bottle went around in a circle. There was strong wine in it! When the bottle was empty, everyone wanted to sleep. They lay down on the sand and snored together.
Then Pedro pulled his sharp knife from his belt; machete and cut a small hole in the bag just to stick his hand through. And sticking his hand in, he untied the bag and climbed out of it. Then he filled the bag with horse blankets and tied it tightly again.
Another in his place would hasten to get away while his pursuers were sleeping. But Pedro di Urdimalas was not like that! He loved to bring every task to the end. Pedro hid in the bushes and began to watch what would happen next.
Soon the ranch owner and the drovers woke up. They picked up the bag and threw it into the river.
- Goodbye, Pedro! the rancher shouted. - Now you can deceive the fish at the bottom!
- Why at the bottom? - Pedro responded from the bushes. - After all, those who can be deceived are also found on land!
Hearing the voice of Pedro, whom they had just drowned, the drivers and their master were so frightened that they jumped on their horses and galloped away.
And Pedro got out of the bushes, fished out a bag of blankets and sold it at a nearby ranch.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru