In ancient times, a husband and wife lived in the same village. They were great lazy people. The whole district knew about their laziness. The lazy people really wanted the house to be full of rice and corn, but they didn’t want to uproot stumps and prepare the field for sowing. The couple shunned all work and hoped that one fine day Zan Katu himself - the god of rice - would become their friend.
One day, either to appease God, or to become bored with laziness, the lazy couple and the entire village went to cut down trees and uproot stumps. The large axes that are used to cut down trees were not sharpened, and broken hoes were not repaired. They walked to work slowly. The sun had already risen high in the sky, dried all the dew on the wide palm leaves, and the lazy people had only just reached the place.
The lazy husband cut down two or three thin palm trees and felt tired. The work immediately disgusted him. He stuck his large knife into the ground, sat down on the handle, as if on a bench, and began to leisurely look around, admiring the forest and mountains. “There are so many trees around,” he thought, “to clear the field, you have to work without straightening up for many days and months.” The lazy wife noticed that her husband had sat down, she also threw the hoe aside and sat down next to him: her arms and legs were buzzing from unaccustomment, she didn’t even want to look at the hoe anymore. The couple sat for a while, unwrapped the boiled rice that they had taken with them, had a snack, washed it down with water, and went back to admiring the forest and mountains. By this time the sun was already very high: the shadow of the man seemed like a small dark spot. Suddenly the lazy man jumped to his feet and threw his knife flat on the ground.
- I came up with it! How did this not occur to me before? - he shouted.
The lazy wife gaped in surprise:
- What did you come up with? Well, tell me!
- Here's what. No matter how much you and I work, no matter how hard we bend our backs, we will never keep up with the people of our village. Let's better go home, cook a fatter chicken, get some wine, burn some incense and say a prayer to the rice god Zan Kathu.
The lazy wife liked these words.
- That's good! - she exclaimed joyfully. “Let’s run home quickly!”
Both lazy people, without saying another word, grabbed knives and hoes and ran home. The spouses are running, in a hurry, and to the side of the road fellow villagers are cutting down trees and uprooting stumps. People are having fun arguing. One venerable old man saw the lazy people and asked them:
-Where are you going in such a hurry? After all, now is the time to work. If you don’t work hard enough, there will be nothing to eat.
But the lazy husband answered:
“We have come up with a trick, venerable old man, to live without working.” Why get calluses and humps when you can fill your house with corn and rice without it?
“Here’s to working again!” the lazy wife echoed her husband. “Our bins will already be bursting with rice and corn.”
The villagers tried to reason with the loafers, but they didn’t want to listen.
They came to their hut, cooked chicken, took out wine, burned incense and began to pray to the god of rice so that he would send them a little of his bounty. Since then, they have been doing just that every day.
In Heaven, the rice god Zan Kat felt somehow uncomfortable: his nostrils were constantly tickled by the aroma of incense, the smell of wine and chicken, the silence was broken by prayers and requests coming from somewhere below. Zan Katu became very angry and decided to punish the annoying petitioners. With a cloud he descended to the ground and found himself right on the roof of the hut in which the lazy couple lived.
At this time, the lazy people tirelessly bowed and whispered prayers. Suddenly they saw that a bright light entered the hut through the roof. They raised their heads and were stunned: the god of rice himself stood right in front of them. The couple were so confused that they did not know whether to be happy or afraid. And the god of rice looked at them intently and said:
“Why do you endlessly remember my name and smell it with your incense?” I almost suffocated from them in Heaven.
The lazy couple started talking, interrupting each other:
“We prayed, O mighty god, that you would grant us corn and rice.” And so you heard our prayers and brought everything we needed. So let's hurry up, we're waiting.
Zan Katu jumped onto the floor, approached the couple and said:
- First, show me your hands!
The slackers happily rolled up their sleeves and extended their hands to the rice god. God Zan Katu carefully examined them, felt them and laughed loudly:
-Your hands are too weak and tender. Is it possible to give rice to such hands? Let your muscles first become stronger and your palms become rough with calluses. Only then will I give you rice and corn.
The loafers became sad.
“Tell me, Almighty,” they turned to the god of rice, “what should we do now?” After all, we spent everything that was in the house on sacrifices; if you don’t advise where we can get rice, we will die of hunger.
Zan Katu replied:
“Make your hands strong and your palms calloused, then everything will work out.”
- But how, oh God, can you make your hands strong and your palms calloused?
- Oh, it's quite simple. Go to the forest, clear the area, dig up the ground, plant rice, and your hands will become stronger, and calluses will appear on their own. I am ready to give as much rice and corn as possible to such hands.
With these words, Zan Katu sat down on his cloud and disappeared. The lazy people didn’t even have time to question him properly. There was nothing to do, the loafers had to get ready for work. They began to cut down trees and hoe the ground - in a word, to fulfill the order of the god of rice. On the first day, their hands were covered with abrasions and blisters. On the second day, the blisters burst, my palms burned as if from hot coals. On the third day, their whole body ached and ached from fatigue, as if from a beating. They really wanted to quit work, but as soon as they remembered the god of rice, they immediately got down to business again.
They walked day after day, month after month, and the couple worked and worked. Their knives become dull - they carefully sharpen them, if they become dull again - they sharpen them again. Gradually the couple got used to work. They inherited good land, the ears of rice grew green in their field. And when the harvest time came, the ears ripened and turned golden. The couple looked at their palms and only then saw calluses.
Soon the god of rice descended on a cloud to the couple’s hut. The owners were delighted, rolled up their sleeves and let God show their muscles and calloused palms. Zan Katu smiled and said cheerfully:
— Do you see how much rice you have in the field? This is all I gave you. Hey, rice ears, quickly go to the bins!
And the ears of rice themselves quickly ran straight to the spouses’ hut. Here only the husband and wife understood the words of the god Zan Katu: whoever works hard will receive the harvest.
This is the story they tell in the Bakhnar village.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru