The greedy landowner Zong was famous throughout the province for his wealth. His income grew every day, but it’s never enough for a rich man. And often at night sleep escaped from the greedy Zong. Tossing and turning on his feather bed, the landowner thought all night about how he could get even more rich.
One day, when Zong fell asleep in the morning, he had a dream: he seemed to have found a way to lengthen the day by as much as six hours.
Zong woke up and began to pray to the heavenly ruler to extend the day. And he was happy in advance: after all, then the farm laborers would work for him six hours a day more than before.
The peasants heard the plea of their landowner and became sad. Of course! They already worked in Zong’s fields for at least twenty hours. Yi Zong did not allow them to straighten their backs. When one of the farm laborers wanted to rest, Zong shouted: “Work, lazy man!” You will rest when the time comes!
That is why the peasants were so frightened when they learned about Zong’s plea. They were afraid that God would hear the landowner’s request and fulfill it. It is known that the gods always live in friendship with the rich.
And then one evening a monk approached Zong’s estate. When Zong was informed of his arrival, the landowner hurried to meet him. He ordered the guest to be fed and comfortably accommodated for the night. Zong took care of the stranger because he had heard about the ability of the monks to perform miracles.
And in the morning, as soon as the monk woke up, Zong came in to him and said: “For many days and nights I pray to God for a miracle.” Can't you, worthy man, help me?
And he told the monk about his desire. To this the monk replied: “The gods heard your prayer.” Now it's all up to you. There will be as many hours in a day as you can work without resting on the field.
Zong rejoiced: “If hungry farm laborers can work for me every day for twenty hours, then once I can work for myself for thirty hours. And then there will be thirty hours in a day, and I will become richer than anyone in the world.”
That's what the greedy landowner thought.
The sun had not yet risen, and Zong was already in the field where groundnuts grew and began to dig them up. The monk followed him. For the first hour, Zong worked cheerfully and cheerfully. In the second hour I began to get tired and decided to rest for at least a minute. But the monk shouted: “Work, sloth!” You will rest when the time comes!
And the rich man, breathing heavily, continued to work. When the sun rose, the landowner was already pouring a tenth of sweat.
He didn’t even see that all his farmhands had quit their jobs and were waiting to see how the landowner’s idea would end. And this is true - not everyone is lucky enough to see how a rich man works.
Zong wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve; he wanted to ask the monk how many hours he had worked, but from fatigue he could not say a word.
And the monk shouts: “Work, sloth!” Look at the shadow: you haven’t worked even three hours.
The landowner swung his spade once or twice - and his legs began to give way. All the power must have gone into the ground. Zong fell to the ground from fatigue, but even then greed took over. He no longer had the strength to hold the spade, so he began to rake the earth with his hands. Zong peeled his hands until they bled, couldn’t stand it and asked in a barely audible voice: “How long have I worked?”
And the monk answers: “In four hours it will be noon.”
At these words the landowner lost consciousness.
They put Zong on a stretcher and carried him to the estate. Well, it’s clear that on that day no one was working in his fields. And the monk disappeared somewhere. Many farm laborers said that there was no monk. It’s just that one of the peasants changed into a monk’s dress and taught the greedy Zong a lesson.
And after that incident, when the landowner walked along the street, everyone mockingly said after him: “There goes Zong - Long Day!”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru