There once lived two brothers, one rich and the other poor. The rich brother, who knew that the poor brother had nothing, not even milk for his children, felt sorry for him and gave him one of his cows.
“You can pay me back, brother, by working for me,” he said.
The poor brother began working for the rich one, but when he had paid him back in full, the rich brother thought better of having given him the cow and asked for it back.
“But, brother, haven’t I worked long enough and hard enough for you!” said the poor brother.
“Call that work! Why, you did next to nothing,” the rich brother said. “I want my cow back, and that’s the end of it!”
But the poor brother hated the thought of having slaved for so long in vain and would not give up the cow. So the two of them went to see the lord and asked him to judge between them and say which of them was in the right and which in the wrong.
And the lord, who did not care to trouble himself doing it, said:
“I’m going to ask you three questions, and whoever finds the answers to them will get the cow.”
“All right, let’s hear them!” the brothers agreed.
“Here they are, then. The first question is: What is it that best fills a man’s stomach? The second is: What is it that gives him the most pleasure? And the third: What is it that travels the fastest? Now go and think it over and tomorrow you can come and give me your answers.”
Off went the brothers, and as they were on their was home the rich brother said to himself:
“What foolish questions, all three! I don’t have to think them over to know that ham is what best fills man’s stomach, that money is what gives him the best pleasure, and that the fastest runners are hunting dogs. The cow is sure to be mine!”
But the poor brother could think of nothing. He came home with hanging head and felt miserable indeed.
Now, he had a daughter named Marusya, and, seeing her father sad and woebegone, she asked him what made him so.
“I must find the answers to three questions the lord has asked, and I cannot for the life of me do it,” he told her.
“And what are those question, Father?” Marusya asked.
“The first one is: What is it that best fills a man’s stomach? The second: What is it that gives him the most pleasure? And the third: What is it that travels the fastest?”
“That’s easy! It is the earth our mother that best fills our stomachs, for it is the earth that feeds us all; it is thought that travels the fastest, for it takes us anywhere we want to go in no time at all; and it is sleep that gives us the most pleasure, for we leave even the things we most treasure for its sake.”
“You are right, daughter, and I will tell the lord what you said,” said the father.
On the following day the brothers went to see the lord who asked them if they had found the answers to his questions.
“We have!” they said.
And the rich brother, who wanted to be the first to reply and get the cow, said: “It is ham that best fills a man’s stomach and the money that gives him the most pleasure, and it is a hunting dog that travels faster than anyone.”
“No, no, you are wrong, quite wrong!” the lord told him, and, turning to the poor brother said: “Come, now, perhaps you can do better!”
“It is the earth our mother that best fills a man’s stomach, for it feeds him throughout his life,” the poor brother began.
“Right!” cried the lord. “And what is it that travels the fastest?”
“Thought, for it takes us wherever we want to go in no time at all.”
“Right! And now what is it that gives a man the most pleasure?”
“Sleep, for a man will leave everything he most treasures for its sake.”
“Right again!” said the lord. “The cow is yours! Only tell me who helped you find the answers to my questions?”
“It is my daughter Marusya.”
The lord flew into a temper. “I am a man of great wisdom, and for a common maid to pretend to know as much as I do is not to be borne!” he cried. “Be off with you now! Go home to your daughter and take with you these ten boiled eggs here. She is to put a roosting hen on them for it to hatch ten chicks out of them, to grow them to a good size and to roast three of them for my breakfast. I will be waiting for you to bring them to me as soon as I get up. And if this isn’t done, you will fare badly.”
The poor brother went home, and so said was he that the tears poured from his eyes.
“Why are you crying. Father?” Marusya asked.
“How can I help it, my child!” he said ”The lord gave me ten boiled eggs and said you were to put a roosting hen on them for it to hatch ten chicks out of them before morning, to grow them to a good size and to roast three of them for his breakfast.”
Marusya smiled. She gave him a pot of boiled porridge and said: ”Take this pot to the lord, Father, and tell him to till a plot of land and plant the porridge there, and as soon as the millet is ripe, to reap and to thresh it and have it ready for me to feed the chicks as soon as they are hatched.”
The poor brother did as his daughter told him. He brought the pot of the porridge to the lord and repeated what she said word for word.
The lord looked at the porridge, looked at it again, and then threw it to the dogs. After that he found a stalk of flax and held it out to the poor brother. “Take this stalk to your daughter,” he said, “ and tell her to soak, dry and dress it and then to make a hundred ells of cloth out of it. And if this isn’t done, you will fare badly!”
Off went the man, and the tears poured from his eyes. He cam home, and Marusya met him at the door and asked him what it was that made him weep.
“I cannot help myself, my child!” said he. “The lord gave me this stalk of flax and said that you were to soak, dry and dress it and then to make a hundred ells of cloth out of it!”
The maid heard him out in silence. She got out a knife, went outside, cut the thinnest twig she could find off a tree and gave it to her father. “Take this twig to the lord, Father,” she said, “and tell him to fashion a hackle and distaff out of it for me to spin the flax.”
The poor brother took the twig to the lord and told him what his daughter had said.
The lord looked at the twig, looked at it again, and threw it away. “The maid is not one to be easily fooled,” said he to himself.
He thought it over and said to the poor brother: “Go and tell your daughter to visit me. But she must neither walk not ride, be neither barefoot nor shod, and come neither with a gift nor without one. And if she fails to do it, you will fare badly!”
The poor brother went home, and the tears poured from his eyes.
“What are we going to do now, my child? Just see what the lord wants of you!” said he to his daughter. He told her all there was to tell, and Marusya said: “Don’t be said , Father, we will be all right. Just go and buy me a live rabbit.”
The father did as she asked and bought her a rabbit, and the girl at once prepared to set forth from home. First, she brought out a sled and harnessed a goat to it; then she caught a sparrow; after that, leaving one foot bare, she slipped a shoe on the other. This done, she put the rabbit under her arm, placed one foot in the sled, the sparrow clutched firmly in one hand, made her way to the lord’s house.
The lord saw her, and realizing that the girl had outwitted him, told his servants to set the dogs on her. But the girl let the rabbit out from under her arm, and the dogs left her alone and ran after it. She then came into the lord’s house, greeted the lord and said: “Here’s a little gift for you, Your Honor.”
She held out the sparrow to him, but before he could take it, it flapped its wings and flew out of the window!
Now, it was just then two men came to see the lord and asked him to judge between them and decide which of them was in the right and which in the wrong.
The lord came out onto the porch. “Tell me what your quarrel is about, my good men,” said he.
One of the two said: “It’s like this, Your Honor. This man and I slept out in the field, and when we got up in the morning we saw that my mare had foaled“
“That’s a lie, it was mine that had!” cried the second man.
The lord thought it over. “Bring the mares and the foal here,” he said. “The foal will run to it’s mother, and we will have our answer.”
The horses were led into the yard, and then the mares were tethered and the foal and got it so confused that instead of going to either of the mares it ran out of the yard. Nobody knew what to do and stood there gaping, and Marusya came forward and said:
“It has to be done the other way round. Leave the mares free and tether the foal, and its mother will go to it.”
They did as she said, and as soon as the mares were untied, one of them ran straight to the foal.
And the lord let the girl go home, for he knew that she was wiser than he and he would never be able to get the better of her.
