THE JUDGMENT OF SHEMYAKA
TWO brothers once lived upon a little plot
of ground—one rich, the other poor. The
poor brother went to the rich one to beg of
him a horse that he might fetch wood from the
forest. His brother gave him the horse; but the
poor one begged of him likewise a horse-collar,
whereat the other was angry and would not give
it him. So the poor fellow in his trouble fastened
the sledge to the horse's tail and thus drove to the
forest, and got such a load of wood that the horse
had scarcely strength to draw it. When he came
home, he opened the gate, but forgot to remove
the foot-board, fastened to the side posts to keep
the snow from coming in under the door; and the
horse stumbled against the board and lost his tail.
The poor fellow took the horse back, but when his
brother saw the beast without a tail, he would not
have him, and set out to go before the judge,
Shemyaka, to make a complaint. The poor man
saw that he should fall into trouble, and the judge
would send for him: he considered for a long
while that he had nothing to give, and he followed
his brother on foot.
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