A tale about a priest and his worker Balda (Pushkin). The Tale of the Priest and His Worker, Balda Analysis of the “Tale of the Priest and his Worker, Balda”

Once upon a time there was a priest,
Thick forehead.
Pop went to the market
View some products.
Balda meets him
He goes without knowing where.
“Why, dad, did you get up so early?
What are you asking for?”
The priest answered him: “I need a worker:
Cook, groom and carpenter.
Where can I find one like this?
Isn’t the servant too expensive?”
Balda says: “I will serve you gloriously,
Diligently and very efficiently,
In a year, for three clicks on your forehead,
Give me some boiled spelt.”
The priest became thoughtful,
He began to scratch his forehead.
Click to click, it's like roses.
Yes, he hoped for Russian maybe.
Pop says to Balda: “Okay.
It won't be difficult for both of us.
Live in my yard
Show your zeal and agility."
Balda lives in the priest's house,
He sleeps on the straw,
Eats for four
Works for seven;
Everything dances with him until daylight,
The horse will be harnessed, the strip will be plowed,
He will flood the oven, prepare everything, buy it,
He'll bake the egg and peel it off himself.
Popadya can't boast about Balda enough,
Popovna is only sad about Balda,
Popenok calls him father;
He makes porridge and looks after the child.
Only the priest doesn’t like Balda,
He will never take a liking to him,
He often thinks about retribution;
Time passes, and the deadline is approaching.
The priest neither eats nor drinks, does not sleep at night:
His forehead is cracking in advance.
Here he confesses to the priest:
“So and so: what can we do?”
The woman has a quick-witted mind,
Capable of all sorts of tricks.
Popadya says: “I know the remedy,
How to remove such a disaster from us:
Order Balda's service so that he becomes unbearable;
And demand that he fulfill it exactly.
This will save your forehead from reprisals
And you’ll send Balda away without retribution.”
The priest's heart became more cheerful,
He began to look at Balda more boldly.
So he shouts: “Come here,
My faithful worker Balda.
Listen: the devils have agreed to pay
I have a rent due upon my death;
You wouldn't need a better income,
Yes, there are arrears on them for three years.
How do you eat your spelled,
Collect a full rent from the devils for me.”
Balda, there’s no need to argue with the priest,
He went and sat down by the seashore;
There he began to twist the rope
Yes, the end of it will be wetted in the sea.
An old demon came out of the sea:
“Why did you, Balda, come to us?”
Yes, I want to wrinkle the sea with a rope,
Yes, you, damned tribe, make a face. ė
The old demon was overcome by despondency here.
“Tell me, why such disfavor?”
How for what? You don't pay rent
Don't remember the due date;
This will be fun for you,
You dogs are a great nuisance. ė
“Bastard, wait until you wrinkle the sea,
You will receive the rent in full soon.
Wait, I’ll send my grandson to you.”
Balda thinks: “It’s not easy to pull this off!”
The sent imp emerged,
He meowed like a hungry kitten:
“Hello, Balda little man;
What kind of rent do you need?
We have never heard of rent for centuries,
There was no such sadness for the devil.
Well, so be it, take it, and by agreement,
From our common verdict
So that in future there will be no grief for anyone:
Which one of us is more likely to run around the sea?
Then take the full rent for yourself,
Meanwhile, a bag will be prepared there.”
Balda laughed slyly:
“What did you make up, right?
Where can you compete with me?
With me, with Balda himself?
What an adversary they sent!
Wait for my little brother."
Balda went to the nearby forest,
I caught two bunnies and put them in a bag.
He comes to the sea again,
Finds an imp by the sea.
Balda holds one bunny by the ears:
“Dance to our balalaika:
You, little devil, are still young,
To compete with me is weak;
It would just be a waste of time.
Overtake my brother first.
One two Three! catch up."
The imp and the bunny set off:
Little imp along the seashore,
And the bunny goes home to the woods.
Behold, having run around the sea,
Sticking out his tongue, raising his muzzle,
The imp came running, gasping for breath,
All wet, wiping himself with his paw,
Thoughts: things will get better with Balda.
Lo and behold, Balda is stroking his brother,
Saying: “My beloved brother,
Tired, poor thing! rest, darling."
The imp was dumbfounded
He curled his tail and became completely subdued.
He looks sideways at his brother.
“Wait,” he says, “I’ll go get the quitrent.”
He went to his grandfather and said: “Trouble!
The smaller Balda overtook me!
The old Bes began to think.
And Balda made such a noise,
That the whole sea was confused
And it spread out in waves.
The imp came out: “That’s enough, little man,
We'll send you the entire rent
Just listen. Do you see this stick?
Choose your favorite meta.
Who will throw the stick next?
Let him take away the quitrent.
Well? Are you afraid of twisting your arms?
What are you waiting for?" Yes, I’m waiting for that cloud over there;
I'll throw your stick there,
And I’ll start a fight with you devils.”
The imp got scared and went to his grandfather,
Tell about Baldov's victory,
And Balda is making noise over the sea again
Yes, he threatens the devils with a rope.
The imp came out again: “Why are you bothering?
There will be a quitrent for you if you want...”
No, says Balda,
Now it's my turn
I will set the conditions myself,
I will give you, enemy, a task.
Let's see how strong you are.
Do you see the gray mare there?
Raise the mare,
Carry it half a mile;
If you carry the mare, the dues are already yours;
If you don't carry the mare, he'll be mine. ė
Poor devil
I crawled under the mare,
I strained,
I strained myself
He lifted the mare, took two steps,
On the third he fell and stretched his legs.
And Balda told him: “You stupid demon,
Where did you follow us?
And I couldn’t take it off with my hands,
And look, I’ll blow you between your legs.”
Balda sat astride the filly,
Yes, he rode a mile, so there was a column of dust.
The imp got scared and went to his grandfather
I went to talk about such a victory.
There is nothing to do the devils have collected the rent
Yes, they put a sack on Balda.
Balda goes, quacks,
And the priest, seeing Balda, jumps up,
Hiding behind the butt
He squirms in fear.
Balda found him here,
He gave the quitrent and began to demand payment.
Poor pop
He raised his forehead:
From the first click
The priest jumped to the ceiling;
From the second click
Lost my tongue;
And from the third click
It knocked the old man's mind out.
And Balda said reproachfully:
“You shouldn’t be chasing something cheap, priest.”

Once upon a time there was a priest,
Thick forehead.
Pop went to the market
View some products.

Some researchers suggest that the fairy tale was originally about a merchant, but, they say, for the first time the brilliant poet was let down by the muse - not finding a rhyme for the word merchant, Alexander Sergeevich chose a simpler rhyming word - “pop - oatmeal forehead.” We categorically cannot agree with the conclusions of these researchers, since even without the gift of poetry, any schoolchild can easily rhyme “merchant-bastard.” That is, the point is different: perhaps Pushkin suffered a failure when he tried to drag himself (in which he was always good at) after a young priest. But let this remain the great poet’s little secret for now.

Balda meets him
He goes without knowing where.

However, our version is confirmed. Here, without a doubt, we see a rare poetic self-portrait of the great poet, as evidenced by the words “he goes without knowing where,” since ordinary workers always went only on business, and only poets tend to wander in an unknown direction.

“Why, dad, did you get up so early?
What are you asking for?”
The priest answered him: “I need a worker:
Cook, groom and carpenter.

What we have here is a pure fairy tale on a production theme. This is also rare in Pushkin’s work. At the same time, Alexander Sergeevich already at the very beginning emphasizes the importance of the division of labor. The priest needs not just a laborer, but a specialist, and a universal one at that – at least a specialist in three professions.

Where can I find one like this?
A servant not too expensive?
Balda says: “I will serve you gloriously,
Diligently and very efficiently,
In a year, for three clicks on your forehead,
Give me some boiled spelt."
The priest became thoughtful,
He began to scratch his forehead.
Click to click, it's like roses.
Yes, he hoped for Russian maybe.

Here we see quite serious negotiations between employer and employee. Let us note that the priest did not contact a recruitment agency, which indicates his hoarding - which once again can serve as the basis for the hypothesis that the secondary goal of this fairy tale on a production theme is to make fun of the husband of a pretty priest.

Pop says to Balda: “Okay.
It won't be difficult for both of us.
Live in my yard
Show your zeal and agility."

Alexander Sergeevich was a great poet and therefore could not go against the truth - as we see, as part of the payment, Balda was also given shelter in addition to food, so the priest had greed, but it had its own reasonable measure.
Let us note here that it was Pushkin who first described the probationary period for an employee. The word “wait a while” can only mean one thing: just live for now, and we’ll see how you work.

Balda lives in the priest's house,
He sleeps on the straw,
Eats for four
Works for seven;

We know that Pushkin was close to the Decembrists and was interested in political economy (remember the lines from Eugene Onegin?). But here Alexander Sergeevich shows us something amazing.
Marx's main mistake was that he did not know the Russian language, and as a result Russia suffered under the yoke of Soviet power for more than 70 years.
As we know, Marx developed the theory of labor value, which begins with Adam Smith, adding a section on surplus value: the capitalist simply makes a profit through exploitation on the difference between what the worker pays and what the worker produces for the owner of the means of production.
However, Alexander Sergeevich, in just four brilliant lines, completely overthrows the entire theory of the German thinker (if readers who have long graduated from university are confused about who we are talking about, let me remind you that Adam Smith is considered an English economist). The priest could hire seven workers (he needed exactly that many), and each would have to be given overnight accommodation and spelled food. While the insightful path of a businessman (in the person of the anti-hero - the priest) shows that, to the grief of his competitors, he hires a worker who eats for only four, sleeps for one, and at the same time works for seven people. And this honestly earned surplus value is the payment to the businessman for his business talent.

Everything dances with him until daylight.
The horse will be harnessed, the strip will be plowed,
He will flood the oven, prepare everything, buy it,
He'll bake the egg and peel it off himself.

Here Balda's application of Frederick Taylor's principles of efficient production is clearly visible - no unnecessary movements, and in order for the muscles to rest, Balda, applying the law of diminishing returns, changes types of work. By the way, let me remind you that in Taylor’s first experiment (to increase productivity when dragging cast iron bars), they also took not the smartest person, but of great strength and endurance.

Popadya can't boast about Balda enough,
Popovna is only sad about Balda,
Popenok calls him father:
He makes porridge and looks after the child.

Let's return to our hypothesis that the brilliant poet unsuccessfully dragged himself after the priest: apparently, all his hopes completely melted away, and the great Pushkin could not resist and in these lines described ... the real age of the priest (Alexander Sergeevich pointed out that the priest already has a fairly old daughter, since she is already “sorrowing about Balda”), which is forgivable - which cannot be written in captivity of emotions.

Only the priest doesn’t like Balda,
He will never take a liking to him.
He often thinks about retribution:
Time passes, and the deadline is approaching.
The priest neither eats nor drinks, does not sleep at night:
His forehead is cracking in advance.

Everything is transparent here: services are not goods, who likes to pay for them?

Here he confesses to the priest:
“So and so: what can we do?”
The woman has a quick-witted mind,
Capable of all sorts of tricks.
Popadya says: “I know the remedy,
How to remove such a disaster from us:
Order Balda's service so that he becomes unbearable;
And demand that he fulfill it exactly.
This will save your forehead from reprisals
“You’ll send Balda away without payment.”

Here Pushkin became sober, and he decided to justify himself to the readers that he had indicated the true age of the young woman - the priest - and explained his desire for her (the young woman is smart), without failing to once again kick the priest - which he himself could not come up with, how to get rid of payment to Balda.

The priest's heart became more cheerful,
He began to look at Balda more boldly.
So he shouts: “Come here,
My faithful worker Balda.
Listen: the devils have agreed to pay
I have a rent due upon my death;
You wouldn't need a better income,
Yes, there are arrears on them for three years.
How do you eat your spelled,
Collect the full rent from the devils for me.”

Actually, this is where the central part of fairy tale therapy for top managers from Alexander Sergeevich begins.

Initiation – this is a kind of rite of passage, a transition, a procedure that has been used since time immemorial, when boys were transferred to men, girls to girls, in modern fairytale therapy for women, two more initiations are supposed - the transfer of girls to women and women to grandmothers. There are a wide variety of procedures among different peoples and tribes; you can read about this on the Internet.

The diseases that fairytale therapy deals with are mostly related precisely to the fact that the initiation process does not occur, and the patient needs to be helped to go through it (to become independent from their parents, and so on).

Well, since we are introducing a theoretical digression, there will be several links to books by specialists.

Let us recall that the outstanding Russian scientist, philologist-folklorist Vladimir Propp (Volga German by nationality) was able to unravel fairy tales: he deduced seven characters of any fairy tales (fairy tale structure), such as the hero, the sender and others, and also discovered the same type of plot: the hero of the fairy tale receives a test (sometimes there are several of them), he must complete it successfully, with magical powers helping him in this.

So, Vladimir Propp saw the unity of all fairy tales in historical roots, precisely related to initiation rites. Example: in the fairy tale “Morozko,” the father takes his daughter to the forest, she returns renewed and ready for adult life.

Practicing psychologist and fairy tale therapist Rimma Efimkina developed Propp’s theory of initiations, deducing three types of fairy tales:

1. Incomplete fairy tales, where the hero goes through one initiation.
2. Incomplete fairy tales, where the false hero goes through the second round.
3. A complete fairy tale with two initiations of the hero (heroine).

Let’s say, in the aforementioned fairy tale “Morozko”, the second round goes through a false hero - the stepmother’s daughter who does not receive gifts from Morozko. In full fairy tales (for example, “The Scarlet Flower”), the heroine not only ends up with the Beast (tests of the first initiation), but also undergoes the test of returning to him after vacation home—the second initiation.

Let us turn again to our analysis of the fairy tale by Alexander Pushkin. The sender (not to be confused with the poisoner) is a priest here, he sends Balda to be tested, and the test is difficult - you need to not only visit the devils, but also force them to pay rent.

Balda, there’s no need to argue with the priest,
He went and sat down by the seashore;
There he began to twist the rope
Yes, the end of it will be wetted in the sea.
An old demon came out of the sea:
“Why do you? Balda, did you sneak in on us?”
- “Yes, I want to wrinkle the sea with a rope
Yes, you, damned tribe, make a face.”

So, Balda begins to carry out the task given to him, and the great poet describes it in detail .

The old demon was overcome by despondency here.
“Tell me, why such disfavor?”
- “What for? You don't pay rent
Don't remember the due date;
This will be fun for us,
You dogs are a great nuisance.”
- “Baldushka, wait until you wrinkle the sea.
You will receive the rent in full soon.
Wait, I’ll send my grandson to you.”
Balda thinks: “It’s not easy to pull this off!”
The sent imp emerged,
He meowed like a hungry kitten:
“Hello, Balda little man;
What kind of rent do you need?
We have never heard of rent for centuries,
There was no such sadness for the devil.
Well, so be it - take it, and by agreement,
From our common verdict -
So that in future there will be no grief for anyone:
Which one of us is more likely to run around the sea?
Then take the full rent for yourself,
Meanwhile, a bag will be prepared there.”

So, Balda received an essentially impossible task from the priest, and now he faces the most difficult tests - only after their successful completion will the task be accepted by the sender (priest) as completed.
In accordance with the modern theory of fairy tales presented above, completing this task is a kind of initiation. Moreover, we are talking about Balda - in most dictionaries this is a synonym for a stupid person (and what smart person would work for seven, receiving food for a year only for four). It is useful for such a person to transform himself by undergoing an initiation rite.

Balda laughed slyly:
“What did you make up, right?
Where can you compete with me?
With me, with Balda himself?
What an adversary they sent!
Wait for my little brother."
Balda went to the nearby forest,
I caught two bunnies and put them in a bag.
He comes to the sea again,
Finds an imp by the sea.
Balda holds one bunny by the ears:
“Dance to our balalaika;
You, little devil, are still young,
To compete with me is weak;
It would just be a waste of time.
Overtake my brother first.

The first initiation was successfully completed when the sender's (pop) task was completed. Let me remind you that before this task, Balda himself did everything around the priest’s house. And here he hires two workers - two birds with one stone. The question is, why shouldn’t Balda run the race himself? No, he does the smart thing - he delegates the task to the hares. So, we see Balda’s successful transformation from an employee into a smart first-level manager.

One two Three! catch up."
The imp and the bunny set off:
Little imp along the seashore,
And the bunny goes home to the woods.
Behold, having run around the sea,
Sticking out his tongue, raising his muzzle,
The imp came running, gasping for breath,
All wet, wiping himself with his paw,
Thoughts: things will get better with Balda.
Lo and behold, Balda is stroking his brother,
Saying: “My beloved brother,
Tired, poor thing! rest, darling."
The imp was dumbfounded
Tucked his tail, completely subdued,
He looks sideways at his brother.
“Wait,” he says, “I’ll go get the quitrent.”

Some people think that Balda deceived the imp. Let us recall that Balda, as it turned out above, is a poetic self-portrait of Pushkin, and the nobles, as we know, will not deceive, except perhaps young women.
In fact, Balda, having undergone initiation, shows himself to be a successful manager - he uses a deep division of labor: the first hare demonstrates the ability to run, and the second works as a fashion model - this is what Balda presents to the younger imp.

He went to his grandfather and said: “Trouble!
The smaller Balda overtook me!
The old Bes began to think.
And Balda made such a noise,
That the whole sea was confused
And it spread out in waves.
The imp came out: “That’s enough, little man,
We'll send you the entire rent -
Just listen. Do you see this stick?
Choose your favorite meta.
Who will throw the stick next?
Let him take away the quitrent.
Well? Are you afraid of twisting your arms?
What are you waiting for?" - “Yes, I’m waiting for this cloud over there:
I'll throw your stick there,
And I’ll start a fight with you devils.”
The imp got scared and went to his grandfather,
Tell about Baldov's victory,

In this exercise, the second initiation begins - Balda is already showing the qualities of an entrepreneur. The fact is that an important component of entrepreneurial activity is entrepreneurial risk, and the reward for the risk will be entrepreneurial income. Both components of entrepreneurship are present here: the expected reward is a quitrent from the devils. And the risk in the second test is huge: if the imp had not “fallen” for Balda’s bluff and waited for Balda to throw the stick, the hero of the fairy tale would have had big problems competing in this competition.

And Balda is making noise over the sea again
Yes, he threatens the devils with a rope.
The imp came out again: “Why are you bothering?
There will be a quitrent for you if you want...”
“No,” says Balda, “
Now it's my turn
I will set the conditions myself,
I will give you, enemy, a task.
Let's see how strong you are.
Do you see the gray mare there?
Raise the mare,
Carry it half a mile;
If you carry the mare, the dues are already yours;
If you don’t carry the mare, he will be mine.”
Poor little devil
I crawled under the mare,
I strained,
I strained myself
He lifted the mare and took two steps.
On the third he fell and stretched his legs.

We watch with great sporting interest the competition between the stupidity of an imp to solve a problem “as told” (along the path of psychological inertia) and an entrepreneurial creative approach:

And Balda told him: “You stupid demon,
Where did you follow us?
And I couldn’t take it off with my hands,
And look, I’ll blow you between your legs.”
Balda sat astride the filly
Yes, he rode a mile, so there was a column of dust.

If it is difficult to solve the forward problem, experts in creative problem solving recommend trying to solve the inverse problem, which is what Balda showed us: it was not he who pulled the horse, but it pulled him. We can congratulate Balda on completing his second initiation - he has proven himself to be a very successful entrepreneur. An entrepreneur who is not afraid of risk, who can creatively solve complex problems, with the goal of obtaining tangible material benefits.

The imp got scared and went to his grandfather
I went to talk about such a victory.
The devils stood in a circle
There is nothing to do - we have collected the full rent
Yes, they put a sack on Balda.

Let's return to the theory of fairy tales. The hero of a fairy tale always has to face great difficulties. But in the end, magic helps him (in the person of the donor and fairy-tale helpers). For example, the fairy in the fairy tale “Cinderella”. It can be assumed that since Pushkin wrote a “production fairy tale,” there should be no magic here, and therefore we do not see the fairy-tale assistants of the fairy tale hero. In fact, there is magic, and there is also a gift: and this magic is the gift of an entrepreneur who knows how to solve creative problems that are often impossible, in the opinion of ordinary people.

Balda goes, quacks,
And the priest, seeing Balda, jumps up,
Hiding behind the butt
He squirms in fear.
Balda found him here,
He gave the quitrent and began to demand payment.
Poor pop
He raised his forehead:
From the first click
The priest jumped to the ceiling;
From the second click
Lost my pop tongue,
And from the third click
It knocked the old man's mind out.
And Balda said reproachfully:
“You shouldn’t be chasing cheapness, priest”

As we see, in the final episode of the fairy tale, the brilliant poet describes the work of a modern collection agency. It is clear that, having provided the businessman (here the priest) with a decent profit from a new line of activity (rent from the devils), the entrepreneur (Balda) counted on his entrepreneurial income. By the way, ahead of his time and the theorists of modern management, Alexander Sergeevich separates the functions of a businessman and an entrepreneur.

The question is, where is the promised fairytale therapy session for the tops?

A real top manager begins from the moment when he develops and implements the strategy of his enterprise, and strategy is entrepreneurial management.

Alexander Pushkin helps us cure a very difficult disease - the fear of a manager, accustomed to following the beaten path, to begin to apply entrepreneurial management. The metaphor of a fairy tale, without encountering psychological resistance in us, like a kind of pill, helps each of the top managers to more boldly go through this important stage of entrepreneurial initiation. First mentally, when we associate ourselves with the hero of a fairy tale, and then in our practice.

Dear tops! Take the pill from Alexander Sergeevich with a glass of plain water and you will succeed! Forward - to new heights of management art!

Balda went to the nearby forest,
I caught two bunnies and put them in a bag.
He comes to the sea again,
Finds an imp by the sea.

Balda holds one bunny by the ears:
“Dance to our balalaika;
You, little devil, are still young,
To compete with me is weak;
It would just be a waste of time.
Overtake my brother first.
One two Three! catch up."

The imp and the bunny set off:
Little imp along the seashore,
And the bunny goes home to the woods.

Behold, having run around the sea,
Sticking out his tongue, raising his muzzle,
The imp came running, gasping for breath,
All wet, wiping himself with his paw,
Thoughts: things will get better with Balda.
Lo and behold, Balda is stroking his brother,
Saying: “My beloved brother,
Tired, poor thing! rest, darling."

The imp was dumbfounded
Tucked his tail, completely subdued,
He looks sideways at his brother.
“Wait,” he says, “I’ll go get the quitrent.”
He went to his grandfather and said: “Trouble!
The smaller Balda overtook me!
The old Bes began to think.
And Balda made such a noise,
That the whole sea was confused
And it spread out in waves.
The imp came out: “That’s enough, little man,
We'll send you the entire rent -
Just listen. Do you see this stick?
Choose your favorite meta.
Who will throw the stick next?
Let him take away the quitrent.
Well? Are you afraid of twisting your arms?
What are you waiting for?" - “Yes, I’m waiting for this cloud over there:
I'll throw your stick there,
And I’ll start a fight with you devils.”
The imp got scared and went to his grandfather,
Tell about Baldov's victory,

And Balda is making noise over the sea again
Yes, he threatens the devils with a rope.
The imp came out again: “Why are you bothering?
There will be a quitrent for you if you want...”
“No,” says Balda, “
Now it's my turn
I will set the conditions myself,
I will give you, enemy, a task.
Let's see how strong you are.
Do you see the gray mare there?
Raise the mare,
Carry it half a mile;
If you carry the mare, the dues are already yours;
If you don’t carry the mare, he will be mine.”

Poor little devil
I crawled under the mare,
I strained,
I strained myself
He lifted the mare and took two steps.
On the third he fell and stretched his legs.
And Balda told him: “You stupid demon,
Where did you follow us?
And I couldn’t take it off with my hands,
And look, I’ll blow you between your legs.”
Balda sat astride the filly
Yes, he rode a mile, so there was a column of dust.
The imp got scared and went to his grandfather
I went to talk about such a victory.
The devils stood in a circle
There is nothing to do - we have collected the full rent
Yes, they put a sack on Balda.
Balda goes, quacks,
And the priest, seeing Balda, jumps up,
Hiding behind the butt
He squirms in fear.
Balda found him here,
He gave the quitrent and began to demand payment.
Poor pop
He raised his forehead:
From the first click
The priest jumped to the ceiling;
From the second click
Lost my pop tongue
And from the third click
It knocked the old man's mind out.
And Balda said reproachfully:
“You shouldn’t be chasing something cheap, priest.”

Once upon a time there was a priest,
Thick forehead.
Pop went to the market
View some products.
Balda meets him
He goes without knowing where.
“Why, dad, did you get up so early?
What are you asking for?”
The priest answered him: “I need a worker:
Cook, groom and carpenter.
Where can I find one like this?
Isn’t the servant too expensive?”
Balda says: “I will serve you gloriously,
Diligently and very efficiently,
In a year, for three clicks on your forehead,
Give me some boiled spelt.”
The priest became thoughtful,
He began to scratch his forehead.
Click to click, it's like roses.
Yes, he hoped for Russian maybe.
Pop says to Balda: “Okay.
It won't be difficult for both of us.
Live in my yard
Show your zeal and agility."
Balda lives in the priest's house,
He sleeps on the straw,

Eats for four
Works for seven;
Everything dances with him until daylight,
The horse will be harnessed, the strip will be plowed,
He will flood the oven, prepare everything, buy it,
He'll bake the egg and peel it off himself.
Popadya can't boast about Balda enough,
Popovna is only sad about Balda,
Popenok calls him father;
He makes porridge and looks after the child.
Only the priest doesn’t like Balda,
He will never take a liking to him,
He often thinks about retribution;
Time passes, and the deadline is approaching.
The priest neither eats nor drinks, does not sleep at night:
His forehead is cracking in advance.
Here he confesses to the priest:
“So and so: what can we do?”
The woman has a quick-witted mind,
Capable of all sorts of tricks.
Popadya says: “I know the remedy,
How to remove such a disaster from us:
Order Balda's service so that he becomes unbearable;
And demand that he fulfill it exactly.
This will save your forehead from reprisals
And you’ll send Balda away without retribution.”
The priest's heart became more cheerful,
He began to look at Balda more boldly.
So he shouts: “Come here,
My faithful worker Balda.
Listen: the devils have agreed to pay
I have a rent due upon my death;
You wouldn't need a better income,
Yes, there are arrears on them for three years.
How do you eat your spelled,
Collect a full rent from the devils for me.”
Balda, there’s no need to argue with the priest,
He went and sat down by the seashore;
There he began to twist the rope
Yes, the end of it will be wetted in the sea.

An old demon came out of the sea:
“Why did you, Balda, come to us?”
- Yes, I want to wrinkle the sea with a rope,
Yes, you, damned tribe, make a face. -
The old demon was overcome by despondency here.
“Tell me, why such disfavor?”
- How for what? You don't pay rent
Don't remember the due date;
This will be fun for you,
You dogs are a great nuisance. -
“Bastard, wait until you wrinkle the sea,
You will receive the rent in full soon.
Wait, I’ll send my grandson to you.”
Balda thinks: “It’s not easy to pull this off!”
The sent imp emerged,
He meowed like a hungry kitten:
“Hello, Balda little man;
What kind of rent do you need?
We have never heard of rent for centuries,
There was no such sadness for the devil.
Well, so be it - take it, and by agreement,
From our common verdict -
So that in future there will be no grief for anyone:
Which one of us is more likely to run around the sea?
Then take the full rent for yourself,
Meanwhile, a bag will be prepared there.”
Balda laughed slyly:
“What did you make up, right?
Where can you compete with me?
With me, with Balda himself?
What an adversary they sent!
Wait for my little brother."
Balda went to the nearby forest,
I caught two bunnies and put them in a bag.
He comes to the sea again,
Finds an imp by the sea.
Balda holds one bunny by the ears:
“Dance to our balalaika:
You, little devil, are still young,
To compete with me is weak;
It would just be a waste of time.

Overtake my brother first.
One two Three! catch up."
The imp and the bunny set off:
Little imp along the seashore,
And the bunny goes home to the woods.
Behold, having run around the sea,
Sticking out his tongue, raising his muzzle,
The imp came running, gasping for breath,
All wet, wiping himself with his paw,
Thoughts: things will get better with Balda.
Lo and behold, Balda is stroking his brother,
Saying: “My beloved brother,
Tired, poor thing! rest, darling."
The imp was dumbfounded
He curled his tail and became completely subdued.
He looks sideways at his brother.
“Wait,” he says, “I’ll go get the quitrent.”
He went to his grandfather and said: “Trouble!
The smaller Balda overtook me!
The old Bes began to think.
And Balda made such a noise,
That the whole sea was confused
And it spread out in waves.
The imp came out: “That’s enough, little man,
We'll send you the entire rent -

Just listen. Do you see this stick?
Choose your favorite meta.
Who will throw the stick next?
Let him take away the quitrent.
Well? Are you afraid of twisting your arms?
What are you waiting for?" - Yes, I’m waiting for this cloud over there;
I'll throw your stick there,
And I’ll start a fight with you devils.”
The imp got scared and went to his grandfather,
Tell about Baldov's victory,
And Balda is making noise over the sea again
Yes, he threatens the devils with a rope.
The imp came out again: “Why are you bothering?
There will be a quitrent for you if you want...”
- No, says Balda, -
Now it's my turn
I will set the conditions myself,
I will give you, enemy, a task.
Let's see how strong you are.
Do you see the gray mare there?
Raise the mare,
Carry it half a mile;
If you carry the mare, the dues are already yours;
If you don't carry the mare, he'll be mine. -
Poor devil
I crawled under the mare,
I strained,
I strained myself
He lifted the mare, took two steps,
On the third he fell and stretched his legs.
And Balda told him: “You stupid demon,
Where did you follow us?
And I couldn’t take it off with my hands,
And look, I’ll blow you between your legs.”
Balda sat astride the filly,
Yes, he rode a mile, so there was a column of dust.
The imp got scared and went to his grandfather
I went to talk about such a victory.
There is nothing to do - the devils have collected the quitrent
Yes, they put a sack on Balda.