About Priest Kirila and His Worker Gavrila

Father Kiril had no luck with workers. No matter how many he hired, none stayed for more than a month. Who was to blame? The priest complained that it was the workers' fault, while the workers blamed the priest: he made them work but didn’t want to feed them properly.

Whether this was true or not, one day Father Kiril set out again to look for a new worker. He hadn’t gone far from home when he saw a young man walking toward him. The lad had a stick in his hand and a bag slung over his shoulder.

The priest stopped his horse.

"Where are you headed, lad?"

"Wherever my eyes take me."

"Why so?"

"Well, maybe someone will hire me for work."

The priest took a closer look at the passerby. "Why not hire him?" he thought. "He’s not very tall, but he’s strong and broad-shouldered."

"So, hire yourself out to me," said the priest.

"Why not? I’ll hire myself out."

"What kind of payment do you want?"

"None," replied the lad. "If I serve you for a year, I’ll give you one punch on the back and your wife one punch too. But if I don’t last the year, you’ll give me one punch on the back and kick me out. That’s all the payment."

Well, the priest really liked this worker. "What the heck," he thought to himself, "we’ll give him and his wife a couple of punches and kick him out after a month or two. But for now, since there’s no better worker, let him stay."

"Alright," said the priest. "I agree. What’s your name?"

"Gavrila."

"Well then, Gavrila, hop on the cart."

The lad climbed onto the cart, and the priest rode back home, pleased. They had gone about halfway when the horse began to tire. It was drenched in sweat, its sides heaving, unable to catch its breath.

"What’s wrong with the horse?" the priest wondered. "We’re traveling light, but it’s more exhausted than when it’s loaded."

"Seems like you’re stingy with the oats, Father," the lad chuckled.

The priest thought: maybe Gavrila was right. But what he didn’t know was that his new worker was incredibly heavy.

They finally made it home. The priest handed the worker an axe:

"Go, Gavrila, chop some firewood."

"Why do I need an axe?" the worker refused. "I can manage without it."

The priest thought: "What a fool I’ve hired this time! How can anyone chop wood without an axe?"

But Gavrila walked up to the woodpile, grabbed the largest log, swung it, and slammed it into the ground! The log shattered into tiny pieces. He struck another, and it too split into splinters.

The priest watched from the window, delighted: he had hired the perfect worker! The next morning, he sent Gavrila to the field. Gavrila hitched the horse to the plow and began plowing. The horse ran at full speed and didn’t tire at all, because the plowman himself was pushing the plow.

At noon, the priest brought him lunch.

"That’s enough plowing for now," he said to the worker. "Go and have lunch!"

Gavrila unhitched the horse and slapped it on the rump. The horse immediately collapsed to the ground on all fours.

The priest’s eyes widened:

"What’s wrong with the horse?"

"Oh, it just wanted to roll around," the worker replied.

After lunch, Gavrila said to the priest:

"Let the horse rest a bit. We’ll plow ourselves."

The priest took hold of the plow, Gavrila grabbed the beam, and off they went. The priest lifted his robes, struggling to keep up with the worker, who was setting such a pace!

They plowed and plowed until the sun set.

They returned home and went to bed. The priest boasted to his wife:

"What a worker we’ve got! You won’t find another like him. He eats whatever’s given, but he’s as strong as an ox. Today, he punched the horse on the rump, and my bay raised its hooves right up."

His wife listened and said:

"You’re a fool, Kiril. What’s there to be happy about? If the worker knocked the horse down with a punch, what will happen to us?"

"You’re right," the priest clutched his back. "I completely forgot about the agreement. What should we do, wife?"

"Here’s what we’ll do," the priest’s wife advised. "Bears have been coming to our oats. Wake him up and tell him: ‘Go, Gavrila, chase the cows out of the oats. And if you catch any, drive them home.’ Well, the bear will tear him apart there..."

The priest did just that. He woke the worker and sent him to the field to chase the cows out of the oats.

Gavrila took a whip and a rope and went. He saw bears grazing in the oats. He shouted across the field:

"Hey, hey!.."

The bears got scared and scattered. One, in its panic, charged straight at Gavrila. Gavrila grabbed it by the ears, tied it with the rope, gave it a couple of lashes with the whip, and dragged it to the priest’s yard. The bear resisted, digging its paws into the ground, and dug a whole ditch.

Somehow, Gavrila managed to drag it to the yard.

"Father, where should I put the cow?" he shouted. The priest, half-asleep, didn’t understand and replied:

"Put it in the barn!" He said this and started snoring again. Gavrila dragged the bear into the barn. The bear went wild, digging up the yard and knocking down all the posts. Gavrila barely managed to get it into the barn.

In the morning, the priest’s wife went to milk the cows, but all she found were scraps, and in the corner, the bear was snoring. She ran home, barely alive from fright.

"Send your worker to the mill at night!" she yelled at the priest. "Let the devils strangle him there..."

That evening, the priest called the worker and said:

"Tomorrow we need to make dough, but we don’t have a pinch of flour at home. Go, Gavrila, to the mill."

What could he do? As they say, when you’re hired, you’re sold. Gavrila hitched the horse, loaded the cart with grain sacks, and set off for the mill.

At that mill, devils roamed, and no one dared to grind grain there at night.

Gavrila arrived at midnight, approached the door, and shouted:

"Open up, miller!"

The devils stayed silent, wondering who should go open the door.

Then Gavrila kicked the door with such force that it flew off its hinges. The devils saw this and scattered—some into the bushes, others into the swamp...

"Hey, millers! Where are you off to?" Gavrila shouted.

He grabbed one by the scruff of the neck:
"Stop! Grind!"

The devil tried this way and that—no way to break free. Gavrila held him tightly.

He started grinding instead of the miller.

Gavrila loaded a full cart with sacks, but the flour kept spilling out of the chute.

"Well, that's enough," Gavrila said to the miller, "or the horse won't be able to pull it."

He piled the sacks of flour onto the cart, and sure enough, the horse couldn't move such a load. What to do? Gavrila grabbed the devil by the horns, hitched him to the cart, and off they went! At home, he let the devil into the barn and went to sleep.

In the morning, the priest saw the devil jumping around in the barn. The priest got scared, waved his cross, and ran to his wife.

"What should we do, mother? Even the devils couldn't take our Gavrila..."

The priest's wife threw up her hands.

"Well," she said, "there's only one thing left to do. Write him a letter and send him to the king to get us a pension for three years... And while he's on the road, we'll pack our things and move somewhere else. When Gavrila returns, we'll be gone..."

The priest did just that. He called Gavrila and said:

"Take this letter. Take the horse and cart and go to the king to get me a pension for three years."

Gavrila took the old cart used for hauling hay, hitched up a bear, with the devil as a side horse, and off he went to the king. As he rode, thunder rumbled, and dust rose in clouds.

He arrived in the capital and drove straight to the royal court. The guards got scared and reported to the king:

"Your Majesty, some unknown fellow from an unknown kingdom has arrived on a bear and a devil."

The king got scared and hid behind his throne.

"Ask him," he said, "what he wants from me."

The guards returned and asked. Gavrila pulled out the letter from his pocket and handed it to the guards. They took it back to the king.

The king didn't pay pensions to priests—priests got their pensions from the bishop. But to avoid dealing with the devil, the king counted out a thousand rubles and told the guards:

"Give this to the priest's messenger, but make sure he leaves quickly."

Gavrila received the thousand rubles, turned the cart around, and headed back. When he got home, he saw two carts in the yard, loaded with all the priest's belongings. "Aha!" thought Gavrila. "Looks like the masters are moving somewhere. Who will I work for then?"

He hid the bear and the devil in the barn, then ripped open one of the sacks on a cart, poured out the crackers, climbed inside, and lay down.

Meanwhile, the masters returned from the house. The priest sat on one cart, his wife on the other, and off they went.

Now, it should be said that the priest's wife weighed about ten poods. As soon as she sat on the sack where Gavrila was lying, the worker groaned. The priest's wife listened—something was creaking beneath her...

"Father!" she shouted to the priest. "The axle on my cart is creaking. I'm afraid it might break."

The priest came over, looked—the axle was fine, and the wheels were intact.

"It's you, mother, sitting on the crackers. That's why they're creaking."

"No, Kirila, crackers are hard, but I'm sitting on a soft sack!"

"It's the crackers, I tell you, crackers!" argued the priest. "I put them on this cart myself."

The priest's wife got up, looked into the sack, and there was their worker, Gavrila! The priest and his wife's eyes nearly popped out of their heads.

"So it's you here, Gavrila?" said the priest.

"Where else would I be?" laughed Gavrila. "Where the master goes, the worker must follow."

What could the priest do? He and his wife sat on the front cart and rode on.

And the worker followed them on the other cart.

The priest rode along, scratching his back:

"What should we do, mother? How do we get rid of Gavrila?"

"Don't worry," said the priest's wife, "we'll get rid of him! Just listen to me."

Evening came. They were passing through a nice area—a lake with steep banks and bushes.

"Let's spend the night here," said the priest's wife. "We'll sleep next to each other, and we'll put Gavrila closer to the water. As soon as he falls asleep, we'll throw him into the lake."

"Good," the priest said happily, "we'll do just that!"

But the worker heard everything—the priest was a bit hard of hearing, and his wife had spoken loudly into his ear.

The travelers stopped by the lake. They had dinner and went to sleep. The priest and his wife were exhausted from the journey and fell asleep like logs. But the worker went into the bushes, lit a fire, and sat there warming himself.

In the middle of the night, the priest's wife woke up and, still half-asleep, threw the priest into the lake. The priest splashed down like a sack and sank to the bottom...

In the morning, Gavrila prepared breakfast and woke the priest's wife:

"Time to eat, mother." The priest's wife rubbed her eyes and saw the worker Gavrila alive and well!

"Did you... come back from the other side?" she asked in amazement.

"That's right, mother, I came back," said the worker.

"Well, how was it?"

"Very good."

"And where's the priest?" the priest's wife looked around.

"He's where I was," said the worker.

"On the other side?"

"Yep. He liked it so much there that he said he'd find himself another priest's wife and never come back here."

"Another one?!" the priest's wife cried. "And what about me? No, you old devil, I'll tear out all your hair for saying such things! So, he wants another priest's wife, does he..."

And just like that, she threw herself into the lake to find Priest Kirila on the other side.

And Gavrila hitched up the horses and went on his way.

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About Priest Kirila and His Worker Gavrila

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