The Impolite Son
Once upon a time, a man had a son. The son had grown up, but he had never once called his father "father.""Kuzma," the son would shout at his father, "go plow the field! Kuzma, go and drive the pigs into the barn!"
This hurt the father, but what could he do? He hadn't taught him better from childhood, and now it was too late...
People laughed at Kuzma's son.
"What a fool," they said. "How can one not respect their father?"
But the son didn't care. He didn't listen to his father or to anyone else.
One day, Kuzma and his son went to fetch hay. They loaded the wagons and headed home: the father on one wagon, the son on another.
They passed a smooth road and entered the forest. There, the path became bumpy and full of potholes.
The father climbed down from the hay and walked alongside the wagon, keeping an eye on it to make sure it didn't tip over. Meanwhile, the son lay on his wagon, shouting:
"Kuzma, there's a hole—steady the wagon! Kuzma, guide my horse along the edge, or the wheel will catch on a stump!"
The father ran back and forth between the wagons, struggling to keep up. But the son just mocked him:
"Good job, Kuzma! You're doing great!"
The father grew angry and stopped running to his son's wagon. In one spot, the hay wagon hit a deep pothole and tipped over...
The son fell face-first into the mud.
He got up and scolded his father:
"See what you've done, Kuzma!"
They righted the wagon and continued on their way.
The son didn't even climb back onto the hay. He walked alongside, grumbling at his father.
They reached a sharp turn. The father braced his wagon with his shoulder and maneuvered around the turn, but the son didn't want to exert himself. His wagon tipped over and pinned him underneath.
"Kuzma!" the son shouted from under the hay. "Lift the wagon!"
But the father stayed silent, as if he'd swallowed water. He pulled out his tobacco pouch and lit his pipe. "Lie there for a while, since you're so clever," he thought.
The son called and called for Kuzma, but it was as if the father had gone deaf. The son could barely breathe. Terrified, he screamed in a voice that wasn't his own:
"Father, save me!"
Kuzma was overjoyed that his son had finally called him "father." He lifted the wagon and, smiling, said to his son:
"Live long enough, brother, and you'll experience everything—even calling Kuzma 'father'!"
And from that day on, this saying became a proverb.
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