About Three Bald Liars
Once upon a time, there lived three bald liars. One day, they went out walking, walked and walked, and came to a house. The house had no walls, no roof, and no doors.They lit a fire. They searched and searched and found a cauldron. The cauldron had no bottom, no handle, and no lid.
They filled the cauldron with water and went to look for food.
They walked and walked and found a dead hare.
They brought it back and started cooking it. All the meat disappeared, and only the broth remained.
They said:
"Whoever tells the best lie gets to eat."
The first one said:
"We have many sheep grazing beyond nine high mountains, and they are guarded by countless shepherds. From there, pipes are laid to our house. Through those pipes, milk, cheese, butter, and cottage cheese flow directly into our home. Everything churns itself, and all we do is eat."
The second one said:
"My father had a hundred beehives. Every day, we would walk around the hives and count the bees. One day, as I was counting, I noticed one bee was missing. I rushed to look for it. I searched and searched, and there it was, in a field. We harnessed the bee to a plow and started plowing with it. I ran home, saddled a buffalo, and rode back. I grabbed the bee by its ear to take it home, but its head came off and stayed in my hand. I took a walnut and started rubbing it against the bee's neck. An enormous walnut tree grew from its neck. Every year, we gather three cartloads of nuts from it. But then a crow got attached to the tree. I tried to shoo it away once, but it wouldn’t leave. I tried again, and it still wouldn’t leave. So I grabbed a clod of dirt and threw it at the crow. The clod got stuck in the tree, grew and grew, and turned into a whole wheat field! To this day, we plow that field, sow, reap, and gather up to two hundred carts of grain."
"That's nothing," said the third one. "Let me tell you how my father married my mother. I was even at the wedding. They invited countless guests. They cooked a feast, seated the guests, and started serving bread, but there wasn’t enough bread for half the guests. What to do? I jumped up, saddled a goose, loaded it with sacks of grain, and rode off to the mill. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a wolf appeared. It jumped on the goose and ate its entire side. What to do? I jumped down, gathered some twigs, wove a new side for the goose, mounted it again, rushed to the mill, ground the grain, loaded the flour, and raced back home in no time. We kneaded the dough, baked the bread, and before the guests could even raise their first toast, we were already serving them hot loaves. That’s how it happened."
Everyone agreed that the third liar’s tale was the best, and so he got to eat the broth without any meat.
**Feast there, famine here.
Chaff there, flour here.**
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