The Rogue Farmer

     Honza was strolling through an old town when he met two gloomy men in the square.
     “What happened to you that you look as if you’ve lost your bees?” he asked.
     They told him their sad story.
     A certain farmer had borrowed money from the brothers, but when it came time to repay it, he made no effort to do so. He denied everything. The brothers were miserable, while the farmer just smiled at how he had tricked them.
     “We’ll never see that money again,” the brothers lamented.
     “We’ll see about that!” said Honza. “Such a cheat needs to be properly punished.”
     “That’s easy to say, but how do you plan to do it?” asked the older brother.
     “Leave it to me!”
     He explained his plan to them, and they nodded in agreement.
     Each brother lived in a different village-the older in Upper Lower and the younger in Lower Upper. The rogue farmer owned a lonely cottage halfway between the two villages. From Lower Upper, a road led to a nearby town.
     Honza spent the night at the older brother’s house. At sunrise, he set out along the country road to the farmstead. Soon, he spotted the farmer’s house. As he approached, he began to sing loudly.
     The farmer, curious by nature, peeked out the window.
     He saw a stranger carrying a small wicker basket.
     “What do you have in that basket?” he asked.
     “A hen. I’m taking her to the market in town,” replied Honza.
     “With just one hen? That’s hardly worth the trip!”
     “One is better than none,” replied the young man.
     He had no time for idle talk and continued on his way.
     The farmer watched him mockingly.
     Instead of going to town, Honza went to the second brother. He had lunch there, and as the sun began to set, he set off back.
     He returned in good spirits, whistling a merry tune. The farmer ran out of the house, and what did he see? The young man was carrying a goose in the same basket.
     “Where did you get that goose?” he asked in surprise.
     “I traded it for the hen.”
     “That’s impossible! Tell me, who would do such a thing?”
     “It was a very respectable merchant. He couldn’t praise the trade enough!”
     The farmer was astonished. He wondered how easily this lad had come by such a bounty.
     The next day, Honza again walked past the cottage, singing a cheerful song. In his basket, he carried a plump turkey.
     When the farmer saw him, he immediately called out:
     “Where are you going with that turkey?”
     “To the market,” replied Honza.
     “You’re not going to trade it for a horse, are you?” the farmer asked slyly.
     “Maybe yes, maybe no,” Honza answered mischievously.
     The farmer couldn’t make sense of that answer.
     Before he could react, Honza disappeared over the hill.
     “What will he bring back today?” the farmer wondered.
     He was so curious he could hardly wait for the afternoon.
     At last, he saw the familiar figure. The farmer couldn’t believe his eyes. The young man was leading a shaggy sheep.
     “Where did you get that sheep?” he immediately pressed Honza.
     “I traded it at the market for the turkey.”
     “With that same merchant?”
     “Who else?” Honza replied offhandedly.
     The farmer was completely confused. First a hen for a goose, and now this!
     That night, he couldn’t sleep. He kept thinking about the previous day’s strange events.
     At dawn, he was already standing in front of the house, waiting for the young man. He soon appeared, leading a black goat on a hemp rope.
     “You’re not going to the market with that goat again, are you?”
     “I am,” replied Honza. “If you want, you can come along.”
     The farmer didn’t need to be asked twice. He joined Honza. In less than an hour, they reached the town. The marketplace was as busy as a beehive. Merchants praised their goods, bargained, and shouted over each other. Total chaos!
     “We need to find the right merchant,” Honza explained.
     They pushed through the crowd until they stood before a peculiar man. He was wrapped in a dark silk scarf-it was one of the brothers.
     “You have a fine cow,” said Honza.
     “You’ll hardly find another like her! This cow gives so much milk she could feed the whole village.”
     “Would you trade her for a goat?” Honza asked.
     The merchant exclaimed joyfully, “You read my mind! I was just about to suggest it!”
     The farmer stared, dumbfounded. He had never seen anything like it.
     The men exchanged animals, warmly said goodbye, and each went their separate ways.
     Honza proudly led the cow on a chain. The farmer could only envy him in silence.
     He couldn’t believe it.
     When they reached the farmer’s cottage, Honza said:
     “Tomorrow, you’ll go to the market yourself. Take your two cows and ask for two strong bulls in exchange. We’ll meet in front of your house in the afternoon.”
     With that, they parted. Honza continued on to the village of Upper Lower.
     Early the next morning, the farmer set out for the market, following Honza’s advice exactly. He looked for the peculiar merchant in town, but it was as if he’d vanished into thin air. So he offered his cows to other traders.
     Everyone laughed at him:
     “Who ever heard of such nonsense! Trading cows for bulls!”
    The farmer blushed with shame.
     He returned home empty-handed.
     Honza was already waiting for him.
     “Where are the bulls?” he asked, feigning surprise.
     The farmer told him everything.
     The young man listened carefully, then said:
     “There are certain rules to these trades. They can only happen between honest people!”
     The man fell silent, reflecting on his guilty conscience. He was weighed down by more than one bad deed.
     “Tomorrow, we’ll do the opposite. I’ll go to the market and you wait for me here.”
     So they agreed.
     The next day, Honza led the heifers out of the barn and headed to town with them. He didn’t take them to the market, but to the butcher. The butcher paid him a handsome sum for them.
     From town, Honza went straight to the village of Lower Upper. There, the brothers were already eagerly waiting. When he poured the money he’d earned onto the table, they couldn’t believe it. They agreed to divide the sum fairly into three equal parts.
     Honza said goodbye to the brothers, who wished him a safe journey and thanked him a hundred times over.
     Meanwhile, the farmer sat on a bench in front of his cottage, smiling blissfully. He was already looking forward to the fortune he would make from such an advantageous trade!
     Dusk fell. The first star appeared in the sky, but the young man was nowhere to be seen.
     The farmer reassured himself:
     “He must have been delayed somewhere-maybe he stopped to chat.”
     He didn’t sleep a wink all night. He waited in vain.
     In the morning, his worst fears were confirmed. The young man never appeared. He had vanished like steam above a pot. Only then did the farmer realize he had been tricked.
     “What a rascal! What a scoundrel! How could I have fallen for his tricks?” he lamented.
     But Honza didn’t hear his complaints. He was already far away, enjoying his money. He was pleased that he had righted a wrong and at the same time punished a deceitful man.
 
Translated into English by artificial intelligence.