The story of the hound

These two hounds turned out to be my brothers. When our father died, he left three thousand gold coins to the three of us, each of whom received a thousand. With the inheritance of the thousand gold coins, I opened a shop, and my two brothers also opened their own shops.

But after a while, my eldest brother sold his store for a thousand gold coins, bought some other goods, and went abroad to do business. A year later, a beggar, unkempt, appeared in front of my store and stared at me, making me very puzzled. The beggar wept and said to me:

"Why don't you even recognize me, I'm your big brother!"

When I took a closer look, it was indeed him. I hurriedly welcomed him into the house, entertained him well, and asked him about his experience this year. With a sad face, he said to me sadly:

"Don't say anything, I've lost all the money anyway, and I'm already destitute."

I comforted him, took him to the bathhouse, took out new clothes for him to wear, and left him at home. I settled the accounts and found that in addition to the capital of a thousand gold coins, I made a profit of a thousand gold coins, and I gave him half of the profit of a thousand gold coins, and said to him:

"Take this money, just do business here honestly, and stop running around."

My eldest brother took the money and was very happy, and he used the money to open another store.

Not long after, my second brother also sold his store and goods, and used the money to buy a batch of goods to go abroad to do business. I thought what happened to my eldest brother had become a lesson, so I advised my second brother not to go outside. But he refused to listen and insisted on going. A year later, he came back like a big brother, looking embarrassed. I said to him:

"Second brother, didn't I persuade you not to go out to do business?"

He said, "Brother, it's fate against me, I've become destitute anyway."

I comforted him, took him to the bathhouse to bathe, took out new clothes for him to wear, and let him live in my house. I settled the accounts and gave half of the two thousand gold coins to my second brother, so that he could use the capital to reopen the store to do business.

After a while, my two older brothers came to me together and tried their best to encourage me to go out to do business with them, but I refused to go, and persuaded them to say:

"You both ran outside, but what happened? Even your brother lost everything. Can I make money as a younger brother?"

I did not listen to their persuasion, and continued to do business at home in peace. But they came every year to urge me to go out to do business, and I insisted on my own opinion and refused to listen. After six years of this, they repeatedly persuaded me. I kept encouraging me, and I was a little tempted. I listened to them and decided to go outside with them. But I said to them both:

"Brother, I agree to do business with you, but please tell me, how much capital do you two have on hand now?"

After I asked this question, they were dumbfounded. One by one, they shook their heads and waved their hands again, indicating that their hands were empty and there was nothing left.

I was very angry and scolded them harshly for not only eating, drinking and having fun. I was idle and squandered all my capital! I cleared my accounts and settled the cash and goods together, for a total of six thousand gold coins. This large amount became a comfort to me, but I felt that when people are rich, they should have a sum of money for emergency needs in any case. So I divided the six thousand gold coins into two and buried the three thousand gold coins deep in the hole, in case something unexpected happened, I could continue to do business when I came back. I showed the remaining three thousand gold coins in front of my brother and said:

"Here are three thousand gold coins, let's take them with us as the capital for doing business abroad."

Saying that, I distributed a thousand gold coins to each of them, and kept a thousand gold coins for myself. Then, we went to purchase the goods separately, preparing to sell them in other places.

Everything was ready. We hired a boat, loaded the goods on board, set sail, sailed through the sea for a month, came to a city, unloaded the goods, carried them into the city, and sold them for ten times the price. The goods were sold out smoothly, and we packed up and prepared to go back. Then a ragged woman came to the seaside, and when she saw me, she came up and spoke, saying:

"This gentleman, you can see at a glance that he is a good man with a good heart. You have done many good things and deserve to be rewarded."

And I said, "Kindness is what everyone should do, and I don't want to repay what I do, I just want to do good things. Save people in distress."

She said, "Look at my tattered body. Poor, I hope you can take me back and be your wife, and I promise myself that you will be kind to me, and if you are really kind and kind to me, I will definitely repay you."

Her sincere attitude and pitiful situation made me feel pity. I complied with her request, took her into the boat, gave her the best clothes to wear, gave her the best food and drink, made a comfortable bed for her, and treated her with great respect.

On the way home, my two older brothers were malevolent and jealous of my money. They were jealous that I had a wife without spending money, so they secretly planned to murder me and divide my money. So, while I was sleeping, they carried me and my wife out of the cabin and threw them into the sea.

We were thrown into the sea and our lives were at stake. At this critical moment, my wife was transformed into a beautiful fairy, and she rescued me from danger, sent me to the island, woke me up, and said to me:

"I was a fairy, and I knew that you were a man of high morals and good will. I fell in love with you at first sight, and I developed pure love. At the beginning, I disguised myself as a ragged man to meet you, and made demands on you. You do not dislike poverty and love wealth, but help others, so I will repay you and save you. As for the conspiracy against you and my two brothers, I will put them to death, because they deserve it."

Her words surprised me and valued her even more. Love. But I said to her:

"As for you to execute my two brothers, it is unnecessary."

I told her about myself and my brothers, and she became more and more angry when I heard it, saying that she wanted to fly to the boat immediately, overturn the boat, and drown them. I begged her hard, asking her to remember that we were brothers and sisters, and let them both live. She said that they must not be spared lightly.

She flew me home, and I took out the money buried deep in the hole, purchased a large number of goods, and reopened the store.

One day I came home from the store and suddenly found two hounds on a leash at home. When they saw me coming back, they wept and snuggled up to me reluctantly. My wife pointed at them and said to me:

"These two hounds were made by your two brothers. I took them to my sister and asked her to turn them into hounds. It will take ten years for them to regain their human form."

This year is the tenth year, and I brought them here today to ask her sister to turn them into people. Passing by, I met this merchant, and I stayed to see how things ended between you. This is the story of me and two hounds.

When the devil heard the story of the old man and the two hounds, he said:

"Your story is bizarre, and for your love, I forgive him a third of his sins."

At this time, the mule owner said to the devil, "The stories they tell are strange, but the stories I want to tell are even more strange than them. Please forgive this merchant's sins in my favor."

The devil said, "It depends on how you speak."