Then came the son to complain to the judge of the poor man having slain his father. The poor man again took the stone wrapped in the cloth and showed it to the judge, who thought the man must there have two hundred roubles to give to him for deciding the case. So he ordered the son to take his place upon the bridge and the poor man to stand below. Then the son was to throw himself off the bridge on to the poor man and crush him to death.
The poor brother went to the rich one to take the horse without a tail, as the judge had ordered, so that he might keep it till the tail grew. The rich man, however, was not willing to lose his horse, so he gave the poor man five roubles, three bushels of corn, and a milch-goat, and so they settled the matter.
Then the poor man went off to the son, and said—
“According to the judgment you must stand on the bridge while I must stand underneath it, and then you must jump off and crush me to death.”
Then thought the son—
“Who knows whether if I jump off the bridge I may not, instead of crushing him to death, kill myself?”
So he thought it would be best to come to an arrangement with the poor man, and he gave him two hundred roubles, a horse, and five bushels of corn.
After this the judge, Schemyaka, sent his servant to the poor man to ask him for two hundred roubles. The poor man showed him the stone, and said—
“If the judge had not decided for me I should have killed him with it.”
When the servant came back to the judge and told him that, he crossed himself—