An old peasant folktale

by Evelyn Witter

Folktales show patterns of feeling, thinking, and acting that are common to a social group and thus differ from country to country. This particular folktale originated centuries ago in central Czechoslovakia. Farming and crops were the peasants’ main concern. Agriculture and mistreatment by overlords were frequent themes of Czech peasant folklore.
In this folktale, a farmer’s understanding of human nature allows him to count on greed to solve a problem. This tale highlights the value of ingenuity and resourcefulness and encourages success through understanding, patience, and perseverance.

Rudolph Leopold Nickolos Lazare was known as the most honorable farmer in all of Kalare.

What happened to this farmer could hardly be believed by the good people who knew him.

They talked about how on one day Rudolph Leopold Nickolos Lazare walked into town to see the rich merchant. He wanted a loan of money until the harvest in early fall. He was very poor because the crop was ruined by hail last year.

The poor farmer worried that his wife, Wilhelmina, their baby daughter, Katrina, and their three sons (who were all named after their father) would soon have to do without the simple pleasures of life.

Just as Rudolph Leopold Nickolos Lazare put his foot upon the steps leading up to the rich man’s store, Neighbor Nicknish came running down the steps. He carried a coarsely woven sack upon his shoulders.

“Stop thief! Stop thief!” yelled the merchant from within the store. “Whoever he may be, somebody stop him!”