Once upon a time, across seventeen countries, there was a rich, proud, haughty (he speaks in an offensive tone - ed.) man. Once he sent his two little boys to the neighbouring village to the fair to buy themselves a flute each.
You knew that the price of a flute was four or five forints, but you gave the children eight or eight forints to buy themselves something nice.
The two boys went to the fair, proud of how much money they had, and they met others, poorer, who had only one or two forints, or even none, and just went to look around. The two boys were very proud of how much money they had.
When they got to the fair, they found the man selling the flute. The older boy asks:
- What do you charge for a flute like this?
Well, the man would have given four, but he thought he'd ask five and then let one go. He asked five forints.
The boy looked at the flute for a while and asked the man:
- Will you give it to me for eight?
The man looked wide-eyed, but quickly said:
- Give me the money!
- Will you give one to my brother for eight forints?
- Give me the money!
They gave it to him, they got the flutes and they started to blow. They went up to the other children and boasted:
- "Well, how I cheated the man," he says, "he asked for five forints, and I cheated him out of eight!
So the news got home to their father. He bowed his head, ashamed of his stupid sons. They are still alive, if they are not dead.
(Ágnes Kovács: Folk tales for kindergarten children)
