Prevod

There was once a poor woman who had no child of her own, and she prayed to God to let her conceive, even if she should give birth to a snake. God granted her prayer, and when her time came, she gave birth to a snake. No sooner was it born than it slipped away into the grass and vanished. The poor woman grieved for the snake and wept without ceasing: God had fulfilled her wish and given her a child, only for it to run away, leaving her with no idea where it was or how it fared. Twenty years passed in this way, and then the snake returned and spoke to its mother: "I am your little snake, the one you gave birth to, who fled from you into the grass. Now, Mother, I have come to ask you to seek the emperor's daughter for me, so that I may marry." At first the mother rejoiced to see her child, but then she began to worry: how could she, a poor woman, dare ask for the emperor's daughter on behalf of a snake? But the snake said to her again: "Go, Mother, and do not trouble yourself, for you know that every maiden's door is open to a suitor. And even if the emperor refuses you, he will not take your head. Whatever the emperor may say, do not look back on your way home until you reach our house." At last she agreed and set off to see the emperor. When she reached his palace, the servants would not let her into his presence at first, but she pleaded with them until at last they let her through. When she came before the emperor, she said: "Your Majesty! There is your sword, and here is my head. For many years I had no child of my own, and I prayed to God to let me conceive, even if I should give birth to a snake. He granted my prayer, and when my time came, a snake was born. No sooner was it born than it fled into the grass and vanished. Now, twenty years later, the snake has returned to me and sent me to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage." The emperor laughed and said: "I shall give my daughter to your son if he builds a bridge of pearls and precious stones from my palace to his." Then the mother went home without looking back, and as she walked away from the emperor's palace, a bridge of pearls and precious stones rose behind her, all the way to her own door. When the mother told the snake what the emperor had said, he answered: "Go now, Mother, and see whether the emperor will give me his daughter. Whatever his answer, do not look back on your way home until you reach our house." The mother set off once more, and when she came before the emperor, she asked whether he would now give his daughter to her son. The emperor replied: "If your son builds a palace finer than mine, I shall give him my daughter." So the mother went home, never looking back along the way, and when she arrived, there in place of her house stood a palace finer than the emperor's. When she told the snake what the emperor had said, he answered again: "Go, Mother, and see whether the emperor will now give me his daughter. Whatever he may say, do not look back after leaving him until you reach our house." When the mother came before the emperor, she told him that her son's palace was finer than his and asked whether he would give her his daughter at last. But the emperor answered: "If everything your son has in his palace is finer than what I have in mine, I shall give him my daughter." Then the mother went home without looking back along the way, and when she arrived, everything in her palace was three times finer than in the emperor's: stags, does, birds, hens, chicks, and hares, all of gold. When the mother told the snake what the emperor had said, he answered: "Go to the emperor once more, Mother, and ask whether he will now give me his daughter." When the mother went to the emperor and told him that everything in her son's palace was finer than in his own, the emperor said to his daughter: "My daughter! You must now marry this little snake, for everything he has is finer than ours." So the little snake gathered a wedding party, brought home the emperor's daughter, and married her. After some time, the snake's wife conceived. Then her mother began to question her, as did her sisters and all her family: "How did you come to be with child by a snake?" But she would not reveal her secret and kept saying: "God has granted that I should be with child." At last her mother-in-law began to question her: "My daughter-in-law, how can this be? How do you sleep with a snake?" Then she confided in her mother-in-law, saying: "Mother! He is not a snake, but a young man, as handsome as any in the world. Every evening he comes out of that snakeskin of his, and in the morning he slips back into it." When the snake's mother heard this, she was overjoyed and longed to see her son out of his snakeskin. She asked her daughter-in-law how she might see him, and the young woman replied: "When we go to bed, I shall take the key out of the door, and when he begins to undress, you will be able to see him through the keyhole." After the mother had seen her son in this way, she began to wonder how she might make him remain like that forever. One day she said to her daughter-in-law: "Come, my dear, let us burn his snakeskin. I shall heat the oven and throw it into the fire to burn." But her daughter-in-law answered:

"I am afraid, Mother, that some harm may come to him." His mother said: "No harm will come to him. When the heat begins to overcome him, take some cold water and sprinkle him with it, little by little, until the skin has burned away." And so they agreed. The mother heated the oven, and that evening, when the young man came out of his snakeskin and lay down to sleep, they managed to steal the skin and throw it into the oven. As soon as it began to burn, he was overcome by the heat, but they kept sprinkling him with water and so kept him alive. When the heat released him and he awoke, he smelled the stench of the burning skin, sprang to his feet, and cried: "What have you done? May God punish you! Where am I to go like this?" But his mother and his wife pressed him: "It is better for you to be as you are, and better for you to live among people." At last they managed to soothe him. When his father-in-law heard what had happened, he handed over the empire to him without waiting for the end of his own life. And so the young man became emperor and reigned happily for the rest of his days.