Prevod

Long ago there was a town where a woman lived. She became pregnant, and her husband died. After his death she gave birth to a son. Her husband had earned his living by setting traps, catching game, and selling the meat to buy food.

In time the boy said to his mother, “Mother, we are starving.” He asked her, “Mother, what work did Father do to get food?” She told him, “Your father used to set traps, and that was how he got food.” “Then I too shall set traps,” he said, “so that I may catch game for us to sell and buy food.”

He spent the whole day cutting branches from trees. On the second day he spent the whole day fashioning traps. On the third day he spent the whole day preparing the pegs. On the fourth day he spent the whole day putting the traps in place. On the fifth day he spent the whole day setting them. On the sixth day he went to inspect his traps, took out the animals he had caught, slaughtered them, and carried the meat into town, where it was sold for grain. Their houses were filled to overflowing with food, and they lived at ease.

In time he went to inspect his traps and found nothing. On the first day that he went back to them, a monkey had been caught. He was about to kill it, but the monkey said, “Son of Adam, do not kill me. Come and release me from this trap. Save me from the rain, and one day I shall save you from the sun.” When he had freed the monkey, it said, “I give you this warning: man is not good. Do not show him kindness, for if you do, tomorrow he will repay you with evil.”

The next day he came to inspect his traps and found a snake caught in one. He ran off to call people from the town. The snake said, “Come back, son of Adam! Do not run to town. Do not call people to come and kill me. Help me out of this trap, and tomorrow I shall come to help you. But never do a kindness to a man.”

On the third day he went to inspect his traps, and when he reached them he found a lion caught in one. When the man who owned the traps saw the old lion caught there, he ran off to call people to come and kill it. The lion said to him, “No! Save me from the rain, and one day I shall save you from the sun.” But when he had freed it from the trap, the lion said, “Son of Adam, you have helped me and shown me kindness. Yet heed this warning I give you: never do a kindness to a man.” Another day a man was caught in a trap, and the owner of the trap released him.

In time the young man’s stores of grain ran out in every house, and he and his mother were overtaken by hunger. He said to his mother, “Mother, make me seven loaves.” When she had made the seven loaves, he took his bow and went into the forest to hunt game. He lost his way, and ate six of the loaves, leaving only one.

With that one loaf remaining, he went on into the depths of the forest and the vast wilderness, until he met the monkey. The monkey asked after him, saying, “Son of Adam, where are you going?” He replied, “I have lost my way.” It said, “Set your heart at rest here. Today I shall repay the kindness you showed me the other day, when you freed me from the trap. Rest here and wait for me.”

The monkey went to people’s fields and stole ripe papayas and ripe bananas. It brought them to the man and said, “Take this food, these bananas and papayas,” and gave them to him. Then it asked, “What else would you like? Do you want water?” It went and stole a gourd of water and gave it to the man, who drank. When he had finished drinking, they took leave of one another. “Farewell,” they said. “Farewell, until we meet again.” And he went on his way.

Farther on he met the lion. The lion said to him, “Where have you come from, son of Adam?” The man told the lion, “I have lost my way.” The lion said, “Sit down here, so that I may repay the kindness you showed me the other day. You helped me, and now let me help you. Sit here a while.” The man rested and waited for the lion. The lion went and caught some game and brought it to him, saying, “You have lost your way. Eat this food, so that I may repay your kindness of the other day.” It gave him meat and a fire to roast it over. He roasted the meat and ate. When he had finished eating, he put his trust in God and went on his way.

As he went on, he came to a farm where there was a very old woman. Someone came up to him there and said, “In our town there is a sick person. If you know how to prepare medicine, we would like you to come and treat them.” He said, “I do not know how to prepare medicine.”

Presently, along the road, he saw a bucket, with a well nearby. He said, “Let me go and drink some water at that well.” He reached the well and saw the bucket lying on its side. He said, “Let me look into this well, so that I may get some water to drink.” When he peered into it, he saw a great snake. It said to him, “Son of Adam, wait for me a moment.” The snake came out of the well and said, “Son of Adam, where are you going? Do you recognize me?” He said, “I do not know you.” It told him, “I am the one you freed from your trap. I said to you, ‘Save me from the rain, and one day I shall save you from the sun.’ You are a stranger where you are going, so bring me your bag, and let me put some things in it that will be of use to you there.” He handed over the bag, and the snake filled it with gold and silver necklaces. It said, “Take it, a full bag, and make use of what is in it.”

When he reached the town to which he was travelling, the first person he met was the man who had been caught in his trap. The man took his bag and carried it home with him. When his wife saw the stranger, she made porridge, saying, “I am cooking for our guest.”

The man whom he had freed from the trap went to the Sultan of that town and said, “Sultan, do not imagine that the stranger who has come to my house is a human being. He is the snake that lives in the well. You thought it was a snake, but it is no snake: it is this very man who turns himself into one. So, Sultan, send someone to fetch him and his bag. I have seen gold and silver necklaces in it.”

Someone was sent to fetch the stranger and brought him back with his bag. The bag was opened, and many people identified ornaments belonging to the Sultan’s child. They also identified ornaments belonging to the Vizier’s children and to people of the town. Then the young man’s hands were bound behind his back with a rope.

The great snake came out of the well and made its way to the town. It went through the town and stopped where the man was being held. The townspeople were thrown into alarm and said to the man, “Speak to this snake, and go on your way.” The snake came nearer. The people untied the man’s hands from behind his back. Then the snake returned to its well, saying to him, “Son of Adam, whenever anyone does you harm, call out to me, and I shall come to you at once.”

After that he was held in honour throughout the land. He was asked, “How is it that this man was your host, yet did you harm?” He told them, “The snake, the lion, and the monkey all told me that one should never do a kindness to a man, for if you show a man kindness, he will repay you with evil. That is the truth, not a lie. This man, to whom I showed kindness, has done me harm. The warning of the snake, the lion, and the monkey was true, not false.”

The Sultan asked what he meant, and he explained all that had happened. The Sultan said, “This man deserves to be put into a matting sack and cast into the sea, for he has no gratitude. He was shown kindness, and he has repaid it with evil.”