Zgodba o peričevem oslu

Besedilo

Zgodba o peričevem oslu

Once a monkey struck up a friendship with a shark. There was a great fig tree growing in deep water, with half its branches stretching over the town and half over the sea. Every day the monkey would go there to eat figs, and his friend the shark would wait beneath the tree. “Throw me some food too, my friend,” he would say. And the monkey would throw him figs, day after day and month after month.

At last, one day, the shark said to the monkey, “You have shown me so much kindness. I should like you to come home with me so that I may repay you.” The monkey answered, “How can I go? We do not go into the water; we are creatures of the land.” The shark said, “I shall carry you, and not a drop of water will touch you.” “Then let us go,” said the monkey.

They set off, and when they were halfway there, the shark said, “My friend, I must tell you the truth.” “Tell me,” said the monkey. “At the place we are going to, our Sultan is very ill, and we have been told that the cure is a monkey’s heart.” The monkey answered, “You have done wrong not to tell me while we were still back there.” “How so?” asked the shark.

The monkey thought to himself, “I am as good as dead. Now I must make up a lie; perhaps it will save me.” The shark asked, “Why have you fallen silent? Have you nothing to say?” “There is nothing I can say,” replied the monkey. “Why did you not tell me back there, so that I could bring my heart?” “Then is your heart not here?” asked the shark.

“Do you not know our ways? When we go wandering, we leave our hearts in the trees and take only our bodies with us. But you will not believe me; you will say I am afraid. So let us go on to your home, and you may slaughter me and see whether you find my heart.”

The shark believed him and said, “Let us go back now, so that you can fetch your heart.” “No,” said the monkey, “let us go on to your home.” “Let us go back first and fetch your heart,” said the shark, “and then we can set out again.”

The monkey thought, “I had better go along with him until we reach the tree. Once I am there, I shall know what to do.” So they turned back, and when they reached the tree, the monkey climbed up and said, “Wait here for me, Shark. I am going to fetch my heart, and then we can be off.”

He climbed into the tree and sat there quietly. The shark called him. He said nothing. The shark called again. “Let us go.” The monkey answered, “Go where?” “Let us go to my home.” “Are you mad?” said the monkey. “How so?” asked the shark. “Do you take me for the washerman’s donkey?” said the monkey. “What do you mean by the washerman’s donkey?” asked the shark. “That was a creature with neither a heart nor ears.” “What is the story of the washerman’s donkey?” asked the shark. “Tell me, my friend, so that I may understand.”

The monkey said, “There was a washerman who had a donkey of which he was very fond. The donkey ran away into the forest and stayed there so long that her owner, the washerman, forgot all about her. Out in the forest she grew very fat.

“One day a hare passed by and saw the donkey. His mouth watered, and he said, ‘What fat meat this is!’ He went and told the lion. Now the lion was recovering from an illness and had grown very thin. The hare said to him, ‘Tomorrow I shall bring you some meat, and we shall feast.’ ‘Very good,’ said the lion.

“The hare went off into the forest and found the donkey, who was a female. ‘I have been sent to ask for your hand in marriage,’ he told her. ‘By whom?’ she asked. ‘By the lion,’ he replied. The donkey agreed and was delighted. ‘Then let us go,’ said the hare.

“They set off and came to the lion’s home. The lion welcomed them, and they sat down. The hare winked at the lion and said, ‘Your meat has arrived, and now I am leaving.’ Then he told the donkey, ‘I am going to relieve myself. Stay here and talk with your husband.’

“The lion sprang at her, and they fought. The donkey gave him a terrible kicking, while he raked her with his claws. She knocked the lion down and fled back into the forest. When the hare returned, he asked, ‘Well, Lion, did you catch her?’ ‘No,’ he replied. ‘She kicked me and escaped. I gave her plenty of wounds, but I had no strength.’ The hare said to the lion, ‘Just be patient.’

“Many days passed. The donkey’s wounds healed, and the lion grew strong again. The hare went to the lion and asked, ‘How do you feel now? Shall I bring you your meat?’ ‘Go and bring it,’ said the lion. ‘I shall tear it in two.’

“The hare went into the forest. The donkey welcomed him and asked for news. ‘Your bridegroom is calling for you,’ he said. The donkey answered, ‘That day you took me to him, he clawed me terribly. Now I am afraid.’

“‘There is nothing to fear,’ said the hare. ‘That is simply the way lions court.’ ‘Then let us go,’ she said. They went off, and when they arrived, the lion caught sight of her, sprang upon her, and tore her in two.

“When the hare came up, the lion said, ‘Take that meat and roast it. I want nothing but the donkey’s heart and ears.’ ‘Certainly,’ said the hare. He went some distance away to roast the meat, where the lion could not see him. He took the heart and ears and ate them himself, until he was satisfied. The rest of the meat he set aside.

“The lion came and said, ‘Bring me the heart and ears.’ ‘Where are they?’ asked the hare. ‘What do you mean?’ asked the lion. ‘This is the washerman’s donkey—do you not know?’ ‘How could she have had no heart or ears?’ asked the lion. The hare replied, ‘Lion, a grown fellow like you, and you cannot understand? If this donkey had possessed a heart and ears, would she ever have come back here? The first time she came, she saw that she was going to be killed and ran away. Yet she came a second time. If she had had a heart, would she have come?’ ‘What you say is true,’ said the lion.”

Then the monkey said to the shark, “And you want to make a washerman’s donkey of me! Be off and go home. You will never catch me again, and our friendship is over. Farewell.”