Once upon a time, there was a man who was so poor that he did not know what he would eat in the morning, at noon or at dinner time. He didn’t own any land and slept under trees.
One day, he said to himself, “I can’t go on like this. I’m going to go to a village to see if I can find someone willing to give me a small plot of land to farm.” He set off, taking the only two things he owned: a small gourd for water and a hoe.
After walking for a long time, he was tired and wanted to rest in the shade of a tree. But when he looked around, he saw no trees or shade. His feet were burning on the hot sand. He was thirsty. He started digging with his hands, hoping to find water.
Suddenly, a snake’s head emerged from the hole, terrifying the poor man and causing him to jump back. But the snake said to him, “Don’t be afraid. I was following a mouse to its burrow, but I got lost underground. Thanks to you, I can see the light again. Why are you digging? Are you looking for treasure?”
“No, I was looking for water,” replied the unfortunate man. “If you let me go with you, I’ll help you find water,” said the snake. The poor man thought for a moment before answering. The idea of walking alongside a snake did not appeal to him. Finally, he said, “All right! We will travel together.”
Instantly, a stream of water gushed from the hot earth. The man drank his fill and filled his gourd too. At sunset, they stopped. Then they saw an elephant’s trunk peeking out from behind a tree. “Don’t be afraid,” said a high-pitched voice. “I would like to go with you. If you let me, I will give you fruit to satisfy your hunger. But first, you must help me remove a thorn that is stuck under my left eye.”
With that, the elephant knelt in front of the man. He pulled hard and removed the thorn. The elephant trumpeted with joy, picked some palm nuts with its trunk, and offered them to the two men. “All right,” said the man. “We’ll travel together.”
They set off again, and after a long time, they reached the outskirts of a village. A woman gathering firewood immediately saw them. They tried to greet her, but she dropped the firewood she was carrying and ran towards the huts as fast as she could.
She went to the village chief’s house and, with her last breath, told him what she had seen. “Impossible!” exclaimed the chief. “Never in my life have I seen a man travelling with a snake and an elephant! You must be delirious!” “Come and see for yourself,” was the woman’s only reply.
The chief could not bring himself to be as curious as a child; his dignity prevented him from doing so. Instead, he instructed an elderly man to go and verify the woman’s claims and report back to him. Less than two minutes later, the elderly man returned, followed by the three travellers and all the villagers. Obviously, the woman had not lied.
They brought his chair into the courtyard, where the chief sat down with all the solemnity that the occasion required. He had chairs brought in for the guests, but the snake and the elephant said they did not need them for personal reasons. When questioned, the man told the chief the story of his poverty and how the two animals had helped him.
The chief then said, “If you and your friends want to stay here, I will give you land to cultivate, and my servants will build you a decent home. You, who travel with animals that would never usually be together, must be a very powerful man. I will test you, and if you pass the test, I will give you my daughter as your wife.” The people applauded the chief’s discretion when they saw it.
“The test is this: here are five sacks of millet mixed with sand. By tomorrow morning, you must have separated the millet from the sand.” The poor man began to tremble with fear at the thought of accomplishing such a task. “I’ll take care of that,” whispered the snake in his ear. “I am friends with the termites because I make my nest in the ones they abandon.”
The snake summoned all the termites in the region and instructed them to separate the millet from the sand. At dawn, there were three sacks of millet and two sacks of sand in the courtyard. The chief was satisfied, but said, “That was too simple a test. Tomorrow morning, this courtyard must be full of trees, so the women in my household will never need to go out looking for firewood again.” The poor man looked at his companions. “Don’t worry,” said the elephant. “I’ll take care of it!”
In one night, the elephant uprooted and transported more than half the forest. So, the next morning, when the chief opened his window, he saw a mountain of wood instead of the sky. He sent for the poor man and his friends, saying, “Not only will I give you my daughter’s hand in marriage, but when I die, you will succeed me. And your companions will always be with you.”
But neither the elephant nor the snake wanted to stay there. “We have accompanied you this far,” they said, ‘because you helped us before. But now you have found friends, so we are leaving.” In the blink of an eye, they disappeared into the surrounding bushes. (Folktale from Asia) – (Illustration: 123rf)
