Page:Swahili tales.djvu/453

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THE APE, THE LION, AND THE SNAKE.
433

And a man went to take that stranger, and he came with him and his scrip. And the scrip was opened, and many people testified to things of the Sultan's child and things of the vizir's children, and [of] people in the town. At last his hands were tied behind him with a rope.

And that great snake came out of the well, and came to the town. And he went round the town, and stopped where the man was. And the people were troubled in the town, so that they spoke to the man and said to him, "Say to this snake, 'Go away.'" And the snake came. And the people untied the man's hands that had been tied behind him. And the snake went back to its well, and said, "You son of Adam, when you are done wrong to, give me a call, and I will come out to you at once."

And he got much honour in the country. And he was asked, "Why should this man be your host, and do you wrong?" And he said, "Of the snake, and the lion, and the ape, they told me that no son of Adam is done good to; if you do a son of Adam good he does you wrong, and this is true and no lie. That man for the good I did him has done me harm; that sentence of the snake and the lion and the ape is true, and is no lie."

And the Sultan asked what it meant, and he explained to him how things had gone. And the Sultan said, "He deserves to be put in a sleeping mat, and drowned in the sea, for he knows no good. He was done good to and has repaid evil."