BERBERS FOLKTALES

STRANGE MEETINGS

Once upon a time a man was on a journey and he met a mare who grazed in the meadow. She was thin, lean, and had only skin and bone. He went on until he came to a place where he found a mare which was fat, although she did not eat.

He went on further until he met a sheep which kicked against a rock till evening to pass the night there. Advancing he met a serpent which hung in a hole from which it could not get out. Farther on, he saw a man who played with a ball, and his children were old men.

He came to an old man who said to him:

"I will explain all that to you.

The lean mare which you saw represents the rich man whose brothers are poor. The fat mare represents the poor man whose brothers are rich.

The serpent which swings unable to enter nor to leave the hole is the picture of the word which once spoken and heard can never go back.

The sheep which kicks against the rock to pass the night there, is the man who has an evil house.

The one whose children you saw aged while he was playing ball, what does he represent? That is the man who has taken a pretty wife and does not grow old. His children have taken bad ones."

END