Long ago, there lived a man named Asinus. In the time before I met him, he was wandering around in the land of Macedonia. He was a right fool, and a selfish one at that. Many times he was set to visit me, but always would find some distraction, by chance. Then one day, he fell into a pit. By whom this pit was dug, I'm unsure, but I had the utmost gratitude when I heard he was finally in a position in which I could find him. When I happened upon this pit, I found he was not alone; He had the company of a viper, a mouse, and a lion. Although these beasts did not frighten me, I delayed to go in the pit to him, as I figured he wasn't going anywhere. So I left on other business for a brief time. When I returned to the pit, I was annoyed to find that Asinus and all the others were gone. "How could this be!" I cried in alarm.
That is when the viper slithered by. I stopped it to ask how they all escaped. "The generous hunter happened upon us, sir. We begged him to free us, and free us he did! In return, we all gave him a gift. The lion pledged to bring the man a portion of his hunt to eat. The mouse would bring him valuables that it found on its travels. I surrendered a highly sought after anodyne for my venom." The viper explained.
"A cure for a snake bite? How quaint. I hope you don't give that out to every man who pulls you from a hole!" I said
"Nary a thought of it!" replied the serpent, "Besides, it only works if mixed with the blood of a traitor."
"And the man that shared the pit with you? What gift did he give the hunter?"
"He had nothing to give, so he pledged his servitude in exchange for his life."
"His life should not be his to give!" I said as the anger swelled inside.
I then searched out for this hunter who had saved the fool. I found a small hut not too far away, but it had been abandoned. He must have moved recently. Finally, after many weeks of searching, I found the hunter. He had grown rich with the gifts from the animals, and lived in a mansion. Before I could approach to question him regarding Asinus, he was arrested by some guards! I simply could not sit by and let my only lead be carried off to lord knows where. I followed them to a palace, where he was told the reason for his arrest. He was accused of stealing the local patrician's valuables to bolster his own wealth. And who had accused him? None other than that fool Asinus.
It seemed this good man was about to die for a lie. I quickly found the viper and asked a favor of it to save his life. It agreed, and I bought it to the patrician's son. It bit him and infected him with its deadly venom. The patrician begged for someone to help him. The hunter caught wind of these events and offered his cure. However, he told them he needed the blood of a traitor to make it work. After hearing out the hunter's story, the patrician believed him and ceased Asinus.
That day, the hunter helped save the patrician's son, and Asinus... Well, I finally had a chance to catch up with him.
Author's Note: The original tale was of a hunter in Africa saving a snake, mouse, tiger, and man from a trap and each rewarding him with wealth, a snake bite cure, and servitude. The man he saves betrays him by claiming he acquired his wealth by dishonest means. In the end, the day is saved by the snake bite venom, much like my story ends. The main difference between these two stories is that my takes place in Macedonia during the days of Rome. I chose this setting because I'm a bit more familiar with it and I wanted to diverge more from the original. The other major change was the choice to have death narrate the story. I didn't want it to be entirely obvious that it was death searching out Asinus (which is later for fool), but give it a more subtle almost missable quality.
Bibliography: West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917).
Image: The fate of Asinus. Crux Simplex by Justus Lipsius (1547-1606); Source: Wikimedia
Hey Collin,
ReplyDeleteI think you did an amazing job with this story. I have read the original story that you drew inspiration from, and it is nowhere near as detailed and flushed out as your story, in my opinion. The fact that you made Death the narrator was also a great touch! As you said your Author's Note, it was something that was unexpected, but I think that it was really well done. Good job!
Hi Collin!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting story! I like how you set up the intro and immediately got the reader in a storytelling mood.
I also love stories from the perspective of Death though I didn't fully understand that's what I was reading till I got to the author's note at the end.
Overall, great job! I look forward to future stories!
Hey Collin! That is so cool that you had death be the narrator! I would never have thought of that, but you did in such a subtle way that I had no idea until the end! It's interesting how you chose to set it in a different place. I wonder how different it would be depending on the geographical location. Great work!
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