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194 37 The Physician’s Son and the King of the Snakes 136 Swahili (Tanzania)137 Once there was a very learned physician who died, leaving his wife with a little baby boy, who, when he was old enough, she named, according to his father’s wish, Hasibu Karim Ed Din. When the boy had been to school and had learned to read, his mother sent him to a tailor to learn his trade, but he could not learn it. Then he was sent to a silversmith, but he could not learn that trade, either. After that, he tried many trades but could learn none of them. At last, his mother said, “Well, stay at home for a while.” And that seemed to suit him. One day, he asked his mother what his father’s business had been, and she told him he was a very great physician. “Where are his books?” he asked. “Well, it’s a long time since I saw them,” replied his mother, “but I think they are behind there. Look and see.” So he hunted around a little and at last found them. But they were almost ruined by insects, and he gained little from them. At last, four of the neighbors came to his mother and said, “Let your boy go along with us and cut wood in the forest.” It was their business to cut wood, load it on donkeys, and sell it in the town for making fires. “All right,” she said, “tomorrow, I’ll buy him a donkey, and he can start fair with you.” So the next day Hasibu, with his donkey, went off with those four persons , and they worked very hard and made a lot of money that day. This continued for six days, but on the seventh it rained heavily, and they had to get under rocks to keep dry. Now, Hasibu sat in a place by himself, and, having nothing else to do, he picked up a stone and began knocking on the ground with it. To his surprise, the ground gave forth a hollow sound, and he called to his companions, saying, “There seems to be a hole under here.” Upon hearing him knock again, they decided to dig and see what was the cause of the hollow sound, and they had not gone very deep before they broke into a large pit that was filled to the top with honey. They did not do any firewood chopping after that but devoted their entire attention to the collection and sale of the honey. With a view to getting it all out as quickly as possible, they told Hasibu to go down into the pit and dip out the honey, while they put it in vessels and took it to town for sale. They worked for three days, making a great deal of money. At last, there was only a little honey left at the very bottom of the pit, and they told the boy to scrape that together while they went to get a rope to haul him out. But instead of getting the rope, they decided to let him remain in the pit and divide the money among themselves. So when he had gathered the remainder of the honey together and called for the rope, he received no answer. And after he had been alone in the pit for three days, he became convinced that his companions had deserted him. Then those four persons went to his mother and told her that they had become separated in the forest, that they had heard a lion roaring, and that they could find no trace of either her son or his donkey. His mother, of course, cried very much, and the four neighbors pocketed her son’s share of the money. To return to Hasibu: He passed the time walking about the pit, wondering what the end would be, eating scraps of honey, sleeping a while, and sitting down to think. While engaged in the last occupation, on the fourth day, he saw a scorpion fall to the ground—a large one, too—and he killed it. Then he suddenly thought to himself, “Where did that scorpion come from? There must be a hole somewhere. I’ll search.” So he looked around until he saw light through a tiny crack. He took his knife and scooped and scooped, until he had made a hole big enough to pass through. Then he went out and came upon...

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