Chapter 97 96. Fourteen Sons

Once upon a time there was a father and a mother who had thirteen children, all boys.Then another was born, and they called him Fourteenth.He grew up very fast, and soon he was a big boy, so his mother said to him, "Now you should go to the field and help your thirteen brothers hoe. Take this basket and go to them. There are you and them in it." for lunch. His mother gave him a basket containing fourteen rolls, fourteen loaves of cheese, and fourteen liters of wine; and the fourteen sons set off.On the way he felt hungry, so he sat down, ate fourteen rolls, fourteen cheeses, and drank fourteen liters of wine.

The elder brothers were empty, so they said to him, "Take your hoe and dig the ground too." And the fourteenth son said, "Okay, but I want a hoe that weighs fourteen pounds." The elder brothers found a hoe for him. Taking a hoe weighing fourteen pounds, he said to his brothers again: "Now, let's see who is the first to get to the other end of the field." The fourteen brothers began to hoe the field, and the fourteenth son was the first to reach the field. From this day on, the fourteen sons worked together with the elder brothers.He did the work of fourteen people, and he also had to eat for fourteen people, so the brothers became skinny.

So his mother and father said to him: "Go out and make a living." The fourteenth son left home like this.There is a land master who employs fifteen people to hoe the land. "I do the work of fourteen people, but I have to feed fourteen people, and you have to pay me fourteen wages." He said to the landlord, "If you agree to this condition, I will work." The great landowner wanted to try him out, and put him to work with another man, fourteen plus one, exactly fifteen.They went to hoe together.The man hoeed, fourteen hoeed fourteen times, and they hoeed the whole field in no time.

After hoeing the land, the big landlord felt that it was not worthwhile to pay him fourteen people's wages and feed him fourteen people's food, so he came up with a way to drive him away. "Listen," he said, "you will do something for me. Take seven mules and fourteen barrels, and go to Hell and ask Lucchibero, king of Hades, to fill the barrels with gold." "Of course I can go," said Fourteen, "but I want a pair of tongs that weigh fourteen pounds." The fourteenth son took the tongs and drove the mule to hell.When he came to the gate of hell, he said to the ghost who guarded the gate: "Call me Lu Qibeiluo."

"What are you doing with our heads?" asked the ghosts. The fourteenth son handed over a letter from his master, asking them to fill fourteen barrels with gold. "Let him come down," Lucchibero replied.When the fourteenth son came down, the fourteen devils pounced on him and tried to devour him.But as soon as a ghost opened his mouth, Fourteen cut off his tongue with pliers, and the ghost died immediately.In the end only Lucibello, the leader of the ghosts, remained. "You have killed the fourteen ghosts who can fill you with gold, how can I fill fourteen barrels for you?"

"I'll pack it," said Fourteenth, and he filled the barrel with gold, and said again, "Thank you, I'm going." "Do you think that's the way to go?" said Lucchibero, before opening his mouth to eat him.Fourteen also clamped Lucchibero's tongue with pliers.Then, he was lifted from the ground, and he was hung on the belt with the pliers.And thus drove the mule out of hell. Back at his master's house, he tied Lucchibero to the kitchen table leg. "What should I do now?" Lucchibero asked. The fourteenth son replied: "Catch my master and go back to hell with him."

The devil did so without waiting for the fourteenth son to say it a second time; and the fourteenth son became the master of everything. (Marche region)