Chapter 129 128. Salamanca School

Once upon a time, there was a father who had an only son.The child was very smart, and his father said to him: "My child, I have saved a hundred ducats. I want to use it as capital to make a fortune, but I am afraid that I will lose all my capital. After much deliberation I don't know what to do for a living. These days, everyone's trying to figure out what to do with other people. I worry about it all the time. Tell me, what do you think about it, do you have any good ideas?" The son was silent for a while, as if he was in a daze.After careful consideration, he said: "Father, I heard that there is a school in Salamanca, where people can learn a lot. If I can use this hundred ducats for tuition, you can go to that school Don't worry, after I graduate and learn the skills, I will be able to make money for you without any effort."

Hearing this idea, my father was moved.Early the next morning, they went out and went up the mountain.After walking for a while, they came to the dwelling of a hermit. "Hi, is anyone in there?" "Hey, who's here?" "A good Christian like you!" "Here the rooster does not crow, the moon does not shine, you are all alone, how did you come here? Did you bring the small scissors to cut my eyelashes? Did you bring the big scissors to cut my hedge?" ． "I brought little scissors to cut your eyelashes; I brought big scissors to cut your hedges fence. As soon as the words fell, the hermit's door opened immediately, and the father and son entered the room. They used scissors to cut off the long eyelashes of the big old man. As soon as Yintu opened his eyes and saw them, the father and son asked him for advice .

The hermit agreed with their decision to go to the school in Salamanca, and gave the young man a lot of advice. At last, he said: "When you reach the top of the mountain, hit the ground with the stick I gave you, and at this time an old man will come out from the ground." An old man older than me, he is the teacher at the Salamanca school." They talked for a while and then parted.The father and son walked for two days and two nights to the top of the mountain.According to Yintu's order, they knocked on the ground.Suddenly, a gap opened in the mountain, and the teacher stood there.

Seeing the teacher, the poor father knelt down and explained to him with tears in his eyes.But, like all teachers, he was hard-hearted and indifferent to it.He took a hundred ducats, let father and son into his house, and led them from room to room, which were crowded with all kinds of animals.He whistled as he walked, and the animals turned into bright young men when they heard the whistle.The teacher said to the child's father: "You don't have to worry about your son anymore. He will be treated well here, even better than the nobles. I will teach him various skills. At the end of the year, if you can be among these animals Recognize which one is your son, then you can take him home, and the hundred ducats will be returned to you. But if you don't recognize him, then he will stay with me forever."

After hearing these dreadful words, the poor father wept, but he pulled himself together, embraced his son, kissed him good-bye, and went home alone. The teacher taught this young man day and night, and the young man could understand it immediately and made great progress.This young man was very smart, and it didn't take long for him to start studying independently.In a word, at the end of the year, all the skills, good or bad, mastered by the teacher, he Meanwhile, the father set off to pick up his son.The poor old man was full of sorrow all the way, and did not know how to recognize his son among the animals.When he was climbing the mountain, a gust of wind blew in his face, and he heard a voice in the wind say: "I am the wind, and I will become a man." In the blink of an eye, his son really stood in front of him.

"Father," said the boy, "what you tell me, the teacher will lead you into a room full of pigeons, and you hear a pigeon cooing, that's me." Then he said : "I am a man, I want to become the wind." So, he turned into the wind again, and disappeared in a blink of an eye. The father happily continued walking towards the Salamanca school.When he reached the top of the hill, he tapped the ground with his stick, and suddenly the teacher was standing in front of him! "I have come to fetch my son," the father explained, "and may God bless me to recognize him!"

"Okay, okay," the teacher replied. "You're bound to fail, though. Come with me." The teacher led him from room to room, upstairs for a while, downstairs for a while, wandering around, trying to confuse him.At last he came to the room where the pigeons were kept, and the teacher said, "It's up to you now! Tell me if your son is here, and if not, we'll look elsewhere." Among the group of pigeons, there was a pigeon that was very beautiful, and the color of its plumage was black and white.It walked swaggeringly and barked. "Cuckoo, cluck, cluck..." The father said immediately after seeing it: "This is my son, I think this is him, my nature tells me..."

The teacher was ashamed, but what could he do? He had to keep his word! So he had to give back the boy, and the hundred ducats as well; The father and son returned home happily.As soon as they got home, they held a sumptuous banquet and invited relatives and friends to the banquet.Everyone eats and drinks, so happy! After the father and son lived happily for a month, the son said to his father: "Dad, a hundred ducats is still a hundred ducats. We haven't used this money to make a fortune yet. If we build a house, the money will still be worth a hundred dollars." Not enough to buy bricks. Why did I go to that school? Didn’t I learn how to make money? Listen, there’s a St. Vitus Fair in Spengano tomorrow. Then I’ll be a A horse with a star on its forehead, you took me to the market and sold you. Be careful, the teacher will come to the market, he will recognize me. When you sell me, you can't sell me for less than a hundred ducats , not including the rein. Please remember, whether my life can be saved depends entirely on this rein."

The next day, the son turned into a horse with a star on his forehead in front of his father.They left home and came to Jishang.People gathered around the horse, full of praise for this beautiful horse, and wanted to buy it.However, when they heard that the owner asked for a hundred ducats, they all turned their heads and left.When the market was about to stop, an old man came up slowly, looked him up and down, and asked, "How much does this horse sell for?" "One hundred ducats, the reins are not for sale." After hearing the asking price, the old man muttered a few words.Then he started haggling over the price, saying it was too expensive.Later, when he saw that the seller would not sell even a penny less, he took out the money and paid the full amount.Father was putting money in his pockets, and before he could take off the reins, the damned old man jumped on his horse like lightning, and fled like a gust of wind. "Stop! Stop!" the father yelled frantically, "I want to take back the rein! This rein is not for sale!" But the old man had already disappeared without a trace.

The teacher rode a horse and whipped the horse to run fast.The whip came down like rain, and the horse was so badly beaten that it nearly died.Fortunately, they picked in front of a hotel.The teacher got off the horse, led the wounded horse into the stable, tied it to an empty trough, and gave it neither grass to eat nor water to drink. There's a waitress at this hotel, and she's a very pretty girl.She happened to walk past the stables while the teacher was eating and drinking upstairs. "Oh, poor horse!" she exclaimed. "you Your master is so vicious, he beat you until you were bloody, tied you here, and didn't give you food or drink! Let me take care of you. ’ The first thing she did was to take him to the spring to drink; and in order for the horse to drink comfortably, she let go the reins.

"I'm a horse, and I'm going to be an eel!" said the horse as soon as he let go of the rein, and then he became an eel and burrowed into the spring. Hearing the voices of the students, the teacher pushed aside the plate of macaroni he was eating, and flew down the stairs, turning blue with rage. "I'm a human, I want to become a big eel!" He screamed, jumped into the water, turned into a big eel, and chased the little eel. However, his student did not show weakness, saying: "I am an eel, I want to become a pigeon!" Then with a "whoosh", he flew out of the water and turned into a beautiful pigeon.At this time, the magician said: "I am a big eel, I want to become an eagle!" He turned into an eagle and flew to chase the dove.They flew, flew, the teacher chased after them, and finally they flew to Naples.At this time, under a tree in the king's garden, sat a princess.She happened to be looking at the sky, and suddenly saw the poor dove being pursued by the eagle, and she felt very sympathetic.When the student saw the princess, he said, "I am a dove, and I want to become a ring!" He turned into a ring and dropped it on the princess's chest.The eagle swooped down and landed on the roof of a house opposite. In the evening, when the princess was undressing, the ring fell on her finger.She approached the candlestick with the ring, and wanted to take a closer look, when she heard someone say: "My princess, please forgive me, I have come to you without your permission, but this is a matter of life and death. This was done out of necessity. Please allow me to return to my true self, and I will tell you all about my life." Hearing this sound, the princess was frightened to death, but curiosity calmed her down.The princess agreed to his request and let him return to his original shape. "I am the ring, I want to become a man!" The ring radiated a dazzling light, and then, a handsome young man stood there.Fascinated by the young man, the princess looked at him intently.When she knew his ability and integrity After suffering the misfortune, she fell in love with him deeply and insisted that he stay with her.During the day the boy was transformed into a ring, which was put on the princess' finger; at night, when they were alone together, he became a man again. However, the teacher refused to stop there.One morning the king awoke with unbearable pain all over his body.All the doctors were summoned, and they gave the king all kinds of medicine in the world, but his condition still did not improve.The princess was very anxious, and the boy was even more anxious, because he knew that it was his teacher who was making trouble.Sure enough, a foreign doctor came to the palace from a distant country.He claimed that if he was allowed to go to the king's bedroom, he would be able to cure the king's illness.They presented him at once to the king.At this time, the princess's ring shone more intensely, and the princess knew that the young man had something to say to her.She went back to her bedroom, closed the door, and the boy said, "Now you have made a mess! That doctor is my teacher! He can cure your father, but he will ask for your ring as a reward." !You are refusing to hand over the ring.If the king forces you, throw it on the ground! " It happened like this: the king recovered, and he said to the doctor: "Say it, whatever you want, I will give it to you." At first, the doctor pretended not to ask for anything, but after the king insisted again and again, he proposed to ask for the princess. ring on the hand.The princess wept and quarreled, and at last fainted; but when she felt the King seize her by the hand, and was trying to withdraw the ring, she jumped up suddenly, drew it from her hand, and threw it on the ground. As soon as she threw the ring on the ground, she heard a voice: "I am the ring, and I will become a pomegranate!" The pomegranate split on the ground, and the pomegranate seeds rolled all over the floor. "I'm a doctor, and I'm going to be a rooster!" said the teacher, turned into a rooster, and began to pick up the pomegranate seeds one by one.But a pomegranate seed rolled under the princess's gown, and the princess hid it. "I am pomegranate, I want to become a fox!" said pomegranate seed, a fox jumped out from under the princess' skirt, and swallowed the cock in one bite. The student outwits the teacher! The fox turns into a boy and he tells the king about his life.The next day, salutes were fired to celebrate the princess's wedding. (Otranto area)