Chapter 157 184. Two Brothers Driving Mules

It is said that once upon a time there were two old men who drove mules.One follows God and the other follows the devil.One day, as they were walking on the road, one said to the other, "Dude, the devil helps people." "No," answered the other, "whoever follows God will help him." So, one of them said yes and the other said no. "Boy," said the one with the devil, "we'll bet a mule." Then a knight in black (he was the devil in disguise) passed by, and they asked him who was right. "You are right," replied the knight. "It is the devil who helps."

"See?" said the old man, and led the mule.But the other objected, so they came to the bet again, and asked a knight in white (he was still a devil, but in another suit).So they always bet their mules, and always met the devil in disguise, and the man who followed God lost all his mules. "But I'm still convinced I'm right," he said. "Let's put our eyes on it." "Well, let's bet again," said the other, "and if you win, take back all your mules, and if I win, give me your eyes." They meet a green knight and ask him which of the two is right. "Very simple," said the knight, "it is the devil who helps." And he rode away.

So the man who followed the devil gouged out the eyes of the man who followed God and left the blind and hopeless man in the field. The poor man took a few steps about him, and by his groping found the entrance of a cave, which he entered, in order to spend the night there.The cave was full of brambles, and as the old man huddled among these bushes, he heard many people coming in.You know, devils from all over the world gathered in this cave, and the big devil asked them what they did one by one.In one sermon, he dressed up as a knight and lost a poor man's bets several times, eventually losing his eyes.

"Very well," said the arch-devil, "he shall have no more eyes, unless he put in each eye-hole a leaf of grass that grows at the mouth of the hole." The devils laughed and said, "Ha, ha! Just think how he knows the secret!" The poor mule-driver hid there, trembling, but full of joy, but still apprehensive, and impatient for the devils to leave the cave, so that they could pluck the leaves and heal their eyes. Yet the devils still tell their stories. "As for me," said another, "I stuck a fishbone in the throat of the daughter of the King of Russia, and no doctor could pull it out, though the King had promised that whoever did it would make him rich. Yet No one can do it, because no one knows, just squeeze three drops of juice from the raw grapes on the vine on his balcony."

"Be quiet," said the Great Devil to him, "for stones have eyes, and bushes have ears." Before dawn the devils were gone, and the mule-driver was able to come out of the bushes and grope in the dark to find grass for his eyes, and then he saw the light again.Without delay for a moment, he immediately set off on his way to Russia. In Russia, all the doctors gather in the princess' room to advise.They all laughed when they saw a mule driver coming, dressed in rags and covered in dust.But the king was there too, and he said, "You have tried so many times, let him try too," and had the room cleaned so that he could be alone with the princess.The mule driver came to the balcony, picked three grapes, squeezed out the juice little by little, and dripped it down the princess's throat.The half-dead princess came to life and then came to full life.

Think how happy her father was.As if nothing was enough to repay the mule-driver, the king had him loaded with gold, and sent an army to escort him home. His wife thought he was dead, and when he came back she thought he was a ghost. The husband told her everything and showed her the wealth.They started building a big palace.His fellow passed by there, and seeing that he was as rich as before, with both eyes intact, asked him, "My dear fellow, how did you get all this?" "Didn't I tell you that God helps whoever follows God?" he said, and he told his story. The old man thought, "I'll go to that cave tonight and see if I can get rich."

The devils assembled again, and the one in front said that the mule-driver had heard their secret, so he saw the light again, and saved the Russian King's daughter. "I told you," said the arch-devil, "that stones have eyes, and bushes have ears. Come on, and we will burn all the thorns in here." They burned the bushes, and the brother who was hidden in them was reduced to ashes.Thus he understood what the devil's help was. (Ragusa Province)