Bab Bab 135 · The Ungrateful Son

. The Ungrateful Son

A man and his wife were once sitting by the door of their house, and

they had a roasted chicken set before them, and were about to eat it

together. Then the man saw that his aged father was coming, and hastily

took the chicken and hid it, for he would not permit him to have any of

it. The old man came, took a drink, and went away. Now the son wanted

to put the roasted chicken on the table again, but when he took it up,

it had become a great toad, which jumped into his face and sat there

and never went away again, and if any one wanted to take it off, it

looked venomously at him as if it would jump in his face, so that no

one would venture to touch it. And the ungrateful son was forced to

feed the toad every day, or else it fed itself on his face; and thus he

went about the world without knowing rest.