There were two people living there. One was called Saokae, the other Pealou. Pealou was skilled in the sciences of magic and often, with the help of his knowledge, appropriated other people's goods.
One day Saokae went hunting and killed a cormorant. Pealou saw that Saokae had returned with the prey, and he wanted to take the cormorant from him. He thought and thought and decided this:
“If Saokae doesn’t think of sharing it with me, I’ll sue him.” Saokae divided the cormorant, boiled part of it, fried part of it, ate it all himself, and didn’t even remember about Pealou. Pealou went to the judge and said:
– When my father became seriously ill, he warned me that in his next birth he would be a cormorant. Today Saokae killed and ate my father. Let him pay me a penalty now.
Saokae told the judge:
“And my parents warned me that in their next birth they would become fish, like all my ancestors.” Therefore, I destroy animals and birds that feed on fish. And if such animals and birds in past births were people and left descendants, let these descendants pay me a penalty for killing my relatives.
The judge did not know how to understand such a complex matter, and led the disputants to the king. Pealou, realizing that his case was lost, told everything to the king and finally said:
– Saokae killed an alien cormorant. This cormorant flew in from afar. May this be taken into account.
The king asked:
– And your father is a cormorant who lives in our area, what does he eat? Does he eat crabs, snails or fish?
- He eats fish.
“If so,” said the king, “then Saokae is right, and your father is really exterminating his ancestors.”
And the king declared that Pealou should become Saokae's slave.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru