A certain horseman, riding along the road one day, saw from afar how a small poisonous snake crawled into the open mouth of a man sleeping on the ground. The rider realized that if the unfortunate man was allowed to continue sleeping, the poison would certainly kill him. Having whipped up his horse, in an instant he found himself near the sleeping man and, with all his strength, began to whip him with a whip until he jumped to his feet with his eyes wide in fear. Without giving him time to come to his senses, the horseman drove him to a tree under which there were many rotten apples lying, and forced him to eat them, then drove him to the river with blows of a whip and ordered him to drink water in large sips.
The man kept trying to escape from his tormentor.
- What have I done to you, O enemy of the human race?! - the unfortunate man moaned, choking on water. - Why are you making fun of me like that?
But the rider was inexorable. Until dusk, he tortured the man, and, in the end, he, losing consciousness, fell to the ground, began to vomit, and, along with rot and water, he spat out a snake.
Only then did the rescued one understand the danger he was in and began to ask his deliverer for forgiveness.
The saved man said to the rider:
“If you had immediately explained to me what the matter was, I would have accepted your treatment with great willingness.”
“If I had told you everything from the beginning, you would still not have believed me, or you would have been paralyzed by fear, or you would have run away, or you would have finally gone back to sleep, seeking oblivion, and then it would have been too late.”
Having said this, the mysterious rider spurred his horse and galloped away.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru