One day a Roman named Kip was returning from war. The battle in which he participated ended in victory for the Romans, and Kip joyfully headed home. Tired of the long journey, he approached the bank of a small river and wanted to drink from it. Going down to the water, he suddenly saw in it the reflection of his head, crowned with horns. Kip recoiled in amazement, thinking he had imagined it. Again he bent down to the surface of the water and again saw himself with horns. Not believing his eyes, Kip touched his forehead and felt his horns. I had to be convinced of an unexpected miracle. But what does it mean? And Kip prayed to the gods. He asked them that if this miracle portends joy, let it make the Roman people happy, and if grief, then let it befall only him alone.
Kip built an altar of grass, poured wine on it in honor of the gods, and, slaughtering two sheep, sacrificed them. According to the rules of fortune-telling, he began to examine the insides of animals, trying to understand from them the meaning of what happened. At this time, an Etruscan fortuneteller passed by, and Kip asked him to explain this miracle. The fortuneteller bent over the sacrificial sheep, and it became clear to him that some very important events were coming, but he could not figure out exactly what. Then the fortuneteller looked up at Kip and saw horns growing on his forehead. Then everything became clear to him. First of all, the Etruscan greeted Kip as a king. Then he said that the horns foretell that Cyp will become a great king, to whom both Rome and all Latium will submit. To do this, Kip must hurry to Rome - then his power will be indestructible. Hearing this, Kip became sad. He did not want to cause the Roman people to lose their freedom. And he decided it would be better to die in exile, but never appear in Rome.
Having made this decision, Kip sent a message to the Senate and the people with a request to come to the place where the soldiers raised a hill in honor of the won battle, promising to make a very important message. In the meantime, in order not to frighten the townspeople in advance, he covered the horns with a laurel wreath. When the senators and all the other Romans gathered at the foot of the hill, Kip climbed it and said that there was one man in Rome who, if not expelled, would certainly become king and turn everyone into slavery. Therefore, he must be expelled or even killed, and the sign of this person is the horns on his head. Hearing such strange and at the same time terrible news, the Romans began to look at each other, looking for signs of horns. Then Kip spoke again: “If you want to know who this man is, then look.” With these words, he tore off his wreath, and everyone saw branched horns. The Romans were not only confused, but also amazed by the love of freedom of Kip, who was ready for death and exile, just to prevent the Roman people from losing freedom.
The people and the Senate made a wise decision. They again crowned Kip with a wreath, this time in the name of Rome, and decided to allocate to him as much land outside the city as he could plow from dawn to dusk of one day. Kip was also given the right to decorate the doors of his country home with bronze and place horns over them as a sign of his nobility and in memory of this miracle. There Kip grew old, never once again entering the gates of Rome.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru