The Ungrateful Man
Once upon a time, deep in a mysterious forest thick with trees, there was a strange well. A poor but kind-hearted woodcutter, while gathering wood, heard helpless voices coming from this deep well. When he looked inside the well, he saw a monkey, a snake, a tiger and a man sunk in the mud. The animals, who were full of fear, asked the woodcutter for help and promised him that they would never harm him. But the snake, pointing at the man with a whispering voice, spoke and warned the woodcutter. Please do not save this son of man, for humankind quickly forgets the kindness done to it.
The tender-hearted woodcutter, in spite of this warning of the snake, could not bear to refuse and pulled them all up with a long rope. The rescued monkey brought the woodcutter delicious fruits, and the tiger gave him a necklace of pure gold as a gift. As for the snake, it told him to call it if he ever fell into trouble, and vanished into the dark forest. But the man who came out of the well, when he saw the precious necklace in the woodcutter's hand, was at once seized by greed. He ran to the town, went before the king and claimed that the woodcutter had stolen gold from the palace. The poor woodcutter was thrown into prison by the guards because of the slander of this man whom he had taken for a friend.
The woodcutter, left without help in the dark dungeon, remembered the words of the snake and called it with a deep whistle. The faithful snake slipped secretly into the dungeon and, poisoning the son of the king, whispered that only the woodcutter could heal him with a healing herb. The woodcutter, rubbing the healing herb the snake had brought onto the wound of the prince, pulled him back from the edge of death. The king, whose eyes filled with tears of joy, understood the innocence of the woodcutter and gave him leave to speak so that he might tell the truth. When the woodcutter told what had happened to him, the lie of the ungrateful man came to light and he was thrown into the dungeon. The woodcutter, rewarded with riches by the king, thanked his friends in the forest and stepped into a peaceful life. Thus, while the animals knew the worth of kindness, it was proved once more that ingratitude comes only from man. Do good and throw it into the sea; if the fish does not know it, the Creator does.