LEONES DEL CONOCIMIENTO PARTE 2-35-40 PDF

# Cuento 4: Los hijos desagradecidos y el anciano padre que fue a la escuela otra vez Once upon a time, long ago, there was an old man who lived to a very advanced age. God had given him four sons who he raised and educated until they were men, then he divided all his property among them, and thoug...

# Cuento 4: Los hijos desagradecidos y el anciano padre que fue a la escuela otra vez Once upon a time, long ago, there was an old man who lived to a very advanced age. God had given him four sons who he raised and educated until they were men, then he divided all his property among them, and thought, "I'll spend the rest of my days among my children." So the old man went to live with his eldest son who at first treated him perfectly and showed respect to his elderly father. "It is right to give our father food and drink; we will make sure he has enough clothes to keep him warm, and we will worry about repairing his things from time to time and making sure he has new, clean shirts for the holidays," said the eldest brother. And that's what they did, and also made sure that at the holidays, the old man had his own glass next to him. So for a while, the eldest son was a model son to his father. But when he had supported him for a while, he started to regret his hospitality and grew harsher with him, to the point that sometimes he would even shout at him. The old man stopped having his usual reserved seat and no one prepared his meals anymore. Meanwhile the eldest son continued to regret his actions more and more. It would have been better if he'd said it to his father once, but he continued to scold him for each morsel of bread he put in his mouth until the old man had no choice but to turn to his second son. He might have been better off there, or he might have been worse off, but he couldn't stand to be with his eldest son for another second. So he went to his second son's house, but there he soon realized that he had only swapped wheat for straw. Whenever he sat down to eat, his second son and his wife glared at him and grumbled under their breath. One time, the woman even scolded the old man: "We were managing well enough before you arrived to tie up our loose ends!" she shouted, "but now we're stuck with useless old people in our lives!" The old man soon felt that things had gone far enough and went to his third son, and then his fourth. One after the other, all four of his sons kept him - but none of them really wanted him. Each of the four brothers took turns looking after the old man until they finally got tired of it, one after another, passing the burden on to the next. "It's your turn to take care of him, dad!" the first one would declare. "No, dad, we have enough problems looking after ourselves," the next one would say. And so it was with each one, and in the end, he didn't know what to do. There was a real fight between the brothers about which of them would avoid having the old man stay with them: one had too many children, another had a domineering wife, one's house was too small, another's was too poor. "Go wherever suits you, old man," they all said, "but don't come back to us." And the poor old man, gray as a dove, wept desperately in front of his sons, not knowing what to do. What could he do? Every plea was in vain. None of his sons would take him in, but he had somewhere to go. So, the man gave up and let them do with him as they pleased. The four brothers then got together and had a council. They couldn't come to an agreement, until finally they all agreed that the best thing the old man could do was go to school. "There will be a bench for him to sit on," they said, "and he can always bring some food with him in his knapsack." They then told their father that he should go to school. But the old man didn't want to go. He begged his children not to send him there, sobbing in front of them. "Now that I can't even see the world clearly," he said, "how can I possibly see a black book? Besides, I never learned even my own name when I was younger; how will I do it now? You can't expect an old man who is about to die to become a scholar! But there was no point arguing; his sons said that he had to go to school. The voices of all the brothers overwhelmed his weak, old voice. So it was settled: he would go to school. Since there was no school in their village, he had to go to the next village. While walking on the road through a forest, the old man encountered a nobleman driving in a carriage in the opposite direction. When the old man saw the nobleman's carriage approaching, he stepped aside to let it pass, took off his cap respectfully, and was going to continue on his way. But he heard someone call out to him, and turning around, he saw the nobleman beckon ing to him. The nobleman stepped down from his elegant carriage and asked the old man where he was going. The old man took off his cap again in the presence of the nobleman and told him about his unfortunate situation, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Just imagine, noble sir! If the Lord had left me without relatives or friends, I wouldn't complain, but my misfortunes are especially cruel. I have four sons, thank God, and they all have their own homes, but still they make their poor old father go to school! I wonder if there is anything as strange in the world as this?" The old man then told the nobleman the whole story, and the nobleman was very touched. "Don't worry, grandpa, there's no need to go to school, that goes without saying," said the nobleman, "Go home. I'll tell you what you should do so your sons never send you back to school again. Don't worry, grandpa, stop crying, don't let your soul be troubled. God will bless you and everything will work out right, because I know what to do here." Then the nobleman comforted the old man, and the old man began to feel a bit happier. Then the nobleman produced a purse: a genuine nobleman's purse, with a small pouch in the center for loose change. "Well, old man!" he exclaimed. "What a beautiful thing!" The more the old man looked at it, the more amazed he was. The nobleman took the purse and began to stuff it full with something. When it was full to the brim, he gave it to the old man. "Take this and go home to your sons," he said, "and when you get there, call them all together and tell them: 'My dear children, a long time ago, when I was young, I traveled the world a bit and earned a little bit of money. You never know what might happen.' Anyway, I went into a forest, my sons, and dug out a little hole under a giant oak and hid my little fortune there. I stopped worrying about money later on, because I had such kind sons... but when you sent me to school, I decided to go back to my old oak and said to myself: 'I wonder if those few silver coins are still waiting for their owner after all this time? Let's dig and see." So I dug, and there they were. I brought them home with me for you. I'll keep them until I die, but when I die, you should all sit down together and decide which of you treated me best over the years, which one was the most devoted, never begrudged me a new shirt when I asked for one, nor a piece of bread when I was hungry - that son shall inherit all my money. Now, my dear children, accept me back. You can work things out amongst yourselves, but it would not be right to seek shelter among strangers! Which of you will be kind to your old father... for money?" And the nobleman comforted the old man, and the old man began to feel a bit happier. Then the nobleman produced a purse: a genuine nobleman's purse, with a small pouch in the center for loose change. "Well, old man!" he exclaimed. "What a beautiful thing!" The more the old man looked at it, the more amazed he was. The nobleman took the purse and began to stuff it full with something. When it was full to the brim, he gave it to the old man. "Take this and go home to your sons," he said, "and when you get there, call them all together and tell them: 'My dear children, a long time ago, when I was young, I traveled the world a bit and earned a little bit of money. You never know what might happen.' Anyway, I went into a forest, my sons, and dug out a little hole under a giant oak and hid my little fortune there. I stopped worrying about money later on, because I had such kind sons... but when you sent me to school, I decided to go back to my old oak and said to myself: 'I wonder if those few silver coins are still waiting for their owner after all this time? Let's dig and see." So I dug, and there they were. I brought them home with me for you. I'll keep them until I die, but when I die, you should all sit down together and decide which of you treated me best over the years, which one was the most devoted, never begrudged me a new shirt when I asked for one, nor a piece of bread when I was hungry - that son shall inherit all my money. Now, my dear children, accept me back. You can work things out amongst yourselves, but it would not be right to seek shelter among strangers! Which of you will be kind to your old father... for money?" And the old man went back to his sons' house with the purse tucked under his arm, and it was easy to imagine that he had been in a real forest. When someone comes home with a chest under their arm, it depends entirely on what's in it! So as soon as the old man arrived, the eldest son's wife rushed out to greet him and welcome him in the name of God. "Well, dad, it seems things didn't go so well without you here!" she exclaimed. "The house is so boring. Come inside, dad," she said, "You have a long journey behind you and must be tired" Then his brothers all came rushing in alongside her. The old man told them about the things God had done for him, and all four of their faces lit up when they saw the chest. "If we have that, it'll be ours!" they all thought. And so, all four brothers suddenly didn't know what to do with their "dear" father. They looked after him, and the old man was happy, because he had heeded the nobleman's advice and never let the chest out of his reach. "When I die, everything will be yours," he told them, "but I won't give it to you until then, because who knows what might happen? I saw how you treated your own father when he had nothing. So, you should wait. It will be yours, but you'll only receive it the way I tell you." And so, the sons catered to their father, who was able to live the high life. He did as he pleased and didn't lift a finger. That's how the old man never got mistreated by his sons again, but he lived among them like an emperor in his own empire. But as soon as he died, his sons rushed to get their hands on the chest. Everyone in the village gave testimony to how well they had treated their father since he'd come home. So the decision was made that the chest should be divided equally between the four of them. But first, they took the body of the old man to the church with the chest, and buried him as God commanded. Then they threw a lavish funeral feast. As the priest got up from the table, everyone began to thank the brothers, and the eldest brother asked the priest to perform a memorial service for the deceased. "He was such a beloved man!" he exclaimed, "Has there ever been anyone like him? Here is some money for the memorial service, Father," The other brothers did the same thing. Each of them gave the priest money for half a memorial service, half a requiem, and then some extra money for the poor. "We'll have prayers said for our father at church, even if we have to sell the last lamb to pay for them," they said. After the funeral, when everything had been done, they quickly threw themselves on the chest. They shook it vigorously and made it clink. It was very satisfying to hear. Each of them took the chest in their arms and patted it. "It's like a real treasure!" they said to each other. Then they opened it up and dumped all the contents onto the table. But all that was there was broken glass! They couldn't believe their eyes. They searched through the glass, but there was no money. "This is dreadful!" they exclaimed. "It's impossible that our father dug a hole under an oak in the woods and just got a chest full of glass!". "But," they thought, "he didn't leave us with anything else but broken glass." If everyone wasn't there, the brothers would have started fighting with each other in their anger! In the end, they realized that their father had been laughing at them the whole time, and everyone else started making fun of them: "You see what you get for sending your father to school! It took him a long time to make up his mind to learn, but it's better late than never! It seems as if they threw him into an excellent school. Obviously, they really knew how to give him a good thrashing there! But never mind - now you can have the money and the chest." And so, the brothers were filled with a rage and regret when they realized that their father had been laughing at them, but what could they do? Their father was dead and buried. They couldn't believe their eyes. # Cuento ruso (Anónimo)