"A drop of honey" parable
"He strangled, strangled my cat!
You wretched dog, son of a dog!—
The shopkeeper gets angry,
Grabs whatever is close at hand,
And strikes the dog right on the forehead,
Tossing it next to the cat.
— Oh no! My lion of a dog,
My livelihood, my place, my home!
May your house crumble, you shopkeeper!
Heartless, rude, evil, this and that,
How dare you hit my dog!
Well, now you’ll see what it’s like to be hit...
Our giant yells,
Lifts his large staff,
Swings it back and brings it down,
Knocking the shopkeeper to the floor by the doorstep.
— Murder! Help!
From neighborhood to neighborhood, from house to house,
One person calls to the next:
— Help! He’s been murdered!
From the upper neighborhood, from the lower neighborhood,
From the road, from their work,
Crying and wailing,
Screaming and shouting—
Men and women,
Sisters and brothers,
Wives and children,
Friends and fellows,
Mothers-in-law, fathers-in-law,
Godfathers and their sons,
Uncles and grooms...
Who knows who else,
They come, and they keep coming.
Whoever arrives, swings and strikes:
— You brute! You savage!
How could you do such a thing?
Did you come here to trade,
Or to murder someone at your doorstep?
Some say he hit him ten times,
Pounded him into the ground,
Leaving him sprawled out next to his dog.
— Well, come and take your dead man away!
And from there, the news spreads,
Reaching the nearby village:
— Hey, help us!
Aren’t you alive?
They’ve murdered our villager!"
★★★★★6.1
