Once upon a time, a boy and his mother lived in a small village. They were poor. Though the boy had gone to somewhere to find a job but nobody hired him. Till a master of merchant ship hired him because he could swim and had good health. The master prepaid him 40 coins. So happy he brought 30 coins to his mother and only kept 10 coins.
The merchant ship outed to the sea. Five days passed they arrived to a port which was very crowded. Other sailors suggested:
“Here all things are very cheap. Buy something and bring back you will get much more money”.
The boy had never traded but so he didn’t know what he should buy with his ten coins. He wandered. Suddenly, he met some people who were carrying a dog which was tied and planned to throw it into the sea. The boy ran to and prevented them.
“Why do you treat the dog so bad?”, he said.
“Its master asked us to do because he was very angry as he discovered that the dog has eaten all meat he bought and planned to use in a feast”, said one of them.
The kindness boy couldn’t let himself see the cruel action so he asked them to buy the dog. All them laughed and said: “It is no use but eating. Why do you want it?”
“Sell me. I don’t want to see him die”, said the boy.
Then he gave them three coins to have the dog. He brought the dog came back his ship and chained it near where he worked.
Then he continued wandering. That time, he saw a woman was going to throw a cat into the sea. He ran to and prevented her. He asked:
“Why do you treat it so bad?”
“It is no use but eating on the sly”, said the woman.
As the previous time the boy asked to buy the cat. Though the woman advised him not to buy the bad cat, he couldn’t let himself to see the cruel action.
“Don’t mind. I don’t want to see him die”, said the boy.
After the boy gave the woman three coins the cat was saved its life. The boy carried the cat chained near the dog. He stayed on the ship few minutes but that was so boring. Therefore, he left and wandered along the shore. A little while he saw children beating a snake. He ran to and prevented them.
“It is a harmless snake. Why do you treat it so bad?”, he said.
“Don’t mind”, they said, “We caught it and we can do whatever we want”.
The boy knew that if they continued beating the snake it would die so he wanted to use his money to save the snake’s life. Children asked him five coins. He had to insisted, at last, they agreed to change the snake for four coins. So, all his money had gone. He help the snake go and came back the ship. Sailors had their laughter as they heard his story. They said that he was foolish but he didn’t argue with them.
The midnight of the day they started turning back, the snake appeared from water and gave the boy a pearl and said:
“My father is king of sea. To thank for your helping I gift you this pearl which can help you move in water as you are on ground and follow my father’s word I want to invite you to come my home”.
The boy stopped rowing and followed the snake. They went to a splendid castle which stood at bottom of the sea. Course, the king treated him very well. When the boy left the king gave him many treasures and asked his servants to escort him till he arrived to his home.
His master didn’t saw him and thought that he was fallen. Therefore, he stopped the ship, turned back and reported to port’s manager. But, when they came back their houses they boy had stayed at his house for three days.
With the treasures the boy now could have a wealthy life but he lived a normal life with his mother. The cat and the dog now lived with him. Then, he married. His wife was a beautiful girl and loved jewelries. One day, she saw the pearl which was glowing in his husband’s coffer. Though she didn’t know that was magical pearl but she loved it. She stole the pearl and brought it to a jeweler, asked him to make a ring. The jeweler realized that was one magical pearl so he changed it for another pearl.
When the boy discovered he had lost the pearl he was very sad. Every day, he went to the shore and hoped he could meet the snake but he couldn’t. The dog and the cat felt their master’s mood then one day, they asked their master to go and find the pearl.
The set off and were prevented by a river on their way. Still didn’t know how to get pass the river they met a otter. They said the otter about their story. The kindness otter wanted to help them so it grouped its family and friends. The bridge made of otters appeared. The cat and the dog went pass river and didn’t forget to thank them.
When they arrived to jeweler’s house the cat asked the dog:
“I will climb up the roof and meow. Dogs will round me and you can go in with no notice”.
Of course as the dogs heard the cat meowed they rounded. While the cat was leading them to run away the dog went in and hid himself carefully.
Later, the cat came in. They searched everywhere but they couldn’t get the pearl. Things were stored in a locked coffer. The cat had to try its best to catch a rat. The rat prayed violently to save its life though the cat did not plan to harm it. It asked the rat to lead them to king of rats. The cat asked the king of rats to help them open the coffer and promised that it would not harm any rats living in that area.
King of rats agreed then forced rats to make a hole on the coffer. Some rats went into but they didn’t find the pearl but a small silver box.
“We see a silver box and it may be storing the pearl but they can not open the box”, reported king of rats.
“So how can I get the box?”, said the cat.
“I think we need more rats to make the hole bigger and take the box out”, said king of rats.
“Hurry up!”, said the cat.
King of rats grouped many rats and asked them to gnaw. The coffer, only one night, had been gnawed completely. They took the book and gave the cat. Course, as they broken the box they got the pearl. The cat and the dog were very happy. They left. The dog wanted to have praise from its master so it asked the cat to carry the pearl. But while they were crossing the river the dog barked to another dog and dropped the pearl. Immediately, the pearl was swallowed by a fish.
The cat was angry it scolded the dog. The dog knew that it had made a serious mistake so it kept silent. Later it said sorrowfully:
“What should we do now?”
The cat spent while thinking the it said:
“We will find a fishing boat in this area and pray them to stay on the boat and wait until they catch the fish and slaughtered it. We will steal the pearl as they find it”.
“Excellent”, sai the dog.
They made the way to go to a boat landing nearly. They showed them they were clever animals. Fishers let them live their boat and treated them very well.
Few days later, the fishers caught many fish. They slaughtered a big fish to celebrate and found a pearl. The cat and the dog were happy. While the fishers were giving to pearl to other the cat approached to the master who was holding the pearl, rubbed its body on the master’s leg. The master caressed it. Suddenly, the cat jumped up, grabbed the pearl and ran away. The dog immediately ran after the cat, left people after them who didn’t know what had happened.
That time the cat carried the pearl. It said:
“The previous time you put it in your mouth and dropped it. This time, I will put it on my head. We are very near our house so we can not make any more mistakes”.
But the cat had never thought that a crow which was flying in the sky saw the glowing pearl, flew down and took to a high tree. It landed on a branch. The dog screamed:
“Omg, we can regain as it drop but now how can we regain as it is taken away by the crow”.
The cat spent while thinking and it caught an idea.
“I have a plan”, said the cat.
“What is your plan?”, asked the dog.
“Pretend to die”, said the cat.
The cat ran to the river and drank much water that made its belly bulge few times then it asked the dog to go away and it laid itself on ground, showed its big belly and pretended as that it was a dead cat.
The crow was landing on the branch saw the cat lying on ground with big belly it thought that was dead cat. Therefore, he flew down to eat. But when the crow approached the cat it jumped at one and grabbed the crow. The crow prayed to keep its life. It returned the pearl. The cat took the pearl and let the crow fly.
That time, the dog and the cat carried the pearl to home without any trouble. The boy was happy he praised the dog and cat. Course they were treated better from that time.
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THE END
"Translated by Hung Nguyen"
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