Sacred Texts Sagas and Legends Basque Index Previous Next
ASTOA ETA OTSOA.
LIKE many others in the world, there was an ass. He was going along a ravine, laden with Malaga wine. (You know that asses are very much afraid of wolves, because the wolves are very fond of the flesh of asses.) While he was journeying along in that fashion, he sees a wolf coming at some distance; he could not hide himself anywhere. The wolf comes up, and the ass says to him:
"Good morning, good morning, Mr. Wolf; in case you should be thirsty, I have some excellent Malaga to drink."
"I am not thirsty; no!--but astoundingly hungry; yes! My dinner to-day shall be your head and ears."
"Mr. Wolf, if you were good enough to let me go and hear one mass ------?"
He says to him, "Well! yes."
Our ass goes off then. When he gets into the church he shuts the door inside with his foot, and stops quietly there.
When the wolf began to get impatient at waiting, he said:
"Ay, ay, what a long mass! one would say it was Palm Sunday."
The ass said to him:
"Dirty old wolf, have patience. I am staying here with the angels, and I have my life (safe) for to-night."
"Ay, ay, you bad ass, you are too, too, filthy, you know. If ever you meet with me again, mass you shall not hear."
The ass said to him:
"There are no dogs round the fold of Alagaia; if you go there you would get lots of sheep."
The wolf gives it up, and sets off for the flock where the ass had told him to go. When the ass saw that he had gone away he came out of the church, and went home, and took good care not to come near the wolf's place any more.