THE YOUNG MAN AND THE GREAT BEAST WITH A HUMAN HEAD
" ... More than a hundred people have already shown up. But they remained silent, and the Great Beast with the head of a man ate them alive."
“My friend, you have been told the truth."
“Archbishop of Auch, I want to try my luck. This very night, I will leave for the Mountain, and I will find, in its cave, the Great Beast with a human head, to answer three questions. If I remain silent, she will eat me alive. If I answer, the Great Man-Headed Beast will give me half his gold, and I'll marry the Maid I love."
“My friend, you are in love. Nothing will stop you from doing as you say. So act in your own way, since you can profit from no advice. About the Great Beast with a human head, they told you what they knew; but that is not the whole truth. Before questioning people three times, the Great Beast with a human head commands them three impossible things. Don't mind that. Prove there is no way. For the three questions, it is another matter. You will be eaten alive if you remain silent. Listen carefully. Understand well. Respond without rushing. If you answer correctly, the Great Beast with the head of a man will have lost its power, and will say to you: “Take half of my gold." Take it, and come back quickly, if you think you are unable to do more. Stay, if you think you're smart enough, and say: "Great Beast, I've only done half my work yet. You couldn't embarrass me. Now I'm taking your place." Then you will ask it three questions, the most difficult you can imagine. If it remains silent, you will take this golden knife, which you will hide under your clothes, only to draw it at the right moment. You will bleed the Great Beast with a human head, you will cut off its head, and you will return quickly, with all its gold."
“Thank you, Archbishop of Auch."
The young man hid the golden knife under his clothes, only to draw it at the right moment, saluted the Archbishop of Auch, and left, the same night, for the Mountains, in search of the Great Beast with a human head. Three days later, he arrived in a desert country, in a wild and black country, where the waters fall a thousand fathoms, where the mountains are so high, so high, that the birds cannot fly there, and the snow never melts.
There dwelt the Great Beast with a human head.
The young man entered the cave, without fear.
“Ho! Great Beast with a human head! Ho! ho! ho!"
-"What do you want from me ?"
“Great Beast, I want to answer your three questions, and earn half your gold. If I remain silent, you will eat me alive."
While the Great Beast with a human head prepared to embarrass him, the young man thought of what the Archbishop of Auch had told him: "Before questioning people three times, the Great Beast with a human head commands them three impossible things. Don't mind that. Prove there is no way. For the three questions, it is another matter. You will be eaten alive if you remain silent. Listen carefully. Understand well. Respond without rushing."
Finally, the Great Beast with a human head spoke.
“I give you the sea to drink."
“Drink it yourself. Neither I nor you have a gizzard to drink the sea."
“I give you the moon to eat."
"Eat it yourself. The moon is too far away for me or you to reach."
“I give you a hundred leagues of cable to do, with the sand of the sea."
"Do it yourself. The sand of the sea does not bind, like flax and hemp, Neither I nor you will ever do such a job."
Then the Great Beast with a human head thought she had wasted her time, ordering three impossible things. She stretched her claws, and gritted her teeth. The young man understood that it was going to ask him the three questions, and he thought of what the Archbishop of Auch had said to him: “Listen well. Understand well. Respond without rushing."