The Tale of the Hunter Marcos

Once upon a time, there lived a hunter named Marcos. One day, he went out hunting and saw a black snake strangling a speckled snake under a rock. Hunter Marcos took aim at the black snake, fired his shot, but somehow—no one knows how—he missed the black snake and instead hit and killed the speckled one.

Hunter Marcos was deeply upset.

"Oh no, what have I done!" he thought. "If I can no longer hit what I aim for, then I’m no hunter at all. And may I be cursed if I ever pick up a rifle again."

And guess what happened next! It turned out that the speckled snake was the wife of the Snake King. The Snake King was furious with Hunter Marcos and sent two of his subjects to bite Marcos in the heel so that venom would drip from his nose. The snakes slithered away, hid near the chimney—a hole in the roof—and waited for Marcos to go to sleep.

Meanwhile, guests arrived at Marcos's house. They noticed that Marcos seemed different from his usual self and asked:

"Hey, Marcos, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Or is something else bothering you?"

Marcos replied:

"No, I’m not sick, but something worse than any illness has happened to me. I wanted to kill the black snake today and save the speckled one, but it turned out the other way around. So I swore never to pick up a rifle again: what kind of hunter am I if I kill the wrong target?"

The snakes overheard what Marcos told his friends and quickly returned to their king. They recounted everything they had heard. The king ordered them not to bite Marcos but to bring him to the palace.

The snakes slithered into Marcos's house and said:

"Get ready, our king summons you."

Hunter Marcos followed the snakes to the Snake King.

On the way, one of the snakes said to him:

"The black snake is our king’s mortal enemy. For accidentally killing the queen, the king will forgive you, but for tracking down his enemy, he will reward you. Just don’t accept anything from him; instead, ask him to lick you with his snake tongue. You’ll become wiser than anyone in the world."

When they arrived, the Snake King asked Marcos:

"Did you kill my queen?"

Marcos told him everything that had happened. The king asked:

"If you saw that black snake again, would you recognize it?"

"May you live long, King. If I see it, I’ll recognize it."

The king ordered all the snakes from around the world to be summoned, and they all slithered past Hunter Marcos.

"Well, what do you say?" asked the king. "Did you see the snake?"

"No," replied Marcos. "That snake wasn’t among them."

The king commanded:

"Look around, see if there are any more snakes."

The servants answered:

"There’s one snake—the son of the oldest snake crone."

"Bring it here!" ordered the king.

They brought the snake.

"May you live long, King," said Marcos. "That’s the one."

At the king’s command, the black snake was torn into such tiny pieces that they couldn’t even be gathered.

The Snake King turned to Hunter Marcos:

"You’ve done me a great service, and I want to reward you. Ask for whatever you want."

"I don’t need anything," replied Marcos. "Just lick me with your snake tongue."

"May the one who advised you break his neck," said the king. "I’ll do it since you ask, but it will bring misfortune to both you and me."

The Snake King licked Marcos and warned him:

"Don’t tell anyone about this, not even your wife. And never show your naked body to any living creature."

Marcos bid farewell to the Snake King and left. Suddenly, he heard stones speaking, grass speaking, trees speaking. He reached his village and heard one dog say to another:

"Tonight, the wolves will come to steal the sheep. Maybe we’ll get some meat too."

But a little red dog objected:

"Aren’t you ashamed? We’ll tell the owner when the wolves come, and he’ll shoot them."

Marcos was amazed and realized that the wisdom from the Snake King had come to him. He went to the sheep owner and said:

"Don’t sleep tonight; the wolves are coming. And don’t lock up the little red dog; let her stay in the yard. She’ll warn you."

The owner laughed:

"Where did you hear that, Hunter Marcos? If what you say turns out to be true, I’ll give you two of the fattest sheep."

As soon as night fell, the little red dog barked. The owner rushed out and saw the wolves approaching the flock. He shot the wolves, and in the morning, he took Marcos to the flock to choose two of the fattest sheep. When they arrived, Marcos heard a lamb say:

"Whoever I belong to will have a flock of a thousand, and I’ll be the leader."

Hunter Marcos said to the owner:

"I don’t need the fattest sheep; I didn’t do you such a great favor. Just give me this little lamb, and that’s enough for me."

From then on, wealth seemed to come to Hunter Marcos on its own, and soon he had a flock of a thousand sheep.

One day, the neighbors gathered at Marcos’s wife’s house and teased her:

"What kind of wife are you? You don’t even know how your husband got rich."

"I really don’t know," replied Marcos’s wife.

"Then he’s keeping secrets from you. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Pester him until he tells you everything."

That evening, Marcos’s wife pestered him to tell her his secret.

"Oh, wife," replied Marcos, "aren’t you living well? Why do you want to pry into my secrets? If I tell you, I’ll die that very hour."

"No, tell me anyway," she insisted. "Otherwise, I’m no longer your wife."

"Very well," sighed Marcos. "I’ll tell you. But first, have a grave dug at the cemetery and prepare a shroud. Once you know my secret, you’ll bury me right away."

His wife agreed: her curiosity was so great that not even her husband’s death frightened her, as long as she could learn his secret.

"I’ll go," said Marcos, "take one last look at my flock, then I’ll come back, tell you everything—and perish."

He went to the flock. He saw a sheep running away, and a ram chasing her. The sheep said to the ram:

"Jump off this hill. If you don’t break your neck, I’ll marry you."

The ram replied:

"I’m not as foolish as Hunter Marcos, to die for a wife. If you don’t want me, fine, I’ll marry someone else. I’m not going to break my neck for you."

"A ram is wiser than me!" thought Marcos. He returned home and kicked out his wife, who had valued her curiosity more than his life.

Marcos lived alone for a long time and amassed great wealth. One day, news came that the king who ruled the land where Marcos lived had fallen dangerously ill. Wise men and healers gathered from all over the land. They treated him but couldn’t cure him. Finally, one wise man read somewhere that the illness could be cured with a potion made from the head of the Snake King. But only one person could obtain it—a man whose body was covered in snake skin. The king ordered all his subjects to find such a man. One day, while Marcos was bathing, two shepherds spied on him and saw that his body was covered in what looked like snake skin.

They went to the king and said:

"May you live long, King! What will you give us if we tell you who has skin like a snake’s?"

The king replied:

"I’ll give you as much gold as you both weigh, just tell me."

"Hunter Marcos has skin like a snake’s."

Immediately, the king sent for Marcos and ordered him to be stripped naked by force.

"Go to the Snake King," he commanded Marcos. "Either bring me his head, or I’ll cut off yours."

Marcos had no choice but to go to the Snake King. The Snake King, being so wise, didn’t even need to ask why Marcos had come; he already understood.

"You see," he said to Marcos, "I warned you that your request would lead to trouble."

"It’s not my fault," replied Marcos. "For thirty years, I hid from people, but the shepherds saw me by chance. Now the king has ordered me to bring him your head or he’ll cut off mine."

"Very well," said the Snake King. "Since he’s learned the cure, he’ll find a way to get to me one way or another. Cut off my head. When you bring it home, boil it in a pot until only a seventh of the water remains. Fill two cups. Drink one yourself and give the other to the king. Don’t forget; do everything as I say."

Hunter Marcos cut off the Snake King’s head, returned home, and did as he was told.

As soon as he drank the potion, he became eighteen years old. The king, after drinking his cup, was instantly healed and also rejuvenated by twenty years. The king sat on his throne and appointed Marcos as his first vizier, saying:

"I am the king, but I will obey you in everything, for there is no one wiser than you in the world."

And Hunter Marcos replied:

"The Snake King was wiser than me, and kinder too. We owe everything to him."

May their wishes come true, and may yours come true as well.

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The Tale of the Hunter Marcos

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