Juan, the Student

There was once a poor couple 
who lived happily in a quiet 
place. They had one son, named 
Juan, whom at first they loved 
very much; but afterwards, either 
because their extreme poverty 
made it difficult for them to 
support him, or because of his 
wickedness and waywardness, 
they began to hate him, and 
made plans to kill him. 

In order to carry out this 
purpose, the father called his son 
to him one evening, and said: 
"My son, to-morrow we will go to 
the mountain to get some 
lumber with which to repair our 
house. I want you to prepare our 
breakfast very early, so that we 
may set out before the sun rises." 



On the next morning they arose 
very early and ate their breakfast. 
As it consisted only of rice and a 
few small fishes, it was soon 
finished, and they set out for the 
mountain. When they had arrived 
at a lonely spot, the man seized 
his son and fastened him to a 
large tree. Then he took his bolo 
and cut down the tree in such a 
way as to cause it to fall on the 
boy and kill him. Then he 
returned home, thinking that he 
should have no more trouble on 
account of his son. 

Early the next morning, the man 
heard a noise as of some one 
approaching the house. On 
opening a window he perceived 
his son, whom he supposed he 
had killed on the previous day, 
coming towards the house and 
bearing a heavy load of wood. 
When the boy had come near he 
asked where he should put the 
wood. At first the father was too 
much frightened to reply, but at 
last he told his son to put the 
wood down near the house. 
For a long time Juan lived at 
home, but his parents hated him 
continually, and at last decided to 
give him poison. One day they 
sent him on a long trip, giving 
him seven pieces of poisoned 
bread for his food along the way. 
When he had become weary and 
hungry from walking, he sat 
down under a tree and began to 
open the handkerchief to get 
from it some of the bread to eat. 
Suddenly a number of crows flew 
down from the tree, seized the 
bread, ate it, and almost 
immediately died. The boy at 
once perceived the intention of 
his parents and returned home. 
As soon as he arrived there, he 
declared to his father and 
mother his intention of leaving 
them and going elsewhere to 
live. As soon as they heard him, 
they were full of joy, and readily 
gave him the desired permission. 
He went to a distant town, and 
decided to study. He made such 
progress that his teachers were 
charmed with his diligence. He 
was very fond of debates with 
his schoolmates, and one day 
asked them the following riddle: 
"Two tried to kill one, one killed 
seven, two were left, and one 
went away." They searched 
through the books for the 
answer to the riddle, but as they 
were unable to find it, they 
agreed that Juan was the 
cleverest one among them, since 
they could not answer his riddle. 
One day the student met a young 
lady to whom he gave the riddle. 
She asked for a little time in 
which to study it, and this being 
granted, went home, disguised 
herself as a young man and, 
returning, asked Juan to tell the 
answer to the riddle. "For I 
know," she said, "that many 
students have tried to find the 
solution of this riddle, but have 
not been successful." Juan finally 
granted her request, and told her 
the answer to the riddle, which 
was the story of his life. 
Then the young lady returned 
home, put on her own clothes, 
and went back to the student's 
house, to give him the answer to 
his riddle. When Juan heard her 
answer, he thought her a very 
clever young woman, since she 
had succeeded where so many 
young men had failed, so he fell 
in love with the young lady and 
married her.