The Imitating Neighbour

A weary traveler was returning from his business trip. He was very tired because he had run a whole day for some bandits had attacked his caravan and looted all his goods. The running had worn him out and the lack of food had exhausted him so he fell asleep as soon as he came near a cave. The traveler did not know that the cave was inhibited by an evil spirit.

He didn’t know how long he had slept but when he woke up he found that the dusk had fallen and he could hardly see the outline of the cave. He was famished but he couldn’t do anything. He slept again but the hunger didn’t allow him to get his good night sleep. He thought it would be better to make a fire and sit by it so he set to his work. He was half way through it when he heard someone calling. He strained his ears to listen to the sound. “Did you bring extra person for me?” the voice called out. The traveler replied, “I did not bring extra person but I have an extra flesh”. And then went to sleep beside the fire.

The next morning when he woke up, he felt very light as if some heavy load had been lifted from his back. It took him sometime to realize that his goiter had vanished. Feeling jubilant he leaped and walked home. 

When he got home, his neighbour noticed that the goiter was gone and wanted to know how he had made it disappear. The neighbour also wanted to make his goiter disappear. The traveler recounted his adventure in the cave.

The neighbour didn’t loose a second and rushed to the cave. He also made fire as the dusk approached and heard the sound. “Did you bring extra person for me?”                           The neighbour replied, “I did not bring extra person but I have an extra flesh”.                                                                                                             

The angry voice shouted, “I don’t want the extra flesh. The flesh that the previous traveler gave was so hard, I couldn’t even chew. You can have it.”

The next morning when the man woke up he felt very heavy and drowsy. He felt his hand on his neck and found that the goiter hadn’t disappeared. He was wondering when he felt heaviness at the back of his neck. He slowly moved his fingers towards the back of his neck when he felt that his neck had doubled the size. He became conscious that an extra flesh had grown on his neck during the night. He walked home sadly with two goiters instead of one.