The following tales are a part of the "Human Span of Life" section from the Polish Catalogue of Folktales. It was contributed by Julian Krzyzanowski and collected around 1894. The tale is titled "Ages of a Man."
Let's Read;
We are all kinds of people made of flesh and blood. When the Lord Jesus created animals, he called the lion to himself and said, "You will rule over animals, while I will rule over man."
What happened then? It so happened that an ox, donkey, calf, and a dog got together and decided to oust the lion from power so that they could rule themselves. They collaborated. The dog delivered telegrams. The calf was told to bleat pitifully as if it were hungry, while the ox walked behind and explained why it was bleating, as a calf is a very stupid animal. They thus explained that the lion didn't give them anything to eat and only beat them. The donkey raised and lowered its ears to show how the lion always was at odds with him.
It so happened that the lion found out what was going on and called everyone to his hut and said, "You know, you all acted very stupidly. Who put you up to it?" They all pleaded innocent and no one would confess to any part in it. "The devil must have gotten into you since you acted so stupidly. Do you think that it's fun to rule? The Lord Jesus commanded me, and I must obey. Since you have sinned, you must take your medicine. I mete out your punishment straightaway."
It so happened that the lion didn't want to punish them all himself because it didn't pay to mess around with them. He therefore ordered the ox to eat the dog, the donkey to eat the ox, and the calf to eat the donkey. But the calf had trouble eating the donkey because of its hard bones. The calf gnawed and gnawed and broke all its teeth but finally ate the donkey except for the head, which was left aside with the others. The lion finally decided to eat the calf (because it was the best and softest) but was afraid to eat the head because it was, pardon the expression, damn stupid. The lion ate the calf and left the head with the others. He then buried the skins and heads in the ground, and so they rotted.
The years flew by, and the heads and skins continued to rot. Finally, the Lord Jesus decided to create man. He took some mud and formed a man. But alas, he created him on the very spot where those stupid animals were buried. For that reason, man - even the wisest farmers - comes from those beasts. When he is young, he is as stupid as a calf. When he grows up, he chases like a dog and won't settle down. When he marries, he works like an ox, and when old age arrives, he becomes as stupid as a donkey. But only men are like that, for women were created later.
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