Four tales from Epirus, collected and translated by Auguste Dozon, the French consul who learned Albanian and wrote down the stories as they were told to him, in Contes albanais (Paris, 1881). The English you hear is a new translation, made fresh from Dozon's French for KacheliTV.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
A poor boy finds a serpent stiff with cold, warms it back to life, and for his reward asks for the one thing its father least wants to give — a little box that grants whatever is wished. A fisherman whose net brings up nothing but a single leaf watches that leaf outweigh the king's gold, and waits while the learned men of the kingdom race the days to explain it. An old merchant who gave his son everything is turned away from the door — until his little grandson teaches the house a lesson with half a horse-blanket. And Mosko and Tosko, two brothers who are thieves by trade, spend a long night trading a piece of smoked meat back and forth with their brother-in-law, until nobody knows who has tricked whom.
Stories in this episode:
0:35 Introduction
1:59 The Grateful Serpent and the Wonderful Box
7:34 The Fisherman
12:24 The Ungrateful Son
18:31 Mosko and Tosko
Source: Contes albanais, recueillis et traduits, by Auguste Dozon (Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1881) — public domain; translation made fresh for KacheliTV. Narrated by Silas.
Music: "Blazing Fire" (instrumental) — opening and closing theme, with a short excerpt between stories.
