The Fountain of Youth
Once upon a time, in a distant era, there was a small house nestled in the heart of a mountainous forest. An old man and his wife lived in this house. They had grown very old; their movements had become slow, and their strength had faded, far from what it used to be in the days of their youth.
The house itself had become very old and was in dire need of repairs. One day, looking at the leaking ceiling, the old man said:
— "I must stop this leak."
His wife replied with sympathy:
— "You are right, but you are no longer as active as you used to be. In the past, this would have only taken you a few minutes."
The old man sighed:
— "Yes, yes. Youth has gone with no return, and old age has arrived with no escape."
The wife agreed:
— "That is very true."
Despite everything, the days passed peacefully for the old couple, living in tranquility and wishing to stay together until the very last day of their lives.
The Surprise Journey into the Forest
The next morning, the old man went out to gather firewood and pick tea leaves. After collecting the wood, he loaded it onto his back to return home. Suddenly, he remembered something important:
— "The harshest thing old age has done to me is stealing my memory, to the point that I forget that I have forgotten! I must go back to pick the tea leaves for my wife."
When he reached the place where the tea plants grew, he was overcome by an intense thirst, so he sat down to rest for a moment. Suddenly, he heard the sound of sweet, running water from a nearby spring. He was astonished and said:
— "I didn’t know there was a water spring here! This is exactly what I wanted and yearned for.. a spring of water, flowing and vibrant with life."
The Secret of the Mysterious Spring
The old man approached the fountain and took the first sip. He instantly felt a powerful energy surging through his body. He took a second sip and felt an even stronger refreshment than before. And when he took the third sip, something incredible happened.. it seemed as though this old man had gone twenty years back in time!
The old man ran back with great vitality, without even noticing the complete transformation in his appearance and body. He simply thought he had become energetic after drinking the water. As he entered the house, he called out:
— "Good morning, my wife! Is the tea ready to drink?"
The old woman turned to him in bewilderment and said:
— "Uh.. excuse me, young man, I cannot hear very clearly. Who are you looking for? Did you say you want my husband? Please, wait for him until he returns."
He laughed and said:
— "Ha, what is the matter with you, woman? It's me, your husband!"
She replied, incredulous:
— "But my husband is an old man like me, not a youth!"
He joked:
— "It seems you are an old woman suffering from senility and have completely lost your memory."
She shouted at him:
— "Stop, stop, young man! This place really belongs to my husband.. and this pipe, whose is it, I wonder? It's impossible, I must be dreaming!"
He took her hand and said:
— "Stop joking, don't you remember whose hand this is?"
She answered with hesitation:
— "I am not joking with you either, young man, and I don't remember who you are.. oh, wait a second, you might be right. This hand is familiar to me."
The old man said:
— "And what about my clothes? Have they changed too?"
She said in a surprised tone:
— "But your voice is strange!"
— "What do you mean my voice is strange? Has my accent become different and my voice hoarse, for example?"
— "For example, it sounds like your voice when you were young!"
The old man then rushed to check his condition and the changes in his appearance and body. He looked into the mirror and cried out in amazement:
— "What? I don’t know who this is! Did I ride a time machine backward or something? This is truly me.. I have become a young man again! That is because I drank from the fountain of youth. I’ve become young again, I’ve become young again.. Praise be to God, praise be to God."
The Consequence of Greed
He turned to his wife with enthusiasm and said:
— "I will fill this bottle for you from the fountain of youth. Yes, yes, don't you want to become young like me, or do you prefer to stay old like this?"
She answered eagerly:
— "No, of course, I want to become young again. Will you go to the fountain of youth tomorrow?"
— "Yes, it seems you are excited to return to youth. Can you wait until tomorrow?"
— "Yes, yes, if only youth could return one day.. I will try to wait with patience."
"The old person who awaits the return of their youth tomorrow finds their night as long as a year." Indeed, this is very true.
That night, the husband fell into a deep sleep after the fatigue and exhaustion of that day, while his old wife remained awake, unable to sleep, imagining how beautiful she would look when she became a young woman again. She could not wait any longer; she took the bottle and sneaked out into the night to go to the fountain of youth alone, saying to herself:
— "How beautiful I was when I was young.. I will surprise him with my youthful beauty."
In the morning, the husband woke up and did not find her. He waited and waited, saying to himself:
— "I don’t know why women are so slow in all matters of life, don’t they know they are wasting precious time?"
The wife delayed so long that midday arrived, which made her husband deeply worried about her. He rushed along the path to the fountain of youth, searching for her. As he neared the place, he heard the rushing water, but he was startled by the sound and said anxiously:
— "I am sure I heard someone screaming, as there was a strange crying sound mixed with the roar of the fountain!"
He ran toward the spring to see the surprise.. the wife had drunk the water with immense greed; the younger she looked, the more she wanted, and she drank more and more, until the years rolled back completely and she became a crying little baby!
The young husband stood frozen in shock, looked at her, and said with sorrow:
— "What have you done to yourself, you foolish woman?"