This is the story of blind Basa Jaun.
The Blind Basa Jaun
Two soldiers from the same district, having obtained their leave, were returning home together. While crossing a large forest, night surprised them. But at dusk they had seen smoke in a certain direction, they went that way and found a bad hut. They knocked on the door; it was asked:
- " Who is here ? »
- " Two friends ".
- " What do you want ? »
– » Accommodation for this night. »
The door opened; they were allowed in, and the door closed. The soldiers, whatever their courage, were frightened to find themselves in the presence of a Basa Jaun: the whole picture of a man, but covered in hair and with a single eye in the middle of his forehead. The Basa Jaun gave them something to eat. After their supper, he weighed them and said to the heaviest:
– “You for tonight, the other for tomorrow”
And immediately he pierced the fattest one right through with a large spit, without even taking off his clothes; he tied the limbs to the spit, roasted it over a high fire and ate it. The other remained completely frightened, not knowing what to do to preserve his life. The Basa Jaun, well sated, fell asleep. Immediately, the soldier took the spit that had been used to roast his comrade, made it redden in the fire, stuck it in his eye and blinded him. The Basa Jaun, screaming, ran everywhere to find the stranger; but the soldier immediately hid in the stable, in the middle of Basa Jaun's flock of sheep, unable to get out because the door was closed.
The next morning, the Basa Jaun opened the door of the stable and, wanting to seize the soldier, passed the sheep that came out between his legs one by one; but it occurred to the soldier that he must skin a sheep and put on its skin, so that the blind man would not catch it. As he touched all the sheep, the skin of one of them remained in his hands, and he thought that the man had passed under it. The soldier escaped but the Basa Jaun, who was running after him as best he could, shouted to him:
– “Here, take this ring, so that when you get home you can tell what wonder you did! » And he threw her the ring.
The soldier picked it up and put it on his finger; but the ring began to speak and say:
- " I am here ! I am here ! »
The soldier ran, the blind man ran; it was like one and the same room. The soldier, exhausted, fearing that the Basa Jaun would catch him, thought, upon arriving at a river, of throwing the ring there, but he could not get it off his finger. So he cut off his finger and threw it with the ring into the river. The ring, from the bottom of the water, continued to cry:
- " I am here ! I am here ! »
The Basa Jaun, hearing this call, entered the water and drowned. The soldier then crossed the river on a bridge and escaped happily to his house.
