Antonio and the three advices of Salomone: a legend of Arborea
Many years ago, a good man called Antonio used to live in a town on the border with the regions of Arborea and Sinis. He was the owner of a small shop and, one morning, as he was going to open it, he found a corpse in front of the entrance. Scared and threating to be accused of murder, he left the town without saying a word even to his kins.
Antonio started walking toward Nuoro and, halfway through, he decided to stop in a mountain town and start a new life. After a couple of days, he got a job as a servant at a big farm. The landlord was known by the local people as Salomone because of his well-known equilibrium and wisdom gifts.
After twenty years of service at that property, Antonio decided that it was time to go back home to his family. At that point, for the first time Antonio asked Salomone his wage. Since he started working, he never pretended any money: board and lodging only. Salomone considered his request to be fair and he gave him 300 coins. By the way, Antonio, remembering the master's wisdom, asked him: “How much do you want for giving me a good advice?”. “100 coins”, answered Salomone. Antonio accepted, and the master told him: “Never leave the old street for a new one”.
That answer was not enough for Antonio, who paid 100 coins for one more tip. “Never interfere in someone else business”, said his master. He was nearly leaving, when he decided to invest his last 100 coins in another wisdom pearl. Salomone said to him: “Leave today's anger and worries to tomorrow”. Antonio was satisfied and hugged Salomone. Salomone, before letting Antonio go, gave him a big piece of bread and told him to eat it only once he would have been sat at table with his family. “On no account will you touch it before then”, advised him warmly. Then, Antonio started his journey home: he could not wait hugging his family, after being apart for so many years.
Halfway through, Antonio met a group of people going to a wedding on an adorned oxcart. They invited him to get on for a lift, but Antonio remembered Salomone's words: “Never leave the old street for the new one”. He thanked and refused the invitation.
Few kilometers after, he heard the sound of shooting nearby. Then shouting. Antonio was scared and waited a little bit. Later, passed few hundreds meter, he found the oxcart in the middle of the street: the whole group had been killed by bandits passing there perhaps with the intention of robbery. Antonio remembered Salomone's tip and felt relief.
Antonio continued his journey home and, at nightfall, he stopped to a cottage asking for hospitality. An old shepherd opened the door and offered him some food. After dinner, the shepherd opened a little door and, from the dark room came out the moans of a very old skinny men without eyes, asking for food. The shepherd rudely passed him a bowl of soup, and closed the door. Antonio turned pale and did not ask for any explanation, remembering the second advice of Salomone .
The old shepherd was surprised by the guest behavior, and Antonio explained him: “Whatever happen in this house is none of my business”. “Good, that is right - said the shepherd – You have to know that man was my best friend but one day he betrayed me, he made me arrest by the police after a robbery. When I went out of prison, I returned home and I could not find my family anymore: they all died of hardship. So, I caught my ex friend, I took out his eyes and I locked him in that room, where he is going to stay until his death. If you had made any questions, I would have killed you as I did with the other travelers”. Antonio trembled in fear, then he went to sleep.
Just before dawn, Antonio escaped from that house: for the second time in few hours, the advices of Salomone turned out to be precious. Finally, He arrived to his old house near Oristano.
However, once Antonio arrived at few steps from the gate, he saw lights and decorations, he could heard music and a party vibes. Then, he saw his wife dressed up, happily surrounded by many handsome boys. Antonio felt jealous, and the anger gave him bad thoughts. But, he remembered the third advice of Salomone, and therefore, he decided to ask his neighbors to put him up for one night.
A woman opened the door, recognizing him immediately, she explained Antonio the reason of so much happiness in his house: pointing at the guy next to the mother, she said to him that he was his elder son, who just had a baby. Antonio felt a bit bad, ashamed of having had terrible thoughts. He thanked his neighbour and run home. His wife and the other member of his family, surprised to see him again after so many years, happily hugged him.
That was a great party, a double event. Once the guest were all gone, Antonio invited his family to sit down at table, he took Salomone's bread and broke it: he found 300 coins inside it. A tear ran down his face for the emotion, remembering the three advices that the old wise master gave to him. He poured some wine and passing glasses around the table, he drank a toast to Salomone's health. Salomone's advices were going to be useful for the rest of his life.
