The strangers came to a village in the evening.
They came to the chief of that village and said: "May we stay for the night
in your village?"
"Oh, yes, strangers," said the chief. "There is a house for
strangers in our village. You may sleep there, and there is supper for you to
eat. But know this: there is an old custom in our village - strangers may sleep
in our house for strangers, but they must not snore. We kill the man who
snores."
The strangers went to the house, they had a good supper there, and then went to
sleep. They slept well. One hour passed, two hours passed, and one of them began
to snore:
"Vo, vo, vo."
The other stranger heard the snoring. He thought: "The people will hear the
snoring and kill him."
The stranger wanted to save the man. He thought a little and then began to sing.
So one stranger snored and the other sang:
Vo, vo, lio, vo!
Vo, vo, lio, vo!
We walked on the road,
We came to this village,
They were good to us here.
Vo, vo, lio, vo!
He sang very well. The people did not hear the snoring, they listened to the
song. Then they began to dance. Some of them sang the song together with the
stranger and danced to the music. Men, women, and even the chief sang and
danced. All that night one stranger snored, one stranger sang, and all the
people sang and danced.
In the morning the strangers came to the chief to say goodbye and to thank him
for everything. The chief said goodbye to them and gave them a small bag of
money.
"I give this money to both of you. We had a good time with you: we danced
and sang well. Thank you very much."
The strangers left the village, but on the road they began to quarrel.
"How shall we divide the money?" said one of them. "I must have
the bigger part. Why did you sing that song last night? Because I snored. So I
must have the bigger part of the money."
And the other man said, "Yes, that is so. But the people could have killed
you, because you snored. My song saved your life. You must only thank me and
give me the bigger part of the money."
They quarreled and quarreled and could not decide anything.
Can you?