The Boy Roasting Chestnuts

A boy was roasting some chestnuts over the fire.
The poor chestnuts, tormented by the searing flames, began to scream.
The boy, however, felt no pity. "Enough of that funeral dirge!" he shouted. "I'll make you be quiet."
So saying, he heaped live coals on top of them.
The chestnuts were finally overcome by the heat and their shells started cracking, which is how they got their revenge: as the chestnuts popped open, they jumped about in the fire and blew burning ashes into the face of that cruel boy.
He screamed even louder than the chestnuts did.


Inspired byMille Fabulae et Una, a collection of Latin fables that I've edited, free to read online. I am not translating the Latin here; instead, I am just telling a 100-word version of the fable.
Notes: This is fable 965 in the book; the story is not in Perry's catalog, and instead comes from the neo-Latin fabulist Desbillons.






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