Christ nor Devil
Greek folk tale translated by Nick Nicholas (originally in ju'i lobypli 18).
melu la xrist. na.enai la pacrux. djica da li'u
.ika'u la pacrux. klama la xrist. gi'e bacru
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selba'u la xrist.
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ni'o ca le bavlamdei ke clira clira la xrist. joi la pacrux. klama le cange po ko'a gi'e se mipstu loi stani .i le kakpa cu !ba'e sutra klama gi'enai kruca jdaxanmu'u gi'e lasna le bakni le te plixa gi'e co'a renro lei tsiju
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.i mijdo'i .i ko'a co'a citka gi'enai jdaxanmu'u
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.i ko'a mutce citka gi'e mutce pinxe gi'enaiba'obo jdaxanmu'u gi'e!ji'a.uero'a cladu gaxykafke .i la xrist. bacru
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.i la pacrux. cu bacru
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Neither Christ nor the Devil wants him.
Once the Devil went to Christ and said "Pray tell, do you think that plougher is a Christian?" "I do." "You're wrong", the Devil answered, "the plougher is all mine. If you don't believe me, let's go to his farm next dawn when he's ploughing. There you'll see he's mine."
Very early the next day, Christ and the Devil went to the plougher's farm and hid in some branches. The plougher hastened to the farm, didn't make the sign of the cross, attached the bulls to the plough and started sowing. "See?" said the Devil. "He's mine. If he was yours, he'd make the sign of the cross before working."
"The plougher is impatient to finish sowing. Wait for midday. Then he'll eat. You'll see him making the sign of the cross then." It became midday. The plougher started eating and didn't make the sign of the cross.
"See?" said the Devil. "If he was yours, he'd make the sign of the cross before eating. You can't argue anymore. He's all mine." "Wait. If he finishes eating and doesn't make the sign of the cross, he's yours." The plougher ate a lot, drank a lot, didn't make the sign of the cross, and to top it all off, let off a huge fart! Christ said "Now, you can have him." The Devil said "No, *you* have him!"