It is said that a long time ago, when people grew old, they were taken to the water and left to drown. This happened with the great-grandfather, the grandfather and when the father grew old, the son also had to take the old man to the water. A son once lived with his family in a hut near the sea. The grandmother had long since died, but the grandfather lived in the house with the son, his wife and the grandson. For a long time, the grandfather was still sprightly and helped wherever he could. But when he could barely walk, the son said: "Come on, father, it's time I took you to the sea."

The son supported his father on the way to the water. As they stood at the top of the hill where, according to the old tradition, the son was to throw his father into the sea, the old man said: "Wait, my son, listen to me. Look, I also brought my father here and pushed him into the sea. And my father took his father to the water.  Your son will also do this one day and I ask you, do you really want to?"

The young man was silent for a long time and thought about it, then he said: "What you did was bad. But you saved me from doing something bad too. That's why I want to forgive you, so that from now on no one in this family has to die like that again."

That day, the two returned to the village. The people came and wanted to know what had happened and heard the story. They passed it on, and they passed it on again, and from then on the old people were allowed to stay happily with their families until the end of their lives.

© translated by Lysander Jaenike, version by Djamila Jaenike, based on:  J.U. Jarník, Albanesische Märchen und Schwänke, in: Zeitschrift für Volkskunde in Sage und Märchen, Band 2, Leipzig 1890, unter dem Titel «Der Sohn verzieh dem Vater».