🐉 A certain man greatly desired to speak many languages. He had heard that it required much effort, but he wanted to achieve it easily and immediately, yet no methods for this were found.

Then a passing man appeared and imparted knowledge to him. "When the snake gathering season comes, I will come to you and teach you to speak all languages."

Summer arrived. It was a summer of snakes. The snake gathering season began. The passing man came.

"Have you not lost your desire to learn different languages?" he asked.

"That is all I think about."

After this, they went to a stony field. There were many snakes there, all in tangled masses. The passing man took one swarm, and they returned home. Here, he boiled water in a cauldron and lowered the snake swarm into it.

The snakes cooked quickly. A snake broth was made. The passing man took a spoon of the broth and commanded him to drink it. The man drank it, and from that time onward, he spoke many languages.

Russian fairy tales in Karelia. Old recordings. 1947.