But when he saw it he could not deny himself the pleasure of tasting it, so he cut off a little bit and put it into his mouth. No sooner had it touched his tongue than he heard a strange whispering of little voices outside his window. He went and listened, and then noticed that it was the sparrows who were chattering together, and telling one another of all kinds of things which they had seen in the fields and woods. Eating the snake had given him power of understanding the language of animals.

Now it so happened that on this very day the Queen lost her most beautiful ring, and suspicion of having stolen it fell upon this trusty servant, who was allowed to go everywhere. The King ordered the man to be brought before him, and threatened with angry words that unless he could before the morrow point out the thief, he himself should be looked upon as guilty and executed. 

 In vain he declared his innocence; he was dismissed with no better answer.

他看到之后，就忍不住想尝一尝，于是他用刀子割下一小块送进嘴里。 蛇肉刚碰到他的舌头，他就听到了窗子外面有一些奇怪的小声音在窃窃私语。他走到窗边侧耳细听，发现原来是一群麻雀在聊天，相互说着在田野和森林里的所见所闻。吃了那块蛇肉之后，他现在居然能听懂动物语言了！
说来也巧，也就在这一天，王后最漂亮的戒指不见了，因为这个侍从哪里都可以去，所以偷戒指的嫌疑也就落到了他的头上。国王把他叫去大骂一通，并且威胁说，要是他第二天早晨说不出小偷是谁，那么他自己会被判为小偷，并被处死。侍从一再声明自己是清白无辜的，可没有用，国王还是不改变自己的主意。