{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_30635/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_30635","id":"gutenberg_30635","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30635","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Folklore -- India"],"text":"Produced by Chris Curnow, Emmy and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was\nproduced from images generously made available by The\nInternet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe Talking Thrush\n\nAnd Other Tales from India\n\n[Illustration: \"A Crow is a Crow for ever.\"]\n\n\n\n\nThe Talking Thrush\n\nAnd Other Tales from India Collected by W\u00b7CROOKE And Retold by\nW\u00b7H\u00b7DROUSE\n\nIllustrated by W\u00b7H\u00b7Robinson.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.\n London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.\n\n 1922\n\n\n\n\n FIRST PUBLISHED _October 1899_\n REPRINTED _July 1902; October 1922_\n\n _All rights reserved_\n\n PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPreface\n\n\nTHE stories contained in this little book are only a small part of a\nlarge collection of Indian folk-tales, made by Mr. Crooke in the course\nof the Ethnological Survey of the North-West Provinces and Oudh. Some\nwere recorded by the collector from the lips of the jungle-folk of\nMirz\u00e1pur; others by his native assistant, Pandit R\u00e1mghar\u00edb Chaub\u00e9.\nBesides these, a large number were received from all parts of the\nProvinces in response to a circular issued by Mr. J. C. Nesfield, the\nDirector of Public Instruction, to all teachers of village schools.\n\nThe present selection is confined to the Beast Stories, which are\nparticularly interesting as being mostly indigenous and little affected\nby so-called Aryan influence. Most of them are new, or have been\npublished only in the _North Indian Notes and Queries_ (referred to as\n_N.I.N.Q._).\n\nIn the re-telling, for which Mr. Rouse is responsible, a number of\nchanges have been made. The text of the book is meant for children, and\nconsequently the first aim has been to make an interesting story. Those\nwho study folk-tales for any scientific purpose will find all such\nchanges marked in the Notes. If the change is considerable, the original\ndocument is summarised. It should be added that these documents are\nmerely brief Notes in themselves, without literary interest. The Notes\nalso give the source of each tale, and a few obvious parallels, or\nreferences to the literature of the subject.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nContents\n\n\n PAGE\n\n THE TALKING THRUSH 1\n\n THE RABBIT AND THE MONKEY 8\n\n THE SPARROW'S REVENGE 16\n\n THE JUDGMENT OF THE JACKAL 21\n\n HOW THE MOUSE GOT INTO HIS HOLE 25\n\n KING SOLOMON AND THE OWL 30\n\n THE CAMEL'S NECK 33\n\n THE QUAIL AND THE FOWLER 36\n\n THE KING OF THE KITES 39\n\n THE JACKAL AND THE CAMEL 43\n\n THE WISE OLD SHEPHERD 47\n\n BEWARE OF BAD COMPANY 53\n\n THE FOOLISH WOLF 55\n\n REFLECTED GLORY 58\n\n THE CAT AND THE SPARROWS 61\n\n THE FOOLISH FISH 65\n\n THE CLEVER GOAT 72\n\n A CROW IS A CROW FOR EVER 76\n\n THE GRATEFUL GOAT 81\n\n THE CUNNING JACKAL; OR, THE BITER BIT 85\n\n THE FARMER'S ASS 89\n\n THE PARROT JUDGE 93\n\n THE FROG AND THE SNAKE 97\n\n LITTLE MISS MOUSE AND HER FRIENDS 101\n\n THE JACKAL THAT LOST HIS TAIL 105\n\n THE WILY TORTOISE 110\n\n THE KING OF THE MICE 112\n\n THE VALIANT BLACKBIRD 117\n\n THE GOAT AND THE HOG 123\n\n THE PARROT AND THE PARSON 127\n\n THE LION AND THE HARE 130\n\n THE MONKEY'S BARGAINS 132\n\n THE MONKEY'S REBUKE 139\n\n THE BULL AND THE BULLFINCH 145\n\n THE SWAN AND THE CROW 150\n\n PRIDE SHALL HAVE A FALL 156\n\n THE KID AND THE TIGER 160\n\n THE STAG, THE CROW, AND THE JACKAL 166\n\n THE MONKEY AND THE CROWS 170\n\n THE SWAN AND THE PADDY-BIRD 173\n\n WHAT IS A MAN? 176\n\n THE WOUND AND THE SCAR 182\n\n THE CAT AND THE PARROT 186\n\n NOTES 195\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nList of Illustrations\n\n\n \"A CROW IS A CROW FOR EVER\" _Frontispiece_\n\n PAGE\n\n TITLE-PAGE v\n\n PREFACE: Headpiece vii\n\n CONTENTS: Headpiece ix\n \" Tailpiece xi\n\n THE TALKING THRUSH:\n Initial 1\n\n THE RABBIT AND THE MONKEY:\n Initial 8\n Man with Bamboo Pole 9\n \"Sit in front of that Man\" 11\n Tailpiece 15\n\n THE SPARROW'S REVENGE:\n \"Up jumped the Boy, and out he ran\" 19\n\n THE JUDGMENT OF THE JACKAL:\n Initial 21\n \"The Merchant was much dismayed\" 22\n \"And away they went\" 23\n\n HOW THE MOUSE GOT INTO HIS HOLE:\n Initial 25\n\n KING SOLOMON AND THE OWL:\n Initial 30\n Tailpiece 32\n\n THE CAMEL'S NECK:\n Headpiece 33\n\n THE QUAIL AND THE FOWLER:\n Headpiece 36\n Tailpiece 38\n\n THE KING OF THE KITES:\n Initial 39\n \"The Frog turned up his flat nose\" 41\n\n THE JACKAL AND THE CAMEL:\n Tailpiece 46\n\n THE WISE OLD SHEPHERD:\n Initial 47\n The Fifth Shepherd 51\n Tailpiece 52\n\n BEWARE OF BAD COMPANY:\n Initial 53\n\n THE CAT AND THE SPARROWS:\n Initial 61\n \"Just at that moment up came a Cat\" 63\n Tailpiece 64\n\n THE FOOLISH FISH:\n Initial 65\n Tailpiece 71\n\n THE CLEVER GOAT:\n Tailpiece 75\n\n A CROW IS A CROW FOR EVER:\n \"And took him home to the Palace\" 77\n Tailpiece 80\n\n THE GRATEFUL GOAT:\n Initial 81\n Tailpiece 84\n\n THE CUNNING JACKAL:\n Initial 85\n\n THE FARMER'S ASS:\n \"He shaved off every scrap of hair\n from his head\" 89\n \"It was not easy to get their hair\n back again\" 92\n Tailpiece 92\n\n THE PARROT JUDGE:\n The Parrot in Court 95\n Tailpiece 96\n\n THE FROG AND THE SNAKE:\n Tailpiece 98\n \"He saw a Frog swimming on the top\n of the water\" 99\n\n LITTLE MISS MOUSE AND HER FRIENDS:\n Tailpiece 104\n\n THE JACKAL THAT LOST HIS TAIL:\n \"Suddenly cut off the Jackal's tail\" 106\n Tailpiece 109\n\n THE WILY TORTOISE:\n Initial 110\n Tailpiece 111\n\n THE VALIANT BLACKBIRD:\n \"He sent a Fowler to catch him\" 117\n Tailpiece 122\n\n THE GOAT AND THE HOG:\n A Demon 123\n Tailpiece 126\n\n THE PARROT AND THE PARSON:\n Initial 127\n Tailpiece 129\n\n THE LION AND THE HARE:\n Initial 130\n Tailpiece 131\n\n THE MONKEY'S BARGAINS:\n Initial 132\n\n THE MONKEY'S REBUKE:\n \"Oft had this Monkey seen the\n Milkman pour water into the\n Milk-cans\" 140\n \"Then after a while he came to\n a Pond\" 141\n Tailpiece 144\n\n THE BULL AND THE BULLFINCH:\n Initial 145\n Tailpiece 149\n\n THE SWAN AND THE CROW:\n Initial 150\n \"Hm, hm,\" said the Judge, looking\n at the Crow 153\n Tailpiece 155\n\n PRIDE SHALL HAVE A FALL:\n Initial 156\n Tailpiece 159\n\n THE KID AND THE TIGER:\n Initial 160\n\n THE STAG, THE CROW, AND THE JACKAL:\n Initial 166\n Tailpiece 169\n\n THE MONKEY AND THE CROWS:\n \"O Monkey, what a fool you must be!\" 171\n Tailpiece 172\n\n THE SWAN AND THE PADDY-BIRD:\n Initial 173\n Tailpiece 175\n\n WHAT IS A MAN:\n \"He espied an Elephant\" 178\n \"I am a Man,\" said the other 180\n\n THE WOUND AND THE SCAR:\n Initial 182\n Tailpiece 185\n\n THE CAT AND THE PARROT:\n \"The Cat said to the Parrot, Come,\n friend\" 187\n \"An old woman happened to be near\" 191\n\n FINIS 218\n\n\n\n\nThe Talking Thrush\n\n\nA CERTAIN man had a garden, and in his garden he sowed cotton seeds.\nBy-and-by the cotton seeds grew up into a cotton bush, with big brown\npods upon it. These pods burst open when they are ripe; and you can see\nthe fluffy white cotton bulging all white out of the pods. There was a\nThrush in this garden, and the Thrush thought within herself how nice\nand soft the cotton looked. She plucked out some of it to line her nest\nwith; and never before was her sleep so soft as it was on that bed of\ncotton.\n\nNow this Thrush had a clever head; so she thought something more might\nbe done with cotton besides lining a nest. In her flights abroad she\nused often to pass by the door of a Cotton-carder. The Cotton-carder had\na thing like a bow, made of a piece of wood, and a thong of leather\ntying the ends together into a curve. He used to take the cotton, and\npile it in a heap; then he took the carding-bow, and twang-twang-twanged\nit among the heap of cotton, so that the fibres or threads of it became\ndisentangled. Then he rolled it up into oblong balls, and sold it to\nother people, who made it into thread.\n\nThe Thrush often watched the Cotton-carder at work. Every day after\ndinner, she went to the cotton tree, and plucked out a fluff of cotton\nin her beak and hid it away. She went on doing this till at last she had\nquite a little heap of cotton all of her own. At least, it was not\nreally her own, because she stole it; but then you cannot get policemen\nto take up a Thrush for stealing, and as men catch Thrushes and put them\nin a cage all for nothing, it is only fair the birds should have their\nturn.\n\nWhen the heap of cotton was big enough, our Thrush flew to the house of\nthe Cotton-carder, and sat down in front of him.\n\n\"Good day, Man,\" said the Thrush.\n\n\"Good day, Birdie,\" said the Cotton-carder. The Thrush was not a bit\nafraid, because she knew he was a kind man, who never caught little\nbirds to put them in a cage. He liked better to hear them singing free\nin the woods.\n\n\"Man,\" said the Thrush, \"I have a heap of beautiful cotton, and I'll\ntell you what. You shall have half of it, if you will card the rest and\nmake it up into balls for me.\"\n\n\"That I will,\" said the man; \"where is it?\"\n\n\"If you will come with me,\" said the Thrush, \"I'll show you.\"\n\nSo the Thrush flew in front, and the man followed after, and they came\nto the place where the hoard of cotton was hidden away. The man took the\ncotton home, and carded it, and made it into balls. Half of the cotton\nhe took for his trouble, and the rest he gave back to the Thrush. He was\nso honest that he did not cheat even a bird, although he could easily\nhave done so. For birds cannot count: and if you find a nest full of\neggs, and take one or two, the mother-bird will never miss them; but if\nyou take all, the bird is unhappy.\n\nNot far away from the Carder lived a Spinner. This man used to put a\nball of cotton on a stick, and then he pulled out a bit of the cotton\nwithout breaking it, and tied it to another little stick with a weight\non it. Then he twisted the weight, and set it a-spinning; and as it\nspan, he held the cotton ball in one hand, and pulled out the cotton\nwith the other, working it between finger and thumb to keep it fine.\nThus the spindle went on spinning, and the cotton went on twisting,\nuntil it was twisted into thread. That is why the man was called a\nSpinner. It looks very easy to do, when you can do it; but it is really\nvery hard to do well.\n\nTo this Spinner the Thrush came, and after bidding him good day, said\nshe--\n\n\"Mr. Spinner, I have some balls of cotton all ready to spin into thread.\nWill you spin one half of them into thread for me, if I give you the\nother half?\"\n\n\"That I will,\" said Mr. Spinner; and away they went to find the cotton\nballs, Thrush first and Spinner following.\n\nIn a very few days the Spinner had spun all the cotton into the finest\nthread. Then he took a pair of scales, and weighed it into two equal\nparts (he was an honest man, too): half he kept for himself, and the\nother half he gave to the Thrush.\n\nThe next thing this clever Thrush did was to fly to the house of a\nWeaver. The Weaver used to buy thread, and fasten a number of threads to\na wooden frame, called a loom, which was made of two upright posts,\nwith another bar fastened across the top. The threads were hung to the\ncross-bar, and a little stone was tied to the bottom of each, to keep it\nsteady. Then the Weaver wound some more thread around a long stick\ncalled a shuttle; and the shuttle he pushed in front of one thread and\nbehind the next, until it had gone right across the whole of the\nthreads, in and out. Then he pushed it back in the same way, and after a\nbit, the upright threads and the cross-threads were woven together and\nmade a piece of cloth.\n\nThe Thrush flew down to the Weaver, and they made the same bargain as\nbefore. The Weaver wove all the thread into pieces of cloth, and half he\nkept for himself, but the other half he returned to the Thrush.\n\nSo now the Thrush had some beautiful cloth, and I dare say you wonder\nwhat she wanted it for. As you have not been inquisitive, I will tell\nyou: she wanted clothes to dress herself. The Thrush had noticed that\nmen and women walking about wore clothes, and being an ambitious Thrush,\nand eager to rise in the world, she felt it would not be proper to go\nabout without any clothes on. So she now went to a Tailor, and said to\nhim--\n\n\"Good Mr. Tailor, I have some pieces of very fine cloth, and I should be\nmuch obliged if you would make a part of it into clothes for me. You\nshall have one half of the cloth for your trouble.\"\n\nThe Tailor was very glad of this job, as times were slack. So he took\nthe cloth, and at once set to work. Half of it he made into a beautiful\ndress for the Thrush, with a skirt and jacket, and sleeves in the latest\nfashion; and as there was a little cloth left over, and he was an\nhonest Tailor, he made her also a pretty little hat to put on her head.\n\nThen the Thrush was indeed delighted, and felt there was little more to\ndesire in the world. She put on her skirt, and her jacket with\nfashionable sleeves, and the little hat, and looked at her image in a\nriver, and was mightily pleased with herself. Now she became so vain\nthat nothing would do, but she must show herself to the King.\n\nSo she flew and flew, and away she flew, until she came to the King's\npalace. Into the King's palace she flew, and into the great hall where\nthe King sat and the Queen and all the courtiers. There was a peg high\nup on the wall, and the Thrush perched on this peg, and began to sing.\n\n\"Oh, look there!\" cried the Queen, who was the first to see this\nwonderful sight--\"see, a Thrush in a jacket and skirt and a pretty hat!\"\n\nEverybody looked at the Thrush singing on her peg, and clapped their\nhands.\n\n\"Come here, Birdie,\" said the King, \"and show the Queen your pretty\nclothes.\"\n\nThe Thrush felt highly flattered, and flew down upon the table, and took\noff her jacket to show the Queen. Then she flew back to her peg, and\nwatched to see what would happen.\n\nThe Queen turned over the jacket in her hand, and laughed. Then she\nfolded it up, and put it in her pocket.\n\n\"Give me my jacket!\" twittered the Thrush. \"I shall catch cold, and\nbesides, it is not proper for a lady to be seen without a jacket.\"\n\nThen they all laughed, and the King said, \"Come here, Mistress Thrush,\nand you shall have your jacket.\"\n\nDown flew the Thrush upon the table again; but the King caught her, and\nheld her fast.\n\n\"Let me go!\" squeaked the Thrush, struggling to get free.\n\nBut the King would not let her go. I am afraid that although he was a\nKing, he was not so honest as the Carder or the Spinner, and cared less\nfor his word than the Weaver and the Tailor.\n\n\"Greedy King,\" said the Thrush, \"to covet my little jacket!\"\n\n\"I covet more than your jacket,\" said the King; \"I covet you, and I am\ngoing to chop you up into little bits.\"\n\nThen he began to chop her up into bits. As she was being chopped up, the\nThrush said, \"The King snips and cuts like a Tailor, but he is not so\nhonest!\"\n\nWhen the King had finished chopping her up, he began to wash the pieces.\nAnd each piece, as he washed it, called out, \"The King scours and scrubs\nlike a washerwoman, but he is not so honest!\"\n\nThen the King put the pieces of the Thrush into a frying-pan with oil,\nand began to fry them. But the pieces went on calling out, \"The King is\nlike a cook, frying and sputtering, but he is not so honest!\"\n\nWhen she was fried, the King ate her up. From within the body of the\nKing still the Thrush kept calling out, \"I am inside the King! It is\njust like the inside of any other man, only not so honest!\"\n\nThe King became like a walking musical-box, and he did not like it at\nall, but it was his own fault. Wherever he went, everybody heard the\nThrush crying out from inside the King, \"Just like any other man, only\nnot so honest!\" Everybody that heard this began to despise the King.\n\nAt last the King could stand it no longer. He sent for his doctor, and\nsaid, \"Doctor, you must cut this talking bird out of me.\"\n\n\"Your majesty will die, if I do,\" said the Doctor.\n\n\"I shall die if you don't,\" answered the King, \"for I cannot endure\nbeing made a fool of.\"\n\n So there was nothing for it: the Doctor took his\n knives, and made a hole in the King, and pulled out the\n Thrush. Strange to say, the pieces of the Thrush had all\n joined together again, and away she flew; but her beautiful\n clothes were all gone. However, it was a lesson she\n never forgot; and after that, she slept soft in her nest\n of cotton, and never again tried to ape her betters. As\n for the King, he died; and a good riddance too.\n His son became king in his stead; and all\n life long he remembered his father's\n miserable death, and kept all his\n promises to men, and beasts,\n and birds.\n\n\n\n\nThe Rabbit and the Monkey\n\n\nONCE upon a time, there lived in the mountains a Rabbit and a Monkey,\nwho were great friends. One day, as they sat by the roadside hobnobbing\ntogether, who should come by but a man with a bamboo pole over his\nshoulder, and at each end of the pole was a bundle hung to a string; and\nthere were plantains in one bundle, and sugar in the other.\n\nSaid the Monkey to the Rabbit, \"Friend of my heart, do as I shall tell\nyou. Go and sit upon the road in front of that man, and as soon as he\nsees you, run--he is sure to drop his load and follow. Then I will pick\nup his load, and hide it safely; and when you come back, we will share\nit together.\"\n\nNo sooner said than done: the Rabbit ran, and the man dropped his burden\nand ran after him; while the Monkey, who had been hiding in the tall\ngrass by the wayside, pounced upon the sugar and the plantains, and\nclimbed up into a tree, and began to gobble them up at his leisure.\n\nBy-and-by the man came back, hot and empty-handed, and finding that his\ngoods were gone as well as the Rabbit, cursed loudly, and went home to\nbe scolded by his wife.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSoon the Rabbit came back too, and began hunting about for his friend\nthe Monkey. High and low he searched, and not a trace could he find;\ntill he happened to cast his eyes aloft, and lo and behold, there was\nMr. Monkey up in a tree, munching away with every sign of enjoyment.\n\n\"Hullo, friend,\" said he, \"come down out of that.\"\n\n\"I'm very comfortable here, thank you,\" said the Monkey.\n\n\"But where's my share?\" asked the Rabbit indignantly.\n\n\"All gone, all gone,\" mumbled the Monkey, and pelted him with the\nplantain-peel and balls of paper made out of the packets where the sugar\nhad been. \"Why did you stay so long? I got hungry, and could not wait\nany longer.\"\n\nThe Rabbit thought his friend was joking, and would not believe it; but\nit was only too true--the greedy creature had not left a scrap.\n\n\"Do you really mean it?\" said the poor Rabbit.\n\n\"If you don't believe me, come and see,\" said the Monkey, and seizing\nthe Rabbit by his long ears, he hauled him up into the tree; and after\nmocking him, and making great game, he left him there, and went away.\n\nNow the Rabbit was afraid to jump down from such a height, for fear of\nbreaking his neck, so up in the tree he remained for a long time. Many\nanimals passed under the tree, but none took pity on the rabbit, until\nat last came an old and foolish Rhinoceros, who rubbed his withered hide\nagainst the trunk.\n\n\"Kind Rhinoceros,\" said the Rabbit, \"let me jump down upon your back.\"\n\nThe Rhinoceros, being a simple creature, agreed. Down came the Rabbit,\nwith such a thud, that the Rhinoceros fell on his stupid old nose, and\nbroke his fat old neck, and died.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Rabbit ran away, and away he ran, until he came to the King's\npalace; and he hid under the King's golden throne. By-and-by in came the\nKing, and in came the court; all the grandees stood around in their\ngolden robes, glittering with rubies and diamonds, and their swords were\ngirt about their waists. Suddenly they all heard a terrific sneeze!\n\nEverybody said, \"God bless you,\" while the King thundered out: \"Who has\nthe bad manners to sneeze in the King's presence?\" Everybody looked at\nhis neighbour, and wondered who did it. \"Off with his head,\" shouted the\nKing.\n\nAnother sneeze came. This time, however, everybody was on the watch, and\nthey noticed that the sound came from under the King's golden throne. So\nthey dived in, and lugged out the Rabbit, looking more dead than alive.\n\n\"All right,\" said the King, \"off with his head.\" The executioner ran to\nget his sword.\n\nBut our friend the Rabbit, for all he was frightened, had his wits about\nhim; and sitting up on his hind-legs, and putting his two fore-paws\ntogether, he said respectfully, \"O great King, strike, but hear. If thou\nwilt send a score of men with me, I will give thee a dead Rhinoceros.\"\n\nThe King laughed, the courtiers laughed loud and long. However, just to\nsee what would come of it, the King gave him a score of men.\n\nThe Rabbit led them to the place where the Rhinoceros fell on his stupid\nold nose, and there he lay dead. With great difficulty the men dragged\nthe Rhinoceros home. They were very pleased to get a Rhinoceros, because\nhis horn is good for curing many diseases, and the court physician\nground his horn into powder, and made out of it a most wonderful\nmedicine. And the King was so pleased, that he gave the Rabbit a fine\nnew coat, and a horse to ride on.\n\nSo the Rabbit put on his fine coat, and got on the back of his horse,\nand rode off.\n\nOn the way, who should meet him but his friend the Monkey.\n\n\"Hullo!\" says the Monkey, \"where did you get all that finery?\"\n\n\"The King gave it to me,\" says the Rabbit.\n\nSays the Monkey, \"And why should the King give all this to a fool like\nyou?\"\n\nThe Rabbit replied, \"I, whom you call a fool, got it by sneezing under\nthe King's golden throne; such a lucky sneeze, that the soothsayers\nprophesied to the King long life and many sons!\" Then he rode away.\n\nThe Monkey fell a-thinking how nice it would be if he could get a fine\ncoat and horse as the Rabbit had done. \"I can sneeze,\" thought he; \"what\nif I try my luck?\"\n\nSo he scampered away, and away he scampered, till he came to the King's\npalace, and hid himself under the King's golden throne. When the King\ncame in, and all his courtiers, in gorgeous array as before, our Monkey\nunderneath the throne sneezed in the most auspicious manner he could\ncontrive.\n\n\"Who is that?\" thundered the King, glaring about him. \"Who has the bad\nmanners to sneeze in the King's presence?\"\n\nThey searched about until they found the Monkey hidden under the throne,\nand hauled him out.\n\n\"What hast thou, wily tree-climber,\" asked the King, \"that I should not\nbid the executioner cut off thy head?\"\n\n The monkey had no answer ready. At last he\n said, \"O King, I have some plantain-peel\n and pellets of paper.\" But\n the King was angry at this,\n and the greedy Monkey\n was led away, and\n his head was\n cut off.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Sparrow's Revenge\n\n\nONCE there was a pair of Sparrows that were very fond of each other, and\nlived in a nest together as happy as the day was long. The hen laid eggs\nand sat upon them, and the cock went about picking up food for them\nboth, and when he had got food enough, he sat on a twig close by the\nnest, and twittered for joy.\n\nBut it happened one day that a boy saw Cock Sparrow pecking at some\nseeds, and he picked up a stone and threw it at him, and killed him. So\nno food came home that morning, and Hen Sparrow grew anxious, and at\nlast set out to find him.\n\nIn a little while she found his dead body lying in a ditch. She ruffled\nup her feathers and began to cry. \"Who can have killed him?\" she said;\n\"my poor kind husband, who never did harm to any one.\" Then a Raven flew\ndown from a tree, where he had been sitting, and told her how a cruel\nboy had thrown a stone at him and killed him for sport. He saw it, said\nthe Raven, as he was sitting on the tree.\n\nNow Hen Sparrow determined to have her revenge. She was so much\ntroubled that she left her eggs to hatch themselves, or to addle if they\nwould; and gathering some straw, she plaited it into a beautiful straw\ncarriage, with two old cotton-reels for wheels, and sticks for the\nshafts. Then she went to the hole of a Rat who was a friend of hers, and\ncalled down the hole, \"Mr. Rat! Mr. Rat!\"\n\n\"Yes, Mrs. Sparrow,\" said the Rat, coming out of the hole and making a\npolite bow.\n\n\"Some one has thrown a stone at my husband and killed him. Will you help\nme to get my revenge?\"\n\n\"Why,\" said the Rat, \"how can I help you?\"\n\n\"By pulling me along in my carriage,\" said Mrs. Sparrow.\n\n\"Oh yes,\" said the Rat; \"that I will.\" So he went down into his hole\nagain, and washed his face, and combed his whiskers, and came up all\nspick and span.\n\nMrs. Sparrow tied the shafts of the straw carriage to the Rat, and Mrs.\nSparrow got in, and off they went.\n\nOn the road they met a Scorpion. Said the Scorpion--\n\n\"Whither away, Mrs. Sparrow and Mr. Rat?\"\n\nSaid the Hen Sparrow, \"My friend Mr. Rat is pulling me along in my\ncarriage of straw to punish a cruel boy who threw a stone at my husband\nand killed him.\"\n\n\"Quite right too,\" said the Scorpion. \"May I come and help you? I have a\nbeautiful sting in my tail.\"\n\n\"Oh, please do! come and get in,\" said the Sparrow.\n\nIn got the Scorpion, and away they went. By-and-by they saw a Snake.\n\n\"Good day, and God bless you,\" says the Snake. \"Where are you going, may\na mere reptile ask?\"\n\n\"Mr. Scorpion and I are going to punish a cruel boy who threw a stone\nand killed my husband.\"\n\n\"Shall I come and help you?\" asked the Snake. \"I have fine teeth in my\nhead to bite with.\"\n\n\"The more the merrier,\" replied Mrs. Sparrow. So in he got. They had not\ngone far before who should meet them but a Wolf.\n\n\"Hullo,\" says the Wolf gruffly; \"where are you off to, I should like to\nknow?\"\n\n\"Mr. Rat is kind enough to draw me in my carriage, and we are all going\nto punish a cruel boy who threw a stone and killed my poor husband.\"\n\n\"May I come too?\" growled the Wolf. \"I can bite.\" He opened his big jaws\nand snarled.\n\n\"Oh, how kind you are!\" said Mrs. Sparrow. \"Do come! jump in, jump in!\"\n\nThe poor Rat looked aghast at such a load to pull; but he was a\ngentlemanly Rat, and so, having offered to pull the carriage, he said\nnothing.\n\nSo the big Wolf got in, and nearly sat on the Scorpion's tail; if he\nhad, he wouldn't have sat long, I think. However, the Scorpion got out\nof the way, and on they went all four, the poor Rat pulling with all his\nmight, but rather slow at that.\n\nIn due time they arrived at the cruel boy's house. His mother was\ncooking the dinner, and his father was fast asleep in a chair. There was\na river close by the house, and the Wolf went down to the river, and\nhid himself there; the Snake crawled among the peats, and the Scorpion\nbegan to climb up into the chair where the man was sleeping.\n\nThen Mrs. Hen Sparrow flew in at the door and twittered--\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Little boy! Little boy! There's a fish biting at your night-line!\"\n\nUp jumped the boy, and out he ran, to look at the night-line. But as he\nwas stooping down and looking at the line to see if any fish were\nhooked, the Wolf pounced upon him, and bit him in the throat, and he\ndied.\n\nThen the cruel boy's mother went out to get some peats, and as she put\nher hand in amongst them, the Snake bit her, and she gave a shriek and\nfell down and died. The shriek awoke her husband sleeping in his chair,\nand he began to get up, but by this time the Scorpion had climbed up the\nleg of the chair, so he stung the man, and the man died too.\n\n Thus there was an end of the cruel boy who killed\n a harmless Sparrow for sport; and though his father\n and mother had done nothing, yet they ought not to\n have had a son so cruel, or, at least, they might have\n brought him up better. Anyhow, die they did, all three;\n and Mrs. Hen Sparrow was so delighted that she\n forgot all about her dead husband, and forgot\n her eggs which were getting addled,\n and went about chirruping until\n she found another husband,\n and made another nest,\n and (I am sorry to\n say) lived happily\n ever after.\n\n\n\n\nThe Judgment of the Jackal\n\n\nA MERCHANT was returning home from a long journey, riding upon a mule.\nAs he drew near home, night overtook him; and he was forced to look out\nfor shelter. Seeing a mill by the roadside, he knocked at the door.\n\n\"Come in!\" said the Miller.\n\n\"May I stay here for the night?\" asked the Merchant.\n\n\"By all means,\" said the Miller, \"if you pay me well.\"\n\nThe Merchant thought this rather mean; because in those days a stranger\nwas made welcome everywhere without paying anything. However, he made\nthe best of it, and came in. The Miller led off his mule to the stable.\n\n\"Please take care of my mule,\" said the Merchant; \"I have still a long\nway to go.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said the Miller, \"your mule will be all right.\" Then he rubbed him\ndown and fed him.\n\nIn the morning the Merchant asked for his mule.\n\n[Illustration: \"The Merchant was much dismayed.\"]\n\n\"I am very sorry,\" said the Miller; \"he must have got loose last night,\nand I can't find him anywhere.\"\n\nThe Merchant was much dismayed. He went out to look for himself, and\nthere, to be sure, was his mule, tied by the halter to the mill.\n\n\"Why, look here, Miller,\" says he, \"here is the mule!\"\n\n\"Oh no,\" says the Miller, \"that mule is mine.\"\n\n\"Yours?\" said the Merchant, getting angry. \"Last night your stable was\nempty. And don't you think I know my own mule?\"\n\n\"That is mine,\" said the Miller again; \"my mill had a young mule in the\nnight, and that is he.\"\n\nThe Merchant was now very angry indeed; but he could not help himself,\nas he did not want to fight; he was a very peaceful Merchant. So he\nsaid--\n\n\"Well, I have no doubt it's all right; but just to satisfy me, let us\nask the Rev. Dr. Jackal to decide between us; and whatever he says I\nwill abide by.\"\n\n\"Very good,\" answered the Miller; and away they went to the den of his\nreverence the Jackal. Dr. Jackal was sitting with his hind legs crossed,\nand smoking a hubble-bubble.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Good morning, worthy gentlemen,\" said the Jackal; \"how can I serve\nyou?\"\n\nSaid the Merchant, \"Last night, my Lord Judge, I lodged with this Miller\nhere, and he took charge of my mule; but now he says it has run away,\nthough I saw it with my own eyes tied by the halter to his mill. He\nsays that the mule I saw is his, and that his mill is the mother of it,\nand that it was born last night while I was asleep.\"\n\n\"Go back to the mill,\" said the Jackal, \"and wait for me. I will just\nwash my face, and then I'll settle your business.\"\n\nThey went away, and waited a long time, but no Jackal. Late in the\nafternoon, they got tired of waiting for the Jackal, and determined to\ngo and look for him. There he was still, sitting in his den and smoking\na hubble-bubble.\n\n\"Why didn't you come?\" asked the Miller. \"We have been waiting for you\nall day.\"\n\n\"Oh, my dear sir, I was too busy,\" said the Jackal. \"When I went to wash\nmy face, I found that all the water had caught fire; I have only just\nput it out.\"\n\n\"You must be mad, your reverence,\" said the Miller. \"Who ever heard of\nwater catching fire?\"\n\n\"And who ever heard,\" replied the Jackal, \"of a mill having a young\nmule?\"\n\n The Miller saw that he was found out, and was so\n much ashamed that he gave back the mule to\n its owner, and the Merchant\n went home.\n\n\n\n\nHow the Mouse got into his Hole\n\n\nA MERCHANT was going along the road one day with a sack of peas on the\nback of an Ox. The Ox was stung by a Fly, and gave a kick, and down fell\nthe sack. A Mouse was passing by, and the Merchant said, \"Mousie, if you\nwill help me up with this sack I will give you a pea.\" The Mouse helped\nhim up with the sack and got a pea for his trouble. He stole another,\nand a third he found on the road.\n\nWhen he got home with his three peas he planted them in front of his\nhole. As he was planting them he said to them, \"If you are not all three\nsprouting by to-morrow I'll cut you in pieces and give you to the black\nOx.\" The peas were terribly frightened, and the next morning they had\nalready begun to sprout, and each of them had two shoots. Then he said,\n\"If I don't find you in blossom to-morrow I'll cut you in pieces and\ngive you to the black Ox.\" When he went to look next day they were all\nin blossom. So he said, \"If I don't find ripe peas on you to-morrow I'll\ncut you in pieces and give you to the black Ox.\" Next day they had pods\nfull of ripe peas on them.\n\nSo every day he used to eat lots of peas, and in this manner he got very\nfat. One day a pretty young lady Mouse came to see him.\n\n\"Good morning, Sleekie,\" said she; \"how are you?\"\n\n\"Good morning, Squeakie,\" said he; \"I'm quite well, thank you.\"\n\n\"Why, Sleekie,\" said she, \"how fat you are.\"\n\n\"Am I?\" said he. \"I suppose that's because I have plenty to eat.\"\n\n\"What do you eat, Sleekie?\" asked the pretty young lady Mouse.\n\n\"Peas, Squeakie,\" said the other.\n\n\"Where do you get them, Sleekie?\"\n\n\"They grow all of themselves in my garden, Squeakie.\"\n\n\"Will you give me some, please?\" asked the lady Mouse.\n\n\"Oh yes, if you will stay in my garden, you may have as many as you\nlike.\"\n\nSo Squeakie stayed in Sleekie's garden, and they both ate so many peas\nthat they got fatter and fatter every day.\n\nOne day Squeakie said to Sleekie, \"Let's try which can get into the hole\nquickest.\" Squeakie was slim, and she had not been at the peas so long\nas Sleekie, so she got into the hole easily enough; but Sleekie was so\nfat that he could not get in at all.\n\nHe was very much frightened, and went off in hot haste to the\nCarpenter, and said to him, \"Carpenter, please pare off a little flesh\nfrom my ribs, so that I can get into my hole.\"\n\n\"Do you think I have nothing better to do than paring down your ribs?\"\nsaid the Carpenter angrily, and went on with his work.\n\nThe Mouse went to the King, and said, \"O King, I can't get into my hole,\nand the Carpenter will not pare down my ribs; will you make him do it?\"\n\n\"Get out,\" said the King; \"do you think I have nothing better to do than\nlook after your ribs?\"\n\nSo the Mouse went to the Queen. Said he, \"Queen, I can't get into my\nhole, and the King won't tell the Carpenter to pare down my ribs. Please\ndivorce him.\"\n\n\"Bother you and your ribs,\" said the Queen; \"I am not going to divorce\nmy husband because you have made yourself fat by eating too much.\"\n\nThe Mouse went to the Snake. \"Snake, bite the Queen, and tell her to\ndivorce the King, because he will not tell the Carpenter to pare my ribs\ndown and let me get into my hole.\"\n\n\"Get away,\" said the Snake; \"or I'll swallow you up, ribs and all; the\nfatter you are, the better I shall be pleased.\"\n\nHe went to the Stick, and said, \"Stick, beat the Snake, because she\nwon't bite the Queen, who won't divorce the King and make him tell the\nCarpenter to pare down my ribs, and let me get into my hole.\"\n\n\"Off with you,\" said the Stick; \"I'm sleepy, because I have just beaten\na thief; I can't be worried about your ribs.\"\n\nHe went to the Furnace, and said, \"Furnace, burn the Stick, and make it\nbeat the Snake, that he may bite the Queen and make her divorce the\nKing, who won't tell the Carpenter to pare down my ribs, and let me get\ninto my hole.\"\n\n\"Get along with you,\" said the Furnace; \"I am cooking the King's dinner,\nand I have no time now to see about your ribs.\"\n\nHe went to the Ocean, and said, \"Ocean, put out the Fire, and make it\nburn the Stick, so that it may beat the Snake, and the Snake may bite\nthe Queen, and she may divorce the King, who won't tell the Carpenter to\npare down my ribs, and let me get into my hole.\"\n\n\"Don't bother me,\" said the Ocean; \"it's high tide, and all the fishes\nare jumping about, and giving me no rest.\"\n\nHe went to the Elephant, and said, \"O Elephant, drink up the Ocean, that\nit may put out the Fire, and the Fire may burn the Stick, and the Stick\nmay beat the Snake, and the Snake may bite the Queen, and the Queen may\ndivorce the King, and make him tell the Carpenter to pare down my ribs,\nand let me get into my hole.\"\n\n\"Go away, little Mouse,\" said the Elephant; \"I have just drunk up a\nwhole lake, and I really can't drink any more.\"\n\nHe went to the Creeper, and said, \"Dear Creeper, do please choke the\nElephant, that he may drink up the Ocean, and the Ocean may put out the\nFire, and the Fire may burn the Stick, and the Stick may beat the Snake,\nand the Snake may bite the Queen, and the Queen may divorce the King,\nand the King may tell the Carpenter to pare down my ribs, and let me get\ninto my hole.\"\n\n\"Not I,\" says the Creeper; \"I am stuck fast here to this tree, and I\ncouldn't get away to please a fat little Mouse.\"\n\nThen he went to the Scythe, and said, \"Scythe, please cut loose the\nCreeper, that it may choke the Elephant, and the Elephant may drink up\nthe Ocean, and the Ocean may put out the Fire, and the Fire may burn the\nStick, and the Stick may beat the Snake, and the Snake may bite the\nQueen, and the Queen may divorce the King, and the King may tell the\nCarpenter to pare down my ribs, and let me get into my hole.\"\n\n\"With pleasure,\" said the Scythe, who is always sharp.\n\n So the Scythe cut the Creeper loose, and the Creeper\n began to choke the Elephant, and the Elephant ran off\n and began to drink up the Ocean, and the Ocean began\n to put out the Fire, and the Fire began to burn the\n Stick, and the Stick began to beat the Snake, and\n the Snake began to bite the Queen, and the\n Queen told the King she was going to\n divorce him, and the King was\n frightened, and ordered the\n Carpenter to pare Sleekie's\n ribs, and at last Sleekie\n got into his hole.\n\n\n\n\nKing Solomon and the Owl\n\n\nONCE King Solomon was hunting all alone in the forest. Night fell, and\nKing Solomon lay down under a tree to sleep. Over his head, on the\nbranch of a tree, sat a huge Owl; and the Owl hooted so loud and so\nlong, Too-whit too-woo! Too-whit too-woo! that Solomon could not sleep.\nSolomon looked up at the Owl, and said--\n\n\"Tell me, O Owl, why do you hoot all night long upon the trees?\"\n\nSaid the Owl--\n\n \"I hoot to waken those that sleep,\n As soon as day's first beams do peep;\n That they may rise, and say their prayers,\n And not be caught in this world's cares.\"\n\nThen he went on again, Too-whit! too-woo! shaking his solemn old head to\nand fro. He was a melancholy Owl; I think he must have been crossed in\nlove.\n\nSolomon thought this Owl very clever to roll out beautiful poetry like\nthat, off-hand as it were. He asked the Owl again--\n\n\"Tell me, O wise Owl, why do you shake your very solemn old head?\"\n\nSaid the Owl--\n\n \"I shake my head, to let all know\n This world is but a fleeting show.\n Men's days are flying with quick wings;\n So take no joy in earthly things.\n\n \"Yet men will fix their hearts below\n Upon the pleasures that must go.\n Their joy is gone when they are dead;\n And that is why I shake my head.\"\n\nThis touched King Solomon in a tender place, for he was himself rather\nfond of earthly delights. He sighed, and asked again--\n\n\"O most ancient and wise Owl! tell me why you never eat grain?\"\n\nAnswered the Owl--\n\n \"The bearded grain I do not eat,\n Because, when Adam ate some wheat,\n He was turned out of Paradise:\n So Adam's sin has made me wise.\n\n \"If I should eat a single grain,\n The joys of heaven I should not gain.\n And so, to keep my erring feet,\n The bearded grain I never eat.\"\n\nThought Solomon to himself, \"I don't remember reading that story in\nGenesis, but perhaps he is right. I must look it up when I get home.\"\nThen he spoke to the Owl once more, and said--\n\n\"And now, good Owl, tell me why you drink no water at night?\"\n\nSaid the Owl--\n\n \"Since water all the world did drown\n In Noah's day, I will drink none.\n Were I to drink a single drop,\n My life would then most likely stop.\"\n\nSolomon was delighted to find the Owl so wise. \"O my Owl,\" said he, \"all\nmy life long I have been looking for a counsellor who had reasons to\ngive for what he did; I have never found one until I found you. Now I\nbeg you to come home with me to-morrow, and you shall be my chief\ncounsellor, and whatever I purpose I will first ask your advice.\"\n\n The Owl was equally delighted, and said, \"Thank\n you.\" Thinking of the greatness that was\n to be his, the Owl stopped crying\n Too-whit! too-woo! and\n Solomon went\n to sleep.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Camel's Neck\n\n\nONCE upon a time there was a very religious Camel; at least, he was\nreligious after the fashion of his country, that is, he used to mortify\nhis flesh by fasting, and scratch himself with thorns, and lie awake all\nnight meditating upon the emptiness of the world. That is what men used\nto do in that country, in order to please their gods. One of these gods\nwas very much pleased with the piety of the Camel; so one night, as the\nCamel was fasting, and saying over and over to himself, \"Vanity of\nvanities, all is vanity,\" the god appeared before him. He was a\ncurious-looking god, and he had four hands instead of two; but the Camel\ndid not mind that, nor did he laugh; on the contrary, he went down on\nhis knees and bowed before him.\n\n\"O Camel,\" said this god, \"I have seen your fasting and heard your\nprayers; and I have come to reward you. Choose what boon you like, and\nit shall be yours.\"\n\n\"O mighty god, I should like to have a neck eight miles long.\"\n\nThe god answered, \"Be it so!\" and immediately the Camel felt his neck\nshooting out like a telescope, until it was eight miles long. It shot\nout so fast, that the Camel found it hard to escape running his head\nagainst the trees. However, he steered it successfully, barring a bump\nor two; and as by the time his neck stopped growing he was far out of\nsight of the god, he could not even say thank you.\n\nNow perhaps you will wonder why this Camel wanted a neck so long as\neight miles? I will tell you. The reason was, that for all his fastings\nand penances, he was a lazy Camel, and he wanted to graze without the\ntrouble of walking about. And now he could easily graze for a distance\nof eight miles all round in a circle, without moving from the spot where\nhe lay. But it was rather dangerous, though he thought nothing of that;\nfor when his head was grazing a few miles away, the hunters might stick\na spear into his body, or tie his legs together, without his seeing\nthem.\n\nAll the summer the Camel had a fine time of it; he lay still and\ncomfortable and sent his head foraging around, and strange to say, no\nharm happened to him. But before long the rainy season began. In the\nrainy season there are storms every day, and it rains cats and dogs. So\nwhen the rain began, the Camel wanted to keep dry, but he could not at\nfirst find a shed or a shelter eight miles long, or anything like it. At\nlast he lit on a long winding cave that held most of his long neck. So\nhe ran his neck into the cave, and lay still, with the rain pouring upon\nhis body.\n\nThis was bad enough, but worse was to come. For it happened that in this\ncave lived a He-jackal and a She-jackal.\n\nWhen the Jackals saw this extraordinary neck winding along their cave,\nthey were frightened, and hid away.\n\n\"What is this snake?\" said the He-jackal to his wife.\n\n\"Oh dear, I don't know!\" whimpered his wife, \"I never saw a snake like\nthis.\"\n\nThey kept quiet, the head passed out of view into the inner part of the\ncave; then after a while, the creature lay still.\n\n\"Let us smell him!\" said the He-jackal.\n\nThey smelt him. \"He smells nice,\" said the She-jackal; \"not a bit like a\nsnake.\"\n\n\"Let us taste him!\" said the He-jackal.\n\nThey took a bite; the Camel stirred restlessly. They took another bite,\nand liked that better still. They went on biting. The Camel curled round\nhis head to see what was going on; but before the Camel's head could get\nback more than a mile or two, he grew so weak from loss of blood, that\nhe could move no more, and he died.\n\nSo died the idle Camel, because the god granted him his foolish wish.\nPerhaps our wishes are often just as foolish, if we only knew it; and\nperhaps if they were fulfilled they would be the bane of us, as happened\nto the lazy and religious Camel.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Quail and the Fowler\n\n\nA FOWLER once caught a Quail. Said the Quail to the Fowler--\n\n\"O Fowler, I know four things that will be useful for you to know.\"\n\n\"What are they?\" asked the Fowler.\n\n\"Well,\" said the Quail, \"I don't mind telling you three of them now. The\nfirst is: Fast caught, fast keep; never let a thing go when once you\nhave got it. The second is: He is a fool that believes everything he\nhears. And the third is this: It's of no use crying over spilt milk.\"\n\nThe Fowler thought these very sensible maxims. \"And what is the fourth?\"\nhe asked.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the Quail, \"you must set me free if you want to hear the\nfourth.\"\n\nThe Fowler, who was a simple fellow, set the Quail free. The Quail\nfluttered up into a tree, and said--\n\n\"I see you take no notice of what I tell you. Fast caught, fast keep, I\nsaid; and yet you have let me go.\"\n\n\"Why, so I have,\" said the Fowler, and scratched his head. He was a\nfoolish Fowler, I think. \"Well, never mind; what is the fourth thing?\nYou promised to tell me, and I am sure an honourable Quail will never\nbreak his word.\"\n\n\"The fourth thing I have to tell you is this: In my inside is a\nbeautiful diamond, weighing ten pounds. And if you had not let me go,\nyou would have had that diamond, and you need never have done any more\nwork in all your life.\"\n\n\"Oh dear, oh dear, what a fool I am!\" cried the Fowler. He fell on his\nface, and clutched at the grass, and began to cry.\n\n\"Ha, ha, ha!\" laughed the Quail. \"He is a fool who believes everything\nhe hears.\"\n\n\"Eh? what?\" said the Fowler, and stopped crying.\n\n\"Do you think a little carcase like mine can hold a diamond as big as\nyour head?\" asked the Quail, roaring with laughter. \"And even if it were\ntrue, where's the use of crying over spilt milk?\"\n\nThe Quail spread his wings. \"Good-bye,\" said he; \"better luck next time,\nFowler.\" And he flew away.\n\n\n The Fowler sat up. \"Well,\" said he, \"that's true,\n sure enough.\" He got up and brushed the mud off\n his clothes. \"If I have lost a Quail,\" said he,\n \"I've learnt something.\" And he went\n home, a sadder but a\n wiser man.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe King of the Kites\n\n\nA MOUSE one day met a Frog, whom he knew very well; but the Frog turned\nup his flat nose, and would not speak to him.\n\n\"Friend Frog,\" said the Mouse, \"why are you so proud to-day?\"\n\n\"Because I am King of the Kites,\" said Froggie.\n\nYou must not suppose that this means a paper kite with a tail. There is\na kind of bird called a Kite; it is like a Hawk, only bigger. How absurd\nit was of this Frog, who could not even fly, to call himself the King of\nthe Kites! And the Mouse was just as absurd, for he answered--\n\n\"Stuff and nonsense! I am King of the Kites!\"\n\nI don't know whether they really believed this themselves, or whether\nthey were only trying to show off. Anyhow, both stuck to it stoutly, and\na pretty quarrel was the result. The Mouse grew red in the face; and as\nfor Froggie, he was nearly bursting with rage.\n\nAt last they agreed to refer the decision to a council. The council was\nmade up of a Bat, a Squirrel, and a Parrot. The Parrot took the chair,\nbecause he was the biggest, and also because he could talk most, and was\ntherefore thought to be wise.\n\n\"I vote for the Mouse,\" said the Bat; not that he knew anything about\nit, but you see a Bat is very like a Mouse, and he wanted to stand up\nfor the family.\n\n\"And I,\" said the Squirrel, \"vote for my friend Froggie.\" He knew\nnothing about it either, but he wanted to show that even a Squirrel has\nan opinion of his own.\n\nSo it fell to the Parrot to give the casting vote, and decide the\nmatter. He took a long time to decide, about two hours; and while he was\nthinking, and the others were all intent to hear what he should say,\ndown from the sky swooped a Kite; and the Kite stuck one claw into the\nMouse's back, and one claw into the Frog, and carried them both away to\nhis nest, and ate them for dinner.\n\n So that was the end of the two Kings of the Kites.\n The other three creatures, in a great fright,\n made themselves scarce, lest the\n Kite should come back and\n eat them too.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Jackal and the Camel\n\n\nONCE a Camel was grazing in a forest. He had a ring in his nose, as the\ncustom is, and to the ring was tied a string, by which the Camel's\nmaster used to lead him about. As the Camel grazed, this leading-string\nbecame entangled in a bush, and the Camel could not get it loose. This\nmisfortune so much confused the mind of the Camel that he did not know\nwhat to do.\n\nSuddenly, as the Camel was struggling to get free from the bush, a\nJackal appeared.\n\n\"Brother Jackal,\" said the Camel, \"do please set me free from this\nbush.\"\n\n\"Brother Camel,\" said the Jackal, \"I will set you free, only you must\npay me for it. Do not the wise say, 'Even a brother will not serve thee\nfor nothing'?\"\n\n\"What shall I pay you, brother Jackal? I am a very poor Camel.\"\n\n\"You shall pay me,\" quoth the Jackal, \"a pound of your flesh.\"\n\nThis was a hard condition, but there was nothing for it, \"Better to lose\na pound of my flesh,\" thought the Camel, \"than lose my life.\" So he\nagreed to pay the Jackal a pound of flesh.\n\nThen the Jackal set the Camel free, and the Camel sat down on the ground\nand said--\n\n\"I am ready; take your pound of flesh.\"\n\n\"Open your mouth, then,\" said the Jackal.\n\n\"Why?\" asked the Camel.\n\n\"Because I choose to take my pound of flesh from your tongue.\"\n\nThis was a terrible blow. The Camel could not agree, because he knew\nthat if his tongue were torn out, he was bound to die.\n\nSo he said, \"I did not promise you my tongue.\"\n\n\"You did,\" said the Jackal.\n\n\"Don't tell lies,\" said the Camel; \"where are your witnesses?\"\n\nAway trotted the Jackal to find a witness. First he asked the Lion if he\nwould bear witness that he heard the Camel promise to give his tongue.\nHe promised to give him the half of all he should get, as a reward.\n\n\"Go away,\" said the King of Beasts; \"I am a Lion, not a liar.\"\n\nThen he asked the Tiger, but the Tiger said--\n\n\"I don't care for Camel's meat, so it isn't worth my while.\"\n\nAnd so the Jackal tried one beast after another, but none of them would\nhelp him, until he came to the Wolf.\n\n\"Friend Wolf,\" said the Jackal, \"if you will only swear that you heard\nthe Camel promise me his tongue, you shall have half.\"\n\n\"Half a tongue?\" quoth the Wolf; \"that's poor provender.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" said the Jackal, \"half the Camel. Don't you see that if we\ntear out his tongue, the Camel will soon bleed to death.\"\n\n\"True, so he will,\" said the Wolf. \"Well, I agree.\"\n\nSo the Wolf and the Jackal went back to the Camel, and the Wolf said,\nraising his right forepaw to heaven--\n\n\"I swear by heaven that I heard this Camel promise to give his tongue to\nthis Jackal.\"\n\nOf course this was a lie, and they all knew it; but the Camel did not\nlike to appear mean, and besides, they were two to one.\n\n\"Very well,\" said the Camel; \"come and take it.\" The Camel opened his\nmouth wide. The Jackal put his head in the Camel's mouth, and as he did\nso, the Camel curled his tongue backward, so that the Jackal could not\nreach it.\n\nThe Jackal pulled his head out again, and said to the Wolf--\n\n\"My mouth is too small, you try now--you have a big gape.\"\n\nThen the Wolf put his head in the Camel's mouth. The Camel curled his\ntongue back and back, and the Wolf pushed in his head further and\nfurther; at last all the Wolf's head was inside. Then the Camel snapped\nhis jaws together upon the Wolf's neck.\n\n\"O Daddy Camel,\" said the Wolf, half throttled; \"what is this?\"\n\n\"This,\" said the Jackal, rolling up the whites of his eyes to the sky in\na most pious fashion; \"this is the result of telling a lie.\" The Camel\nsaid nothing at all, but simply throttled the Wolf to death, and the\nJackal ran away.\n\n I think you will agree with me, that the Jackal, who\n made the Wolf tell a lie, was wickeder than the Wolf\n who told it; but yet he laughed at the Wolf, and\n got off himself scot-free. That often happens\n in this world; but we will hope that some\n other time his sin was bound to\n find him out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Wise Old Shepherd\n\n\nONCE upon a time, a snake went out of his hole to take an airing. He\ncrawled about, greatly enjoying the scenery and the fresh whiff of the\nbreeze, until, seeing an open door, he went in. Now this door was the\ndoor of the palace of the King, and inside was the King himself, with\nall his courtiers.\n\nImagine their horror at seeing a huge Snake crawling in at the door.\nThey all ran away except the King, who felt that his rank forbade him to\nbe a coward, and the King's son. The King called out for somebody to\ncome and kill the Snake; but this horrified them still more, because in\nthat country the people believed it to be wicked to kill any living\nthing, even snakes, and scorpions, and wasps. So the courtiers did\nnothing, but the young Prince obeyed his father, and killed the Snake\nwith his stick.\n\nAfter a while the Snake's wife became anxious, and set out in search of\nher husband. She too saw the open door of the palace, and in she went. O\nhorror! there on the floor lay the body of her husband, all covered\nwith blood, and quite dead. No one saw the Snake's wife crawl in; she\ninquired from a white ant what had happened, and when she found that the\nyoung Prince had killed her husband, she made a vow, that as he had made\nher a widow, so she would make his wife a widow.\n\nThat night, while all the world was asleep, the Snake crept into the\nPrince's bedroom, and coiled around his neck. The Prince slept on, and\nwhen he awoke in the morning, he was surprised to find his neck\nencircled with the coils of a Snake. He was afraid to stir, so there he\nremained, until the Prince's mother became anxious, and went to see what\nwas the matter. When she entered his room, and saw him in this plight,\nshe gave a loud shriek, and ran off to tell the King.\n\n\"Call the archers,\" said the King. The archers came, and the King told\nthem to go into the Prince's room, and shoot the Snake that was coiled\nabout his neck. They were so clever, that they could easily do this\nwithout hurting the Prince at all.\n\nIn came the archers in a row, fitted the arrows to the bows, the bows\nwere raised ready to shoot, when, on a sudden, from the Snake there\nissued a voice, which spoke as follows:--\n\n\"O archers! wait, and hear me before you shoot. It is not fair to carry\nout the sentence before you have heard the case. Is not this good law,\nan eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth? Is it not so, O King?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied the King, \"that is our law.\"\n\n\"Then,\" said the Snake, \"I plead the law. Your son has made me a widow,\nso it is fair and right that I should make his wife a widow.\"\n\n\"That sounds right enough,\" said the King, \"but right and law are not\nalways the same thing. We had better ask somebody who knows.\"\n\nThey asked all the judges, but none of them could tell the law of the\nmatter. They shook their heads, and said they would look up all their\nlaw-books, and see whether anything of the sort had ever happened\nbefore, and if so, how it had been decided. That is the way judges used\nto decide cases in that country, though I daresay it sounds to you a\nvery funny way. It looked as if they had not much sense in their own\nheads, and perhaps that was true. The upshot of all was, that not a\njudge would give any opinion; so the King sent messengers all over the\ncountry-side, to see if they could find somebody somewhere who knew\nsomething.\n\nOne of these messengers found a party of five Shepherds, who were\nsitting upon a hill and trying to decide a quarrel of their own. They\ngave their opinions so freely, and in language so very strong, that the\nKing's messenger said to himself, \"Here are the men for us. Here are\nfive men, each with an opinion of his own, and all different.\"\nPost-haste he scurried back to the King, and told him he had found at\nlast some one ready to judge the knotty point.\n\nSo the King and the Queen, and the Prince and the Princess, and all the\ncourtiers, got on horseback, and away they galloped to the hill\nwhereupon the five Shepherds were sitting, and the Snake too went with\nthem, coiled round the neck of the Prince.\n\nWhen they got to the Shepherds' hill, the Shepherds were dreadfully\nfrightened. At first they thought that the strangers were a gang of\nrobbers; and when they saw that it was the King, their next thought was\nthat one of their misdeeds had been found out, and each of them began\nthinking what was the last thing he had done, and wondering, was it\nthat? But the King and his Court got off their horses, and said good-day\nin the most civil way. So the Shepherds felt their minds set at ease\nagain. Then the King said--\n\n\"Worthy Shepherds, we have a question to put to you, which not all the\njudges in all the courts of my city have been able to solve. Here is my\nson, and here, as you see, is a Snake coiled round his neck. Now, the\nhusband of this Snake came creeping into my palace hall, and my son the\nPrince killed him; so this Snake, who is the wife of the other, says\nthat as my son has made her a widow, so she has a right to widow my\nson's wife. What do you think about it?\"\n\nThe first Shepherd said, \"I think she is quite right, my lord King. If\nany one made my wife a widow, I would pretty soon do the same to him.\"\n\nThis was brave language, and the other Shepherds shook their heads and\nlooked fierce. But the King was puzzled, and could not quite understand\nit. You see, in the first place, if the man's wife were a widow, the man\nwould be dead; and then it is hard to see how he could do anything. So\nto make sure, the King asked the second Shepherd whether that was his\nopinion too?\n\n\"Yes,\" said the second Shepherd; \"now the Prince has killed the Snake,\nthe Snake has a right to kill the Prince, if he can.\"\n\nBut that was not of much use either, as the Snake was as dead as a\ndoor-nail. So the King passed on to the third.\n\n\"I agree with my mates,\" said the third Shepherd, \"because, you see, a\nPrince is a Prince, but then a Snake is a Snake.\"\n\nThat was quite true, they all admitted; but it did not seem to help the\nmatter much. Then the King asked the fourth Shepherd to say what he\nthought.\n\nThe fourth Shepherd said, \"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth;\nso I think a widow should be a widow, if so be she don't marry again.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBy this time the poor King was so puzzled that he hardly knew whether he\nstood on his head or his heels. But there was still the fifth Shepherd\nleft, the oldest and wisest of them all; and the fifth Shepherd said--\n\n\"O King, I should like to ask two questions.\"\n\n\"Ask twenty, if you like,\" said the King. He did not promise to answer\nthem, so he could afford to be generous.\n\n\"First, I ask the Princess how many sons she has?\"\n\n\"Four,\" said the Princess.\n\n\"And how many sons has Mistress Snake here?\"\n\n\"Seven,\" said the Snake.\n\n\"Then,\" said the old Shepherd, \"it will be quite fair for Mistress Snake\nto kill his Highness the Prince, when her Highness the Princess has had\nthree sons more.\"\n\n\"I never thought of that,\" said the Snake. \"Good-bye, King, and all you\ngood people. Send a message when the Princess has had three more sons,\nand you may count upon me--I will not fail you.\" So saying, she\nuncoiled from the Prince's neck and slid away among the grass.\n\n The King and the Prince and everybody shook hands\n with the wise old Shepherd, and went home\n again. And as the Princess never had any\n more sons at all, she and the Prince\n lived happily for many years;\n and if they are not dead\n they are living\n still.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nBeware of Bad Company\n\n\nA BEAUTIFUL young Swan lived by a beautiful lake. All day long he used\nto sail gracefully over the water, curving his neck to look at his own\nimage, or pluming his white wings; and when he was tired, he would go to\nhis nest in the rushes, and sleep, or play with his brothers and\nsisters.\n\nIn a tree above that lake was a Crow. You know that Crows are dirty\nbirds, and they feed on offal and refuse, and people dislike them; but\nthe Swan was white and clean. Still, strange as it may seem, this Swan\nstruck up a fast friendship with the Crow. His mother and father begged\nhim to keep out of bad company, but he would not listen to them. He had\ndone better to keep to his own kind, but wilful will have his way, and\nthe Swan was sorry for it too late.\n\nOne day the Crow said to his friend the Swan, \"Come, old boy, let us go\nand have some fun.\"\n\n\"I'm your Swan,\" says the other, and away they flew.\n\nThey came to a tree, and under the tree was a very pious man, saying his\nprayers.\n\n\"Here's a joke,\" said the Crow. \"Now we shall see sport.\"\n\nHe picked up a lump of mud from the ground, and flew up into the tree,\nand then he dropped the mud, splash, on the pious man's head.\n\nThis interrupted his prayers, and he could not help feeling angry,\nalthough he was so pious. So up got he, and looked about to see who had\ndone the mischief.\n\nBy this time the mischievous Crow had flown off, and he was\ncaw-caw-cawing on another tree, out of reach. But the Swan sat still: he\nwas not learned in mischief, and he did not know what to do. Then the\npious man looked up into the tree, and saw the Swan sitting there, so of\ncourse he thought it was the Swan who had dropped a piece of mud on his\nhead. He had a big catapult with him, so he put a stone in his catapult,\nand slick! he shot the Swan.\n\nDown fell the Swan with a great thud. He felt that his end was near, and\nhow sorry he was now that he had had anything to do with the bad Crow.\nHowever, it was too late now to be sorry, so he began to sing. They say\nthat Swans never sing in all their life, but when they are about to die\nthey sing beautifully; and this is what the Swan sang to the pious\nman:--\n\n \"I am no Crow, as you must know,\n But a Swan that lived by a lovely lake;\n With bad companions I would go,\n And now I die for a bad friend's sake.\"\n\n Then the Swan died, and the pious man finished\n his prayers.\n\n\n\n\nThe Foolish Wolf\n\n\nA WOLF and an Ass were great friends, and they spent most of their time\nplaying at an original game of their own. The game was easy enough to\nlearn; you could play it yourselves; and it was this. First the Ass used\nto run away from the Wolf as hard as he could, and the Wolf used to\nfollow; and then the Wolf would run as hard as he could from the Ass,\nand the Ass would follow.\n\nOne day, as the Wolf was running away full tilt from the Ass, a Boy saw\nthem.\n\n\"Ha, ha, ha,\" said the Boy, \"what a coward that Wolf is, to run away\nfrom an Ass.\" He thought, you see, that the Wolf was afraid of being\neaten by the Ass.\n\nThe Wolf heard him, and was very angry. He stopped short, and said to\nthe Boy--\n\n\"So you think I am a coward, little Boy? You shall rue the word. I'm\nbrave enough to eat you, as you shall find out this very night; for I\nwill come and carry you off from your home.\"\n\nIf the Wolf was no coward, at least he was a foolish Wolf to tell the\nBoy if he meant to carry him off, as I think you will agree with me.\n\nThe Boy went home to tell his mother. \"Mother,\" said he, \"a Wolf is\ncoming to-night to carry me off.\"\n\n\"Oh, never mind if he does,\" said the Boy's mother, \"he won't hurt you.\"\n\nThe Boy did not feel quite so sure about that, for he had seen sharp\nteeth in the mouth of the Wolf. So he chose out a big and sharp stone,\nand put it in his pocket. Why he did not hide, I can't tell you, for he\nnever told me; but my private opinion is, he was almost as foolish as\nthe Wolf.\n\nWell, when night came, the Boy's mother went to bed, and she was soon\nsnoring, but the Boy stayed up to wait for the Wolf. About ten o'clock\ncame a knock at the door.\n\n\"Come in,\" said the Boy.\n\nThe Wolf opened the door, and came in, and says he, \"Now, Boy, you must\ncome along with me.\"\n\n\"All right,\" says the Boy, \"mother doesn't mind.\"\n\nI have never been able to understand why his mother did not mind, but\nperhaps he was a very naughty Boy, and she was glad to get rid of him.\nIf he did nothing but pull his sisters' hair, and put spiders down their\nnecks, he was just as well out of the house, I think.\n\nSo the Boy got on the Wolf's back, and the Wolf trotted off briskly to\nhis den. Then the Wolf thought to himself, \"I have had my dinner, and I\ndon't want any Boy to-night. Suppose I leave him for to-morrow, and go\nfor a spin with my friend the Jackass.\"\n\nSo he left the Boy in his den, and off he went after the Jackass.\n\nWhat makes me think more than ever that he was a foolish Wolf, is that\nhe never even tied the Boy's legs together. So when the Wolf was gone,\nthe Boy went out of the den, and climbed up a tree.\n\nIn an hour or two back came the Wolf, ready for bed. He looked in at the\nmouth of the den, but no Boy.\n\n\"Where on earth has that Boy got to?\" said he; \"I left him here safe and\nsound.\" It never occurred to this Wolf that legs can walk, and Boys can\nclimb trees. He felt very anxious, and as many people do when their wits\nare puzzled, he opened his mouth wide.\n\nThe Boy saw him standing at the opening of the den, with his mouth wide\nopen, so he pulled the sharp stone out of his pocket, and threw it in.\nThis Boy was a very good shot with a stone, and the stone went straight\ninto the Wolf's inside, and cut his inside so much that he died.\n\n Then the Boy climbed down from the tree, and\n he was at home in time for breakfast. I don't\n know whether his mother was pleased\n to see him or not; but there he was,\n and there he stayed, and if he\n has not gone away, he is\n there still.\n\n\n\n\nReflected Glory\n\n\nTHERE was a Shepherd who owned a multitude of goats. Among these was one\nGoat, weak and lame. You might suppose that the shepherd took especial\ncare of this lame Goat, but not he; on the contrary, he beat him and\nbullied him, and made his whole life a misery.\n\nA time came when the lame Goat could stand it no longer. So watching his\nchance, he gave his master the slip, and into the forest and far away.\nAs he hobbled along, he trembled to think of the ferocious beasts that\nthe forest was full of; but even to be devoured by an evil beast was\nbetter far than to be for ever beaten.\n\nThe lame Goat made up his mind that the only way by which he could save\nhis life was to gain the protection of some powerful beast. So he kept\nhis eyes open as he hobbled along; and, by-and-by, what should he see\nbut a dark cave, and at the mouth of the cave, a Lion's footprints. Now\na Lion was just the beast the Goat wanted, for to begin with, he is the\nKing of Beasts, and all the other beasts fear him; and then, too, he is\na noble beast, and if he passes his word he will never break it. Of\ncourse, it might be that the Lion would eat our Goat first, and ask\nquestions afterwards; but the Goat had to take his chance of that.\n\nThe upshot of it was, that the lame Goat sat down by the Lion's den, and\nwaited.\n\nBy-and-by, trippity trip, trippity trip, and up came a Jackal. Said the\nJackal to the Goat, \"God bless you, Gaffer Goat, you'll be the first\nfood that has passed my lips this many a day.\"\n\n\"Dear grandson,\" said the Goat, \"God bless you too. I'm here to be\neaten, that is true enough; but I'm meat for your betters. He whose\nfootprints you see here has bidden me wait until he wants me.\"\n\nThe Jackal looked at the footprints, and saw they were a Lion's. \"Aha,\"\nthought he, \"let sleeping dogs lie. If I eat the Lion's meat, the Lion\nwill devour my cubs.\" Then he went away sorrowful.\n\nA little while, and trappity trap, trappity trap, up came a Wolf. Quoth\nthe Wolf--\n\n\"Well met, Nuncle Goat; you make my mouth water. A five days' fast is\nsauce for the dinner.\"\n\n\"Well met, my dear nephew,\" says the lame Goat. \"But you had better\nleave me alone. I'm food for your betters. Look upon these footprints,\nand let me tell you that he who made them has bidden me wait here until\nhe is hungry.\"\n\n\"Oho,\" said the Wolf, \"a Lion. Who tackles the strong will not live\nlong. If I eat King Lion's meat, King Lion will make a meal of my cubs.\"\nAway went the Wolf, trappity trap, trappity trap.\n\nA little while more, and swish, swish, swish, the Lion himself came\nstalking slowly along, whisking away the flies with his tail. When he\nsaw the Goat sitting beside his den, says he--\n\n\"Friend Goat, what want you here? Are you anxious to make a meal for\nme?\"\n\n\"O King Lion,\" said the Goat, bowing before him very humbly, \"here I\nhave been sitting these two hours, and wolves and jackals came to eat\nme; but the sight of your footprints was safety for me: I told them I\nwas yours, and they took to their heels for fear. Now eat me if you\nwill; for yours I am.\"\n\nThen the Lion said, \"O Goat, if you have called yourself mine, never\nwill I devour you. I will see to it that you are well treated.\"\n\nThen the Lion went out and found an Elephant, who greeted him with the\ngreatest respect. \"Elephant,\" said the Lion, \"I want you to do something\nfor me.\"\n\n\"Speak on,\" said the Elephant, \"do it I will.\"\n\nThe Lion said, \"There is a poor lame Goat has thrown himself on my\nmercy, and I have thought of a plan by which he can be fed. If you will\nsuffer him to mount on your back, then while you go grazing about, he\ncan browse upon the young shoots of the trees as you pass under.\"\n\n\"That is a good idea,\" said the Elephant, \"and I'll do it for you\nwillingly, and indeed anything else in my power.\"\n\n If the Lion was pleased at the kindness of the\n Elephant, more pleased was the lame Goat; and a\n happy life was his from that day. Never again was he\n beaten by a cruel goatherd: but he fed on the fat\n of the land, and lived to a green old age; and\n I hope we may be half as happy as he was.\n\n\n\n\nThe Cat and the Sparrows\n\n\nTHERE was once a pair of Sparrows that lived in a tree. They used to hop\nabout all over the place, picking up seeds or anything they could find\nto eat. One day, when they came back with their pickings, the Cock had\nfound some rice, and the Hen a few lentils. They put it all in an\nearthen pot, and then proceeded to cook their dinner. Then they divided\nthe mess into two equal parts.\n\nThe Cock was rather greedy, so he would not wait while his wife put out\nthe fire and got ready to join in the meal. No! he gobbled up his share\nat once, before she could begin.\n\nWhen at last the poor Hen came up, her greedy mate would not let her\nrest even then. \"Go and get me a drink of water,\" said he quite rudely.\n\nShe was a very kind wife, so without taking any notice of his rudeness,\noff she went for the water.\n\nWhile she was gone the Cock-sparrow's eyes fell on his wife's share of\nthe dinner. \"Ah,\" thought he, \"how I should like another bit! Well, why\nshouldn't I have it? A man does all the work, and women don't want much\nto eat at any time.\" So without any more ado, he just set to, and\ngobbled up his wife's share.\n\nBack came the Hen-sparrow with a drink of water for her husband. When he\nhad drunk it up (and I am afraid he forgot to say thank you), she turned\nround to look for her dinner. Lo and behold! there was none. What could\nhave become of it? As she was wondering, she happened to look at her\nhusband; he looked so guilty that there could be no manner of doubt\nwhere her dinner was.\n\n\"You greedy bird,\" said she, \"why have you eaten my dinner?\"\n\n\"I haven't touched your dinner,\" said the Cock angrily.\n\n\"I'm sure you have,\" said she, \"or you would not look so guilty. Why,\nyou are actually blushing.\" And so indeed he was; the tip of his beak\nwas quite red.\n\nHowever, he still denied it, and grew angrier and angrier, as people do\nwhen they know they are in the wrong. They had a terrible quarrel. At\nlast the Hen-sparrow said, \"Well, I know a way to find out whether you\nare telling lies or not. You come along with me.\" And she made him go\nwith her to the well.\n\nAcross the top of the well she stretched a piece of string, and she sat\non the middle of the string, and began to chirp, \"If I am telling lies,\nI pray I may fall in.\" But though she sat there a long time, chirping\naway, she did not fall in.\n\nThen came the Cock-sparrow's turn. He perched on the string and began to\nchirrup, \"If I am telling lies, may I fall into the well;\" but hardly\nhad he got the words out of his mouth, when--splash! down he went.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen the Hen was very sorry that she had proposed this plan; she began\nto weep and cheep, and said--\"Alas, alas, why didn't I leave it alone?\nWhat does it matter if he eats my dinner, so long as I have my dear\nhusband? Now I have killed him by my folly.\"\n\nJust at that moment up came a Cat.\n\n\"What's the matter?\" said the Cat.\n\n\"Cheep, cheep, cheep,\" went the Hen-sparrow. \"My husband has fallen into\nthe well, and I don't know how to get him out.\"\n\n\"If I get him out,\" said the Cat, \"will you let me eat him?\"\n\n\"Of course you may,\" said the Hen-sparrow.\n\nSo the Cat climbed down, and pulled out the Cock-sparrow. When she had\nbrought him to the edge of the well, said she, \"Now I'm going to eat him\nas you promised.\"\n\n\"Oh, all right,\" said the Hen. \"But stop a minute, your mouth is dirty.\nI am sure you have been eating mice. Now haven't you?\"\n\n\"Why, yes,\" said the Cat, \"so I have.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Hen-sparrow, \"you must get yourself clean. We birds are\nclean creatures, and you must positively wash your mouth before you\nbegin.\"\n\nAway went the Cat, and washed her mouth clean, and came back again.\n\nThe Hen-sparrow looked at her carefully. \"You have not washed your\nwhiskers,\" said she; \"they are still dirty.\"\n\nThe Cat went obediently and washed her whiskers.\n\n Meanwhile the Cock-sparrow had been sitting on the\n edge of the well in the sun, and by this time his feathers\n were quite dry. So his Hen chirped to him, \"Now,\n dear, you can fly, let's be off.\" And off\n they flew together, and the Cat was\n left licking her chops and\n wishing she had not\n been such\n a fool.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Foolish Fish\n\n\nA FISH was once flapping and flopping on the sand by the banks of a\nriver. She was a lady Fish--how she got there I don't know; but she had\nbeen better to stay at home, as you shall hear. Well, she flapped away\non the sand, and couldn't get off; she began to feel very dry. A man\ncame by, riding upon a horse. \"O Man,\" shouted the Fish, \"do carry me\nback to the water again, or I shall be dried up and die.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" said the Man, \"not I, indeed! You are a she, and I have had so\nmuch bother with shes in my life that I shall keep clear of you.\"\n\n\"O dear good Man!\" cried the Fish, \"do please help me, and I will\npromise not to behave badly; I'll be as nice as any man could be. Just\nthink! if you leave me here, I shall dry into a stick, or somebody will\ncome along and eat me.\"\n\nThe Man scratched his head, and wondered what he ought to do; but at\nlast he took pity on the Fish, and got down off his horse. Then he\npicked up the Fish and put her on his shoulder, and walked down to the\nwater. \"Now then,\" said he, \"in with you.\"\n\n\"Take me into deep water,\" said the Fish; \"this won't do for me.\" So the\ngood-natured fellow took her and waded into the water till he was\nneck-deep. Then the Fish opened her mouth wide, and said--\n\n\"Now I'm going to eat you! I'll teach you to say nasty things about\nwomen.\"\n\nThat was a nice way of showing gratitude to the Man, wasn't it? I wonder\nthe Man did not eat the Fish, instead of the Fish eating him. But I am\nafraid the Man was rather stupid. It never occurred to him that he might\neat the Fish, and all he did was to scratch his head again. \"That's not\nfair,\" said he; \"I saved your life, and now you want to eat me. We must\nfind some one to decide between us, and say which is right.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said the Fish; \"take me up on your shoulder again, and let\nus find somebody.\"\n\nSo the Man took her up on his shoulder again, and out of the water came\nhe. On the bank of the river grew a Crab-apple Tree, and the Man\nappealed to this Tree to decide their dispute. \"O Tree,\" said he, \"this\nFish was lying on the sand, and I saved her life, and now she wants to\neat me. Do you think that is right?\"\n\n\"Of course!\" said the Tree--whose temper was as crabbed as his\napples--\"of course! Why not? You men are always doing mischief. Here am\nI, an innocent Crab-apple Tree, and people come along and cut off my\nbranches to shade themselves from the sun. I call that cool!\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Man, \"they want to be cool, and that's why they cut\nyour branches off.\"\n\n\"Don't be a fool,\" squeaked the Crab-apple Tree; \"you know what I mean.\nSo as you do all this damage to us, we are right to do all we can to\nhurt you, and therefore this Fish has a right to eat you if she\nchooses.\"\n\n\"Come along,\" said the Fish, as she opened her mouth; \"jump in!\"\n\n\"Wait a bit,\" said the Man, \"we must try somebody else. I feel sure\nthere is something wrong with this judgment.\" The Fish did not wish to\nask anybody else, but she had to agree, because they were on dry land.\n\nSo they went along until they saw an Elephant.\n\n\"O Elephant!\" cried the Man, \"do you see this Fish? I saved her life,\nand now she wants to eat me. Do you think this is right?\"\n\n\"Right?\" said the Elephant, \"I should rather think so! Why, you men are\nhorrid brutes, always making us carry half-a-dozen of you about on our\nbacks, or prodding us with a spike, or something nasty. Eat you up? I\nonly wish _I_ could eat you up, and I would do it too, but nature makes\nme eat leaves, and you are too tough for me to digest.\"\n\nSo there was no comfort to be had from the Elephant.\n\nThe Fish opened her mouth wider than ever, for she was getting hungry,\nand said, \"Now then, look sharp--in with you!\"\n\nThe Man was in despair. What was he to do? \"Give me one more chance,\"\nsaid he, \"and if they all say the same, then you shall eat me.\"\n\nHe looked round, and not far off he saw a Jackal. \"Friend Jackal,\" he\ncalled out; \"I say, Jackal! Stop a minute, I want to ask you something.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said the Jackal, \"ask away.\"\n\n\"This Fish,\" said the Man, \"was flip-flap-flopping on the sand and\ngasping for breath, and I saved her life; and then as soon as she got\nsafe back into the water again, she wanted to eat me. Do you think\nthat's right?\"\n\n\"Hm,\" said the Jackal, \"I don't quite understand. Where was the Fish?\"\n\n\"Lying on the sand, you booby,\" said the Fish, getting angry.\n\n\"How?\" asked the Jackal.\n\n\"Why,\" said the Fish, \"what does that matter, I should like to know?\"\n\n\"Can't understand,\" said the Jackal, looking stupidly all round and then\nup at the sky.\n\n\"Well,\" said the Fish, angrier than ever, \"all you are asked to do, is\nto say whether or no I am to eat this Man. Can't you do that without all\nthis bother?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the Jackal.\n\n\"Oh dear,\" said the Fish, \"what a stupid you must be! All right then,\ncome along, and we'll show you.\" So she made the Man take her on his\nshoulder again, and carry her to the place where she had been lying on\nthe sand.\n\n\"That's the place,\" said she.\n\nThe Jackal was not satisfied yet, but he must needs see how she lay. So\nthe Man put her down on the sand, and the Fish began flip-flap-flopping\nagain.\n\n\"Now then,\" said the Jackal to the Man, \"up on the horse with you, and\nbe off! What does the Fish matter to you? Let her die, she deserves no\nbetter.\"\n\nThe Man thought this a good idea, so he got up on his horse, and off,\nand was more resolved than ever to keep clear of women.\n\nBut the Fish was very angry at being tricked so neatly. \"You shall pay\nfor this!\" she gasped to the Jackal; \"I'll come and eat you in your\nden.\"\n\n\"All right, you may try,\" said the Jackal, \"but I fancy you will get\neaten yourself.\" And so saying, away he scampered.\n\nThe Fish flapped and flopped, until somehow or other she managed to flap\nherself into the river.\n\nAfter this the Fish used to sit by the roots of a fig-tree which went\ndown into the river, with her mouth gaping, in the hope that something\nmight fall in. The Jackal used to come down to this place to drink, and\none day, as he was drinking, the Fish caught him tight by the leg.\n\n\"Oh you silly Fish,\" said the Jackal, \"why didn't you catch my leg? You\nhave got hold of the wrong thing,\" said he; \"there's my leg, if you want\nit,\" pointing to the root of the fig-tree. The foolish Fish believed she\nhad made a mistake, and let go the Jackal's leg, and took a good bite of\nthe root. The Jackal laughed, and scampered away, crying, \"Oh what a\nfool you are! You don't know wood from meat!\"\n\n\"Never mind,\" said the Fish, \"next time it will be my turn, and then we\nshall see. I'll come and eat you in your den.\"\n\nNext day, when the Jackal had gone into the forest to find food, our\nfriend the Fish jumped out of the water, and went roll, roll, rolling\ninto the forest, until she came to the den of the Jackal; and inside the\ndoor of the Jackal's den she stood on her tail, waiting for him to come\nback. By-and-by back came the Jackal, sure enough; but Jackals are very\ncunning creatures, and he came up slinking quietly, and saw the Fish\nbefore the Fish saw him. So he called out in a loud voice, \"Den, Den!\"\n\nNo answer. Again he called out, \"Den, Den!\" This time the Fish thought\nthat the Den was no doubt accustomed to reply when the Jackal called to\nit. Perhaps it was shy because she was present. Anyhow she thought she\nhad better answer, so she called out in return, \"Well, well!\"\n\n\"You there?\" asked the Jackal.\n\n\"Yes, I'm here all right,\" answered the Fish.\n\n\"Just stop a minute,\" said the Jackal, \"and I'll be back directly.\"\n\nAway he ran, and the Fish crept inside the hole, and hid. The Jackal ran\nabout gathering dry leaves, and with the leaves he made a little pile at\nthe mouth of his hole. Then he went to a fire which some traveller had\nleft smouldering, and seizing a brand, he brought it and set light to\nthe leaves at the mouth of the cave. The fire soon burned up.\n\n\"Is that nice, dear Den?\" asked the Jackal.\n\n\"Very nice, thank you,\" said the Fish, who thought she must go on\npretending.\n\n\"I'll soon make you warm,\" said the Jackal, and he piled on more fuel.\nIt began to get very hot.\n\n\"That's enough now,\" said the Fish.\n\n \"No, no, Den dear,\" said the cunning Jackal, laughing\n to himself. More and more leaves he piled on the top\n of the fire. One side of the Fish got so hot that she\n turned the other. Then it got hotter and hotter, and\n soon the Fish expired. When the fire went out, the\n Jackal looked into the cave, and there was the Fish,\n done on both sides crisp and brown. He sat\n down on his haunches, and gobbled her\n up in a trice, and he never had a\n nicer dinner. That was the\n end of the foolish and\n ungrateful Fish.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Clever Goat\n\n\nA SHEPHERD was feeding his flock on the hills; and as they were going\nhome again in the evening, one of the goats lagged behind. Now, this\nGoat was very old, and goats are not like men, for the older they grow\nthe wiser they become. So this Goat, being very old indeed, was also\nvery wise. There was a very nice clump of grass by the wayside, and the\nwise old Goat said to herself, \"Here is the nicest grass I have seen for\na long time. I'm not hungry, because I have been eating all day; but I\ndaresay I shall soon be hungry again, so I had better eat it while I can\nget it.\" And accordingly she set to work, and very soon she had eaten it\nall up. Then she trotted off homeward.\n\nAs the old Goat went merrily trotting along, with her eyes on the\nground, suddenly she looked up--and lo and behold! a huge Wolf sitting\non a stump, and staring at her hungrily! What was she to do? To escape\nwas impossible. She pulled her wits together, and began--\n\n\"Oh, my dear Mr. Wolf!\" cried she, \"how delighted I am to see you. I\nhave been looking for you all day, and now I've found you at last.\"\n\nThe Wolf was so utterly astonished that he had not a word to say at\nfirst. But after a while, he found his tongue, and thus said he--\n\n\"My good Goat, you must be out of your senses. Why, I'm accustomed to\nfeed on goats, and here you say you are glad to see me. Who ever heard\nof a creature so foolish as to throw itself into the jaws of death of\nits own free will?\"\n\n\"Ah,\" replied the Goat, \"you don't know my Shepherd, that's quite clear.\nHe is the kindest man in the world, and he has a special weakness for\nyou. He was talking of you only this morning, and saying that he owes\nyou a good turn for not gobbling up any of his sheep, though it is ever\nso long since he began to feed them in your forest. So he has sent me to\nyou as a token of his esteem. I'm an old Goat, you see, and not much use\nto him now. 'No _ifs_ and _buts_,' says he to me--'off with you, and let\nkind Mr. Wolf eat you for his dinner.' And so here I am. And indeed, you\nmust not suppose I am here against my will; not at all. I could not\nthink of disobeying our good Shepherd. And, if I did, he could sell me\nto the butcher, to have my throat cut, and be eaten by horrid beasts of\nmen, who have only two legs to bless themselves with. I assure you, I\nmuch prefer being eaten by a noble four-legged gentleman like yourself.\"\n\nOur Wolf was still so surprised that he could find nothing to say; and\nthe Goat went on--\n\n\"Do not think, dear sir, that I am flattering you. Look at me and judge\nif a respectable old Goat of my age, and at the point of death--for I\nsee you licking your chops--whether, I say, such a one would dare to\ntell lies. But, Mr. Wolf, there is one reason why I shall be sorry to\ndie. You may not have heard of it, but it is true nevertheless that I am\na famous songster, and it will be indeed a pity that a gift so rare\nshould be lost. Will you do me one last favour, and let me sing you a\nsong before I die? I am sure it will delight you, and you will enjoy\neating me all the more afterwards.\"\n\nThe Wolf was very much pleased at the Goat's politeness. \"Well,\" said\nhe, \"since you are so kind as to offer, I should like to hear what you\ncan do in the way of music.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said our Goat, \"just sit down on that hillock yonder, and\nI'll stay here; it won't sound so nice if I am too near you.\"\n\nThe Wolf trotted off to the hillock, and sat down, and waited for the\nGoat to begin her song.\n\nThe Goat opened her mouth, and uttered a loud \"Baa-baa-baa!\"\n\n\"Is that all?\" asked the Wolf. He was rather disappointed, but he did\nnot say so, for fear of being thought an ignorant lout.\n\n\"Oh no,\" said the Goat, \"that was only tuning up, to get the pitch.\"\nThen she cried again, \"Baa-baa-baa,\" louder than before.\n\n Meanwhile the Shepherd was not far off, and he\n heard this loud Baa-baa of one of his goats. \"Hullo,\"\n thought he, \"what's up, I wonder?\" and set off\n running in the direction of the sound. Just as the\n Wolf was getting impatient, and the Goat was opening\n her mouth for another Baa-baa, up came the Shepherd,\n behind the Wolf. Thwack, thwack, thwack! came his\n stick on the stupid Wolf, and with a groan the Wolf\n turned over and died on the spot. The Shepherd\n and his wise old Goat trudged happily home\n to the sheepfold, and after that the Goat\n took good care to keep\n with the flock.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nA Crow is a Crow for Ever\n\n\nTHERE once was a very learned Bishop, who was very fond of\nbird's-nesting. One day he saw a fine large nest up in an elm-tree, and\nwhen he had climbed up he saw that it was full of young Crow-chicks. One\nof these chicks had such a winsome appearance, that the Bishop put him\ninside his hat, and took him home to the Palace.\n\nIn due time the Crow grew up, and as he heard around him continually the\nBishop and his friends talking divinity, by degrees he became quite\nclever in divinity himself. He knew all the kings of Israel and Judah,\nand the cities of refuge, so that at last there was no question in a\ndivinity paper he could not answer. Indeed, once when the examining\nChaplain was ill, the Crow did his work for him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe fame of this learned Crow spread far and wide, until at last it\nreached the King's ears. Now the Bishop had been expecting this all\nalong, and ever since he found the young Crow he had been training him\nfor a purpose. I am sorry to say he was rather a greedy man; and as he\nhoped to get something out of the King by the means of this Crow, he\ntrained him to fly towards anything that shone bright, such as gold and\nsilver.\n\n\"When the King asks me to show off my Crow,\" he thought, \"I will ask as\na price anything the Crow may choose; and then doubtless he will fly to\nthe King's crown, and I shall be King!\"\n\nAt the first all fell out as he looked for. The King sent word to say he\nwanted to see the Crow. He was sitting in the garden, with his gold\ncrown on, and all his courtiers around him; and then asked to hear him\nsay all the kings of Israel and Judah.\n\n\"With pleasure, sire,\" said the Bishop; \"if your Majesty will deign to\ngrant him what he chooses for a reward. He has been well taught, and\nwill not work for nothing.\"\n\n\"By all means,\" said the King; \"let him choose his reward, and I will\ngive it.\"\n\nThen the Bishop took his Crow out of his hat, and the Crow said all the\nkings of Israel and Judah quite right, forwards and backwards, without a\nsingle mistake. The King was delighted: he could not have done as much.\n\n\"And now, sire,\" said the Bishop, \"I will let him go, and tell him to\nchoose his own prize.\"\n\nSo the Bishop let the Crow loose. The Crow was flying straight for the\nKing's crown, when all on a sudden what should he spy but a dead cat! He\nturned off on the instant, and down he swooped on the dead cat. You know\nCrows eat dead things and offal; and this Crow liked a dead cat for\ndinner better than a gold crown.\n\nThe King laughed, the courtiers roared with merriment.\n\n\"Bishop,\" said the King, when he had done laughing, \"your Crow is easily\npleased, it seems! Well, he has chosen his reward, and by my royal\nbeard, he shall have it. Ha, ha, ha!\"\n\nBut the Bishop felt very rueful indeed. All his pains and trouble lost,\nand nothing to show for it! He shook his head and went away, singing to\nhimself a little chant he made up on the spot, all out of his own head--\n\n \"I kept my Crow in a lovely cage,\n And taught him wisdom's holy page;\n But still 'tis true, whate'er he may know,\n A dirty Crow is a dirty Crow.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Grateful Goat\n\n\nONCE upon a time a Butcher bought a Goat; but as he was going to kill\nthe Goat, and make him into meat for the table, the Goat opened his\nmouth, and said--\n\n\"If you kill me, Butcher, you will be a few shillings the richer; but if\nyou spare my life, I will repay you for your kindness.\"\n\nThis Butcher had killed many goats in his day, but he never before heard\none of them talk. Goats can talk to each other, as you must have heard;\nbut most of them do not learn English. So the Butcher thought there must\nbe something special about this Goat, and did not kill him.\n\nThe Goat felt very grateful that his life had been spared for a few more\nhappy summers; and when he found himself free, the first thing he did\nwas to go into the forest to see if he could find some means of repaying\nthe Butcher's kind deed.\n\nAs he trotted along under the trees, stopping now and then to crop some\ntender shoot that came within reach, he met a Jackal.\n\n\"I am glad to see you, Goatee,\" said the Jackal; \"and now I'm going to\neat you.\"\n\n\"Don't be such a fool,\" said the Goat. \"Can't you see I am nothing but\nskin and bones? Wait till I get fat. That's why I am here, just to get\nfat; and when I'm nice and fat, you may eat me and welcome.\"\n\nThe Goat was very skinny, in truth, and he pulled in his breath to make\nhimself look more skinny. So the Jackal said--\n\n\"All right, look sharp, and be sure you look out for me on your way\nback.\"\n\n\"I shan't forget, Jackal,\" said the Goat. \"Ta ta!\"\n\nBy-and-by he fell in with a Wolf.\n\n\"Ha!\" said the Wolf, smacking his lips; \"here's what I want. Get ready,\nmy Goat, for I am going to eat you.\"\n\n\"Oh, surely not,\" said the Goat; \"a skinny old thing like me!\" He drew\nin his breath again, and looked very skinny indeed. \"I have come here to\nfatten myself, and when I'm fat, you shall eat me if you like.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Wolf, \"you don't look like a prize Goat, I grant you.\nGo along then, but look out for me when you come back.\"\n\n\"Oh, I shall look out for you!\" said the Goat, and away he trotted.\n\nBy-and-by he came to a church. He went into the church, and there he saw\nlast Sunday's collection plate, full of gold coins. In that country, any\none would have been ashamed to put coppers into the plate, not because\nthey were rich, for they were not, but because they were generous. Now,\nGoats are not taught that they must not steal, but they think they have\na right to whatever they can get hold of; so this Goat opened his\nmouth, and licked up all the sovereigns, and hid them under his tongue.\n\nThe Goat next went to a flower-shop, and asked the man who sold the\nflowers to make some wreaths, and cover him up with them, horns and all.\nSo the man covered him up with flowers, till he looked like a large\nrose-bush. Then the Goat popped out a sovereign from his mouth, to pay\nthe man, and very glad the man was to get so much for his roses.\n\nThen the Goat set out on his homeward way. He looked out for the Wolf,\nas he had promised to do; and when the Wolf saw him coming along, he\nthought he was a rose-bush. The Wolf was not at all surprised to see a\nrose-bush walking along the road, for many were the strange things he\nhad seen in his life; and if you come to think of it, this was no\nstranger than a Goat that could talk English.\n\n\"Good afternoon, Rose-bush,\" said the Wolf; \"have you seen a Goat\npassing this way?\"\n\n\"Oh yes,\" said the Goat, \"I saw him a few minutes ago back there along\nthe road.\"\n\n\"Many thanks, Rose-bush,\" said the Wolf; \"I am much obliged to you,\" and\naway he ran in the direction in which the Goat had come.\n\nBy-and-by he came to the Jackal.\n\n\"Hullo, Rose-bush!\" said the Jackal. \"Have you seen a Goat anywhere as\nyou came along?\"\n\n\"Oh yes,\" replied the Goat, out of the roses; \"I saw him just now, and\nhe was talking to a big Wolf.\"\n\n\"Good heavens!\" said the Jackal, \"I must look sharp, if I want some Goat\nto-day,\" and off he galloped, in a great hurry.\n\nIn the evening he got to the Butcher's house.\n\n\"Hullo!\" said the Butcher, \"what have we here?\" He knew that rose-bushes\ncould not walk, but he could not make out what it was at all.\n\n\"Baa! baa!\" said the Goat; \"it's your grateful old Goat, come back to\npay you for your kindness.\" And with these words, he spouted out all the\nsovereigns he found in the church, except the one he paid to the\nflower-man.\n\n The Butcher was delighted to see so many sovereigns:\n he asked no questions, because he thought it wiser. He\n took the sovereigns, and found they were enough\n to keep him all his life, without killing any\n more goats. So he lived in peace, and\n the Goat spent his remaining years\n browsing comfortably in the\n Butcher's paddock.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Cunning Jackal\n\nOr, The Biter Bit\n\n\nA JACKAL lived on one side of a deep river, and on the other side were\nfields upon fields of ripe melons. The Jackal was always hungry, and he\nhad eaten everything within reach; so he used to sit on the river bank\nand bemoan his luck. \"All those ripe melons,\" said he, \"and nobody to\neat them but men. It is really a shame. I don't know what Providence is\ndoing, to treat me so scurvily.\"\n\nPerhaps Providence knew what it was about, and the Jackal, as you shall\nhear, deserved no better than he got.\n\nAs he sat one day by the river, moaning and groaning, a big Tortoise\npopped up his funny head out of the water. There was a big tear in each\nof the Tortoise's round eyes.\n\nThe Jackal stopped moaning and groaning when he saw the Tortoise.\n\"What's the matter, Shelly?\" said he. \"Aren't you well?\"\n\n\"Quite well, thank you,\" said the Tortoise, and the tears slowly rolled\ndown his nose. He was going to call the Jackal Snarly, which was the\nnickname the Jackal went by; but he thought better of it, because it\nwould have been rather rude. All the same, he did not like being called\nShelly in that offhand way.\n\n\"Wife and brats all right?\" asked the Jackal. \"No measles or mumps?\"\n\nThis was also very rude of the Jackal, because a Tortoise is sensitive\nabout mumps. If he gets mumps when his head is inside his shell, he\ncan't put it out; and if his head is outside, that is still worse, for\nit swells up so that he can't get it in again.\n\n\"No, thank you, my wife is all right,\" said the Tortoise, who was rather\nconfused; \"at least, she would be all right if I had one, but that's\njust it--I can't get a wife! Nobody will look at me! and that is my\ntrouble,\" and two more big tears trickled down his nose.\n\nAt this moment an idea came into the Jackal's crafty head. \"What a pity\nyou didn't tell me before,\" said he; \"I could easily have found you a\nwife last week, but now she has gone to live on the other side of the\nriver.\"\n\n\"Do you really mean it?\" said the Tortoise.\n\n\"Honour bright,\" answered the Jackal; \"do I look like a person who would\ntell a lie?\" He certainly did, only the Tortoise was too simple to see\nit.\n\nThe Tortoise rubbed away his tears on a stump, for he had no\nhandkerchief, and brightened up considerably.\n\n\"I can carry you across, friend,\" said he, \"if you will jump on my\nback.\"\n\nThe Jackal wanted nothing better, so down he jumped on the back of the\nTortoise, and the Tortoise swam across. When they got across, the\nTortoise was quite tired, because the Jackal was very heavy for a\nTortoise to carry.\n\nA fine time the Jackal had on the further side of the river. He ran\nabout among the fields, and ate melons till he was nearly bursting.\nEvery day the Tortoise came to the bank, asking whether the match was\nyet arranged, and every day the Jackal told him that all was going well.\n\"You have no notion how pleased they are,\" said the Jackal. \"Just see\nhow fat I am getting. They feed me like a fighting-cock, all because of\nyou.\" It was indeed because of the Tortoise that the Jackal was so well\nfed, but not as he meant it.\n\nBy-and-by the season of melons came to an end, and all that the Jackal\nhad left were cut and sold in the market. Melons were dear that season,\nbecause the Jackal had eaten so many of them before they could be cut.\nThen the Jackal stole a white dress and a veil, and hung them on the\nstump of a tree which stood near the river side; and next day, when the\nTortoise popped his funny head out of the water, said the Jackal--\n\n\"There's your wife at last, old Shelly! There she stands, dumb as a\nstone. Not a word will she have to say to you till I am out of the way,\nbecause she is too modest. Come, hurry up, Shell-fish, and take me\nacross.\"\n\nThe Tortoise was angry at being called a shell-fish, because tortoises\nare not fish at all, and they feel insulted if you call them so.\nHowever, he was so glad to get a wife at last, that he said nothing,\nonly presented his back for the Jackal to jump on. Flop! came the\nJackal, so heavy by this time that it was all the Tortoise could do to\nget him across safely. If he was tired before, he was nearly dead now.\nBut he swam across at last; and the Jackal ran off into the forest,\nchuckling at the simplicity of the poor Tortoise.\n\nBack went our Tortoise across the river, and climbed up on the bank.\n\n\"Wife!\" he called out, in a tender voice.\n\nNo answer.\n\nAgain he called \"Wife!\" but still no answer.\n\nHe could not make it out a bit. He crawled up to the stump which the\nJackal had decked out in wedding finery, and put out his flapper to\ntouch his wife's hand: lo and behold, it was only an old tree-stump.\n\nThe rage of the Tortoise knew no bounds, and he determined to have his\nrevenge.\n\nNext day the Jackal came down to drink at the river. The Tortoise was\nwatching for him under water; and while the Jackal was drinking, the\nTortoise nipped his teeth into the Jackal's leg.\n\nHow the Jackal did howl, to be sure! He was a great coward, and even\nused to cry when his teeth were pulled out by the dentist. So now he\nhowled at the top of his voice, \"Let me go! Let me go!\"\n\n But the Tortoise held on like grim death. He was\n too weak to pull the Jackal under, but he was too heavy\n for the Jackal to pull out; so there he bides his time.\n By-and-by the tide began to rise. The tide rose to the\n Jackal's middle, it rose to his head; and his last howls\n came up from underneath the water in big\n bubbles, which showed that the crafty\n Jackal would play his mean\n tricks never more.\n\n\n\n\nThe Farmer's Ass\n\n\nTHERE was once a Farmer, who had an Ass. It was the habit of this Ass to\nlift up his voice and bray, whenever he heard the church bells\na-ringing. Now in the country where this Farmer lived, they used to\nbelieve that a man's soul passes when he dies into an animal, or\nsomething else. So this Farmer thought that any Ass that was fond of\nchurch bells, must have been a great saint in some former life.\nAccordingly, he named his Ass St. Anthony.\n\nAll his life long, this Ass served the Farmer faithfully, and earned him\na great deal of money. At last the Ass died of old age.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Farmer was very sad and sorry when his Ass died. \"My Ass served me\nfaithfully,\" said he, \"and it's only fair he should have a good\nfuneral.\" So he sent for the undertaker, and told him to make a big\ncoffin, and put it on a hearse, and buried the Ass with great splendour.\nThen he shaved off every scrap of hair from his head, as the custom was\nin those parts when anybody died, and gave a funeral feast to all his\nrelations, and dressed himself in black.\n\nNext time he went to the Grocer's to buy sugar, the Grocer noticed his\nhead shaved bare, and the black clothes, so he knew some one must be\ndead, a relation or a great friend.\n\n\"I am sorry to see you have lost some one,\" said he; \"who is it?\"\n\n\"St. Anthony is dead,\" said the Farmer.\n\n\"Dear me,\" said the Grocer, \"and I never heard of it. How very sad!\"\nThought he to himself, \"I had best have my head shaved too, or else\npeople will call me hard-hearted.\"\n\nSo when the Farmer had bought his sugar, and was gone, the Grocer went\nto the Barber and had his head shaved. Then he put on a black coat and\nnecktie.\n\nBy-and-by a Soldier came to have a chat with his friend the Grocer.\n\n\"Ods bobs!\" said he, \"what's the matter, man?\"\n\n\"St. Anthony is dead,\" said the Grocer solemnly, and wiped away a tear.\n\n\"You don't say so,\" said the Soldier. Off he went straight to the\nBarber, and made him shave his head; then he bought a piece of crape to\ntie round his left arm.\n\nHe told the news to all the men of his regiment, and they all felt so\nmuch sympathy with this soldier that they shaved their heads too.\n\nNext day on parade, there was the whole regiment shaved to a man.\n\n\"What's the meaning of this?\" asked the General.\n\nThe Sergeant saluted, and told him that St. Anthony was dead.\n\n\"Is he? By Jove,\" said the General, \"then I dismiss this parade,\" and\noff he galloped on his war-horse to the nearest Barber, who shaved his\nhead like the men's. On the way back, he saw the Prime Minister going to\nCourt. \"May I ask,\" said the Prime Minister suavely, \"to what untoward\ncircumstance is due the erasure of your capillary covering?\"\n\n\"St. Anthony is dead,\" answered the General.\n\n\"Dear, dear,\" said the Prime Minister, \"you don't say so. He was\ndoubtless an ornament to the party, and it is meet that I should testify\nmy respect.\" Then the Prime Minister too went off to get his head\nshaved, and appeared before the King without a single hair.\n\n\"What's the matter?\" asked the King; \"anybody dead, hey, hey, hey?\"\n\n\"If it please your Majesty,\" said the Prime Minister, \"St. Anthony is\ndead.\"\n\n\"What a loss for our kingdom,\" said the King; \"what a loss! what a loss!\nExcuse me a moment,\" and away he went to get his head shaved.\n\nWhen the Queen saw him, she wanted to know why his head was shaved.\n\n\"St. Anthony is dead,\" answered the King.\n\n\"And who is St. Anthony?\" asked the Queen.\n\n\"I don't know who he is,\" said the King, \"a friend of the Prime\nMinister's.\"\n\nSo the Prime Minister was asked who St. Anthony was; and replied that he\ndid not himself know him, but the General spoke of him in the highest\nterms. The General said that St. Anthony was not a personal friend, but\nhe was well known in the regiment. After inquiry amongst the men, it was\nfound that only one of them could tell anything about St. Anthony, and\nall he knew was that his friend the Grocer shaved his head in memory of\nhim. The Grocer referred them to the Farmer, and the Farmer was out in\nthe fields.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen the King sent a messenger on horseback to find the Farmer and bring\nhim to court. The Farmer was brought into court, and when he saw the\nKing and the Prime Minister and General all in mourning, he was very\nmuch surprised. The King said to him, \"Farmer, who is St. Anthony?\"\n\n\"If it please your Majesty, he was my Ass.\"\n\n The King, and the Prime Minister, and the General\n felt very foolish to have gone into mourning for an\n Ass. They put off their black clothes, but it was not\n so easy to get their hair back again; and so for a\n month or two the King, and the Prime Minister,\n and the General, and all the regiment of\n Body Guards, went about in wigs.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Parrot Judge\n\n\nTHERE was once a Fowler who caught a young Parrot. He kept the Parrot in\nhis house, hoping that it would pick up something to say, but the Parrot\nlearnt nothing at all. Then he set to work at teaching it; but after six\nmonths the Parrot had only learnt to say two things: one was \"Of\ncourse,\" and the other was \"Certainly.\"\n\nSeeing that his trouble was wasted, the Fowler took him to market in a\ngilt cage, in order to catch the eye of customers. He cried in a loud\nvoice, \"Who'll buy! who'll buy! here's a Parrot which can say anything\nin the world! Here's a clever Parrot who knows what he is talking about!\nIf you want a question answered here's the Parrot to answer you, no\nmatter what it may be! Who'll buy, who'll buy?\" Everybody crowded round\nto see the wonderful Parrot.\n\nThe King happened to be passing by, and heard all this to-do about a\nParrot. Said he to the Fowler--\n\n\"Is it really true about your Parrot?\"\n\n\"Ask him, sire,\" said the Fowler.\n\n\"Parrot,\" said the King, \"do you know English?\"\n\n\"Of course,\" said the Parrot, in a tone of scorn, turning up his beak;\nas who should say, \"What a question to ask _me_.\"\n\n\"Can you decide knotty points of law?\" the King went on.\n\n\"Certainly,\" said the Parrot, with great confidence.\n\n\"This is the bird for me,\" said the King, and asked his price. The price\nwas a thousand pounds. The King paid a thousand pounds to the Fowler,\nand departed.\n\nA big price, you will say, for a Parrot. So it was; but the King had a\nreason for paying it. The Judge of the City had just died, and the King\ncould not find another. Hundreds of men offered to do the work. Some\nwanted too much money, more than the King could pay; some were\nreasonable, but knew no law; and the cheaper ones who professed to know\neverything were all Germans, whom the King would not have at any price.\nWhen he heard of this wise Parrot, thought he, \"Here's my Judge; he will\nwant no wages but sugar and chickweed, and he will take no bribes.\"\n\nSo the Parrot was made Judge, and sat on a big throne, with a white wig\nand a red robe lined with ermine.\n\nNext day, the Parrot was in Court, and a case came up for judgment. It\nwas a murder case, and when the evidence had been heard, the pleader on\nthe murderer's side finished up his speech by saying, \"And now, my Lord,\nyou must admit that my client is innocent.\"\n\nSaid the Parrot, \"Of course.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nEverybody thought this rather odd, because the other side had not yet\nbeen heard; and, besides, the man was caught in the act. However, they\nheld their tongues and waited.\n\nThen the prosecutor got up, and made a long speech, at the end of which\nhe said, \"It is no longer possible to doubt that the prisoner at the bar\nis guilty. Two witnesses saw him do the deed, and half-a-dozen caught\nhim just as he was pulling the knife out of the body. I therefore call\nupon you, my Lord, to pass sentence of death.\"\n\nSaid the Parrot, \"Certainly.\"\n\nAt this the King pricked up his ears. The man could not be innocent of\ncourse, and yet certainly guilty, at the same time. So he turned to the\nJudge and said--\n\n\"If you go against evidence so clear, Judge, I shall begin to suspect\nthat you killed the man yourself.\"\n\nSaid the Parrot, \"Certainly.\"\n\nYou may imagine the hubbub that arose in Court when the Judge said this!\nEverybody saw that the King had made a mistake in his Judge, and even\nthe King himself began to suspect that something was wrong. So he said,\nrather angrily, to the Parrot--\n\n\"Then it is your head ought to be chopped off.\"\n\nSaid the Parrot, \"Of course.\"\n\n \"Chop off his head, then,\" cried the King; and they\n took away the Parrot and chopped off his head\n without delay; and all the while he was\n being dragged along, he called out,\n \"Certainly,\" \"Certainly,\"\n \"Certainly.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Frog and the Snake\n\n\nA FROG and a Snake had a quarrel as to which could give the more deadly\nbite. They agreed to try it on the next opportunity.\n\nA Man came to bathe in the pond where these two creatures lived. The\nSnake bit him under the water, while the Frog floated on the top.\n\"Something has bitten me!\" the Man called out to his friends.\n\n\"What is it?\" they asked.\n\nThen he saw the Frog swimming on the top of the water. \"Oh, it's only a\nFrog,\" said he. Then he went away, and no harm came of it.\n\nThe next time that Man came to bathe in the pond, the Frog bit him under\nthe water, while the Snake swam on the top.\n\n\"Oh dear!\" said the Man, \"a Snake has bitten me!\" The Man died.\n\n\"Now,\" said the Frog, \"you will admit that my bite is more poisonous\nthan yours.\"\n\n\"I deny it altogether,\" said the Snake.\n\nSo they agreed to refer their dispute to the King of the Snakes. The\nSnake King listened to their arguments, and decided in favour of the\nSnake, and said the Man had died of fright.\n\n\"Of course,\" grumbled the Frog, \"the Snake King sides with the Snake.\"\n\n So both of them bit the Frog, and he died, and\n that was the end of him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nLittle Miss Mouse and her Friends\n\n\nTHERE was once a little Lady-Mouse that lived in a field. She was all\nalone in the world, a little old maid, and she very much wanted a\nfriend. But every creature turned up his nose at the poor little Mouse,\nand not a friend could she get; until at last a Clod of earth took pity\nupon her. Then the Mouse and the Clod became firm friends, and went\nabout everywhere together. The Mouse walked upon her four legs, and the\nClod rolled along like a cricket ball.\n\nOne day the Mouse wanted a bathe; and nothing would serve, but the Clod\nmust go bathe along with her. In vain the Clod protested that she did\nnot like water; that she had never washed in her life; that she could\nnot swim: Miss Mousie would take no denial, and said severely, that if\nthe Clod had never washed before, it was high time to begin. So at\nlength the Clod was persuaded, and into the river they went. Mousie went\nin first, and the Clod rolled in afterwards; but no sooner had the poor\nClod rolled into the river, than what was Miss Mousie's horror to see\nher melt away in the water, and disappear.\n\nMousie was now friendless again, and loudly complained to the River that\nhe had stolen away her favourite Clod.\n\n\"I am very sorry,\" the River said; \"I really couldn't help melting a\nthing so soft. I can't give you back your Clod, but I will give you a\nFish instead.\"\n\nThis comforted Mousie, and she took her Fish and went home. Then she put\nthe Fish on the top of a post, to dry. Down swooped a big Kite, and flew\naway with the Fish.\n\n\"O my poor Fish,\" wailed Miss Mousie, \"to be taken away before we had a\nword together.\" Then she went to the Post, and demanded her Fish back\nagain. \"I gave him to you,\" said Mousie, \"and you are responsible for\nhim.\"\n\nSaid the Post, \"I am very sorry that I cannot give you back your Fish,\nbut I will give you some Wood.\"\n\nMousie was grateful for this kindness on the part of the Post. So she\ntook a piece of Wood in exchange for the Fish.\n\nMousie and the Wood went off to buy some sweets at the Confectioner's.\nWhile Mousie was eating the sweets, the Confectioner's wife burnt the\nWood in the fire.\n\nMousie finished the sweets, and when she turned round to look for her\nWood, lo and behold it was gone. With tears in her eyes she begged the\nConfectioner's wife to give her back the Wood, but the Confectioner's\nwife said--\n\n\"I am very sorry I cannot give you back the Wood, because it is burnt;\nbut I will give you some Cakes instead.\"\n\nThis made Miss Mousie happy again, and she took the Cakes. Then she paid\na visit to the Shepherd's pen; and while she was talking to the\nShepherd, a Goat ate up her cakes.\n\n\"Give me back my Cakes, Mr. Shepherd,\" said Mousie, not seeing the Cakes\nanywhere.\n\n\"I'm very sorry I can't do that,\" answered the Shepherd, \"because I am\nafraid one of my goats has eaten them; but if you like, you may have a\nKid instead.\"\n\nThis was better and better. Mousie was charmed with her Kid and led it\noff to the music-shop, where she had to pay a bill. While the man was\nwriting a receipt to the bill, his wife killed the Kid, and began to\nroast it for dinner. Mousie looked round, and wanted to know where her\nKid was?\n\n\"I rather think,\" said the Music-man, \"that the nice odour of roast meat\nwhich tickles your nostrils, comes from that Kid. I'm sorry I can't give\nyou the Kid back, but you may have the best drum in my shop.\"\n\nMousie did not like the Drum so well as her Kid; but needs must, and she\npicked out a drum, and went away with it on her shoulder. By-and-by she\ncame to a place where women were beating rice, to get the grains away\nfrom the husk. She hung up her Drum on a peg, while she watched the\nwomen husking the rice. Bang! flap! a woman drove her pestle right\nthrough the Drum.\n\nPoor Mousie. It seemed as if her misfortunes would never end. When she\nasked the woman for her Drum again, there it was, burst. The tears ran\ndown her cheeks.\n\n\"We are very sorry,\" the women all said, \"that we cannot give you back\nyour Drum; but you can have a Girl instead, if you like.\"\n\n This brought smiles to Miss Mousie's sad face, and\n she dried her tears. The women gave her a nice Girl,\n and Mousie took the Girl home. They set up house\n together, and planted a crop of corn. The corn ripened,\n and they went out to cut it. Miss Mouse was a\n wee mousie, and was quite hidden among the\n stalks of the corn. While the Girl was\n cutting the corn with a sickle, she did\n not see poor little Mousie, so she\n cut her in two, and that\n was the end\n of her.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Jackal that Lost his Tail\n\n\nTHERE was once a Farmer, who used to go out every morning to work in his\nfield, and his wife used to bring him dinner at noon. One day, as the\nFarmer's wife was carrying out the dinner to the field, she met a\nJackal, who said--\n\n\"Where are you going?\"\n\nSaid she, \"To my husband, and this is his dinner.\"\n\nSaid the Jackal, \"Give me some, or I will bite you.\"\n\nSo the woman had to give the Jackal some of this food. And when her\nhusband saw it, he said--\n\n\"What a small dinner you have brought me to-day!\"\n\n\"A Jackal met me,\" replied his wife, \"and threatened to bite me if I\ngave him none.\"\n\n\"All right,\" said the Farmer, \"to-morrow I'll settle with that Jackal.\"\n\nOn the morrow, the Farmer's wife went after the plough, and the Farmer\ndressed up in her clothes and carried out the dinner. Again the Jackal\nappeared.\n\n\"Give me some of that,\" said he, \"or I'll bite you.\"\n\n\"Yes, yes, good Mr. Jackal,\" said the man, \"you shall have some, only\ndon't bite me.\"\n\nThen he set down the plate and the Jackal began to eat.\n\n\"Just scratch my back, you, woman,\" said the Jackal, \"while I am eating\nmy dinner.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Yes, sir; yes, sir,\" said the man. He began gently to tickle and\nscratch the back of the Jackal, and in the middle, suddenly out with his\nknife, and slish! cut off the Jackal's tail.\n\nThe Jackal jumped up and capered about. \"Yow-ow-ow!\" he went, \"what has\ncome to my tail? Oh dear! how shall I swish away the flies? Oh dear, how\nit hurts! Yow-ow-ow!\" Away he scuttled, as fast as his legs could carry\nhim.\n\nWhen he got home, all the Jackals came round him, and asked what had\nbecome of his tail. The Jackal was ashamed to have lost his tail, which\nwas a particularly long and fine tail; but he pretended to like it.\n\n\"Poor fellow!\" said the Jackals, \"where is your tail?\"\n\n\"I had it cut off,\" said the Jackal, \"and good riddance. It was always\nin my way. Why, I never could sit down in comfort, and now look here!\"\nHe sat down on the place where his tail used to be, and looked proudly\nround. \"Now, you try!\" said he.\n\nThey all tried, and found that their tails got underneath them when they\nsat, and it hurt their tails rather.\n\n\"We never thought of that before,\" said they; \"we must get rid of these\nthings. Who cut off yours?\"\n\n\"A kind Farmer's wife,\" said the first Jackal. Then he told them where\nthe Farmer's wife lived.\n\nThat evening, a knock came at the Farmer's door, as the Farmer and his\nwife were sitting at tea.\n\n\"Come in!\" said the Farmer.\n\nThe door opened, and in trooped a number of Jackals. \"Please, Mr.\nFarmer,\" said they, \"we want you kindly to cut off our tails.\"\n\n\"Willingly,\" said the Farmer; whipt out his knife, and in a jiffy slish!\nslish! slish! off came the Jackals' tails.\n\n\"Yow-ow-ow!\" went the Jackals, capering about, \"we didn't think it would\nhurt!\" Away they went, and all the woods echoed that night with yowling\nand howling.\n\nWhen they all got home, they found the first Jackal waiting for them. He\nlaughed in their faces. \"Now we're all alike,\" said he, \"all in the same\nboat.\"\n\n\"Are we?\" said the other Jackals, and set on him and tore him to pieces.\n\n\"Now we must have our revenge on the Farmer,\" said the Jackals when they\nhad eaten up their friend. So next morning they scampered off to the\nFarmer's house.\n\nThe Farmer was out, and his wife was gathering fuel.\n\n\"Good morning, Mrs. Farmer,\" said the Jackals; \"we have come to eat the\nFarmer for cutting our tails off.\"\n\n\"Ah, poor fellow,\" said the Farmer's wife, \"he is dead. When he saw how\nit hurt you to have your tails cut off, he just lay down on the bed, and\ndied of grief.\"\n\n\"That's unlucky,\" said the Jackals.\n\n\"But we are preparing the funeral feast,\" she went on, \"you see I am now\ngetting fuel for it. Will you give us the pleasure of your company to\ndinner?\"\n\n\"Gladly,\" said the Jackals; \"we should like to see the last of the poor\nfellow;\" then they ran away.\n\nAt dinner-time, they all came back, and found chairs put for them, and\nplates round the table, with the woman at one end.\n\n\"You can sit like Christians now,\" said the Farmer's wife, \"so I have\nset you a chair apiece.\"\n\n\"Thanks,\" said the Jackals; \"that is thoughtful.\"\n\n\"But I know,\" the Farmer's wife went on, \"what quarrelsome creatures you\nare over your meat. Don't you think I had better tie you to your chairs,\nand then each will have to keep to his own plateful?\"\n\n\"A good plan,\" the Jackals said, wagging their heads. They had now no\ntails to wag, and they had to wag something. So the Farmer's wife tied\nthem tight to their chairs.\n\n\"But how shall we eat?\" said the Jackals, who could not stir a paw.\n\n\"Oh, no fear for that, I'll feed you.\"\n\nThen she brought out a steaming mess, and put it in the middle of the\ntable. All the Jackals sniffed at the steam, and all their eyes were\nfixed greedily upon the meat. They began to struggle.\n\n\"Softly, softly, good Jackals!\" said the Farmer's wife.\n\nBut what a surprise awaited the Jackals! They were so intent upon\nwatching the Farmer's wife and the meat, that none of them heard the\ndoor open, and none of them saw the Farmer himself creep softly in, with\na great club in his hand. The first news they had of it was crack!\ncrack! crack!\n\nAll but three of the Jackals looked round, and they saw these three of\ntheir comrades with their heads smashed in, lolling back in the chairs.\nThe Farmer held the club poised in the air; down it came crack! on the\nhead of the fourth Jackal. Then all the others began yowling and\nstruggling to get free; but in vain, the cords held them fast, they\ncould not stir; and in five minutes all the Jackals lay dead on the\nfloor.\n\n After that the Farmer ploughed in peace,\n and no one molested the Farmer's\n wife when she brought\n his dinner.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Wily Tortoise\n\n\nA FOWLER was bird-catching in the jungle, and snared a wild goose. As he\nwas carrying home his goose, he sat down by a pond. In this pond lived a\nTortoise, and the Tortoise put up his nose out of the pond to sniff the\nair. He saw the Fowler and the Goose, and being a very innocent\nTortoise, he feared no harm, but began to waddle towards them.\n\n\"Take care, friend!\" said the Goose. \"This Fowler has caught me, and he\nwill catch you!\"\n\nThe Tortoise waddled into the water again. \"Many thanks, friend,\" said\nhe. \"One good turn deserves another.\" So saying, he dived down into the\npond, and brought up a ruby.\n\n\"Here, Mr. Fowler,\" said he, \"take this ruby, and let my friend the\nGoose go.\"\n\nThe Fowler took the ruby, but he was very greedy, so he said--\n\n\"If you will bring me a pair to this, I will let the Goose go.\"\n\nThe Tortoise dived down, and brought up another ruby. Then the Fowler\nlet go the Goose, and said to the Tortoise, \"Now hand over that ruby.\"\n\nThe Tortoise said, \"Forgive me, I have made a mistake, and brought up\nthe wrong ruby. Let me see the first, and if it does not match, I will\ntry again.\"\n\nThe Fowler gave back the first ruby. \"As I thought,\" said the Tortoise.\nDown he dived into the pond.\n\n The Fowler waited a good long time, but nothing\n was seen of the Tortoise. As you have guessed, when\n the Tortoise found himself safe at the bottom\n of the pond, he stayed there. The Fowler\n tore his hair, and went home,\n wishing he had not been\n so greedy.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe King of the Mice\n\n\nFAR away in the forest was the Kingdom of Mouseland. There was a great\ncity, where every Mouse had his little house, with doors and windows,\ntables and chairs, books for the grown-up Mice, and toys for the\nchildren; there were little shops, where the Mice bought clothes and\nfood, and everything they wanted; there was a little church where they\nwent on Sunday, and a reverend little Mouse in a little lawn surplice to\npreach to them; there was a little palace, and in this palace lived the\nlittle Mouse King.\n\nNow it happened that a caravan passed through the Kingdom of the Mice.\nNot that the men of the caravan knew what a wonderful kingdom they were\nin. They thought it was just like any other part of the forest, and if\nthey did happen to pass a Mouse fortress, or farmyard, they thought them\nnothing but heaps of earth. Just so if you were to fly up in a balloon,\nand look down on your own house from the air, it would seem like a\nlittle doll's-house, not fit for a child to live in. This caravan, as I\nhave said, was passing through Mouseland, and encamped in part of it\nonce to spend the night. One of the Camels was very sick, and as the\nowner of the Camel thought it was sure to die, he left it behind when\nthe caravan went away.\n\nBut the Camel did not die; he very soon got as well as ever he was. And\nwhen he got well he also got hungry; so he strode all over Mouseland,\neating up the crops of the Mice, and treading their houses down, until\nat last he came to the Mouse King's park. He ate a great many trees in\nthe Mouse King's park, and the Keeper went in a hurry and flurry to tell\nthe King.\n\n\"O King,\" said he, \"a mountain several miles high has walked into your\npark, and is eating everything up.\"\n\n\"We must make an example of this mountain,\" said the King, \"or the whole\nearth may be moving next. Sandy,\" said he to his Prime Minister, who was\na Fox, \"go and fetch that mountain to me.\"\n\nSo Sandy the Prime Minister went to seek the mountain that was eating\nthe King's park. Next morning, back he came, leading the Camel by his\nnose-string.\n\nWhen the Camel saw how little the King of the Mice seemed to be, he\nbegan to grunt and gurgle, and sniffed with his funny mouth. You know a\nCamel has a mouth which looks as though it had two slits in it, of the\nshape of a cross; and when he wants to show his contempt for anything he\npokes out his mouth like a four-leaved clover, and makes you feel very\nsmall. \"Hullo,\" said the Camel, \"is this your King? I thought it was the\nLion who sent for me. I would never have come for a speck like this.\"\nThen he turned round, and walked out of court, and began to eat\neverything he came across.\n\nThe King was very angry, but what could he do? He had to swallow the\ninsult, and make the best of it. However, he determined to watch his\nchance of revenge; and soon he got it. For after a few days, the Camel's\nnose-string became entangled in a creeper, and he could not get away, do\nwhat he would. Then Sandy the Fox came by, and saw him in this plight.\nImagine his joy to see his enemy at his mercy! Off he ran, and soon\nbrought the King to that place. Then the King said--\n\n\"O Camel, you despised my words, and see the result. Your sin has found\nyou out.\"\n\n\"O mighty King,\" said the Camel, quite humble now, \"indeed I confess my\nfault, and I pray you to forgive me. If you will only save me, I will be\nyour faithful servant.\"\n\nThe Mouse King was not of a spiteful nature, and as soon as he heard the\nCamel ask forgiveness his heart grew soft. He climbed up the creeper,\nand gnawed through the Camel's nose-string, and set the Camel free.\n\nThe Camel, I am glad to say, kept his word; and he became a servant of\nthe Mouse King. He was so big and strong that he could carry loads which\nwould have needed thousands of Mice to carry; and by his help the King\nmade very strong walls and forts around his city, so that he had no fear\nof enemies. When there was nothing else to do, the Camel even blacked\nthe Mouse King's boots, rather than be idle.\n\nSo things went on for a long time. But one day some Woodcutters came\ninto the forest. These men lived all together in a village of their own,\nand they used to build houses of wood. When anybody wanted a house, he\ntold the Woodcutters, and they used to leave their village and go into\nthe woods. Then they cut down the trees, and sawed them into planks, and\nshaped them into the parts of a house. When the house was finished,\nthey put numbers on all the parts, and took it to pieces again, and put\nit on a raft; and the raft floated down the great river to the place\nwhere the house had been ordered. Then they put up the house in a very\nshort time, because you see it was all ready made, and only had to be\nput together.\n\nThese Woodcutters, then, came and settled for a while near the borders\nof Mouseland; and in the course of their wanderings they found the stray\nCamel. They promptly seized him, and carried him off.\n\nWhen Sandy told the King what had happened, the Mouse King was very\nangry indeed. He sent a detachment of his bodyguard, armed cap-\u00e0-pie, to\nfetch the Woodcutters into his presence. The bodyguard captured two of\nthem, and led them back bound. Then the King demanded his Camel.\n\n\"Pooh, silly little Mouse,\" said the Woodcutters. \"If you want it, you\nmust fetch it.\"\n\n\"I will,\" said the King of the Mice. \"Tell your chief, whoever he is,\nthat I hereby declare war upon him.\"\n\nThe Woodcutters laughed, and went away.\n\nThen the Mouse King gathered together all his subjects, millions and\nmillions of sturdy Mice; and they set out for the village of the\nWoodcutters. The Woodcutters had by this time finished their job, and\nthey had been paid a good round sum of money for it; and the money was\ncarefully put away, with all the other money they had, in a treasury.\n\nNow the Mice were not able to meet big Woodcutters in the field, but\nthey had their own tactics. Night and day they burrowed under the earth.\nFirst they made for the treasury; and though the treasury had stone\nwalls, they got up easily through the floor, where no danger was\nexpected, and one by one they carried off every coin from the treasury,\nuntil it was as bare as the palm of your hand. Then they got underneath\nall the houses of the village; and thousands and millions of Mice were\nbusy all day and all night in carrying out little baskets of earth from\nbeneath the foundations. Thus it happened, that very soon the\nWoodcutters' village was standing on a thin shell of earth, and\nunderneath it was a great hole.\n\nNow was the time to strike the blow. The layer of earth was so thin,\nthat the least shock would destroy it. So the Mouse King wrote a letter\nto the Woodcutter Chief, asking once more for his Camel, and in the\nletter he hid a little packet of snuff. He put the letter in the post,\nand waited.\n\nNext day, as the Woodcutter Chief was sitting in his house, the postman\ncame to the door--Rat-tat. The footman brought in a letter, and the\nWoodcutter Chief opened it. He read it through, and laughed. Then he\nwaved it in the air, and said, \"Let them come.\" As he waved the letter\nin the air, all the snuff fell out of it upon his nose. The Woodcutter\ngave a terrific sneeze, Tishoo! Tishoo! The thin shell of earth could\nnot stand the shock; it trembled, and crumbled, and fell in, and all the\nWoodcutters fell in too, and all their village, and nothing was left of\nthem but a big hole.\n\nThen the Mouse King and his army went back to Mouseland; and though they\nnever got the old Camel back (for he was swallowed up along with the\nWoodcutters), yet no one ever molested Mouseland again.\n\n\n\n\nThe Valiant Blackbird\n\n\nA BLACKBIRD and his mate lived together on a tree. The Blackbird used to\nsing very sweetly, and one day the King heard him in passing by, and\nsent a Fowler to catch him. But the Fowler made a mistake; he did not\ncatch Mr. Blackbird, who sang so sweetly, but Mrs. Blackbird, who could\nhardly sing at all. However, he did not know the difference, to look at\nher, nor did the King when he got the bird; but a cage was made for Mrs.\nBlackbird, and there she was kept imprisoned.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen Mr. Blackbird heard that his dear spouse was stolen, he was very\nangry indeed. He determined to get her back, by hook or by crook. So he\ngot a long sharp thorn, and tied it at his waist by a thread; and on his\nhead he put the half of a walnut-shell for a helmet, and the skin of a\ndead frog served for body-armour. Then he made a little kettle-drum out\nof the other half of the walnut-shell; and he beat his drum, and\nproclaimed war upon the King.\n\nAs he walked along the road, beating his drum, he met a Cat.\n\n\"Whither away, Mr. Blackbird?\" said the Cat.\n\n\"To fight against the King,\" said Mr. Blackbird.\n\n\"All right,\" said the Cat, \"I'll come with you: he drowned my kitten.\"\n\n\"Jump into my ear, then,\" says Mr. Blackbird. The Cat jumped into the\nBlackbird's ear, and curled up, and went to sleep: and the Blackbird\nmarched along, beating his drum.\n\nSome way further on, he met some Ants.\n\n\"Whither away, Mr. Blackbird?\" said the Ants.\n\n\"To fight against the King,\" said Mr. Blackbird.\n\n\"All right,\" said the Ants, \"we'll come too; he poured hot water down\nour hole.\"\n\n\"Jump into my ear,\" said Mr. Blackbird. In they jumped, and away went\nBlackbird, beating upon his drum.\n\nNext he met a Rope and a Club. They asked him, whither away? and when\nthey heard that he was going to fight against the King, they jumped into\nhis ear also, and away he went.\n\nNot far from the King's palace, Blackbird had to cross over a River.\n\n\"Whither away, friend Blackbird?\" asked the River.\n\nQuoth the Blackbird, \"To fight against the King.\"\n\n\"Then I'll come with you,\" said the River.\n\n\"Jump into my ear,\" says the Blackbird.\n\nBlackbird's ears were pretty full by this time, but he found room\nsomewhere for the River, and away he went.\n\nBlackbird marched along until he came to the palace of the King. He\nknocked at the door, thump, thump.\n\n\"Who's there?\" said the Porter.\n\n\"General Blackbird, come to make war upon the King, and get back his\nwife.\"\n\nThe Porter laughed so at the sight of General Blackbird, with his thorn,\nand his frogskin, and his drum, that he nearly fell off his chair. Then\nhe escorted Blackbird into the King's presence.\n\n\"What do you want?\" said the King.\n\n\"I want my wife,\" said the Blackbird, beating upon his drum,\nrub-a-dub-dub, rub-a-dub-dub.\n\n\"You shan't have her,\" said the King.\n\n\"Then,\" said the Blackbird, \"you must take the consequences.\"\nRub-a-dub-dub went the drum.\n\n\"Seize this insolent bird,\" said the King, \"and shut him up in the\nhenhouse. I don't think there will be much left of him in the morning.\"\n\nThe servants shut up Blackbird in the henhouse. When all the world was\nasleep, Blackbird said--\n\n \"Come out, Pussy, from my ear,\n There are fowls in plenty here;\n Scratch them, make their feathers fly,\n Wring their necks until they die.\"\n\nOut came Pussy-cat in an instant. What a confusion there was in the\nhenhouse. Cluck-cluck-cluck went the hens, flying all over the place;\nbut no use: Pussy got them all, and scratched out their feathers, and\nwrung their necks. Then she went back into Blackbird's ear, and\nBlackbird went to sleep.\n\nWhen morning came, the King said to his men, \"Go, fetch the carcass of\nthat insolent bird, and give the Chickens an extra bushel of corn.\" But\nwhen they entered the henhouse, Blackbird was singing away merrily on\nthe roost, and all the fowls lay around in heaps with their necks wrung.\n\nThey told the King, and an angry King was he. \"To-night,\" said he, \"you\nmust shut up Blackbird in the stable.\" So Blackbird was shut up in the\nstable, among the wild Horses.\n\nAt midnight, when all the world was asleep, Blackbird said--\n\n \"Come out, Rope, and come out, Stick,\n Tie the Horses lest they kick;\n Beat the Horses on the head,\n Beat them till they fall down dead.\"\n\nOut came Club and Rope from Blackbird's ear; the Rope tied the horses,\nand the Club beat them, till they died. Then the Rope and the Club went\nback into the Blackbird's ear, and Blackbird went to sleep.\n\nNext morning the King said--\n\n\"No doubt my wild Horses have settled the business of that Blackbird\nonce for all. Just go and fetch out his corpse.\"\n\nThe servants went to the wild Horses' stable. There was Blackbird,\nsitting on the manger, and drumming away on his walnut-shell; and all\nround lay the dead bodies of the Horses, beaten to death.\n\nIf the King was angry before, he was furious now. His horses had cost a\ngreat deal of money; and to be tricked by a Blackbird is a poor joke.\n\n\"All right,\" said the King, \"I'll make sure work of it to-night. He\nshall be put with the Elephants.\"\n\nWhen night came the Blackbird was shut up in the Elephants' shed. No\nsooner was all the world quiet, than Blackbird began to sing--\n\n \"Come from out my ear, you Ants,\n Come and sting the Elephants;\n Sting their trunk, and sting their head,\n Sting them till they fall down dead.\"\n\nOut came a swarm of Ants from the Blackbird's ear. They crawled up\ninside the Elephants' trunks, they burrowed into the Elephants' brains,\nand stung them so sharply that the Elephants all went mad, and died.\n\nNext morning, as before, the King sent for the Blackbird's carcass; and,\ninstead of finding his carcass, the servants found the Blackbird\nrub-a-dub-dubbing on his drum, and the dead Elephants piled all round\nhim.\n\nThis time the King was fairly desperate. \"I can't think how he does it,\"\nsaid he, \"but I must find out. Tie him to-night to my bed, and we'll\nsee.\"\n\nSo that night Blackbird was tied to the King's bed. In the middle of the\nnight, the King (who had purposely kept awake) heard him sing--\n\n \"Come out, River, from my ear,\n Flow about the bedroom here;\n Pour yourself upon the bed,\n Drown the King till he is dead.\"\n\nOut came the River, pour-pour-pouring out of the Blackbird's ear. It\nflooded the room, it floated the King's bed, the King began to get wet.\n\n\"In Heaven's name, General Blackbird,\" said the King, \"take your wife,\nand begone.\"\n\n So Blackbird received his wife again, and they\n lived happily ever after.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Goat and the Hog\n\n\nA GOAT and a Hog were great friends, and for a long time they lived\ntogether. But they were poor, and one day the Goat said to the Hog--\n\n\"Good-bye, friend Hog! I am going to seek my fortune.\"\n\n\"Ugh! ugh! ugh!\" said the Hog. It was kindly meant, for that was all the\nignorant Hog could say. He intended to bid good-bye to his friend, and\nto wish him good luck.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Goat trotted along till he came to the nearest town. He found a\ngrain-shop with nobody in it; so in went our Goat, and ate his fill of\nthe Grain, and whatever he could find. Then he went into the inner room,\nand sat down.\n\nBy-and-by the shopman came in; his little girl was with him, and the\nlittle girl began to cry for sugar.\n\n\"Go and get some out of the cupboard,\" said the shopman.\n\nThe little girl ran into the inner room to get the sugar, but the Goat\nwas there. And when the Goat saw the little girl, he cried out, in a\nsolemn and loud voice--\n\n \"Little girl, go run, go run,\n Or your life is nearly done!\n And my crumpled horns I'll stick\n Through your little body quick!\"\n\nThe little girl ran out shrieking. \"What is it, my dear?\" said her\nfather.\n\n\"A demon, father!\" she said; \"save me from his crumpled horn.\"\n\nWhat a terrible thing to happen in a quiet household! The poor man did\nnot know what to do. So he sent for all his relations, and they advised\nhim to try what the parson could do.\n\nSo the Parson was sent for, and the Clerk, and the Sexton, with bell,\nbook, and candle. They lit the candle, and opened the book (I think it\nwas a Latin Grammar, which they judged would be enough to scare any\ndemon), and rang the bell; and then the Parson, with his heart in his\nboots, advanced into the room.\n\nInstantly a horrid groan burst upon his ears (or so he thought), and a\ndeep voice said--\n\n \"Parson, fly! or I will poke\n This my crumpled horn into you!\n You'll admit it is no joke\n When you feel its point go through you!\n Sexton, dig his grave, and then\n Let the Clerk reply, Amen!\"\n\nThe Parson dropt his Latin Grammar, and ran away, nor did he stop until\nhe was safe in his own church.\n\nAt this the Shopman went down on his knees, and put his hands together,\nand said--\n\n\"O most respectable Demon! whoever you are, I pray you do me no harm;\nand I will worship you, and offer you anything you may desire.\"\n\nThen the Goat came majestically out, walking upon his hind legs, with\nhis grey beard flowing from his chin, and he said--\n\n\"Put wreaths and jewels about my neck, and on each of my horns, and\nround my paws and my tail, and give me sweetmeats to eat, and I will do\nyou no harm.\"\n\nThe Shopman made haste to do all this; he wreathed the Goat with\nflowers, and put all his wife's jewels upon the horns and paws, and all\nthe jewels he could borrow from his neighbours.\n\nThe Goat went home, and showed all this magnificence to his friend the\nHog. The Hog winked his greedy little eyes, and somehow made his friend\nunderstand that he would like some too. Then the Goat told him how he\ngot the things, and showed him the way to the place.\n\nSo the Hog went to the same shop, and found it empty. The Shopman and\nhis little girl had gone out to tell all the town what adventures they\nhad passed through. The Hog grubbed up all he could find to eat, and\nthen went and sat in the inner room.\n\nSoon the Shopman and his little girl came back. The little girl ran\ninside to take off her little hat, and what does she see but a big black\nHog sitting there! The Hog remembered his lesson, and wanted to say some\nterrible thing as the Goat had done; but all he could get out was--\n\n\"Ugh! ugh! ugh!\"\n\nThis did not frighten the little girl at all. She ran out to her father,\nsaying--\n\n\"O papa! there is a big black Hog inside!\"\n\nThe Shopman got out his knife, and whetted it on the grindstone, and\nthen he went into the room.\n\n\"Ugh! ugh! ugh!\" said the Hog.\n\n The Shopman said nothing, but stuck his knife into\n the Hog. Then there was a squealing and squalling,\n if you like! But in two minutes the Hog was dead,\n and in two hours he was skinned and cut up, and by\n nightfall, the Shopman and his little girl, and all\n their friends, were sitting round a delicious\n leg of roast pork, and the Sexton rang\n the bell for dinner, and the Parson\n said grace, and the Clerk\n said Amen.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Parrot and the Parson\n\n\nTHERE was once a Banker who taught his Parrot the speech of men. The\nParrot made such progress that he was soon able to take part in any\nconversation, and he astonished every one by his intelligence.\n\nOne day a Parson came by the Parrot.\n\n\"My respects to your Reverence,\" said the Parrot.\n\nThe Parson looked all round him, he looked down at his feet, he looked\nup into the sky; but no one could he see who might have spoken to him.\nHe could not make it out; he thought it must have been a ghost. Then the\nParrot spoke again. \"It was I who saluted you,\" said he. The Parrot was\nclose to the Parson's ear, and now at length the Parson saw him. The\nParrot went on--\n\n\"O reverend Sir, you teach men how to get free from the chains of their\nsins. May it please you to tell me how to escape from this cage?\"\n\nThis was a practical question, but the Parson's advice was not usually\nasked on such points. He did not know what to say.\n\n\"I fear I can be of no use to you,\" said he, \"but I will consult my\nSolicitor.\"\n\nThe Parson went to see his Solicitor, and paid him six and eightpence.\nHe might have bought the Parrot, cage and all, for half that; but, as I\nsaid, he was not a practical man. When he told the Solicitor what\nbusiness he came about, the Solicitor said nothing at all, but fell down\nin a faint.\n\n\"What can I have said to make him faint?\" the Parson thought. \"Perhaps\nit is the hot weather.\" He poured water over the Solicitor's face, and\nby-and-by the Solicitor came to.\n\nThe Parson was much distressed at having thrown away six and eightpence;\nbut he knew it would be of no use asking the Solicitor to give any of it\nback, so he did not try. He went back to the Parrot and said--\n\n\"Dearly beloved bird, I much regret having no information to give you\nwhich may be of use. The fact is, no sooner did I put your question to\nmy worthy Solicitor, than he fell down in a dead faint.\"\n\n\"Oh,\" said the Parrot, \"many thanks, Parson.\"\n\nThe Parson went away to the parish meeting. When he had gone, the Parrot\nstretched himself out on the bottom of his cage, and shut his eyes, and\ncocked up his feet in the air.\n\nBy-and-by the Banker came in, and saw his Parrot lying on his back, with\nhis feet pointing to the sky.\n\n\"Poor Poll,\" said he, \"you're dead, my pretty Poll.\"\n\n He opened the door of the cage, and took\n out the bird, and laid him on the\n ground. Immediately the Parrot\n opened his wings and\n flew away.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Lion and the Hare\n\n\nONCE upon a time there was a Lion, who used daily to devour one of the\nbeasts of the forest. They had to come up one after another, when called\nfor. At last it came to the Hare's turn to be eaten, and he did not want\nto be eaten at all. He lingered and he dallied, and when at last he\nplucked up courage to come, he was very late. The Lion, when he saw the\nHare coming, bounded towards him. The Hare said--\n\n\"Uncle Lion, I know I am late, and you have cause to be angry. But\nreally it is not my fault. There is another Lion in our part of the\njungle, and he says that he is master, and you are nobody. In fact, when\nI showed him that I positively would come to you he was very angry.\"\n\n\"Ha!\" said the Lion, roaring; \"who says he is my master? Show him to me.\nI'll teach him who rules the forest.\"\n\n\"Come along then,\" said the Hare.\n\nThey went a long way, until they came to a well. The Hare looked down\ninto the well. \"He was here just now,\" said he.\n\nThe Lion looked in, and at the bottom he saw what looked like a Lion in\nthe water. He shook his mane--the other Lion shook his mane. He\nroared--the echo of a roar came up from the bottom of the well. \"Let me\nget at him!\" roared the Lion. In he jumped--splash! Nothing more was\never heard of that Lion, and the beasts of the forest were glad to be\nleft in peace. They put their heads together, and composed a verse of\npoetry, which is always sung in that forest on Sundays:--\n\n \"The Hare is small, but by his wit\n He now has got the best of it;\n By folly down the Lion fell,\n And lost his life within the well.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Monkey's Bargains\n\n\nONCE upon a time an old Woman was cooking, and she ran short of fuel.\nShe was so anxious to keep up her fire, that she tore out the hairs of\nher head, and threw them upon the flame instead of fuel.\n\nA Monkey came capering by, and saw the old Woman at her fire.\n\n\"Old Woman,\" said the Monkey, \"why are you burning your hair? Do you\nwant to be bald?\"\n\n\"O Monkey!\" quoth the old Woman, \"I have no fuel, and my fire will go\nout.\"\n\n\"Shall I get you some fuel, mother?\" said the Monkey.\n\n\"That's like your kind heart,\" said the old Woman. \"Do get me some fuel,\nand receive an old Woman's blessing.\"\n\nThe Monkey scampered away to the woods, and brought back a large bundle\nof sticks. The old Woman piled the dry sticks on the fire, and made a\nfine blaze. She put on her cooking-plank, and made four cakes.\n\nAll this while, the Monkey sat on his tail, and watched her. But when\nthe cakes were done, and gave forth a delightful odour, the Monkey got\nup on his hind legs, and began dancing and cutting all manner of capers\nround about the cakes.\n\n\"O Monkey,\" said the old Woman, \"why do you caper and dance around my\ncakes?\"\n\n\"I gave you fuel,\" said the Monkey, \"and won't you give me a cake?\"\n\nIt seems to me that she might have thought of that without being asked;\nbut she did not, so the Monkey had to ask for it.\n\nWell, the old Woman gave the Monkey one cake, and the Monkey took his\ncake in high glee, and capered away.\n\nOn the way, he passed by the house of a Potter; and at the door of the\nPotter's house sat the Potter's son, crying his eyes out.\n\n\"What is the matter, little boy?\" asked the Monkey.\n\n\"I am very hungry,\" whimpered the Potter's son, \"and I have nothing to\neat.\"\n\n\"Will a cake be of any use?\" asked the kind Monkey.\n\nThe Potter's little Boy stretched out his hand, and into his hand the\nMonkey put his cake. Then the little Boy stopped crying, and ate the\ncake, but he forgot to say thank you. Perhaps he had never been taught\nmanners, but the Monkey felt sad, because that was not the kind of thing\nhe was used to.\n\nThe Potter's little Boy then went into the shop, and brought out four\nlittle earthenware pots, and began to play with them. He took no more\nnotice of the Monkey, now that he had eaten his cake; but when the\nMonkey saw these earthenware pots, he began to dance and cut capers\nround them, like mad.\n\n\"Why are you dancing round my pots?\" asked the little Boy. \"Are you\ngoing to break them, Monkey?\"\n\nThe Monkey replied, capering about all the while--\n\n \"One old Woman, in a fix,\n Made me go and gather sticks;\n Then she gave me, for the sake\n Of the fuel, one sweet cake.\n That sweet cake to you I gave:\n In return, one pot I crave.\"\n\nThe Potter's little Boy was very much afraid of this dancing and singing\nMonkey, and perhaps he was a little bit ashamed of his ingratitude; so\nhe gave the Monkey one of his four pots.\n\nAway capered the Monkey, in high glee, carrying his pot. By-and-by he\ncame to a place, where was a Cowherd's wife making curds in a mortar.\n\n\"What an odd thing to do, Mrs. Cowherd,\" said the Monkey. \"Have you a\nfancy for making curds in a mortar?\"\n\n\"No,\" said the Cowherd's wife, \"but I have nothing better to make my\ncurds in.\"\n\n\"Here's a pot which will do better than a mortar to make curds in,\" said\nthe Monkey, offering the pot which he had received from the little Boy.\n\n\"Thank you, kind Mr. Monkey,\" said the Cowherd's wife. She took the pot\nand made curds in it. She took out the curds from the pot, and put them\nready for eating, and some butter beside them. The Monkey watched her,\nsitting upon his tail.\n\nThen the Monkey got up off his tail, and began to dance and cut capers\nround the curds and the butter.\n\n\"Why are you dancing about my butter?\" said the Cowherd's wife. \"Do you\nwant to spoil it?\"\n\nThen the Monkey began to sing, as he capered about--\n\n \"One old Woman, in a fix,\n Made me go and gather sticks;\n Then she gave me, for the sake\n Of the fuel, one sweet cake.\n Potter's son ate that, and he\n Gave a pot instead to me.\n Since to you I gave that pot,\n Give me butter, will you not?\"\n\nThe wife of the Cowherd was much pleased with this song, as she was fond\nof music. \"If your kindness,\" said she, \"had not already earned the\nbutter, your pretty song would be worth it.\" Then she gave him a good\nlump of butter.\n\nOff went the Monkey in high glee, capering along with the lump of butter\nwrapped up in a leaf. As he went, he came to another place, where a\nCowherd was grazing his kine. The Cowherd was sitting down at that\nmoment, and enjoying his dinner, which consisted of a hunk of dry bread.\n\n\"Why do you eat dry bread, Mr. Cowherd?\" asked the Monkey. \"Are you\nfasting?\"\n\n\"I am eating dry bread,\" quoth the Cowherd, \"because I have nothing to\neat with it.\"\n\n\"What do you say to this?\" said the Monkey, cutting a caper, and\noffering to the Cowherd his lump of butter, wrapped up in a leaf.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the Cowherd, \"prime.\" Not another word said he, but spread\nthe butter upon his dry bread, and set to, with much relish.\n\nThe Monkey sat on his tail, and watched the Cowherd eating his meal.\nWhen the meal was eaten, up jumped the Monkey, and began capering and\ndancing, hopping and skipping, round and round the herd of kine.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the Bumpkin, \"what are you a-doing that for?\" The Bumpkin was\nso ignorant that he thought the Monkey wanted to bewitch his cattle, and\ndry up all their milk.\n\nThe Monkey went on with his skips and capers, and as he capered, he sang\nthis ditty:--\n\n \"One old Woman, in a fix,\n Made me go and get her sticks;\n Then she gave me, for the sake\n Of the fuel, one sweet cake.\n Potter's son the sweet cake got,\n Gave me, in return, one pot.\n Cow-wife had the pot, and she\n Butter gave instead to me.\n This I gave to you just now:\n Will you give me, please, one cow?\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said the Bumpkin, \"'spose I must.\" He was afraid of the Monkey's\nspells, and so he gave him a cow.\n\nAway capered the Monkey, in high glee, leading his cow by a string. \"I\nam indeed getting on in the world,\" said he.\n\nBy-and-by, what should he see coming along the road, but the King\nhimself. The King was fastened to the shafts of a cart, which he was\nslowly dragging along; and jogging by the side of this cart was an ox;\nand upon the ox sat the Queen. This King had very simple tastes, and so\nhad the Queen.\n\n\"O King,\" said the Monkey, \"why are you dragging your cart with your own\nroyal hands?\"\n\n\"This is the reason, O Monkey!\" said the King. \"My ox died in the\nforest, and I drag the cart because this cart will not drag itself.\"\n\n\"Come, sire,\" said the Monkey, \"I don't like to see a King doing\ndraught-work. Take this cow of mine, and welcome.\"\n\n\"Thank you, good and faithful Monkey,\" said the King. He mopped his\nbrow, and yoked in the cow.\n\nThe Monkey began to dance and caper, jump and skip, round the Queen.\n\n\"What is the matter, worthy Monkey?\" asked the King.\n\nThe Monkey began his ditty:--\n\n \"One old Woman, in a fix,\n Made me go and gather sticks;\n Then she gave me, for the sake\n Of the fuel, one sweet cake.\n Potter's son the sweet cake got,\n Gave me in its place, one pot.\n Cow-wife had the pot, and she\n Butter gave instead to me.\n Bumpkin ate the butter, then\n Paid me with this cow again.\n Keep the cow, but don't be mean:\n All I ask for, is the Queen.\"\n\nThis seemed reasonable enough, so the King gave his Queen to the Monkey.\n\nAway went the Monkey, capering along, and the Queen walked after (you\nsee the King could not part with his ox as well as the Queen).\n\nBy-and-by they came to a Man sewing a button on to his shirt.\n\n\"Why, Man,\" said the Monkey, \"why do you sew on your own buttons?\"\n\n\"Because my wife is dead,\" said the Man.\n\n\"Here is a nice wife for you,\" said the Monkey. He gave the Queen to the\nMan. The Monkey then began his capers again, but all he could find to\ncaper about, was a drum.\n\n\"You may have that drum, if you like,\" said the Man. \"I only kept it\nbecause its voice reminded me of my wife, and now I have another.\"\n\n\"Thank you, thank you!\" said the Monkey. \"Now I am rich indeed!\" Then he\nbegan to beat upon the drum, and sang:--\n\n \"One old Woman, in a fix,\n Made me go and gather sticks;\n Then she gave me, for the sake\n Of the fuel, one sweet cake.\n Potter's son the sweet cake got,\n Gave me in its place, one pot.\n Cow-wife had the pot, and she\n Butter gave instead to me.\n Bumpkin ate the butter, then\n Gave a cow to me again.\n King took cow, but was not mean,\n For he paid me with a Queen.\n Now I have a drum, that's worth\n More than any drum on earth.\n You are worth a queen, my drum!\n Rub-a-dub-dub, dhum dhum dhum!\"\n\n So the Monkey capered away into the forest in\n high glee, beating upon his drum, and he\n has never been heard of since.\n\n\n\n\nThe Monkey's Rebuke\n\n\nIN a certain village, whose name I know (but I think I will keep it to\nmyself), in this village, I say, there was once a Milkman. I daresay you\nknow that a Milkman is a man who sells milk; but I have seen milkmen who\nalso sell water. That is to say, they put water in the milk which they\nsell, and so they get more money than they deserve. This was the sort of\nMilkman that my story tells of; and he was worse than the more part of\nsuch tricksters, since he actually filled his pans only half full of\nmilk, and the other half all water. The people of that village were so\nsimple and honest, that they never dreamt their Milkman was cheating\nthem; and if the milk did seem thin, all they did was to shake their\nheads, and say, \"What a lot of water the cows do drink this hot\nweather!\"\n\nBy watering his milk, this Milkman got together a great deal of money:\nten pounds it was, all in sixpences, because the villagers always bought\nsixpennyworth of milk a day.\n\nWhen the Milkman had got ten pounds, that is to say, no less than four\nhundred silver sixpences, he thought he would go and try his tricks in\nanother place, where there were more people to be cheated. So he put his\nfour hundred silver sixpences in a bag, and set out.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter travelling a while, he came to a pond. He sat down by the pond to\neat his breakfast, laying his bag of sixpences by his side; and after\nbreakfast, he proceeded to wash his hands in the pond.\n\nNow it so happened that this was the very pond where the Milkman came to\nwater his milk. He came all this way out of the village, because he did\nnot want to be seen by the people of the village. But there was one who\nsaw him; and that was a Monkey, who lived in a tree which overhung the\npond. Many a time and oft had this Monkey seen the Milkman pour water\ninto the milk-cans, chuckling over the profit he was to make. This was a\nvery worthy and well-educated Monkey, and he knew just as well as you or\nI know, that if you sell milk, you should put no water in it. When the\nMan stooped down to wash his hands in the pond, quietly, quietly down\ncame the Monkey, swinging himself from branch to branch with his tail.\nDown he came to the ground, and picked up the bag of sixpences, and\nthen up again to his perch in the tree.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Monkey untied the mouth of the bag, and took out one sixpence, and,\nclick! dropped it into the pond. The Milkman heard a tiny splash, but it\ndid not trouble him, because he thought it was a nut or something that\nhad fallen from the tree. Click! another sixpence. Click! went a third.\n\nBy this time the Milkman's hands were dry, and he looked round to pick\nup his bag, and get him gone. But no bag! Click! click! went the\nsixpences all this while; and now the Milkman began to look around him.\nBefore long he espied the Monkey sitting on a branch with his beloved\nbag, and--O horror! dropping sixpences, click! click! click! one after\nanother into the pond.\n\n\"I say, you Monkey!\" shouted he, \"that's my bag! What are you doing?\nbring me back my bag!\"\n\n\"Not yet,\" said the Monkey, and went on dropping the sixpences, click!\nclick! click!\n\nThe Milkman wept, the Milkman tore handfuls of hair out of his head; but\nthe Monkey might have been made of stone for all the notice he took of\nthe Milkman.\n\nAt last the Monkey had dropt two hundred sixpences into the pond. Then\nhe tied up the mouth of the money-bag, and threw it down to the Milkman.\n\"There, take your money,\" said the Monkey.\n\n\"And where's the rest of my money?\" asked the Milkman, fuming with rage.\n\n\"You have all the money that is yours,\" said the Monkey. \"Half of the\nmoney was the price of water from this pond, so to the pond I gave it.\"\n\n The Milkman felt very much ashamed of himself, and\n went away, a sadder but a wiser man; and never again\n did he put water in his milk. And that is why\n I have not told you the name of the village\n where he lived; for now that he has\n turned over a new leaf, it would\n hardly be fair to rake up\n his old misdeeds\n against him.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Bull and the Bullfinch\n\n\nUNDER a certain tree lived a wild Bull, and a Bullfinch had his nest in\nthe branches. A Bull in a field is vicious enough, as I daresay you\nknow; but a wild Bull is worse than anything. Wild Bulls are\ntremendously strong, and they can fight with almost any beast of the\nforest, even Lions and Tigers.\n\nThis wild Bull used to attack every creature that came near; and that,\nnot for the sake of food, as Lions and Tigers do, but out of pure\nmischief. When the creature (were he man or beast) was killed, this wild\nBull would leave the corpse lying, and begin to eat grass. But the\nlittle Bullfinch harmed nobody, unless it were a worm he would eat now\nand again for a treat. All day long he hopped about, picking up seeds,\nand singing away with all his throat. Many a time he saw the wild Bull\ngore some creature to death; and when he saw such things, tears would\nroll out of his eyes, because he could do nothing to help.\n\nAt last he thought to himself that he could at least warn the wild Bull\nof his wickedness, and clear his own conscience. So one morning, when\nthe wild Bull was sitting under his tree, and looking around him,\nBullfinch piped up, and said--\n\n\"Good brother Bull, I suppose we are akin somehow or other, because of\nour names.\"\n\n\"Yes, I daresay it may be so, Cousin Bullfinch,\" said the Bull.\n\n\"Well,\" says the Bullfinch, \"allow me the right of a near kinsman to say\nsomething to you.\"\n\n\"All right, go ahead,\" said the Bull gruffly.\n\n\"Well,\" said the Bullfinch, clearing his throat (for he was a little\nfrightened), \"don't you know that murder is a very evil deed, and yet\nyou do it every day of your life?\"\n\n\"Impertinent speck!\" said the Bull, getting up and walking away. He\nthought it cheeky that a bird so little should presume to rebuke a great\nbig Bull. He did not remember, you see, that big bodies are often big\nfools, and precious goods are done up in small parcels. The warning of\nthe little Finch was as the blowing of the wind; at least, so it seemed\nat the time, though afterwards (as you shall hear) the Bull did remember\nit.\n\nSo the Bull went on tossing and goring all that came within reach; and\nnow he would have nothing to say to the poor little Bullfinch.\n\nThis went on, until one night a certain Lion had a dream. This Lion was\nKing of the Forest, and he could conquer any creature who fought with\nhim. In his dream the Lion thought that an angel stood before him, and\nsaid: \"O Lion! in such a place, under a tree, lives a wild Bull, who\ndoes cruel murders every day upon innocent folk. By that tree is good\npasture, and the wild Bull has grown very fat. I think he would make a\nnice meal for you; and at the same time you would be doing a good\naction in ridding the world of such a monster.\"\n\nWhen day dawned, the Lion made no delay, but set out at once towards the\nplace of the wild Bull. By-and-by he caught scent of the Bull, and then\nhe uttered a terrible roar. The Bull heard the roar and was afraid; and\nstill more feared he, when he saw this Lion approach, whom he knew to be\nthe King of the Forest, and invincible.\n\n\"O Bull!\" roared the Lion, \"your hour has come. I am come to eat you, as\na just punishment for your sins, and also because I am hungry.\"\n\nAt this the Bull trembled greatly, for he knew now that his sins had\nfound him out. His knees gave way beneath him, and he was just about to\nsink to the ground, when the words of the Bullfinch came into his mind.\nThen he said--\n\n\"O mighty Lion! I have indeed deserved to be eaten, but I beg of you one\nlast favour. Give me leave to bid farewell to a little kinsman of mine,\nCousin Bullfinch, who lives in this tree, and at this moment is picking\nup seeds not far off.\"\n\nThe Lion was a good fellow, and had no wish to be hard on the Bull, so\nhe said: \"I give leave, O Bull, if you will promise on your honour to\ncome back and be eaten.\"\n\nThe Bull gave his word that he would come back, and then went slowly\naway in search of the Bullfinch.\n\nMaster Bullfinch was at the moment eating his frugal breakfast of seeds.\nSuddenly he was aware that the wild Bull was approaching. He looked up,\nand seeing the dejected air of the Bull, he greeted him as cheerfully\nas he could, and then asked what the matter was? This Bullfinch bore no\nmanner of grudge for the Bull's rudeness, because in his little body was\na great heart, and he never thought of mean things.\n\n\"O Finchy, Finchy!\" moaned the Bull, \"look upon me for the last time! A\nhungry Lion has come to devour me, and it is of no use to resist; for he\nsays that an angel has sent him to punish me for my sins.\"\n\n\"Poor old chap!\" said the Bullfinch, \"tell me all about it.\"\n\nThen the wild Bull told him the dream which the Lion had seen.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the Bullfinch, \"that is curious.\"\n\n\"Why?\" asked the Bull.\n\n\"Because,\" said the Bullfinch, \"I too had a dream last night, which I\nthink the Lion ought to hear.\"\n\nThe wild Bull was not interested in the Bullfinch's dream; would you be\ninterested in dreams, I wonder, if you expected to be eaten the next\nminute? However, he said nothing; and when Bullfinch fluttered his\nwings, and flew away towards the Lion, our friend the wild Bull followed\nslowly behind.\n\n\"Good morning, King Lion,\" said the little bird. \"So you have had a\ndream?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Lion, and then he told the Bullfinch his dream.\n\n\"I had a dream too,\" said the Bullfinch, \"and this it was. I dreamt that\nthe same angel who came to you, came afterwards to me, and said, 'O\nBullfinch! when the Lion comes to eat your friend the Bull, tell him\nthat he was sent not to destroy, but to cure; and that now the Bull\nrepents of his evil ways, the Lion may go back again to his forest.'\"\n\n\"Oh, I am so glad!\" said the Lion. \"I am hungry, it is true, but I\ndaresay I can find some other creature, who has committed no sins, and\nwants no curing. So good-bye, friend Bull, and don't do it again.\" So\nsaying, the Lion shook hands with both of them, and went to look for a\nfawn.\n\n Then the Bull, wild no longer, thanked his friend the\n Bullfinch for saving his life, and they became faster\n friends than ever. The Bull gored no more creatures,\n indeed he welcomed them as his guests; and in the fat\n pastures around that tree you might have seen, if you\n had been there, whole herds of deer and antelopes\n grazing without any fear; and the Bull lived\n in their midst to a green old age, till\n he died respected and went\n to a happier world.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Swan and the Crow\n\n\nONCE upon a time, two Swans had to leave home on account of a famine;\nand they settled by a lake in a distant land. By the side of this lake\nlived a Carrion Crow. The Swans built a nest, and Mrs. Swan laid two\nbeautiful round eggs in the nest, and sat upon them. She had to sit on\nthe eggs for weeks, in order to keep them warm, so that the little ones\nmight grow up inside and be hatched. While she sat there, the Crow used\nto help Mr. Swan to find food for his wife; and when the cygnets came\nout of their shells, the Crow helped to feed them also.\n\nSo all went happily for a time, and Mr. and Mrs. Swan were deeply\ngrateful to the kind Crow. But Crows are not kind without some reason,\nand what this Crow's reason was, you shall now hear.\n\nTime went on, and one day Mr. Swan said to Mrs. Swan--\n\n\"My dear, the famine must be over by this time. What do you say? shall\nwe go home again?\"\n\n\"I am ready,\" Mrs. Swan said, \"and we can start to-morrow if you like.\"\n\n\"Stop a bit,\" says Mr. Crow, \"I have a word or two to say first.\"\n\n\"Why, what do you mean?\" the Swans said, both together.\n\n\"I mean,\" said the Crow, \"that you may go, if you like, but these\ncygnets are as much mine as yours, and may I be plucked if I let them go\nwith you!\"\n\n\"Yours!\" said Mrs. Swan. \"Who laid the eggs? who hatched them?\"\n\n\"And who fed them, I should like to ask?\" said the Crow, with a\ndisagreeable laugh: \"Caw, caw, caw!\"\n\nHere was a bolt from the blue! The Crow stuck to it, and the end of all\nwas, that Mrs. Swan stayed behind to look after her little ones, while\nMr. Swan flew off to lay a complaint in court against the greedy Crow.\n\nBut you must not suppose that this Crow meant to sit still, and let the\nSwan have things all his own way. Not he; off he flew secretly to the\nJudge, and to the Judge said he--\n\n\"O Judge, a Swan is going to lodge a false charge against me, and I want\nyour help!\"\n\n\"If it is false,\" said the Judge, \"you want help from no one.\"\n\n\"Caw, caw, caw!\" said the Crow, \"you understand me.\" Then this vulgar\nCrow winked one eye at the Judge.\n\n\"Hm, hm,\" said the Judge, looking at the Crow. It is a pity to say it,\nbut it is quite true, that this Judge was an unjust Judge; and he was\nready to give any decision, right or wrong, so long as he was bribed\nwell for his trouble. In that country, you see, there was no jury to\ndecide matters, but all power lay in the hands of the Judge.\n\nThe Judge winked one eye at the Crow. Then he said, very softly, \"~What\nwill you give me?~\"\n\n\"Silver and gold have I none,\" said the Crow, \"but I'll tell you what I\nwill do. I'll carry your father's bones to the Holy Land, and bury them\nin Jerusalem, and then your father will be sure to go to heaven.\"\n\nThe Judge was so foolish that he really believed his father would go to\nheaven at once, if only his bones were buried in Jerusalem, although his\nfather had been as wicked as himself while he was alive. So he agreed to\nthe Crow's proposal.\n\nWhen the case came into court, of course the Judge gave decision in\nfavour of the Crow, though there was no evidence on his side except his\nown word: and who but a fool would trust the word of a Carrion Crow?\nWhen the court rose, the Crow flew to the house of the Judge, and asked\nfor the bones of the Judge's father. So the Judge tied up his father's\nbones in a bag, and hung the bag round the Crow's neck. Away flew the\nCrow, but he didn't fly far; for as the Judge watched him, the Crow\nhovered over a filthy drain; and untying the bag, began dropping the\nbones one by one into the mud.\n\n\"Hi, you brute!\" shouted the Judge, \"what are you doing!\"\n\n\"Oh, you pumpkin!\" said the Crow, \"did you verily think that I should\ntake the trouble to carry your father's rotten old bones to Jerusalem?\nNo, no; I only wanted to see what rogues the race of Judges can be.\nCaw!\" Flop! went the last bone into the mud, and away flew the Crow, and\nnever came back there any more.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n So the Judge had to pick his father's bones out of\n the gutter. And the next thing he had to do was to\n reverse his own decision, and give the Swan his\n young ones again; because, you see, a great many\n people had heard what the Crow said to the Judge,\n and knew (if they didn't know it before) that the\n Judge was a rogue. So the Swan got his young ones\n back, and as for the Judge, he became the\n laughing-stock of the whole city, and he\n was obliged to go and try his\n tricks elsewhere.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nPride shall have a Fall\n\n\nTHERE was once a great drought in the land. For weeks and months not a\ndrop of rain fell; and the sun beat down, and dried up the whole\ncountry, so that there was no water to be found. Now there was a certain\npond in that country; and as day after day the sun blazed, the water\nsank lower and lower, until it was hardly an inch deep. Numbers of Frogs\nused to live in this pond; but as the water dried the Frogs died, so\nthat the dry mud on the banks of the pond was covered all over with dead\nbodies of Frogs.\n\nThere came a Jackal out of the forest. He was glad to see this pool,\nbecause the pool where he used to drink had been quite dried up. So he\nmade a little platform of mud, and stuck up four posts at the four\ncorners; and then he gathered bundles of dry grass, and put them upon\nthe top of the four posts for a thatch. Then his eye fell on the corpses\nof Frogs lying about; and being a foolish animal, he thought these\ncorpses were uncommonly pretty. And what do you think he did? He\ngathered a lot of the dead Frogs and hung a fringe of them all round the\nthatch; and in each of his ears he hung a dead Frog, like an earring.\n\nFrom far and near swarms of Rats used to come to this pond for drinking,\nsince it was the only water to be found for a long distance, and all the\nrest was dried up. Then the Jackal kept guard over the pool; and not a\ndrop might any Rat so much as taste, unless he would first bow down and\nworship the Jackal, and sing the following psalm, which the Jackal made\nup himself:--\n\n \"A temple all of gold I found,\n With golden lamps hung all around;\n And see! the God himself is here,\n With two big pearls in either ear.\"\n\nEven a Rat can tell a dead Frog from a pearl, but willy nilly he needs\nmust sing it, or else no water. So when the Rat had sung this psalm, and\nbowed himself down three times before the Jackal, worshipping him as if\nhe were a God, he was allowed to go down and take a sip of the water.\n\nOne day, what should come down to the water to drink but an Ox with one\neye.\n\n\"Ho! ho! one-eyed Ox!\" screamed the Jackal, \"not a drop till you sing\nyour psalm.\"\n\nThe Ox blinked his one eye stupidly, and looked round. \"What psalm?\"\nasked the one-eyed Ox.\n\n\"Mine,\" said the Jackal, who was very proud of his psalm, \"my own\ncomposition.\" Then he sang it over to the Ox, that he might hear it.\n\n \"'A temple all of gold I found--'\n\n\"That's this, you know,\" he explained, pointing to the scraggy thatch--\n\n \"A temple all of gold I found,\n With golden lamps hung all around;\n And see! the God himself is here,\n With two big pearls in either ear.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said the one-eyed Ox, \"I'm rather stupid, I fear, and it will take\nme a minute or two to learn that psalm. It's a mighty fine psalm, that;\nI never heard the like in church. Suppose I say it over to myself while\nI'm a-drinking? that will save time, and it would be a thousand pities\nto spoil a thing like that.\"\n\nThis flattered the Jackal so much that he agreed.\n\nOne-eye went down to the pool, and took a long, long pull at the water.\nThen he came out of the water, and went slowly up to the Jackal, as he\nwas sitting under his thatch, with its string of dead Frogs, and the two\nFrogs in the Jackal's ears.\n\n\"Now then, booby!\" the Jackal said, \"look sharp, the God is waiting.\"\n\nThe Ox opened a big mouth, and in a very hoarse voice he sang--\n\n \"A nasty dirty thatch I found,\n With dried-up Frogs hung all around;\n And see! the mangy Jackal here,\n With two dead Frogs in either ear.\"\n\nYou may imagine the rage of the Jackal to hear this! He fairly foamed at\nthe mouth. \"You blasphemous beast!\" screamed he, \"I'll teach you to\nabuse a God!\" And with that he jumped down off his seat, and gave chase.\n\nAway scuttled the Ox; and as he ran, the water he had been drinking went\ngurgling inside him, flippity-flop, flippity-flop.\n\nThis sound rather frightened the Jackal. \"What's that?\" he cried.\n\n\"A dog at your heels,\" said the Ox.\n\n The Jackal was so scared at the very name of dog,\n that he turned about in no time, blind with terror,\n and away he scampered as hard as he could pelt.\n He was so frightened, that he did not see where\n he was going; so he ran straight into\n the midst of a pack of hounds, who\n made short work of the\n conceited Jackal.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Kid and the Tiger\n\n\nA NANNY-GOAT and a Tigress were near neighbours in a certain wood, and\nfast friends to boot. The Tigress had two tiger-cubs; and the family of\nthe Nanny-goat were four frolicksome kids, named Roley, Poley, Skipster,\nand Jumpster.\n\nBut the Tigress was jealous of her friend the Nanny-goat, because Nanny\nhad four young ones, while she had only two. One day, as she was musing\non the injustice of her fate, she thought to herself, \"What if I eat up\ntwo of Nanny's kids, and then things will be equal? They do say, friends\nhave all things in common.\" So to Nanny-goat she hied, and said she--\n\n\"Sister Nanny, my little ones have gone out, and I am very lonely at\nhome. Do let one of your dear kiddies come and sleep with me, for\ncompany. Will you, please?\"\n\n\"Gladly will I, sister,\" said honest Nanny-goat, thinking no evil of her\nfriend. Then she ran out to the fields, where Roley and Poley were\nrolling over each other, and Jumpster was jumping over the back of\nSkipster.\n\n\"Children, children!\" said Nanny-goat, \"a treat for you! A kind friend\nhas asked one of you out to spend the night.\"\n\n\"Baa baa baa!\" cried the Kids, running up; and then three of them called\nout all together, dancing about old Nanny, \"Let me go! Let me go! Let me\ngo!\" But the fourth, who was a wise little imp (and Roley it was, to be\nsure), asked in a quiet tone, \"Who is it, Mammy Nanny-goat?\"\n\n\"Why, who should it be but your Aunt Yellowstripe?\" said Nanny.\n\nAt this they all looked rather crestfallen; for although Nanny-goat\nloved her friend dearly, all the youngsters were afraid of her, for what\nreason they could not say. Children have a way of finding out their\nfriends; and these Kids had noticed at times a gleam in the eyes of\nAuntie Yellowstripe, which boded ill to little Kids.\n\n\"No-o, thank you, Mammy Nanny-goat,\" said Skipster, skipping away.\n\n\"No-o-o, thank you, Mammy,\" said Jumpster, and jumped after her.\n\n\"No-o-o-o, thank you,\" said Poley, and rolled away by himself.\n\nWhy did Poley roll away by himself? Because Roley stayed behind. Roley\ndid not say No, thank you; on the contrary, he said Yes. Why Roley said\nyes instead of no, was his own concern; and I think Roley knew what he\nwas about.\n\nThis was how Roley went with the Tigress; and that night the Tigress put\nhim to sleep by her side. She cuddled him up, and made a great fuss of\nhim, thinking to herself, \"Soft words cost nothing; and when he is fast\nasleep, we shall see what we shall see.\"\n\nBut Roley was no such fool as the Tigress thought him. So he did not go\nto sleep, but only pretended; and no sooner did Dame Yellowstripe begin\nto snore, than up jumps Roley, as soft as you please, and fetches out\none of Yellowstripe's own cubs, who were sleeping away at the back of\nthe cave. He laid the cub in his own place, and went into the corner to\nsleep with the other cub.\n\nAbout midnight the Tigress awoke, and as she felt the warm little thing\nnestling beside her, she chuckled to herself. Then she gave him one tap\nwith her mighty paw; crack! went his neck, and his dancing days were\nover; the Tigress gobbled him up, skin, bones, and teeth. It was pitch\ndark, you know, and she could not see that she was eating her own cub.\n\"One less of the brood now,\" thought the Tigress; turned over, and went\nto sleep again.\n\nNext morning, they all woke up; and Yellowstripe, to her dismay, saw\nthat Roley was rolling about, right as a trivet. She looked round for\nher own cubs, and lo and behold! one was missing. At first she could not\nmake it out in the least; but when it dawned upon her what had happened,\nshe nearly turned yellow all over with rage and disappointment.\n\n\"Did you have a good night, Roley dear?\" said she in a wheedling tone to\nthe Kid.\n\n\"Oh yes, Auntie,\" said the little Kid, \"only a gnat bit me.\"\n\nThis astonished the Tigress, who thought that the Kid must be stronger\nthan he appeared to be. \"Never mind,\" said she to herself; \"come\nto-night, we shall see what we shall see.\"\n\nThat night all went as before; only this time Roley put a huge stone in\nhis place, and then he ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. When\nthe Tigress awoke, she gave a pat to the stone: it hurt her paw sadly.\n\n\"Good heavens,\" said she, \"what a mighty Kid it is, to be sure! I must\nmake short work of him now I have the chance, or there is no knowing\nwhat may happen. When he grows up, he may kill me.\" So she gave a fierce\nbite at the stone, and broke all her front teeth.\n\nNow the Tigress' fury knew no bounds. She went raging about the cave,\nhunting in every corner for Roley; but Roley was not to be found,\nbecause, as I have told you, he was not there. So the Tigress was forced\nto wait until morning for her revenge.\n\nAll night long the Tigress lay awake with the pain of her teeth; and\nwhen morning came, she sought out a familiar friend to take counsel\nwith. This friend was an old one-eyed Tiger. The Tigress and the\none-eyed Tiger talked for a long time together, and as they talked they\nwalked. When they came to the end of their talk, their walk was also at\nan end, and they found themselves at the mouth of Yellowstripe's den.\nThere in the den, as calm as you please, playing with the one remaining\nTiger cub, was Roley.\n\n\"Ha ha,\" laughed One-eye, \"so there you are. Let us sit down, and I will\ntell you a story.\"\n\n\"Do, do, Nuncle One-eye,\" cried Roley.\n\nSo they all sat down, and One-eye began. \"When I eat little Kids,\" said\nOne-eye, \"four of them make me a mouthful; and I'm coming one of these\ndays to make one mouthful of you and your brother and sisters.\"\n\n\"Capital, capital, Nuncle One-eye!\" said Roley, clapping his paws;\n\"what good stories you do tell, Nuncle One-eye! Now I'll tell you a\nstory. When you come to eat us up, Skipster will hold you by the\nforelegs, and Jumpster will hold you by the hind legs, and Poley will\nhold your head, and Roley will chop it off, if only mother will give us\na light.\"\n\nThis terrified One-eye extremely, for he was a great coward. He thought\nit all as true as gospel, so he took to his heels, and left Yellowstripe\nin the lurch.\n\nOn the way, he met six other Tigers, friends of his. \"Oh my friends!\"\nsaid he, \"I have such a treat for you! A fine fat Kid, crying out to be\nkilled! Come along, come along, I'll show you the way, and all I ask is\nthe pleasure of serving you.\" Cunning old One-eye!\n\nThe six Tigers believed all that One-eye said, and away they all trotted\ntogether towards the place where Roley lived. They knew he would go home\nsooner or later; and indeed he was there already, and saw them coming,\nso he climbed up a tree. Goats are wonderfully good at climbing rocks,\nbut I think most of them cannot climb trees; still, whatever may be true\nof other goats, Roley could. If it were not so, this story would never\nhave been written. So Roley climbed up a tree, and sat on a branch, with\nhis legs all dangling in the air.\n\nThe first Tiger gave a jump, and missed him. Number two gave a jump, and\nmissed him. They all jumped, one after another, and not one of them\ncould touch Roley; who sat and laughed at them so heartily, that he\nnearly fell off his perch.\n\nAt last, when they were tired of jumping, and jumping, up gets old\nOne-eye, and says, \"I know how to get at him. I'll stand here, and you\nget on my back, and then the rest of you one a-top of another, and then\nwe shall catch him nicely.\" They all thought this an excellent idea; so\nOne-eye propped his old carcass against the tree, and the other Tigers\nmounted one on another's shoulders, until there they were, all seven in\na pyramid. Then the topmost Tiger stretched out his paw, and all but got\nhold of Roley.\n\nThereupon One-eye cocked up his solitary eye, to see how things were\ngoing on up aloft; and seeing this, Roley called out--\n\n\"Mother, give me a lump of mud, and I'll hit the brute in his sound eye,\nand then we will finish him off.\"\n\n When One-eye heard this, he gave a great start, and\n down toppled the whole seven in a heap, one a-top of\n the next, spitting and roaring and scratching. They\n were so much taken aback, that they imagined all sorts\n of powerful beasts to be fighting with them, when it was\n only their own selves, biting each other; and the\n end of all was, that as soon as the seven Tigers\n had each got his four legs to himself, off\n they went helter-skelter into the forest,\n and never more troubled Mammy\n Nanny-goat and her four\n frolicsome\n Kids.\n\n\n\n\nThe Stag, the Crow, and the Jackal\n\n\nONCE upon a time there was a Stag living in a certain jungle, and in the\nsame jungle lived a Crow. These two were bosom friends. Why a Stag\nshould take a fancy to a Crow, I cannot say; but so it was; and if you\ndo not believe it, you had better not read any further.\n\nIt so befell that a Jackal came by one day, and his eye fell on this\nStag, and a fine plump Stag he was. The Jackal's mouth began to water.\nHow he would like to make a meal of so dainty a piece of flesh. But he\nknew it was of no use trying to attack the Stag, who seemed very strong.\nStill, by hook or by crook, that Stag he would have. So in the depths of\nhis cunning heart he concocted a trick, of which you shall shortly hear.\n\nThe Jackal watched his chance, and as soon as he had found the Stag\nalone, he began to say, sidling up to the Stag, and whispering in his\near--\n\n\"Beware of that Crow; he's fooling thee. Beware, beware all birds of the\nair. There's no trusting any bird, let alone a Crow, who is worst of\nthe whole feathered tribe. Now you and I, who never try in the air to\nfly, good honest gentlemen with four legs apiece, we are marked out for\nfriends by Nature herself.\"\n\nWill you be surprised to hear that the Stag listened to the crafty and\nslanderous words, and deserted his friend the Crow? When your hair is\ngrey you will know that such is the way of the world, and that a true\nfriend who sticks to the end, is harder to find than a diamond mine.\n\nBut although this Stag was shallow-hearted and weak, not so the Crow. He\nwas a true friend, and he was cut to the heart by the unkindness of his\nfriend the Stag; but he wasted no time in fruitless tears. He went about\nhis work as usual, and waited for a chance of winning back his recreant\nfriend.\n\nWell, Stag and Jackal scoured about the woods together, and the Jackal\ndid his best to make himself agreeable. In this he had poor success; for\nthough the Stag tried hard to like his new comrade, yet he could not\nhelp seeing that he was dirty; moreover, the Jackal ate all sorts of\ndead animals, but the Stag was a vegetarian, and did not approve of this\nkind of food. But though the Stag had qualms now and again, he was not\nstrong enough to break loose from the friendship of the Jackal.\n\nBut the time was ripening for the Jackal's blow. He knew a place where\nhuntsmen used to set gins and snares, to catch the wild animals. So one\nday, as he and the Stag were out a-walking together, the Jackal so\nmanaged that they passed by this place. The Jackal took good care to\nkeep clear of the snare; but the innocent Stag knew nothing of snares or\ngins, so into a snare he stept, and snap! he was fast.\n\nNow was the time for a true friend to show his friendship. But the\nJackal, as we already know, was a humbug; accordingly, all he did was to\nsit by the side of the Stag, and try not to look pleased.\n\n\"Oh dear, what shall I do?\" said the Stag, when he found himself caught.\n\"Oh my friend, do help me out.\"\n\n\"You shock me, friend,\" said the Jackal, pulling a long face; \"surely\nyou have not forgotten that it is Sunday? We are told in the Ten\nCommandments to do no work on the Sabbath day. If it were not so, how\ngladly would I help you!\" So saying, he wiped away a crocodile tear. He\nsat down and waited in the hope that the Stag would die, and then he\nwould eat him.\n\nBut the faithful Crow was not far. Though his friend the Stag would not\nso much as cast him a look, the Crow followed him ever, biding his time;\nand now the time had come.\n\nThe Crow perched on a neighbouring tree, and said--\n\n\"Dear friend, I am only a weak little bird, and I cannot help you; but I\ncan teach you to help yourself. My advice is, pretend to be dead, and\nwhen the Hunter comes, he will open the snare without any care, and you\ncan escape.\"\n\n\"Thank you, long-suffering friend!\" said the Stag; and so he did. When\nthe Huntsman came, he thought the Stag was dead; he opened the snare,\nand before he was aware, the Stag was up and off and away.\n\n The Stag asked his friend the Crow to forgive\n him, and they lived happily together as\n before. As for the treacherous\n Jackal, he never came\n near them more.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Monkey and the Crows\n\n\nIN a certain land, a flock of Crows built their nests in the branches of\na huge cotton-tree.\n\nIn that country, the climate is not the least like ours. It is hot all\nthe year round, and for eight months the sun blazes like a fiery\nfurnace, so that the people who live there are burnt as black as your\nboot; then after eight months comes the rain, and the rain comes down in\nbucketsful, with lightning fit to blind you, and thunder enough to crack\nyour head. These Crows were quite happy in their nests, whatever\nhappened; for when it was hot, the leaves of the trees sheltered them\nfrom the sun, and in the rainy season the leaves kept them pretty dry.\n\nOne evening there came a terrible storm, with torrents of rain like\nNoah's flood. In the midst of it, the Crows noticed a Monkey sliding\nalong, drenched and draggle-tailed, looking like a drowned Rat. The\nCrows set up a chorus of caws, and called out--\n\n\"O Monkey, what a fool you must be! Look at us, dry and comfortable, in\nour nests of rags and twigs. If we, with only our little beaks to help\nus, can make comfortable nests, why can't you, with two hands and two\nfeet and a tail?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nYou might have thought the Monkey would take this advice to heart. But\nnot a bit of it. Monkeys are naturally a lazy tribe, and they are full\nof envy, hatred, and malice. What they like best is destroying whatever\nthey can lay their hands on; and when I look upon some of the nations of\nthis globe, I cannot help thinking that they really must be descended\nfrom Monkeys. So this Monkey snapt and snarled, and said to the Crows--\n\n\"Just wait till morning, and then we'll see what a Monkey can do.\"\n\nThe simple birds were delighted to hear this, and looked forward to\nseeing the Monkey do something wonderfully clever, with his tail and his\ntwo hands and two feet.\n\nMorning came, and the rain was over. The Monkey climbed up into the\ntree, and in his rage and envy he tore all the Crows' nests to pieces.\n\n Then the Crows were sorry they spoke, and determined\n for the future to mind their own business,\n and let fools alone. For, as the wise man\n said, \"To give good advice to a fool\n is like pouring oil upon\n the fire.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Swan and the Paddy-Bird\n\n\nA WILD Swan was flying once to his home, when he paused to rest on a\ntree. This was a kind of tree you have most likely never seen. It was\nvery tall, and had no branches upon it until you came to the top, but at\nthe top was a large clump of green leaves, and bunches of cocoa-nuts\nhanging down.\n\nIt so happened that on this tree was the nest of a Paddy-bird. A\nPaddy-bird is a bird something like a heron, which feeds on fish and\nfrogs. At the moment when the Swan perched upon the tree, this\nPaddy-bird was sitting demurely on the edge of a pond that was below the\ntree, watching the water for a rise. She had no fishing-rod, but when\nshe saw a little fish or a frog swim past, out went her beak like a\nflash, and the fish was pierced. Then she ate the fish, or carried it\noff to her little ones in the nest.\n\nWhen the Paddy-bird chanced to look round, she saw the Swan sitting upon\nher tree. She was frightened at this, thinking that perhaps it was some\nbird of prey, come to devour her chicks. So she left her fishing, and at\nonce flew up to the top of the cocoa-nut tree. The Swan looked harmless\nenough when she came closer, so plucking up courage, the Paddy-bird\nthus addressed him--\n\n\"Good-day, sir. May I ask who you are?\"\n\n\"I am a Swan,\" said the other, \"and I am on my way home; but as it is a\nhot day, I thought I would rest awhile on your tree. I hope you have no\nobjection?\"\n\n\"Welcome, my lord Swan, welcome!\" said the Paddy-bird. \"I only wish I\ncould offer you entertainment. But I am ashamed to say that I have no\nfood worth your taking. I am a poor bird, and you know we Paddy-birds\neat only small fish and frogs, which your highness would hardly touch.\"\n\n\"Oh, never mind for that,\" answered the Swan; \"thank you all the same,\nbut I can find my own food on this tree of yours.\"\n\nThis set our Paddy-bird's heart all a-flutter, for what could he mean\nbut her brood? However, all was well in a minute; when she saw the Swan\ngo to one of the green cocoa-nuts hanging to the tree. You have seen, I\nsuppose, three little soft places at the top of a cocoa-nut, which are\nholes in the shell filled up with pulp. The Swan pierced his bill\nthrough one of these holes, and drank the milk inside the cocoa-nut.\nThen he gave some of the milk to the Paddy-bird, and flew away.\n\nThis milk tasted very nice, and the Paddy-bird began to say to herself,\n\"What a fool I have been all these years! Here am I, watching and\nwaiting all day long for a frog, and nasty things they are too, and all\nthis while there was plenty of delicious milk within a yard of my nest!\nWell, good-bye fish, and good-bye frogs; I have done with you now for\never.\"\n\nThe next time the Paddy-bird felt hungry, she flew to a cocoa-nut and\nbegan to peck at it. But she did not know the secret of the three little\nholes at the top of the cocoa-nut; so she pecked, and pecked, and got no\nfurther. At last she gathered all her strength, and gave a tremendous\npeck at the cocoa-nut. Snap! her bill broke off, and the blood ran out,\nand very soon the poor Paddy-bird had bled to death.\n\n Next day, the Swan happened to fly by that way\n again; and coming to the tree, he found his friend the\n Paddy-bird lying dead on the ground, with her bill\n snapt off clean. He understood at once what had\n happened, and said to himself, \"This is what\n comes of trying to do what one is not\n fit for. Let the cobbler stick to\n his last, or misfortune\n follows fast.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nWhat is a Man?\n\n\nIN a certain forest, a Lioness dwelt who had one cub. This cub did not\ngo to school, as you one day will go; but he learned his lessons at\nhome. And what do you think his lessons were? Not multiplication which\nis vexation; not the Rule of Three which puzzles me; not spelling and\ncopy-books. No; the Lioness had only one lesson to teach her cub, and\nthat was, to avoid mankind as if they were poison. Every day, morning\nand evening, she taught him for an hour; telling him again and again,\nthat of all the beasts of the forest he need fear none, for a lion is\nstronger than any, but man he must fear and keep clear of.\n\nWell, the little Lion grew big; and as often happens to children as well\nas lions' cubs, he grew conceited too. He could not believe that his\nmother was old enough to know better than he; no, he would see for\nhimself. So one fine day, this Lion set out on a voyage of discovery.\n\nThe first thing he saw was an Ox. This Ox was a fine sturdy animal, and\nthe Lion felt rather nervous to see such hoofs and horns. You must\nremember he was young and ignorant, and had hardly seen any animal but\nhis mother and father. So he went up to the Ox, and said timidly--\n\n\"Good morning, sir. Will you be good enough to tell me if you are a\nMan?\"\n\nIf an Ox could laugh, that Ox would have laughed in the face of the\nLion's cub. But an Ox is always solemn, like a Turk, though he does not\nlove bloodshed as a Turk does. This Ox was chewing the cud, munching and\nmouthing with great calmness, so as to get the full flavour of the rich\ngrass. He turned his meek eyes, and stared at the Lion. Then he said--\n\n\"A Man! God forbid. A Man is a terrible creature. He makes slaves of us\nOxen, and puts a yoke on our necks and fastens us to a thing called a\nplough; and makes us pull the plough to and fro, up and down, till we\nare tired to death. If we won't go, he sticks a prod into us, which\nhurts us very much. I can't think what is the use of all this pother; we\nget no good of it. And when we are old, and can work no more, he kills\nus, and eats our flesh, and the skin he makes into shoes for his own\nfeet. Keep clear of Men, if you value your life.\" Then the Ox turned his\nhead away, and went on with his chewing.\n\nThis gave our Lion something to think about. He thought the Ox a very\nfine animal indeed, and yet, said the Ox, Man was stronger.\n\nThe Lion went his ways, and by-and-by, what should he see but a Camel.\nIf the Ox was a fine creature, here was a finer; ever so tall, with a\nhump on his back, and a long neck, and great long legs. Surely this must\nbe the terrible Man he had heard so much of. But to make certain, he\napproached the Camel with great respect, and said--\n\n\"Good morning, sir. Pray, will you tell me if you are a Man?\"\n\nThe Camel turned his long neck, and sniffed and sneered as Camels have a\nway of doing, and a most unpleasant way it is.\n\n\"Pooh!\" said he. \"Stuff! poof! you oaf! you think me a Man? I wish I\nwere a Man, wouldn't I make short work of you! A man, quotha! Why, I am\na slave to that same Man. They catch us, these Men, and make a hole in\nour noses, and put a ring in it--do you see my ring? How do you think I\nlike a hole made in my nose, as if two holes were not enough! Then they\ntie a rope to the ring, and lead us about all day long just where they\nplease, without a with your leave, or by your leave! And they make us\nsquat down in the mud, and put a great load on our backs, enough to\ncrush a whipper-snapper like you. Groan as we may, it's all of no use,\nthey do what they choose. Man! the very name makes me shiver. Get out,\nand leave me alone!\"\n\nThis frightened our Lion, because who knew whether the great animal\nmight not kill him, if it came into his head, so the Lion went away as\nfast as he could.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn a little while, he espied an Elephant. Here was a monster, to be\nsure! A great black mountain, with a long nose curling about, and huge\nwhite teeth sticking out, and big ears flapping. The Lion was quite\nterrified this time, and would not go near the Elephant, until he\nsuddenly saw that the Elephant had a rope round his tusks, by which he\nwas tied fast to a stake. Then he plucked up courage to approach, and\nsaid--\n\n\"Good morning, my lord. Please will you tell me, are you a Man?\"\n\nThe Elephant trumpeted loudly. That was his way of laughing at the idea\nthat he could be mistaken for a Man.\n\n\"Hooroo! hooroo!\" he shrieked. \"A Man! Hooroo! No, but a Man is my\nmaster, and that's the truth. A Man tied me to this post. Cruel and\nselfish brutes, are men; and with all my strength, I am no match for a\nMan. They get on our backs, a dozen of them at a time, and make us\nfetch, and carry, and drive us about by sticking a sharp spike into our\nskulls. Don't you go near a Man, if you love your life; why, bless me,\nthey will make mincemeat of you! Hooroo!\" The Elephant swished his trunk\nall round him in his excitement.\n\nOur Lion had now seen three astonishing creatures, and they all said\nthat a Man was stronger than they were. What could this terrible\ncreature be like? He must be a mountain indeed, if he was to master such\na beast as the black Elephant. Yet the black creature said that Men got\non his back, a dozen of them at a time. The Lion could not understand it\nat all. He shook his head, and stalked away thoughtful.\n\nAs the Lion was going along, he saw a puny and weak-looking thing,\nwalking upright on two legs. He seemed to be a kind of monkey, thought\nthe Lion. It never entered his head that this little thing could be a\nMan, but he trotted up to him gaily, and said--\n\n\"Good morning, my friend. Can you tell me where I can find a Man? I\nhave been hunting for one all the morning.\"\n\n\"I am a Man,\" said the other.\n\nAt this the Lion laughed in his face. \"You a Man!\" said he. \"Come, come;\nI may be young, but I am no fool, my good fellow. Why, you are not so\nbig as one leg of that mountain over there, who was tied to a stake, as\nhe said, by a Man.\"\n\n\"All the same,\" the Man said, \"I am one of them.\"\n\n\"But look here,\" the Lion went on, \"my father and mother both say that\nMan is a terrible and cruel creature, and the only creature a Lion need\nfear. Now, either you are no Man, or else my father and mother are quite\nwrong.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Man, \"I am not nearly so strong as you are, or the\nElephant and Camel, or even the Ox. As you say, I am not much to look\nat, but I have one power which you all lack.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Indeed,\" said the Lion, \"and what may that be?\"\n\nThe Man answered, \"Reason.\"\n\n\"I never heard of reason,\" said the Lion. \"Please explain it to me, will\nyou?\"\n\n\"It is not easy to explain what reason is,\" replied the Man; \"but if you\nlike, I will show you how it works.\"\n\nThe Lion was pleased. \"Oh please do,\" he said.\n\nI must tell you that this Man was a woodcutter, and he had an axe upon\nhis shoulder. He now lifted this axe and drove a blow into a stout\nsapling which grew hard by. When he had split the sapling, he took a\nwedge of wood, and hammered it in with the back of his axe, until there\nwas a large cleft in the trunk of the sapling. \"Now then,\" said the Man,\n\"just put your paw in that hole.\"\n\nThe Lion obediently put his paw into the cleft, and then the Man pulled\nout the wedge from the cleft. The sapling closed tight on the paw of the\nLion, and squeezed it. \"Now,\" said the Man, \"you know what reason is.\"\n\nBut the Lion no longer cared to hear about reason; all he wanted was to\nget his paw out of the cleft. He pulled and he tugged, he roared and he\nstruggled; but all of no use; he could not by any means get his paw\nfree. The end of all was, in madness and fury he dashed his head against\nthe ground, and died.\n\n This was how the Lion learnt how terrible a being\n is Man; but unluckily, you see, his knowledge was\n of no use to him or any one else, because it cost him\n his life. If he had listened to his mother's\n teaching, he might be living still, and\n you would not be reading\n this story.\n\n\n\n\nThe Wound and the Scar\n\n\nTHERE was once a forest where a Lion dwelt. Over all the beasts of the\nforest the Lion lorded it, and of men not one durst come near the place\nfor fear of King Lion; none, that is, except one only, a Woodman who\nlived in a little hut just upon the borders of the woodland; and between\nthe forest and the hut a river flowed. This Woodman came often into the\nforest, to cut wood; and he had no fear to do so, because the Lion and\nhe were bosom friends. Such fast friends they were that if ever the\nWoodman failed to pay his daily visit, the Lion was grieved and missed\nhim sorely.\n\nIt happened once that the Woodman fell ill of a fever. In his woodland\nhut he lay all alone, for no wife was there, or sister to care for him.\nSo he tossed and moaned, and waited for the hours to pass.\n\nOf course during all this time the Woodman could not visit the forest,\nand his friend the Lion missed him. \"What can be the matter,\" thought\nKing Lion. \"Has some enemy killed him, or has he fallen sick?\" At last\nhe could no longer bear the suspense, and set out in search of the\nWoodman.\n\nI do not think that the Lion had ever yet been to his friend's house;\nand for all he knew he might be walking straight into a trap. But he was\nso fond of the Woodman that he never thought of danger. All he wanted\nwas to see his friend. Accordingly, he followed the path by which the\nWoodman came into the woods; and in due time this path led him to the\nbank of a wide and swift river, and over on the opposite bank was a hut.\n\nIn plunged the Lion, not waiting to think; and though there were\ncrocodiles in that river ready to eat him, and though the current bade\nfair to sweep him away, so strong was his love for his friend that he\nswam across.\n\nThe Woodman's house stood within an enclosure, and all the doors and\ngates were shut; but the Lion jumped over the wall, and searched about,\nuntil he managed somehow to force his way into the house. Then he saw\nhis friend lying upon a bed, and very ill, all alone, with no one to\ntend him.\n\nHow grieved the Lion was to see his friend, you can imagine better than\nI can tell. The Lion knelt down by his friend's side, and began to lick\nhim all over. This woke the man from his dazed condition; and when he\nfound the Lion licking his body, he did not like the smell of the Lion,\nso he turned his head away, with a grunt of disgust.\n\nNow I think this was very unkind, because the Lion had no other way of\nshowing how much he cared for his friend. Think what a long way he had\ncome to see his friend, and think what danger he had faced; and now to\nbe met with a grunt of disgust! The Lion stopped licking the Woodman,\nand got up slowly, and went away. Back he swam over the deep and swift\nriver, but all the heart was taken out of him; he cared not for the\ncrocodiles, indeed now he would not have been very sorry if a crocodile\nhad devoured him. One crocodile did actually get a nip at his leg, and\nleft a wound there. Back to his den he crept, solitary and sad. And when\nhe got to his den, he lay down, sick of his friend's fever, which he had\ntaken by licking him.\n\nIn a week or so, the Woodman was well again; and thinking nothing of\nwhat had passed, he shouldered his axe, and trudged away to cut wood.\nWhen the time came for his midday meal, he went as his custom was to the\nLion's den; and there he found his friend the Lion, thin and sick.\n\n\"Why, friend, what is the matter?\" the Woodman asked.\n\n\"I am ill,\" said the Lion.\n\n\"What is it?\" asked the Woodman again.\n\nBut the Lion would answer nothing; and do what he would, the man could\nnot get him to say another word. So he left him for that day, and went\nhome.\n\nFor several days after, the man did the same thing; and gradually the\nLion got better. At last one day, when the Lion was quite well again,\nthe man said to him--\n\n\"Tell me, good friend Lion, what it is that has made you so silent and\ngloomy of late?\"\n\nThen answered the Lion, \"O Woodman, I will tell you. When you were ill,\nI swam a swift river and faced death, all for your sake; I came into\nyour house when you lay deserted, and licked your body, and took the\nfever which you had into my veins; and this wound which you see, I\nreceived from a crocodile as I was swimming across on my way back. But\nyou received me with scorn, and turned away your face in disgust. The\nfever is gone, and this wound (as you see) is healed; but the wound in\nmy heart can never heal. You are no true friend; and from henceforth our\nways lie apart.\"\n\nThe man was ashamed of his unkindness, but it was too late, for, as the\npoet says--\n\n \"Who snaps the thread of friendship, never more\n Can join it as it once was joined before.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nThe Cat and the Parrot\n\n\nONCE upon a time, a Cat and a Parrot had joint lease of a certain piece\nof land, which they tilled together.\n\nOne day the Cat said to the Parrot, \"Come, friend, let us go to the\nfield.\"\n\nSaid the Parrot, \"I can't come now, because I am whetting my bill on the\nbranch of a mango-tree.\"\n\nSo the Cat went alone, and ploughed the field. When the field was\nploughed, the Cat came to the Parrot again, and said--\n\n\"Come, friend, let us sow the corn.\"\n\nSaid the Parrot, \"I can't come now, because I am whetting my beak on the\nbranch of a mango-tree.\"\n\nSo the Cat went alone, and sowed the corn. The corn took root, the corn\nsprouted, it put forth the blade, and the ear, and the ripe corn in the\near. Then again the Cat came to the Parrot, and said--\n\n\"Come, friend, let us go and gather the harvest.\"\n\nSaid the Parrot, \"I can't come now, because I am whetting my beak on the\nbranch of a mango-tree.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo the Cat went alone, and gathered the harvest. She put it away in\nbarns, and made ready for threshing. When all was ready for the\nthreshing, again the Cat came to the Parrot, and said--\n\n\"Come, friend, let us thresh the corn.\"\n\nSaid the Parrot, \"I can't come now, because I am whetting my beak on the\nbranch of a mango-tree.\"\n\nSo the Cat went, and threshed all the corn alone. Then the Cat came back\nto the Parrot, and said--\n\n\"Come, friend, let us go and winnow the grain from the chaff.\"\n\nSaid the Parrot, \"I can't come now, because I am whetting my beak on the\nbranch of a mango-tree.\"\n\nSo the Cat winnowed the grain from the chaff alone. Then she came back\nonce again to the Parrot, and said--\n\n\"Come, friend, the grain is all winnowed and sifted; come and divide it\nbetween us.\"\n\n\"Certainly,\" said the Parrot, and came at once. You see the Cat had done\nall the work, but the Parrot was quite ready to share the profit. They\ndivided the corn into two halves, and the Cat put her half away\nsomewhere, and the Parrot carried his half to his nest.\n\nThen the Cat and the Parrot agreed to invite each other to dinner every\nday; that is to say, the Cat asks the Parrot to-day, and the Parrot asks\nthe Cat to-morrow. The Cat's turn came first. Then the Cat went to\nmarket and bought a ha'porth of milk, a ha'porth of sugar, and a\nha'porth of rice. When the Parrot came there was nothing but this stingy\nfare. Moreover, the Cat was so inhospitable, that she actually made the\nParrot cook the food himself! Perhaps that was her way of rebuking her\nfriend for his laziness.\n\nNext day the turn came to the Parrot. He procured about thirty pounds\nof flour, and plenty of butter, and everything else that was needed, and\ncooked the food before his guest came. He made enough cakes to fill a\nwasherwoman's basket--about five hundred.\n\nWhen the Cat came, the Parrot put before her four hundred and\nninety-eight cakes, in a heap, and kept back for himself only two. The\nCat ate up the four hundred and ninety-eight cakes in about three\nminutes, and then asked for more.\n\nThe Parrot set before her the two cakes he had kept for himself. The Cat\ndevoured them, and then asked for more.\n\nThe Parrot said, \"I have no more cakes, but if you are still hungry, you\nmay eat me.\"\n\nThe Cat was still hungry, and ate the Parrot, bones and beak and\nfeathers. Thus the tables were turned; for if the Parrot had the best of\nit before, the Cat had the best of it now.\n\nAn old woman happened to be near, and saw this. So she picked up a\nstone, and said--\n\n\"Shoo! shoo! get away, or I'll kill you with this stone.\"\n\nNow the Cat thought to herself, \"I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my\nfriend the Parrot, and shall I blush to eat this old hag?\"\n\nNo, surely not. The Cat devoured the old Woman.\n\nThe Cat went along the road and perceived a Washerman with a donkey. He\nsaid, \"O Cat, get away, or my donkey shall kick you to death!\"\n\nThought the Cat, \"I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my friend the\nParrot, I ate the abusive old Woman, and shall I blush to eat a\nWasherman?\"\n\nNo, surely not. The Cat devoured the Washerman.\n\nThe Cat next met the wedding procession of a King: a column of soldiers,\nand a row of fine elephants two and two. The King said, \"O Cat, get\naway, or my elephants will trample you to death.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThought the Cat, \"I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my friend the\nParrot, I ate the abusive old Woman, I ate the Washerman and his donkey,\nand shall I blush to eat a beggarly King?\"\n\nNo, surely not. The Cat devoured the King, and his procession, and his\nelephants too.\n\nThen the Cat went on until she met a pair of Landcrabs. \"Run away, run\naway, Pussycat!\" said the Landcrabs, \"or we will nip you!\"\n\n\"Ha! ha! ha!\" laughed the Cat, shaking her sides (fat enough they were\nby this time), \"I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my friend the Parrot,\nI ate an abusive old Woman, I ate the Washerman and his donkey, I ate\nthe King and all his elephants, and shall I run away from a Landcrab?\nNot so, but I will eat the Landcrab too!\" So saying, she pounced upon\nthe Landcrabs. Gobble, gobble, slip, slop: in two swallows the Landcrabs\nwent down the Cat's gullet.\n\nBut although the Landcrabs slid down the Cat's gullet easily enough, you\nmust know that they are hard creatures, too hard for a Cat to bite; so\nthey took no harm at all. They found themselves amongst a crowd of\ncreatures. There was the King, sitting with his head on his hands, very\nunhappy; there was the King's newly-wed bride in a dead faint; there was\na company of soldiers, trying to form fours, but rather muddled in mind;\nthere was a herd of elephants, trumpeting loudly; there was a donkey\nbraying and the Washerman beating the donkey with a stick; there was the\nParrot, whetting his beak on his own claws; then there was the old Woman\nabusing them all roundly; and last of all, five hundred cakes neatly\npiled in a corner. The Landcrabs ran round to see what they could find;\nand they found that the inside of the Cat was quite soft. They could not\nsee anything at all, except by flashes, when the Cat opened her mouth,\nbut they could feel. So they opened their claws, and nip! nip! nip!\n\n\"Miaw!\" squealed the Cat.\n\n Then came another nip, and another great Miaw!\n The Landcrabs went on nipping, until they had nipped\n a big round hole in the side of the Cat. By this time the\n Cat was lying down, in great pain; and as the hole was\n very big, out walked the Landcrabs, and scuttled away.\n Then out walked the King, carrying his bride; and out\n walked the elephants, two and two; out walked the\n soldiers, who had succeeded in forming fours-right, by\n your left, quick march! out walked the donkey, with\n the Washerman driving him along; out walked the old\n Woman, giving the Cat a piece of her mind; and last\n of all, out walked the Parrot, with a cake in each\n claw. Then they all went about their business,\n as if nothing had happened; and the\n Parrot flew back to whet his\n beak on the branch of the\n mango-tree.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nNotes\n\n\n\n\nNotes\n\n1.--The Talking Thrush\n\n Told by K\u00c1SHI PRAS\u00c1D, village school, Bhing\u00e1, district\n Bahr\u00e1ich, Oudh.\n\nMan sows cotton-seeds in garden--Phudki bird sees him--Makes her nest of\nthe cotton--Goes to a Behana, and says, \"If I bring you cotton, will you\ncard it, and give me half, keeping half yourself?\"--He does so--\"Now\nmake it into balls\" (Piuni)--Does so on the same terms--A Kori spins\nthread on the same terms--And weaves it into cloth--Similarly a tailor\nmakes it into clothes--She flies to court and sits on a peg--Says the\nKing, \"Give me your suit\"--She does so, and says, \"The King covets my\nsuit\"--\"Come here, and I will return it\"--She comes, and he catches\nher--\"I will cut you in pieces\"--\"The King will cut me in pieces\nto-day\"--He cuts her up and tells his servant to wash them--\"To-day the\nKing is washing and cleaning\"--Puts her in a pan of oil--\"To-day the\nKing is frying me in oil\"--Eats her--\"I shall go into the King's\nstomach\"--The Bird puts out its head--Two soldiers attempt to cut it off\nand mutilate the King so that he dies.\n\nThe _motif_ is much the same as in No. 2 of the collection. The pieces\nof the Thrush speak like the fish in the tale of the \"Fisherman and the\nJinni\" (Burton, \"Arabian Nights,\" Library Edition, I. 59).\n\n\n2.--The Rabbit and the Monkey\n\n Told by DANKHAH RABHA, in the Bhutan Hills. Taken\n without essential change from _North Indian Notes\n and Queries_, iv. \u00a7 465.\n\n\n3.--The Sparrow's Revenge\n\n Told by SHIN SAH\u00c1I, teacher of the village school\n of Dayarhi Chakeri, Etah District. Another version\n of the _Podn\u00e2_ and the _Podn\u00ee_, _N.I.N.Q._ iii.\n 83. Compare the _Valiant Blackbird_, No. 28 below.\n\nHen Sparrow tells her husband to go into the jungle and fetch firewood\nto cook _kh\u00eer_ (rice milk)--A _Cham\u00e2r_ kills him--Hen makes carriage of\nstraw, yokes two rats to it, and drives off to take vengeance--Meets a\nWolf--\"Where are you going?\"--\"To take vengeance on the Cham\u00e2r who\nkilled my husband\"--\"May I help?\"--\"It will be kind\"--Meets a Snake, who\nsalutes her with, \"R\u00e2m! R\u00e2m! Whither away?\"--Replies as before, and same\nthing happens--So with a Scorpion--They arrive at the house of the\nCham\u00e2r--Wolf hides near the river--Snake under pile of cow-dung\nfuel--Scorpion under the lamp--The Sparrow flies up to the eaves and\ntwitters--Out comes Cham\u00e2r--Says she, \"A friend awaits you near the\nriver.\" To the river he goes--Wolf seizes him--His wife goes to the heap\nfor fuel--Snake bites her--She calls to her son, \"Bring the\nlamp\"--Scorpion stings him--They all die--Hen Sparrow gets another mate,\nand lives happily ever after.\n\nIt is part of the Faithful Animal cycle (Temple, \"Wide-awake Stories,\"\n412; Clouston, \"Popular Tales and Fictions,\" i. 223 _seqq._). This form\nof tale, in which the weaker animal gets the better of its more powerful\noppressor, is common in Indian folk-lore. Compare No. 1 of this\ncollection.\n\n\n4.--The Judgment of the Jackal\n\n Told by SHIUDAN CHAMAR, of Chaukiya, Mirz\u00e1pur.\n _N.I.N.Q._ iii. 101.\n\nMerchant puts up at house of Oilman--Oilman ties the horse to his\nmill--Next morning Merchant asks for it--He replies, \"It has run\naway!\"--\"But what is that horse?\"--\"My mill gave birth to it in the\nnight\"--Appeal to Siyar Panre, the Jackal--\"Go back and I will come\"--He\nbathes in a tank--Delay--They seek him, and find him sitting by the\ntank--\"Why did you delay?\"--\"Too busy; the tank caught fire, and I have\njust put it out\"--\"You are mad; who ever heard of a tank on fire?\"--\"Who\never heard of a mill bearing a foal?\"--Oilman returns horse.\n\nA parallel may be found in the Buddhist _J[=a]taka_, No. 219 (Cambridge\ntranslation, ii. 129), another Version from the Frontier in Swynnerton's\n\"Indian Nights' Entertainment,\" p. 142. Compare Stumme, _Tunisische\nM\u00e4rchen_, vol. ii., Story of an Oilman.\n\n\n5.--How the Mouse got into his Hole\n\n Told by BISRAM BANYA and recorded by MAHARAJ SINH,\n teacher of the school at Akbarpur, Faizabad district.\n\n\n6.--King Solomon and the Owl\n\n Told by MUNSH\u00cd CHHOT\u00c9 KH\u00c1N, teacher of the village school\n at Ant, District Sit\u00e1pur, Oudh.\n\n [A new legend of the Fall.]\n\nSolomon hunts alone--An Owl asks him to receive him--Solomon asks, \"Why\ndo you hoot all night?\"--\"To wake men and women early for prayer:\ntravelling is difficult, for treasure is dearer than life\"--\"Why do you\nshake your head?\"--\"To remind mankind that the world is but a fleeting\nshow, and to show my disapproval of their delight in worldly\nthings\"--\"Why do you eat no grain?\"--\"_Adam ate wheat in heaven, and was\nturned out of it on that account._ Adam prayed, and God sent him into\nthe world, and blessed him to be the father of mankind. If I eat one\ngrain I expect to be cast into hell\"--\"Why do you drink no water in the\nworld at night?\"--\"Because Noah's race was drowned in this world in\nwater. If I drink, it would be hard for me to live\"--Solomon is pleased,\nand asks the Owl to remain with him, and advise him on all points.\n\nThere is no verse in the original.\n\nAll through the eastern world the owl, from its association with\ngraveyards and old ruins, is regarded as a mystic bird, invested with\npowers of prophecy and wisdom (Crooke, \"Popular Religion and Folk-lore\nof Northern India,\" i. 279).\n\n\n7.--The Camel's Neck\n\n Told by BACH\u00c1\u00da, a Kasera, or brassfounder, of Mirz\u00e1pur,\n North-West Provinces.\n\nCamel practises austerities--Bhagw\u00e1n is pleased, and appears to\nhim--\"Who are you?\"--\"Lord of the Three Regions\"--\"Show me your proper\nform\"--Bhagw\u00e1n appears in his four-handed form (Chaturbhuji)--Camel does\nreverence--\"Ask a boon\"--\"Let my neck be a _yojan_ long\"--\"Be it\nso\"--The neck becomes eight miles long--He can now graze within a radius\nof four miles (sic)--It rains--He puts his neck in a cave--A pair of\nJackals eat his flesh--The Camel dies--A wise man says--\n\n \"\u00c1las d\u00f3kh mah\u00e1n dekhyo phal kais\u00e1 bhay\u00e1;\n Y\u00e1t\u00e9n \u00fant aj\u00e1n, maran lagyo nij karm se.\"\n\n\"Idleness is a great fault: see what was the result of idleness. By this\nthe foolish Camel died, simply owing to his own deeds.\"\n\nThis is one of the very common cycle of tales where the fool comes to\nruin in consequence of a stupid wish. In the \"Book of Sindibad,\" it\nappears as the \"Peri and the Religious Man\" (Clouston, \"Book of\nSindibad,\" 71); La Fontaine has adopted it as the \"Three Wishes,\" and\nPrior as \"The Ladle.\" The Italian version will be found in Crane,\n\"Italian Popular Tales,\" 221. The four-hand god is Vishnu in his form as\nChaturbhuja.\n\n\n8.--The Quail and the Fowler\n\n Told by RAMESWAR-PURI, a wandering religious beggar\n of Kharw\u00e1, District Mirz\u00e1pur.\n\nFowler catches a Quail--\"I'll teach you three things, and if you free me\nI'll teach you a fourth: (1) Never set free what you have caught; (2)\nWhat seems to you untrue you need not believe; (3) What is past you\nshould not trouble about\"--He sets the Quail free--Says the Quail, \"I\nhave in my stomach a gem weighing 1 1/4 seers, and worth lakhs of\nrupees; had you not let me go you would have that gem\"--Fowler falls on\nthe ground in misery--Says the Quail, \"You forget my teaching: (1) You\nset me free; (2) You did not ask how a body so light could contain such\na gem; (3) You are troubled about what is past\"--Flies away--Fowler\nreturns home a wiser man.\n\nCompare the \"Laughable Stories of Bar-Hebraeus,\" E. A. W. Budge (Luzac,\n1897), No. 382, where a Sparrow acts as this Quail does. See also the\n\"Three Counsels worth Money\" in No. 485.\n\n\n9.--The King of the Kites\n\n Told by R\u00c1M D\u00c9O, Brahman, of Mirz\u00e1pur.\n\nFrog and Mouse dispute, each saying he is King of the Kites--The dispute\nlasts for several years--They refer it to a _Panch_ (Committee of\nFive)--The other three are Bat, Squirrel, Parrot--They cannot decide--A\nsmall Kite appears--Carries off both Frog and Mouse, and eats them--The\nrest depart--The dispute does not arise again.\n\nThe belief that each species of bird and beast has a king of its own is\ncommon. Thus, we have a king of the serpents, of mice, of flies,\nlocusts, ants, foxes, cats, and so on (Frazer, \"Pausanias,\" iii. 559).\nAlso see No. 27 of this collection.\n\n\n10.--The Jackal and the Camel\n\n Told by HAR PRAS\u00c1D, Brahman, of Sar\u00e1ya Aghat,\n District Etah, N.W.P.\n\nCamel grazing, entangles nose-string in a tree--Confused in mind,\nappeals to Jackal--\"Brother, I will free you for one _seer_ of\nflesh\"--He agrees--Jackal asks the tongue--\"Have you a witness?\"--Jackal\ntries all the beasts, offering half of all he gets--Wolf refuses--Jackal\nexplains that the Camel will die, and they will get all his body--He\nthen agrees, and swears it--Camel opens his mouth, curls back\ntongue--Jackal cannot catch the tongue--Wolf tries--When the head is\nwell in, Camel closes his jaws--\"O _D\u00e2d\u00e2_ (father), what is this?\"--Says\nJackal, \"The result of lying,\" and runs away--Wolf dies.\n\nIn Oriental folk-lore the jackal takes the place which the fox occupies\nin the Western world, and numerous tales are told of his cunning. This\nfact has formed the base of an argument to prove that the European Beast\ntales originated from the East (Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e1gara,\" ii. 28).\n\n\n11.--The Wise Old Shepherd\n\n Told by MUNSHI FAZL KAR\u00cdM of Mirz\u00e1pur.\n\nA N\u00e1ga (Snake) goes out of his hole to take an airing--Enters the Raja's\ncourt--All flee in terror--Raja orders the Snake to be killed--The\nPrince kills it--Snake's wife goes in search--Enters the court and\nlearns his fate--Vows to make his wife also a widow--Coils round the\nPrince's neck in the night--He dares not stir--Queen-mother goes to see\nwhat is the matter--Sees the Snake--Raja sends archers--They prepare to\nshoot--Snake pleads fair reprisals, and asks that the matter be decided\nby Panch--They find five Shepherds holding a Panchayat--They all go\nthither--The men all agree that the Snake is right except one--He asks\nhow many sons has the Snake--\"Seven\"--\"Then you must wait till the\nPrincess has three more, and then you may kill him.\"\n\nThere is a universal taboo in India against killing a snake. When a\ncobra is slain it is supposed that its mate always avenges its death\n(Crooke, \"Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India,\" i. 226).\n\n\n12.--Beware of Bad Company\n\n Told by JAGAT KISHOR, master at the Government School,\n Gond\u00e1, Oudh.\n\nA Swan made friends with a Crow--They fly away from M\u00e1nsarowar to find\nsome sport--Perch on a pipal tree under which a pious Raja is\nworshipping his Th\u00e1kurji (idol of R\u00e1m or Krishna)--Crow drops filth on\nhis head and flies away--He sees the Swan and shoots it--Swan says:--\n\n \"K\u00e1k n\u00e1hin, ham hans hain,\n M\u00e1n karat ham b\u00e1s;\n Dhrisht k\u00e1g k\u00e9 m\u00e9l s\u00f3n,\n Bhayo hamar\u00f3 n\u00e1s.\"\n\n(\"I am no Crow but a Swan, dwelling in M\u00e1n Sar\u00f3war; being friend of an\nignoble Crow I am destroyed.\")\n\nThe Crow, as in several tales in this collection, is in Oriental\nfolk-lore the representative of all that is thievish and mischievous.\n\n\n13.--The Foolish Wolf\n\n Told by MAH\u00c1DEVA PRAS\u00c1D, pupil of branch school, Nau\n Shaharah, District Gonda, Oudh.\n\nWolf and Ass were friends--Played as described in text--Boy sees Wolf\nrunning away from Ass, and says, \"What a timid Wolf\"--Says the Wolf,\n\"You shall rue it, I'll carry you off to-day\"--Boy tells his\nmother--\"Never mind, he won't hurt you\"--Hides stone in loin-cloth--Wolf\ncomes for him--Leaves him in his den for the morrow--Goes to play with\nthe Ass--Boy climbs a tree--Wolf finds no Boy--Stands gaping with\nperplexity--Boy throws stone into his mouth and kills him.\n\n\n14.--Reflected Glory\n\n Told by M\u00c1T\u00c1 D\u00cdN, assistant teacher, Pili-Bh\u00edt district, N.W.P.\n\nA Shepherd had a lame Goat which he beat--It ran away--Fearing the wild\nbeasts, it sat down beside a cave where were footsteps of a Lion--A\nJackal comes up--\"R\u00e1m, R\u00e1m, grandfather! I have found food after many\ndays.\" \"R\u00e1m, R\u00e1m, grandson, I was told to sit here by the owner of these\nfootprints.\"--\"A Lion! if I eat you, he will eat my cubs\"--He goes--A\nWolf comes, and the same thing happens--The Lion comes--Says the Goat,\n\"By the influence of your footprints I have been safe; beasts came to\ndevour me, and I became your man: they fled.\" \"If you have called\nyourself my man I will not eat you\"--Lion finds an Elephant: \"I have a\nlame Goat; let him go on your back and eat the young leaves as you\ngraze\"--He agrees, and the Goat says, \"Khoj pakar liyo baran ko hasti\nmili hai \u00e1i gaj mastak achchhi charhi ajay\u00e1 kopal kh\u00e2ya\" (\"By betaking\nmyself to the footprints of the great, I have got an Elephant\")--Mounting\non the Elephant's head, the Goat feeds well on new leaves.\n\n\n15.--The Cat and the Sparrows\n\n Told by TULSI R\u00c1M, Brahman, of Sadabad, Mathura\n district. For the _motif_, compare _J[=a]taka_,\n No. 333 (translation, vol. iii. p. 71).\n\n16.--The Foolish Fish\n\n Told by HARI CHAND or HEM CHANDI, teacher of a\n village school, Mirz\u00e1pur district. A variant of\n the same, told by SHEO-D\u00c1N, Cham\u00e1r, Chankiy\u00e1,\n Mirz\u00e1pur district.\n\nBanya sees Tiger sunk in the mud--Tiger tries him to release him--Swears\nhe will not hurt him or his family--Banya saves him--Says Tiger, \"Shall\nI eat you or your ox?\"--Banya protests--Tiger: \"It is the way of my\nfamily\"--Banya says, \"Let the Jackal arbitrate\"--Jackal asks to see the\nplace the Tiger was in--Then to be shown exactly how he was--The Tiger\ngoes in again, and the Jackal advises the man to go home and leave him.\n\n\n17.--The Clever Goat\n\n Recorded by M\u00c1T\u00c1 D\u00cdN, assistant teacher, Pili-Bh\u00edt district.\n\n\n18.--A Crow is a Crow for Ever\n\n Told and recorded by S\u00c1HIB R\u00c1M, Brahman, of Nardauli,\n Etah district.\n\nThe verse is:--\n\n K\u00e1g parh\u00e1e pinjra: parhi gaye ch\u00e1ron Ved:\n Jab sudhi ai kutum ki rahe dhed ke dhed.\n\n \"I kept my crow in a cage, and taught him all four Vedas;\n When he thought of his family, he became filthy as ever.\"\n\n\n19.--The Grateful Goat\n\n Told by BIKK\u00da MISRA, Brahman, Achhn\u00e9r\u00e1 village, Agra district.\n\nButcher buys a Goat--\"Spare my life, and I will repay you\"--He spares\nhim--The Goat goes into the forest and meets a Jackal--\"I am going to\neat you.\" \"Wait till I get fat in the forest.\" \"Good: look out for me\nwhen you come back\"--Meets a Wolf--Same thing happens--Finds a temple of\nMah\u00e1deva--In it are gold coins--Swallows them--Goes to a\nflower-seller--\"Cover me with flowers\"--He does so, and the Goat voids\ntwo mohurs--Sets out to return--Meets the Wolf--\"Have you seen a Goat?\"\n\"No\"--Meets the Jackal--\"Have you seen a Goat?\" \"Yes, some distance\nback\"--Proceeds to the Butcher, and voids the rest of the coins--The\nButcher is grateful, and never kills him as long as he lives.\n\nAgra district. Tales of animals spitting gold are common, as in Grimm's\n\"Three Little Men in the Wood\" (\"Household Tales,\" i. 56) and in\nOriental Folk-lore (Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e1gara,\" ii. 8, 453, 637;\nKnowles, \"Folk-tales of Kashmir,\" p. 443).\n\n\n20.--The Cunning Jackal\n\n Told by BAL B\u00cdR PRAS\u00c1D, teacher of the school at\n Sult\u00e1npur, Oudh.\n\nA Jackal sees melons on the other side of a river--Sees a Tortoise--\"How\nare you and your family?\" \"I am well, but I have no wife.\" \"Why did you\nnot tell me? some people on the other side have asked me to find a match\nfor their daughter.\" \"If you mean it I will take you across\"--Takes him\nacross on his back--When the melons are over the Jackal dresses up a\njhau-tree as a bride--\"There is your bride, but she is too modest to\nspeak till I am gone\"--Tortoise carries him back--Calls to the stump--No\nanswer--Goes up and touches it--Finds it is a tree--Vows revenge--As\nJackal drinks, catches his leg--\"You fool, you have got hold of a stump\nby mistake; see, here is my leg,\" pointing to a stump--Tortoise leaves\nhold--Jackal escapes--Tortoise goes to Jackal's den--Jackal returns and\nsees the footprints leading into the den--Piles dry leaves at the mouth,\nand fires them--Tortoise expires.\n\nThis is an unpublished variant of the \"Jackal and the Crocodile\"\n(Temple, \"Wide-awake Stories,\" 243).\n\n\n21.--The Farmer's Ass\n\n Told by R\u00c1M SINH, Haidar-Garh, district Barau Banki.\n\nA Washerman has an Ass that brays on hearing a conch-shell, thinks he\nmust have been a saint in a former life, but something went wrong (kahin\nchuk gaya) and he became an Ass--Names him Tulsi Das--Ass dies--\"He was\nvaluable to me,\" shaves head, performs obsequies, gives feast to\nclansmen--Goes to shop of a Banya--\"Why are you in mourning?\" \"Tulsi\nDas, who was a great saint, is dead\"--Banya shaves, too--Raja's sepoy\nasks him why--\"Tulsi Das is dead\"--Shaves, too--Comrades ask why--Same\nthing--Same with the chief of the sepoys--The minister, the raja, all\nshave--Queen asks why--Raja tells her--\"But who is Tulsi Das?\" \"A friend\nof the minister's\"--So the report is traced back to the Washerman, who\nsays, \"He was my Ass.\"\n\n_N.I.N.Q._, iii. \u00a7 104, gives the same tale about an ass named Sobhan\n(beautiful): told by Shyam Sundar, village accountant of Dudhi, Mirz\u00e1pur\ndistrict, recorded by Ahmad Ullah. Compare Temple's \"Wide-awake\nStories,\" 'The Death and Burial of poor Hen Sparrow;' Lady Burton's\n\"Arabian Nights,\" iii. 228, 'The Unwise Schoolmaster who fell in Love by\nReport;' Jacob's \"English Fairy Tales,\" 'Tetty Mouse and Tatty Mouse,'\nand _note_, p. 234.\n\n\n22.--The Parrot Judge\n\n Told by MAKUND L\u00c1L, Mirz\u00e1pur.\n\nA Bird-catcher had a Parrot which knew only two words, Beshak\n(undoubtedly) and Cheshak (what doubt)--Took it to market, and gave out\nthat it knew Persian, price 5 lakhs of rupees--Nobleman asks it, \"Do you\nknow Persian?\"--\"Cheshak\"--Buys it--Puts it in a gold cage, and gives it\ngood food--King one day began to talk to the Parrot in Persian--It could\nsay nothing but these two words--The owner threw it on the ground and\nkilled it.\n\n\n23.--The Frog and the Snake\n\n Told by AKBAR SH\u00c1H, M\u00e1njhi, one of the jungle-folk\n of Manbasa, Dudhi, Mirz\u00e1pur, and recorded by\n Pandit Ramghar\u00edb Chaub\u00e9. _N.I.N.Q._, iii. \u00a7 101.\n\nNo change. The King of the Snakes is V\u00e1suki N\u00e1ga.\n\n\n24.--Little Miss Mouse\n\n Told by AKBAR SH\u00c1H, M\u00e1njhi, of Manbasa, Dudhi,\n Mirz\u00e1pur. _N.I.N.Q._, iv. \u00a7 19.\n\nNo change in first part. The music-shop is in the original the house of\nthe Cham\u00e2r (a caste of labourers and leather-workers), who gives a drum,\nwhich is broken by a woman husking rice, who strikes it with a pestle.\nThe crop in the last scene is rice.\n\n\n25.--The Jackal that Lost his Tail\n\n Told by PARMANAND TIW\u00c1RI, student, Anglo-Sanskrit School,\n Mirz\u00e1pur. _N.I.N.Q._, iv. \u00a7 17.\n\nA Kurmi (one of the agricultural tribes) used to go to his field--At\nnoon his wife brought the dinner--Meets Jackal, and all falls out as in\ntale till the tail is cut off--Jackal returns and finds wife gathering\ncow-dung--\"Your son (_sic_) has cut off my tail, and I must bite you.\"\n\"He is dead, come to the funeral feast?\"--He and his friends come--\"To\nprevent you squabbling, let me tie you up\"--Ties them to the cattle\npegs, tailless Jackal with specially strong chain--Kurmi comes out with\nbludgeon--They break their ropes and flee, all but tailless Jackal,\nwhich Kurmi kills.\n\nThis is connected with the \u00c6sopian fable of \"The Fox who Lost his Tail.\"\n\n\n26.--The Wily Tortoise\n\n Told by BRIJ MOHAN L\u00c1L, second master, High School, Manipuri,\n N.W.P. The bird is a _Hansa_. _N.I.N.Q._, iii. \u00a7 295.\n\n\n27.--The King of the Mice\n\n Told and recorded by BABU GANDHARAB SINH, of Etah.\n\nKingdom of Mice--Mouse King and Fox Wazir--All animals of forest did\nhomage--Caravan passed--Camel left behind--Eats the Mouse King's\ngarden--Fox brings him in--Mocks the King--Nose-string gets\nentangled--King says he is served right--He begs release and promises\nservice--Mouse gnaws string--Camel serves him--Woodcutters find Camel\nand take him--King sends to fetch them--Demands his Camel--The\nWoodcutters tell their King--He refuses--King of Mice collects armies\nand burrows under Woodcutter's treasury--Brings all the money out in\ncharge of a detachment of Mice--Wise man sees it--Covets the money--Old\nMouse says, \"Why do you covet? our King will give you service\"--Goes to\nthe King--The King bids him fetch more of his brethren--With these the\nMouse King invades the realm of Woodcutters--Mice undermine the walls of\nthe enemy's fort--Woodcutters' army flee--King of Mice gets back his\nCamel, and makes the Woodcutter King his vassal.\n\n(The episode of the wise man seems to be interpolated, as the men play\nno part in the attack.)\n\nAnother version in _N.I.N.Q._, iii. \u00a7 292, told by TH\u00c1KUR UMR\u00c1O SINH of\nSonh\u00e1r, Etah district, N.W.P. For Kings of Animals, compare No. 9 of\nthis book.\n\n\n28.--The Valiant Blackbird\n\n Told by WAZ\u00cdRAN, a Mohammedan servant of Mirz\u00e1pur, and\n recorded by MIRZA MUHAMMAD BEG.\n\nA Podna (weaver bird) and his mate lived in a tree--The Raja catches the\nwife--Podna builds carts of reeds, yokes pairs of frogs, makes\nkettle-drum, armed with piece of reed, sets out drumming--Meets a\nCat--\"Where are you going?\" \"Sarkande ki to g\u00e1ri, do mendak jote jaen,\nRaja m\u00e1ri Podni, ham bair bisahne jaen\" (\"My carriage is of reed with\ntwo frogs yoked thereto; the King has seized my Podni; I go to take my\nrevenge\"). \"May I go with you?\" \"Get into my car\"--Meets in same way\nAnts, Rope and Club, River--Drives into King's courtyard and demands\nPodni--King orders him to be shut in henhouse--\"Nikal billi, teri b\u00e1ri.\nK\u00e1n chhor, kanpati m\u00e1ri\" (\"Come out, Cat, your turn now: come out of my\near and hit them on the head\")--Cat comes out and kills fowls--Next\nnight shut in stable--\"Niklo rassi, aur sonte tumhari bari. Kan chhor,\nkanpati mari\"--Rope ties horses and Club kills them--Next night shut in\nwith elephants--\"Niklo chiunti tumh\u00e1ri b\u00e1ri. K\u00e1n chhor, kanpati\nm\u00e1ri\"--Ants run up trunks and sting their brains--Next night tied to the\nRaja's bed--\"Niklo darya teri b\u00e1ri. K\u00e1n chhor, kanpati m\u00e1ri\"--River\nbegins to drown King and bed--\"For God's sake, take your wife and go.\"\n\nHere, as in other tales of this collection, we have the incident of the\nHelping Animals, for which see Tawney, \"Katha Sarit S\u00e1gara,\" ii. 103,\n596; Crooke, \"Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India,\" ii.\n202. See _N.I.N.Q._, iii. \u00a7 173.\n\n\n29.--The Goat and the Hog\n\n Told by S\u00daRAJ SINGH, assistant master of the K\u00e1ndhla school,\n district Muzafarnagar, N.W.P. See _N.I.N.Q._, iv. \u00a7 430.\n\nGoat and Hog friends--Goat goes to seek his fortune--Enters shop of a\nBanya--Eats all he can find--Goes into inner room--Banya returns--Little\ngirl cries for sugar--Goes in to get some--Goat says, \"Ek sing anrur\nganrur; dusri sing meri, soni marhawal. Banya beti awo nahin, dhenruki\nphoron\" (\"One of my horns is twisted, one is gilt with gold. Don't come\nin, Banya girl, or I will tear your stomach open\")--Runs out--Father\nsends for the Kotwal--Same thing--Prays to him--Goat comes out: \"I want\nsweetmeats, ornaments for my head, neck, feet, horns, tail\"--Gives them,\nputting on all the jewels he has in pawn--Goat shows all this to the\nHog--Hog goes to try his luck--Knew no verses--No one frightened--Banya\ndrives him out with stick and dogs.\n\n\n30.--The Parrot and the Parson\n\n Told by BACHAU KASERA, Mirz\u00e1pur. _N.I.N.Q._, v. \u00a7 72.\n\nBanker taught his parrot to speak--A Sadhu passed by--Quoth Parrot,\n\"Salaam, Mahar\u00e1j, how can I get out?\" \"Let me ask my Guru\"--Guru when\nasked swooned--S\u00e1dhu told Parrot what had happened, and apologised for\nnot being able to help--\"I understand,\" says Parrot--Feigns death--Cage\nopened.\n\n\n31.--The Lion and the Hare\n\n Told by SURYABALI, Mirz\u00e1pur.\n\nNo change. The verse is:--\n\n Bin\u00e1 budh\u00ed ke b\u00e1gh bil\u00e1n\u00e1:\n Kharh\u00e1 san kah\u00fan b\u00e1gh mar\u00e1n\u00e1.\n\n\n32.--The Monkey's Bargains\n\n Told and recorded by RAMESWAR-PURI, teacher, Khairw\u00e1\n village school, district Mirz\u00e1pur.\n\nThe Story of Gang\u00e1 B\u00fbrhi (name of the old woman). No change in the\nincidents, except that the cowherd is grinding corn, and the last\nsentence is added. The verses are:--\n\n W\u00e1h, jangle men se lakari l\u00e1y\u00e1,\n W\u00e1h, lakari main burhy\u00e1 ko dinh,\n Burhiy\u00e1 monkon roti dinh,\n W\u00e1h rotiy\u00e1 main tok\u00f4n dinh\n Ky\u00e1 tun mok\u00f4n mataki na deg\u00e1? 5\n\n\"Hullo! I brought fuel from the forest. (2) I gave it to the old woman.\n(3) The old woman gave me cake. (4) I gave that cake to thee. (5) Wilt\nnot thou give me jugs?\"\n\n U roti main kohr\u00e1 ko dinh, 4\n Kohr\u00e1 monk\u00f4n metuki dinh,\n U metuki main tok\u00f4n dinh,\n Ky\u00e1 tu mujhko makkhan na deg\u00e1?\n\n\"I gave that cake to the Potter. (5) The Potter gave me an earthen\nvessel. (6) I gave that earthen vessel to thee. (7) Wilt not thou give\nme butter?\"\n\n W\u00e1h roti main kumhar\u00e1 ko dinh, 4\n Kumhar\u00e1 monkon metuki dinh,\n W\u00e1h metuki main gw\u00e1lin ko dinh\n Gw\u00e1lin monkon londi dinh,\n W\u00e1h londi main tok\u00f4n dinh,\n Ky\u00e1 tu monk\u00f4n ek bail bh\u00ed na deg\u00e1?\n\n\"(6) I gave that earthen vessel to the cowherd's wife. (7) The cowherd's\nwife gave me a lump of butter. (8) I gave that lump to thee. (9) Wilt\nnot thou give me an Ox?\"\n\nThe others are not given, except the last lines:--\n\n Baj meri dholaki dh\u00e1mak dh\u00fbn;\n R\u00e2ni ke badle \u00e1i tun.\n\n\"O my drum, make sounds like _dh\u00e1mak dh\u00fbn_: thou art come in exchange\nfor a Queen.\"\n\n\n33.--The Monkey's Rebuke\n\n Told and recorded by L\u00c1L\u00c1 BHAW\u00c1N\u00cd D\u00cdN, teacher of Majhg\u00e1on\n district Hamirpur.\n\nA Banya sold milk mixed with water--Earns 100 rupees--Sets out for\nhome--Stops to wash at a tank--Lays the bag down--Monkey takes the bag\nup a tree--Drops 50 rupees in the tank--Throws down the bag to the\nman--\"You sold half water and half milk: therefore I have thrown half\nyour money into this tank\"--Banya goes home a better man.\n\n\n34.--The Bull and the Bullfinch\n\n Told by PANDIT JAGANN\u00c1TH PRAS\u00c1D, master of Mar\u00e1ri\n Kal\u00e1n village school, and recorded by Pandit\n Madhuban, second master of the same, Un\u00e1o\n district, Oudh.\n\nKhusat Bird and Bull--The rest as in the story, save that \"the Almighty\nKing of the Universe\" promises his help to the Lion--Bull tells\nBird--Bird says, \"Did not I warn you? still I will help\"--Tells him that\nhe has dreamt a marriage has been arranged for himself with Mahadeva's\nspouse--They apply to Mahadeva for explanation--Mahadeva thinks, \"If I\nsay visions are real things, this Bird will claim my wife\"--So says,\n\"Dreams go by contraries: go home and don't be foolish.\"\n\nSee the value of friendship.\n\n\n35.--The Swan and the Crow\n\n Told by L\u00c1LA SHANKAR L\u00c1L, village accountant, and\n recorded by CHANGAN SINH, master of the school at\n Chamkari, Etah district, N.W.P.\n\nNo change, except Wazir for Judge and Gay\u00e1 for Jerusalem. The Judge is a\nHindu, and the Crow promises to take his father's bones to the sacred\ncity of Gay\u00e1, in Bengal.\n\n\n36.--Pride shall have a Fall\n\n Told by AKBAR SH\u00c1H, M\u00e1njhi, one of the jungle-folk of\n Manbasa, district Mirz\u00e1pur.\n\nNo change. The animal with one eye is supposed to be cunning and uncanny\n(Crooke, \"Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India,\" ii. 37,\n51). Compare No. 37 of this collection.\n\n\n37.--The Kid and the Tiger\n\n Told by AKBAR SH\u00c1H, M\u00e1njhi, and recorded by PANDIT\n RAMGHAR\u00cdB CHAUB\u00c9. A favourite nursery tale of the\n Kharw\u00e1rs of Mirz\u00e1pur.\n\nTigress and She-goat great friends--Tigress has two cubs, Goat four kids\nnamed Khurbhur, Muddil, Goddil, and Nathil--Tigress thinks: \"It is hard\nthat I have only two, and the Goat has four: suppose I eat two of hers\nto make things even\"--Asks the Goat to let one kid sleep with her--Only\nKhurbhur consents--Khurbhur puts one of her cubs in his place--She eats\nit--Puts a stone in his place--She breaks her teeth--One-eyed Tiger\ncalls--Tells a \"story\": \"When I eat goats, all the four kids are one\nmouthful\"--Khurbhur says, \"When you come to eat us, Muddil will hold\nyour head, Nathil the fore-paws, Goddil the hind-paws, Khurbhur will cut\noff your head, if mother holds the light\"--Tiger runs away--Meets six\nmore--They go to Goat's house--Khurbhur climbs tree--They jump and miss\nhim--They climb one on another, One-eye at bottom--Khurbhur says,\n\"Mother, a lump of mud to throw in his eye\"--One-eye jumps--They\nfall--They run away, and trouble the goats no more.\n\nThe one-eyed animal appears in No. 35 of this collection.\n\n\n38.--The Stag, the Crow, and the Jackal\n\n Told and recorded by BALB\u00cdR PRAS\u00c1D, Brahman,\n of Mirz\u00e1pur.\n\nStag and Crow are friends--Jackal covets Stag--Says, \"A crow is not a\nfriend for you; choose a denizen of earth like me\"--They become\nfriends--Jackal leads him to snare--Stag is trapped--\"I cannot help you,\nbecause there is leather in the snare, and it is the Ek\u00e1dashi (eleventh\nday of the lunar fortnight) when I fast\"--Crow advises him to feign\ndeath--He does so, and escapes.\n\n\n39.--The Monkey and the Crows\n\n Told by SARIJU PRAS\u00c1D, teacher of the school at Subhikha,\n Bahraich district, Oudh.\n\nCrows build nests in a cotton-tree (_semal_)--In the rains a Monkey\narrives soaking--Said the Crows, \"We build nests with only a beak: can\nyou not make a better with two hands and two feet?\" \"Wait till\nmorning\"--Then he tears down their nests--\"Good advice given to a fool\nonly kindles his malice.\"\n\n\n40.--The Swan and the Paddy-bird\n\n Told by DEVI D\u00cdN, student, and recorded by BADARI PRAS\u00c1D,\n of the school at Musanagar, Cawnpur district.\n\nNo change. The lake in the original is the famous Mana Sarovar lake in\nTibet. The Swan at the end repeats this couplet:--\n\n Bit chhoto, chit saugun, bit men chit na sam\u00e1e:\n So murak binsat sadan, jirni bakuli nariyar kh\u00e1e.\n\n(\"Desire is one thing, capacity is another. The desire exceeds the\npower. Thus die the foolish, as did the Paddy-bird when she tried to eat\nthe cocoa-nut.\")\n\nThe Paddy-bird is the Bagla, or Bagula, a sort of small heron (_Ardea\ntorra_), which frequents the banks of ponds and catches little fish and\nfrogs. In folk-lore, from its quaint appearance, it is the type of\ndemure cunning, and a sanctimonious rogue ascetic is often compared to\nit.\n\nCompare a similar tale of a crane: _J[=a]taka_, No. 236 (Cambridge\ntranslation, ii. 161).\n\n\n41.--What is a Man?\n\n Told by _Shibb\u00e1 Sinh Gaur_, Brahman, resident in\n Saharanpur, N.W.P.\n\nNo change, except that the order of the animals is Elephant, Camel, Ox.\n\nAnother version makes the man a carpenter--He goes away and makes a\ncage--Induces the Lion to enter--Leaves him to starve.\n\nThe complaints of the animals against men form the subject of a very\namusing Hindustani book derived from the Persian, the Akhw\u00e1n-us-safa.\n\n\n42.--The Wound and the Scar\n\n Told by SHAIKH FAR\u00cdD AHMAD, and recorded by the teacher of\n the village school, Barhauli, district Bahraich, Oudh.\n\nNo change, except the Wound is dealt by the Woodman's axe, at the\ncommand of the Lion, when first he visits him after the sickness. The\nverses are--\n\n Samman dhaga prem ka jin toryo chatkay\n Jore se na jurat hai, aut ganth par jay.\n\n\n43.--The Cat and the Parrot\n\n Told by BISESHAR DAY\u00c1L, Banya (or corn-chandler),\n of Bindki, district Fatehpur, N.W.P., and recorded\n by PANDIT BALDEO PRAS\u00c1D, teacher of the Tahsili\n school, Bindki.\n\nNo change, except the Parrot says, \"I am sitting on the branch of a\nmango-tree and getting a bill made.\" Number of cakes not given. And\nafter meeting the Raja, the Cat meets (1) four young of the wild cow\n(Surahg\u00e1ya), which she eats, and (2) a pair of Surahg\u00e1ya, which fall\nupon her, and tear her stomach open, when all those she has eaten troop\nout.\n\nHere, as in other tales of this collection, the Parson is the Guru or\nspiritual adviser of pious Hindus.\n\n\n PRINTED BY\n THE TEMPLE PRESS AT LETCHWORTH IN GREAT BRITAIN\n\n[Illustration]\n\n * * * * *\n\nTranscriber's Notes:\n\nObvious punctuation errors repaired.\n\nVaried accenting was retained. This hyphenation was so varied that\nimages of the original \"Notes\" pages were included in the HTML version.\nYou may see these images by clicking on the pages numbers.\n\nAn \"a\" with a marcron is shown in the text by [=a].\n\nA smaller typeface indicating a quiet voice was indicated by surround\nthe text with ~.","title":"The Talking Thrush, and Other Tales from India","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":45528}