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+Project Gutenberg's The Talking Thrush, by William Crooke and W. H. D. Rouse
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Talking Thrush
+ and Other Tales from India
+
+Author: William Crooke
+ W. H. D. Rouse
+
+Illustrator: W. Heath Robinson
+
+Release Date: December 9, 2009 [EBook #30635]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TALKING THRUSH ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Emmy and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+The Talking Thrush
+
+And Other Tales from India
+
+[Illustration: "A Crow is a Crow for ever."]
+
+
+
+
+The Talking Thrush
+
+And Other Tales from India Collected by W·CROOKE And Retold by
+W·H·DROUSE
+
+Illustrated by W·H·Robinson.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ New York: E. P. Dutton & Co.
+ London: J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.
+
+ 1922
+
+
+
+
+ FIRST PUBLISHED _October 1899_
+ REPRINTED _July 1902; October 1922_
+
+ _All rights reserved_
+
+ PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+THE stories contained in this little book are only a small part of a
+large collection of Indian folk-tales, made by Mr. Crooke in the course
+of the Ethnological Survey of the North-West Provinces and Oudh. Some
+were recorded by the collector from the lips of the jungle-folk of
+Mirzápur; others by his native assistant, Pandit Rámgharíb Chaubé.
+Besides these, a large number were received from all parts of the
+Provinces in response to a circular issued by Mr. J. C. Nesfield, the
+Director of Public Instruction, to all teachers of village schools.
+
+The present selection is confined to the Beast Stories, which are
+particularly interesting as being mostly indigenous and little affected
+by so-called Aryan influence. Most of them are new, or have been
+published only in the _North Indian Notes and Queries_ (referred to as
+_N.I.N.Q._).
+
+In the re-telling, for which Mr. Rouse is responsible, a number of
+changes have been made. The text of the book is meant for children, and
+consequently the first aim has been to make an interesting story. Those
+who study folk-tales for any scientific purpose will find all such
+changes marked in the Notes. If the change is considerable, the original
+document is summarised. It should be added that these documents are
+merely brief Notes in themselves, without literary interest. The Notes
+also give the source of each tale, and a few obvious parallels, or
+references to the literature of the subject.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ THE TALKING THRUSH 1
+
+ THE RABBIT AND THE MONKEY 8
+
+ THE SPARROW'S REVENGE 16
+
+ THE JUDGMENT OF THE JACKAL 21
+
+ HOW THE MOUSE GOT INTO HIS HOLE 25
+
+ KING SOLOMON AND THE OWL 30
+
+ THE CAMEL'S NECK 33
+
+ THE QUAIL AND THE FOWLER 36
+
+ THE KING OF THE KITES 39
+
+ THE JACKAL AND THE CAMEL 43
+
+ THE WISE OLD SHEPHERD 47
+
+ BEWARE OF BAD COMPANY 53
+
+ THE FOOLISH WOLF 55
+
+ REFLECTED GLORY 58
+
+ THE CAT AND THE SPARROWS 61
+
+ THE FOOLISH FISH 65
+
+ THE CLEVER GOAT 72
+
+ A CROW IS A CROW FOR EVER 76
+
+ THE GRATEFUL GOAT 81
+
+ THE CUNNING JACKAL; OR, THE BITER BIT 85
+
+ THE FARMER'S ASS 89
+
+ THE PARROT JUDGE 93
+
+ THE FROG AND THE SNAKE 97
+
+ LITTLE MISS MOUSE AND HER FRIENDS 101
+
+ THE JACKAL THAT LOST HIS TAIL 105
+
+ THE WILY TORTOISE 110
+
+ THE KING OF THE MICE 112
+
+ THE VALIANT BLACKBIRD 117
+
+ THE GOAT AND THE HOG 123
+
+ THE PARROT AND THE PARSON 127
+
+ THE LION AND THE HARE 130
+
+ THE MONKEY'S BARGAINS 132
+
+ THE MONKEY'S REBUKE 139
+
+ THE BULL AND THE BULLFINCH 145
+
+ THE SWAN AND THE CROW 150
+
+ PRIDE SHALL HAVE A FALL 156
+
+ THE KID AND THE TIGER 160
+
+ THE STAG, THE CROW, AND THE JACKAL 166
+
+ THE MONKEY AND THE CROWS 170
+
+ THE SWAN AND THE PADDY-BIRD 173
+
+ WHAT IS A MAN? 176
+
+ THE WOUND AND THE SCAR 182
+
+ THE CAT AND THE PARROT 186
+
+ NOTES 195
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations
+
+
+ "A CROW IS A CROW FOR EVER" _Frontispiece_
+
+ PAGE
+
+ TITLE-PAGE v
+
+ PREFACE: Headpiece vii
+
+ CONTENTS: Headpiece ix
+ " Tailpiece xi
+
+ THE TALKING THRUSH:
+ Initial 1
+
+ THE RABBIT AND THE MONKEY:
+ Initial 8
+ Man with Bamboo Pole 9
+ "Sit in front of that Man" 11
+ Tailpiece 15
+
+ THE SPARROW'S REVENGE:
+ "Up jumped the Boy, and out he ran" 19
+
+ THE JUDGMENT OF THE JACKAL:
+ Initial 21
+ "The Merchant was much dismayed" 22
+ "And away they went" 23
+
+ HOW THE MOUSE GOT INTO HIS HOLE:
+ Initial 25
+
+ KING SOLOMON AND THE OWL:
+ Initial 30
+ Tailpiece 32
+
+ THE CAMEL'S NECK:
+ Headpiece 33
+
+ THE QUAIL AND THE FOWLER:
+ Headpiece 36
+ Tailpiece 38
+
+ THE KING OF THE KITES:
+ Initial 39
+ "The Frog turned up his flat nose" 41
+
+ THE JACKAL AND THE CAMEL:
+ Tailpiece 46
+
+ THE WISE OLD SHEPHERD:
+ Initial 47
+ The Fifth Shepherd 51
+ Tailpiece 52
+
+ BEWARE OF BAD COMPANY:
+ Initial 53
+
+ THE CAT AND THE SPARROWS:
+ Initial 61
+ "Just at that moment up came a Cat" 63
+ Tailpiece 64
+
+ THE FOOLISH FISH:
+ Initial 65
+ Tailpiece 71
+
+ THE CLEVER GOAT:
+ Tailpiece 75
+
+ A CROW IS A CROW FOR EVER:
+ "And took him home to the Palace" 77
+ Tailpiece 80
+
+ THE GRATEFUL GOAT:
+ Initial 81
+ Tailpiece 84
+
+ THE CUNNING JACKAL:
+ Initial 85
+
+ THE FARMER'S ASS:
+ "He shaved off every scrap of hair
+ from his head" 89
+ "It was not easy to get their hair
+ back again" 92
+ Tailpiece 92
+
+ THE PARROT JUDGE:
+ The Parrot in Court 95
+ Tailpiece 96
+
+ THE FROG AND THE SNAKE:
+ Tailpiece 98
+ "He saw a Frog swimming on the top
+ of the water" 99
+
+ LITTLE MISS MOUSE AND HER FRIENDS:
+ Tailpiece 104
+
+ THE JACKAL THAT LOST HIS TAIL:
+ "Suddenly cut off the Jackal's tail" 106
+ Tailpiece 109
+
+ THE WILY TORTOISE:
+ Initial 110
+ Tailpiece 111
+
+ THE VALIANT BLACKBIRD:
+ "He sent a Fowler to catch him" 117
+ Tailpiece 122
+
+ THE GOAT AND THE HOG:
+ A Demon 123
+ Tailpiece 126
+
+ THE PARROT AND THE PARSON:
+ Initial 127
+ Tailpiece 129
+
+ THE LION AND THE HARE:
+ Initial 130
+ Tailpiece 131
+
+ THE MONKEY'S BARGAINS:
+ Initial 132
+
+ THE MONKEY'S REBUKE:
+ "Oft had this Monkey seen the
+ Milkman pour water into the
+ Milk-cans" 140
+ "Then after a while he came to
+ a Pond" 141
+ Tailpiece 144
+
+ THE BULL AND THE BULLFINCH:
+ Initial 145
+ Tailpiece 149
+
+ THE SWAN AND THE CROW:
+ Initial 150
+ "Hm, hm," said the Judge, looking
+ at the Crow 153
+ Tailpiece 155
+
+ PRIDE SHALL HAVE A FALL:
+ Initial 156
+ Tailpiece 159
+
+ THE KID AND THE TIGER:
+ Initial 160
+
+ THE STAG, THE CROW, AND THE JACKAL:
+ Initial 166
+ Tailpiece 169
+
+ THE MONKEY AND THE CROWS:
+ "O Monkey, what a fool you must be!" 171
+ Tailpiece 172
+
+ THE SWAN AND THE PADDY-BIRD:
+ Initial 173
+ Tailpiece 175
+
+ WHAT IS A MAN:
+ "He espied an Elephant" 178
+ "I am a Man," said the other 180
+
+ THE WOUND AND THE SCAR:
+ Initial 182
+ Tailpiece 185
+
+ THE CAT AND THE PARROT:
+ "The Cat said to the Parrot, Come,
+ friend" 187
+ "An old woman happened to be near" 191
+
+ FINIS 218
+
+
+
+
+
+The Talking Thrush
+
+
+A CERTAIN man had a garden, and in his garden he sowed cotton seeds.
+By-and-by the cotton seeds grew up into a cotton bush, with big brown
+pods upon it. These pods burst open when they are ripe; and you can see
+the fluffy white cotton bulging all white out of the pods. There was a
+Thrush in this garden, and the Thrush thought within herself how nice
+and soft the cotton looked. She plucked out some of it to line her nest
+with; and never before was her sleep so soft as it was on that bed of
+cotton.
+
+Now this Thrush had a clever head; so she thought something more might
+be done with cotton besides lining a nest. In her flights abroad she
+used often to pass by the door of a Cotton-carder. The Cotton-carder had
+a thing like a bow, made of a piece of wood, and a thong of leather
+tying the ends together into a curve. He used to take the cotton, and
+pile it in a heap; then he took the carding-bow, and twang-twang-twanged
+it among the heap of cotton, so that the fibres or threads of it became
+disentangled. Then he rolled it up into oblong balls, and sold it to
+other people, who made it into thread.
+
+The Thrush often watched the Cotton-carder at work. Every day after
+dinner, she went to the cotton tree, and plucked out a fluff of cotton
+in her beak and hid it away. She went on doing this till at last she had
+quite a little heap of cotton all of her own. At least, it was not
+really her own, because she stole it; but then you cannot get policemen
+to take up a Thrush for stealing, and as men catch Thrushes and put them
+in a cage all for nothing, it is only fair the birds should have their
+turn.
+
+When the heap of cotton was big enough, our Thrush flew to the house of
+the Cotton-carder, and sat down in front of him.
+
+"Good day, Man," said the Thrush.
+
+"Good day, Birdie," said the Cotton-carder. The Thrush was not a bit
+afraid, because she knew he was a kind man, who never caught little
+birds to put them in a cage. He liked better to hear them singing free
+in the woods.
+
+"Man," said the Thrush, "I have a heap of beautiful cotton, and I'll
+tell you what. You shall have half of it, if you will card the rest and
+make it up into balls for me."
+
+"That I will," said the man; "where is it?"
+
+"If you will come with me," said the Thrush, "I'll show you."
+
+So the Thrush flew in front, and the man followed after, and they came
+to the place where the hoard of cotton was hidden away. The man took the
+cotton home, and carded it, and made it into balls. Half of the cotton
+he took for his trouble, and the rest he gave back to the Thrush. He was
+so honest that he did not cheat even a bird, although he could easily
+have done so. For birds cannot count: and if you find a nest full of
+eggs, and take one or two, the mother-bird will never miss them; but if
+you take all, the bird is unhappy.
+
+Not far away from the Carder lived a Spinner. This man used to put a
+ball of cotton on a stick, and then he pulled out a bit of the cotton
+without breaking it, and tied it to another little stick with a weight
+on it. Then he twisted the weight, and set it a-spinning; and as it
+span, he held the cotton ball in one hand, and pulled out the cotton
+with the other, working it between finger and thumb to keep it fine.
+Thus the spindle went on spinning, and the cotton went on twisting,
+until it was twisted into thread. That is why the man was called a
+Spinner. It looks very easy to do, when you can do it; but it is really
+very hard to do well.
+
+To this Spinner the Thrush came, and after bidding him good day, said
+she--
+
+"Mr. Spinner, I have some balls of cotton all ready to spin into thread.
+Will you spin one half of them into thread for me, if I give you the
+other half?"
+
+"That I will," said Mr. Spinner; and away they went to find the cotton
+balls, Thrush first and Spinner following.
+
+In a very few days the Spinner had spun all the cotton into the finest
+thread. Then he took a pair of scales, and weighed it into two equal
+parts (he was an honest man, too): half he kept for himself, and the
+other half he gave to the Thrush.
+
+The next thing this clever Thrush did was to fly to the house of a
+Weaver. The Weaver used to buy thread, and fasten a number of threads to
+a wooden frame, called a loom, which was made of two upright posts,
+with another bar fastened across the top. The threads were hung to the
+cross-bar, and a little stone was tied to the bottom of each, to keep it
+steady. Then the Weaver wound some more thread around a long stick
+called a shuttle; and the shuttle he pushed in front of one thread and
+behind the next, until it had gone right across the whole of the
+threads, in and out. Then he pushed it back in the same way, and after a
+bit, the upright threads and the cross-threads were woven together and
+made a piece of cloth.
+
+The Thrush flew down to the Weaver, and they made the same bargain as
+before. The Weaver wove all the thread into pieces of cloth, and half he
+kept for himself, but the other half he returned to the Thrush.
+
+So now the Thrush had some beautiful cloth, and I dare say you wonder
+what she wanted it for. As you have not been inquisitive, I will tell
+you: she wanted clothes to dress herself. The Thrush had noticed that
+men and women walking about wore clothes, and being an ambitious Thrush,
+and eager to rise in the world, she felt it would not be proper to go
+about without any clothes on. So she now went to a Tailor, and said to
+him--
+
+"Good Mr. Tailor, I have some pieces of very fine cloth, and I should be
+much obliged if you would make a part of it into clothes for me. You
+shall have one half of the cloth for your trouble."
+
+The Tailor was very glad of this job, as times were slack. So he took
+the cloth, and at once set to work. Half of it he made into a beautiful
+dress for the Thrush, with a skirt and jacket, and sleeves in the latest
+fashion; and as there was a little cloth left over, and he was an
+honest Tailor, he made her also a pretty little hat to put on her head.
+
+Then the Thrush was indeed delighted, and felt there was little more to
+desire in the world. She put on her skirt, and her jacket with
+fashionable sleeves, and the little hat, and looked at her image in a
+river, and was mightily pleased with herself. Now she became so vain
+that nothing would do, but she must show herself to the King.
+
+So she flew and flew, and away she flew, until she came to the King's
+palace. Into the King's palace she flew, and into the great hall where
+the King sat and the Queen and all the courtiers. There was a peg high
+up on the wall, and the Thrush perched on this peg, and began to sing.
+
+"Oh, look there!" cried the Queen, who was the first to see this
+wonderful sight--"see, a Thrush in a jacket and skirt and a pretty hat!"
+
+Everybody looked at the Thrush singing on her peg, and clapped their
+hands.
+
+"Come here, Birdie," said the King, "and show the Queen your pretty
+clothes."
+
+The Thrush felt highly flattered, and flew down upon the table, and took
+off her jacket to show the Queen. Then she flew back to her peg, and
+watched to see what would happen.
+
+The Queen turned over the jacket in her hand, and laughed. Then she
+folded it up, and put it in her pocket.
+
+"Give me my jacket!" twittered the Thrush. "I shall catch cold, and
+besides, it is not proper for a lady to be seen without a jacket."
+
+Then they all laughed, and the King said, "Come here, Mistress Thrush,
+and you shall have your jacket."
+
+Down flew the Thrush upon the table again; but the King caught her, and
+held her fast.
+
+"Let me go!" squeaked the Thrush, struggling to get free.
+
+But the King would not let her go. I am afraid that although he was a
+King, he was not so honest as the Carder or the Spinner, and cared less
+for his word than the Weaver and the Tailor.
+
+"Greedy King," said the Thrush, "to covet my little jacket!"
+
+"I covet more than your jacket," said the King; "I covet you, and I am
+going to chop you up into little bits."
+
+Then he began to chop her up into bits. As she was being chopped up, the
+Thrush said, "The King snips and cuts like a Tailor, but he is not so
+honest!"
+
+When the King had finished chopping her up, he began to wash the pieces.
+And each piece, as he washed it, called out, "The King scours and scrubs
+like a washerwoman, but he is not so honest!"
+
+Then the King put the pieces of the Thrush into a frying-pan with oil,
+and began to fry them. But the pieces went on calling out, "The King is
+like a cook, frying and sputtering, but he is not so honest!"
+
+When she was fried, the King ate her up. From within the body of the
+King still the Thrush kept calling out, "I am inside the King! It is
+just like the inside of any other man, only not so honest!"
+
+The King became like a walking musical-box, and he did not like it at
+all, but it was his own fault. Wherever he went, everybody heard the
+Thrush crying out from inside the King, "Just like any other man, only
+not so honest!" Everybody that heard this began to despise the King.
+
+At last the King could stand it no longer. He sent for his doctor, and
+said, "Doctor, you must cut this talking bird out of me."
+
+"Your majesty will die, if I do," said the Doctor.
+
+"I shall die if you don't," answered the King, "for I cannot endure
+being made a fool of."
+
+ So there was nothing for it: the Doctor took his
+ knives, and made a hole in the King, and pulled out the
+ Thrush. Strange to say, the pieces of the Thrush had all
+ joined together again, and away she flew; but her beautiful
+ clothes were all gone. However, it was a lesson she
+ never forgot; and after that, she slept soft in her nest
+ of cotton, and never again tried to ape her betters. As
+ for the King, he died; and a good riddance too.
+ His son became king in his stead; and all
+ life long he remembered his father's
+ miserable death, and kept all his
+ promises to men, and beasts,
+ and birds.
+
+
+
+
+The Rabbit and the Monkey
+
+
+ONCE upon a time, there lived in the mountains a Rabbit and a Monkey,
+who were great friends. One day, as they sat by the roadside hobnobbing
+together, who should come by but a man with a bamboo pole over his
+shoulder, and at each end of the pole was a bundle hung to a string; and
+there were plantains in one bundle, and sugar in the other.
+
+Said the Monkey to the Rabbit, "Friend of my heart, do as I shall tell
+you. Go and sit upon the road in front of that man, and as soon as he
+sees you, run--he is sure to drop his load and follow. Then I will pick
+up his load, and hide it safely; and when you come back, we will share
+it together."
+
+No sooner said than done: the Rabbit ran, and the man dropped his burden
+and ran after him; while the Monkey, who had been hiding in the tall
+grass by the wayside, pounced upon the sugar and the plantains, and
+climbed up into a tree, and began to gobble them up at his leisure.
+
+By-and-by the man came back, hot and empty-handed, and finding that his
+goods were gone as well as the Rabbit, cursed loudly, and went home to
+be scolded by his wife.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Soon the Rabbit came back too, and began hunting about for his friend
+the Monkey. High and low he searched, and not a trace could he find;
+till he happened to cast his eyes aloft, and lo and behold, there was
+Mr. Monkey up in a tree, munching away with every sign of enjoyment.
+
+"Hullo, friend," said he, "come down out of that."
+
+"I'm very comfortable here, thank you," said the Monkey.
+
+"But where's my share?" asked the Rabbit indignantly.
+
+"All gone, all gone," mumbled the Monkey, and pelted him with the
+plantain-peel and balls of paper made out of the packets where the sugar
+had been. "Why did you stay so long? I got hungry, and could not wait
+any longer."
+
+The Rabbit thought his friend was joking, and would not believe it; but
+it was only too true--the greedy creature had not left a scrap.
+
+"Do you really mean it?" said the poor Rabbit.
+
+"If you don't believe me, come and see," said the Monkey, and seizing
+the Rabbit by his long ears, he hauled him up into the tree; and after
+mocking him, and making great game, he left him there, and went away.
+
+Now the Rabbit was afraid to jump down from such a height, for fear of
+breaking his neck, so up in the tree he remained for a long time. Many
+animals passed under the tree, but none took pity on the rabbit, until
+at last came an old and foolish Rhinoceros, who rubbed his withered hide
+against the trunk.
+
+"Kind Rhinoceros," said the Rabbit, "let me jump down upon your back."
+
+The Rhinoceros, being a simple creature, agreed. Down came the Rabbit,
+with such a thud, that the Rhinoceros fell on his stupid old nose, and
+broke his fat old neck, and died.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The Rabbit ran away, and away he ran, until he came to the King's
+palace; and he hid under the King's golden throne. By-and-by in came the
+King, and in came the court; all the grandees stood around in their
+golden robes, glittering with rubies and diamonds, and their swords were
+girt about their waists. Suddenly they all heard a terrific sneeze!
+
+Everybody said, "God bless you," while the King thundered out: "Who has
+the bad manners to sneeze in the King's presence?" Everybody looked at
+his neighbour, and wondered who did it. "Off with his head," shouted the
+King.
+
+Another sneeze came. This time, however, everybody was on the watch, and
+they noticed that the sound came from under the King's golden throne. So
+they dived in, and lugged out the Rabbit, looking more dead than alive.
+
+"All right," said the King, "off with his head." The executioner ran to
+get his sword.
+
+But our friend the Rabbit, for all he was frightened, had his wits about
+him; and sitting up on his hind-legs, and putting his two fore-paws
+together, he said respectfully, "O great King, strike, but hear. If thou
+wilt send a score of men with me, I will give thee a dead Rhinoceros."
+
+The King laughed, the courtiers laughed loud and long. However, just to
+see what would come of it, the King gave him a score of men.
+
+The Rabbit led them to the place where the Rhinoceros fell on his stupid
+old nose, and there he lay dead. With great difficulty the men dragged
+the Rhinoceros home. They were very pleased to get a Rhinoceros, because
+his horn is good for curing many diseases, and the court physician
+ground his horn into powder, and made out of it a most wonderful
+medicine. And the King was so pleased, that he gave the Rabbit a fine
+new coat, and a horse to ride on.
+
+So the Rabbit put on his fine coat, and got on the back of his horse,
+and rode off.
+
+On the way, who should meet him but his friend the Monkey.
+
+"Hullo!" says the Monkey, "where did you get all that finery?"
+
+"The King gave it to me," says the Rabbit.
+
+Says the Monkey, "And why should the King give all this to a fool like
+you?"
+
+The Rabbit replied, "I, whom you call a fool, got it by sneezing under
+the King's golden throne; such a lucky sneeze, that the soothsayers
+prophesied to the King long life and many sons!" Then he rode away.
+
+The Monkey fell a-thinking how nice it would be if he could get a fine
+coat and horse as the Rabbit had done. "I can sneeze," thought he; "what
+if I try my luck?"
+
+So he scampered away, and away he scampered, till he came to the King's
+palace, and hid himself under the King's golden throne. When the King
+came in, and all his courtiers, in gorgeous array as before, our Monkey
+underneath the throne sneezed in the most auspicious manner he could
+contrive.
+
+"Who is that?" thundered the King, glaring about him. "Who has the bad
+manners to sneeze in the King's presence?"
+
+They searched about until they found the Monkey hidden under the throne,
+and hauled him out.
+
+"What hast thou, wily tree-climber," asked the King, "that I should not
+bid the executioner cut off thy head?"
+
+ The monkey had no answer ready. At last he
+ said, "O King, I have some plantain-peel
+ and pellets of paper." But
+ the King was angry at this,
+ and the greedy Monkey
+ was led away, and
+ his head was
+ cut off.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Sparrow's Revenge
+
+
+ONCE there was a pair of Sparrows that were very fond of each other, and
+lived in a nest together as happy as the day was long. The hen laid eggs
+and sat upon them, and the cock went about picking up food for them
+both, and when he had got food enough, he sat on a twig close by the
+nest, and twittered for joy.
+
+But it happened one day that a boy saw Cock Sparrow pecking at some
+seeds, and he picked up a stone and threw it at him, and killed him. So
+no food came home that morning, and Hen Sparrow grew anxious, and at
+last set out to find him.
+
+In a little while she found his dead body lying in a ditch. She ruffled
+up her feathers and began to cry. "Who can have killed him?" she said;
+"my poor kind husband, who never did harm to any one." Then a Raven flew
+down from a tree, where he had been sitting, and told her how a cruel
+boy had thrown a stone at him and killed him for sport. He saw it, said
+the Raven, as he was sitting on the tree.
+
+Now Hen Sparrow determined to have her revenge. She was so much
+troubled that she left her eggs to hatch themselves, or to addle if they
+would; and gathering some straw, she plaited it into a beautiful straw
+carriage, with two old cotton-reels for wheels, and sticks for the
+shafts. Then she went to the hole of a Rat who was a friend of hers, and
+called down the hole, "Mr. Rat! Mr. Rat!"
+
+"Yes, Mrs. Sparrow," said the Rat, coming out of the hole and making a
+polite bow.
+
+"Some one has thrown a stone at my husband and killed him. Will you help
+me to get my revenge?"
+
+"Why," said the Rat, "how can I help you?"
+
+"By pulling me along in my carriage," said Mrs. Sparrow.
+
+"Oh yes," said the Rat; "that I will." So he went down into his hole
+again, and washed his face, and combed his whiskers, and came up all
+spick and span.
+
+Mrs. Sparrow tied the shafts of the straw carriage to the Rat, and Mrs.
+Sparrow got in, and off they went.
+
+On the road they met a Scorpion. Said the Scorpion--
+
+"Whither away, Mrs. Sparrow and Mr. Rat?"
+
+Said the Hen Sparrow, "My friend Mr. Rat is pulling me along in my
+carriage of straw to punish a cruel boy who threw a stone at my husband
+and killed him."
+
+"Quite right too," said the Scorpion. "May I come and help you? I have a
+beautiful sting in my tail."
+
+"Oh, please do! come and get in," said the Sparrow.
+
+In got the Scorpion, and away they went. By-and-by they saw a Snake.
+
+"Good day, and God bless you," says the Snake. "Where are you going, may
+a mere reptile ask?"
+
+"Mr. Scorpion and I are going to punish a cruel boy who threw a stone
+and killed my husband."
+
+"Shall I come and help you?" asked the Snake. "I have fine teeth in my
+head to bite with."
+
+"The more the merrier," replied Mrs. Sparrow. So in he got. They had not
+gone far before who should meet them but a Wolf.
+
+"Hullo," says the Wolf gruffly; "where are you off to, I should like to
+know?"
+
+"Mr. Rat is kind enough to draw me in my carriage, and we are all going
+to punish a cruel boy who threw a stone and killed my poor husband."
+
+"May I come too?" growled the Wolf. "I can bite." He opened his big jaws
+and snarled.
+
+"Oh, how kind you are!" said Mrs. Sparrow. "Do come! jump in, jump in!"
+
+The poor Rat looked aghast at such a load to pull; but he was a
+gentlemanly Rat, and so, having offered to pull the carriage, he said
+nothing.
+
+So the big Wolf got in, and nearly sat on the Scorpion's tail; if he
+had, he wouldn't have sat long, I think. However, the Scorpion got out
+of the way, and on they went all four, the poor Rat pulling with all his
+might, but rather slow at that.
+
+In due time they arrived at the cruel boy's house. His mother was
+cooking the dinner, and his father was fast asleep in a chair. There was
+a river close by the house, and the Wolf went down to the river, and
+hid himself there; the Snake crawled among the peats, and the Scorpion
+began to climb up into the chair where the man was sleeping.
+
+Then Mrs. Hen Sparrow flew in at the door and twittered--
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Little boy! Little boy! There's a fish biting at your night-line!"
+
+Up jumped the boy, and out he ran, to look at the night-line. But as he
+was stooping down and looking at the line to see if any fish were
+hooked, the Wolf pounced upon him, and bit him in the throat, and he
+died.
+
+Then the cruel boy's mother went out to get some peats, and as she put
+her hand in amongst them, the Snake bit her, and she gave a shriek and
+fell down and died. The shriek awoke her husband sleeping in his chair,
+and he began to get up, but by this time the Scorpion had climbed up the
+leg of the chair, so he stung the man, and the man died too.
+
+ Thus there was an end of the cruel boy who killed
+ a harmless Sparrow for sport; and though his father
+ and mother had done nothing, yet they ought not to
+ have had a son so cruel, or, at least, they might have
+ brought him up better. Anyhow, die they did, all three;
+ and Mrs. Hen Sparrow was so delighted that she
+ forgot all about her dead husband, and forgot
+ her eggs which were getting addled,
+ and went about chirruping until
+ she found another husband,
+ and made another nest,
+ and (I am sorry to
+ say) lived happily
+ ever after.
+
+
+
+
+The Judgment of the Jackal
+
+
+A MERCHANT was returning home from a long journey, riding upon a mule.
+As he drew near home, night overtook him; and he was forced to look out
+for shelter. Seeing a mill by the roadside, he knocked at the door.
+
+"Come in!" said the Miller.
+
+"May I stay here for the night?" asked the Merchant.
+
+"By all means," said the Miller, "if you pay me well."
+
+The Merchant thought this rather mean; because in those days a stranger
+was made welcome everywhere without paying anything. However, he made
+the best of it, and came in. The Miller led off his mule to the stable.
+
+"Please take care of my mule," said the Merchant; "I have still a long
+way to go."
+
+"Oh," said the Miller, "your mule will be all right." Then he rubbed him
+down and fed him.
+
+In the morning the Merchant asked for his mule.
+
+[Illustration: "The Merchant was much dismayed."]
+
+"I am very sorry," said the Miller; "he must have got loose last night,
+and I can't find him anywhere."
+
+The Merchant was much dismayed. He went out to look for himself, and
+there, to be sure, was his mule, tied by the halter to the mill.
+
+"Why, look here, Miller," says he, "here is the mule!"
+
+"Oh no," says the Miller, "that mule is mine."
+
+"Yours?" said the Merchant, getting angry. "Last night your stable was
+empty. And don't you think I know my own mule?"
+
+"That is mine," said the Miller again; "my mill had a young mule in the
+night, and that is he."
+
+The Merchant was now very angry indeed; but he could not help himself,
+as he did not want to fight; he was a very peaceful Merchant. So he
+said--
+
+"Well, I have no doubt it's all right; but just to satisfy me, let us
+ask the Rev. Dr. Jackal to decide between us; and whatever he says I
+will abide by."
+
+"Very good," answered the Miller; and away they went to the den of his
+reverence the Jackal. Dr. Jackal was sitting with his hind legs crossed,
+and smoking a hubble-bubble.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Good morning, worthy gentlemen," said the Jackal; "how can I serve
+you?"
+
+Said the Merchant, "Last night, my Lord Judge, I lodged with this Miller
+here, and he took charge of my mule; but now he says it has run away,
+though I saw it with my own eyes tied by the halter to his mill. He
+says that the mule I saw is his, and that his mill is the mother of it,
+and that it was born last night while I was asleep."
+
+"Go back to the mill," said the Jackal, "and wait for me. I will just
+wash my face, and then I'll settle your business."
+
+They went away, and waited a long time, but no Jackal. Late in the
+afternoon, they got tired of waiting for the Jackal, and determined to
+go and look for him. There he was still, sitting in his den and smoking
+a hubble-bubble.
+
+"Why didn't you come?" asked the Miller. "We have been waiting for you
+all day."
+
+"Oh, my dear sir, I was too busy," said the Jackal. "When I went to wash
+my face, I found that all the water had caught fire; I have only just
+put it out."
+
+"You must be mad, your reverence," said the Miller. "Who ever heard of
+water catching fire?"
+
+"And who ever heard," replied the Jackal, "of a mill having a young
+mule?"
+
+ The Miller saw that he was found out, and was so
+ much ashamed that he gave back the mule to
+ its owner, and the Merchant
+ went home.
+
+
+
+
+How the Mouse got into his Hole
+
+
+A MERCHANT was going along the road one day with a sack of peas on the
+back of an Ox. The Ox was stung by a Fly, and gave a kick, and down fell
+the sack. A Mouse was passing by, and the Merchant said, "Mousie, if you
+will help me up with this sack I will give you a pea." The Mouse helped
+him up with the sack and got a pea for his trouble. He stole another,
+and a third he found on the road.
+
+When he got home with his three peas he planted them in front of his
+hole. As he was planting them he said to them, "If you are not all three
+sprouting by to-morrow I'll cut you in pieces and give you to the black
+Ox." The peas were terribly frightened, and the next morning they had
+already begun to sprout, and each of them had two shoots. Then he said,
+"If I don't find you in blossom to-morrow I'll cut you in pieces and
+give you to the black Ox." When he went to look next day they were all
+in blossom. So he said, "If I don't find ripe peas on you to-morrow I'll
+cut you in pieces and give you to the black Ox." Next day they had pods
+full of ripe peas on them.
+
+So every day he used to eat lots of peas, and in this manner he got very
+fat. One day a pretty young lady Mouse came to see him.
+
+"Good morning, Sleekie," said she; "how are you?"
+
+"Good morning, Squeakie," said he; "I'm quite well, thank you."
+
+"Why, Sleekie," said she, "how fat you are."
+
+"Am I?" said he. "I suppose that's because I have plenty to eat."
+
+"What do you eat, Sleekie?" asked the pretty young lady Mouse.
+
+"Peas, Squeakie," said the other.
+
+"Where do you get them, Sleekie?"
+
+"They grow all of themselves in my garden, Squeakie."
+
+"Will you give me some, please?" asked the lady Mouse.
+
+"Oh yes, if you will stay in my garden, you may have as many as you
+like."
+
+So Squeakie stayed in Sleekie's garden, and they both ate so many peas
+that they got fatter and fatter every day.
+
+One day Squeakie said to Sleekie, "Let's try which can get into the hole
+quickest." Squeakie was slim, and she had not been at the peas so long
+as Sleekie, so she got into the hole easily enough; but Sleekie was so
+fat that he could not get in at all.
+
+He was very much frightened, and went off in hot haste to the
+Carpenter, and said to him, "Carpenter, please pare off a little flesh
+from my ribs, so that I can get into my hole."
+
+"Do you think I have nothing better to do than paring down your ribs?"
+said the Carpenter angrily, and went on with his work.
+
+The Mouse went to the King, and said, "O King, I can't get into my hole,
+and the Carpenter will not pare down my ribs; will you make him do it?"
+
+"Get out," said the King; "do you think I have nothing better to do than
+look after your ribs?"
+
+So the Mouse went to the Queen. Said he, "Queen, I can't get into my
+hole, and the King won't tell the Carpenter to pare down my ribs. Please
+divorce him."
+
+"Bother you and your ribs," said the Queen; "I am not going to divorce
+my husband because you have made yourself fat by eating too much."
+
+The Mouse went to the Snake. "Snake, bite the Queen, and tell her to
+divorce the King, because he will not tell the Carpenter to pare my ribs
+down and let me get into my hole."
+
+"Get away," said the Snake; "or I'll swallow you up, ribs and all; the
+fatter you are, the better I shall be pleased."
+
+He went to the Stick, and said, "Stick, beat the Snake, because she
+won't bite the Queen, who won't divorce the King and make him tell the
+Carpenter to pare down my ribs, and let me get into my hole."
+
+"Off with you," said the Stick; "I'm sleepy, because I have just beaten
+a thief; I can't be worried about your ribs."
+
+He went to the Furnace, and said, "Furnace, burn the Stick, and make it
+beat the Snake, that he may bite the Queen and make her divorce the
+King, who won't tell the Carpenter to pare down my ribs, and let me get
+into my hole."
+
+"Get along with you," said the Furnace; "I am cooking the King's dinner,
+and I have no time now to see about your ribs."
+
+He went to the Ocean, and said, "Ocean, put out the Fire, and make it
+burn the Stick, so that it may beat the Snake, and the Snake may bite
+the Queen, and she may divorce the King, who won't tell the Carpenter to
+pare down my ribs, and let me get into my hole."
+
+"Don't bother me," said the Ocean; "it's high tide, and all the fishes
+are jumping about, and giving me no rest."
+
+He went to the Elephant, and said, "O Elephant, drink up the Ocean, that
+it may put out the Fire, and the Fire may burn the Stick, and the Stick
+may beat the Snake, and the Snake may bite the Queen, and the Queen may
+divorce the King, and make him tell the Carpenter to pare down my ribs,
+and let me get into my hole."
+
+"Go away, little Mouse," said the Elephant; "I have just drunk up a
+whole lake, and I really can't drink any more."
+
+He went to the Creeper, and said, "Dear Creeper, do please choke the
+Elephant, that he may drink up the Ocean, and the Ocean may put out the
+Fire, and the Fire may burn the Stick, and the Stick may beat the Snake,
+and the Snake may bite the Queen, and the Queen may divorce the King,
+and the King may tell the Carpenter to pare down my ribs, and let me get
+into my hole."
+
+"Not I," says the Creeper; "I am stuck fast here to this tree, and I
+couldn't get away to please a fat little Mouse."
+
+Then he went to the Scythe, and said, "Scythe, please cut loose the
+Creeper, that it may choke the Elephant, and the Elephant may drink up
+the Ocean, and the Ocean may put out the Fire, and the Fire may burn the
+Stick, and the Stick may beat the Snake, and the Snake may bite the
+Queen, and the Queen may divorce the King, and the King may tell the
+Carpenter to pare down my ribs, and let me get into my hole."
+
+"With pleasure," said the Scythe, who is always sharp.
+
+ So the Scythe cut the Creeper loose, and the Creeper
+ began to choke the Elephant, and the Elephant ran off
+ and began to drink up the Ocean, and the Ocean began
+ to put out the Fire, and the Fire began to burn the
+ Stick, and the Stick began to beat the Snake, and
+ the Snake began to bite the Queen, and the
+ Queen told the King she was going to
+ divorce him, and the King was
+ frightened, and ordered the
+ Carpenter to pare Sleekie's
+ ribs, and at last Sleekie
+ got into his hole.
+
+
+
+
+King Solomon and the Owl
+
+
+ONCE King Solomon was hunting all alone in the forest. Night fell, and
+King Solomon lay down under a tree to sleep. Over his head, on the
+branch of a tree, sat a huge Owl; and the Owl hooted so loud and so
+long, Too-whit too-woo! Too-whit too-woo! that Solomon could not sleep.
+Solomon looked up at the Owl, and said--
+
+"Tell me, O Owl, why do you hoot all night long upon the trees?"
+
+Said the Owl--
+
+ "I hoot to waken those that sleep,
+ As soon as day's first beams do peep;
+ That they may rise, and say their prayers,
+ And not be caught in this world's cares."
+
+Then he went on again, Too-whit! too-woo! shaking his solemn old head to
+and fro. He was a melancholy Owl; I think he must have been crossed in
+love.
+
+Solomon thought this Owl very clever to roll out beautiful poetry like
+that, off-hand as it were. He asked the Owl again--
+
+"Tell me, O wise Owl, why do you shake your very solemn old head?"
+
+Said the Owl--
+
+ "I shake my head, to let all know
+ This world is but a fleeting show.
+ Men's days are flying with quick wings;
+ So take no joy in earthly things.
+
+ "Yet men will fix their hearts below
+ Upon the pleasures that must go.
+ Their joy is gone when they are dead;
+ And that is why I shake my head."
+
+This touched King Solomon in a tender place, for he was himself rather
+fond of earthly delights. He sighed, and asked again--
+
+"O most ancient and wise Owl! tell me why you never eat grain?"
+
+Answered the Owl--
+
+ "The bearded grain I do not eat,
+ Because, when Adam ate some wheat,
+ He was turned out of Paradise:
+ So Adam's sin has made me wise.
+
+ "If I should eat a single grain,
+ The joys of heaven I should not gain.
+ And so, to keep my erring feet,
+ The bearded grain I never eat."
+
+Thought Solomon to himself, "I don't remember reading that story in
+Genesis, but perhaps he is right. I must look it up when I get home."
+Then he spoke to the Owl once more, and said--
+
+"And now, good Owl, tell me why you drink no water at night?"
+
+Said the Owl--
+
+ "Since water all the world did drown
+ In Noah's day, I will drink none.
+ Were I to drink a single drop,
+ My life would then most likely stop."
+
+Solomon was delighted to find the Owl so wise. "O my Owl," said he, "all
+my life long I have been looking for a counsellor who had reasons to
+give for what he did; I have never found one until I found you. Now I
+beg you to come home with me to-morrow, and you shall be my chief
+counsellor, and whatever I purpose I will first ask your advice."
+
+ The Owl was equally delighted, and said, "Thank
+ you." Thinking of the greatness that was
+ to be his, the Owl stopped crying
+ Too-whit! too-woo! and
+ Solomon went
+ to sleep.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Camel's Neck
+
+
+ONCE upon a time there was a very religious Camel; at least, he was
+religious after the fashion of his country, that is, he used to mortify
+his flesh by fasting, and scratch himself with thorns, and lie awake all
+night meditating upon the emptiness of the world. That is what men used
+to do in that country, in order to please their gods. One of these gods
+was very much pleased with the piety of the Camel; so one night, as the
+Camel was fasting, and saying over and over to himself, "Vanity of
+vanities, all is vanity," the god appeared before him. He was a
+curious-looking god, and he had four hands instead of two; but the Camel
+did not mind that, nor did he laugh; on the contrary, he went down on
+his knees and bowed before him.
+
+"O Camel," said this god, "I have seen your fasting and heard your
+prayers; and I have come to reward you. Choose what boon you like, and
+it shall be yours."
+
+"O mighty god, I should like to have a neck eight miles long."
+
+The god answered, "Be it so!" and immediately the Camel felt his neck
+shooting out like a telescope, until it was eight miles long. It shot
+out so fast, that the Camel found it hard to escape running his head
+against the trees. However, he steered it successfully, barring a bump
+or two; and as by the time his neck stopped growing he was far out of
+sight of the god, he could not even say thank you.
+
+Now perhaps you will wonder why this Camel wanted a neck so long as
+eight miles? I will tell you. The reason was, that for all his fastings
+and penances, he was a lazy Camel, and he wanted to graze without the
+trouble of walking about. And now he could easily graze for a distance
+of eight miles all round in a circle, without moving from the spot where
+he lay. But it was rather dangerous, though he thought nothing of that;
+for when his head was grazing a few miles away, the hunters might stick
+a spear into his body, or tie his legs together, without his seeing
+them.
+
+All the summer the Camel had a fine time of it; he lay still and
+comfortable and sent his head foraging around, and strange to say, no
+harm happened to him. But before long the rainy season began. In the
+rainy season there are storms every day, and it rains cats and dogs. So
+when the rain began, the Camel wanted to keep dry, but he could not at
+first find a shed or a shelter eight miles long, or anything like it. At
+last he lit on a long winding cave that held most of his long neck. So
+he ran his neck into the cave, and lay still, with the rain pouring upon
+his body.
+
+This was bad enough, but worse was to come. For it happened that in this
+cave lived a He-jackal and a She-jackal.
+
+When the Jackals saw this extraordinary neck winding along their cave,
+they were frightened, and hid away.
+
+"What is this snake?" said the He-jackal to his wife.
+
+"Oh dear, I don't know!" whimpered his wife, "I never saw a snake like
+this."
+
+They kept quiet, the head passed out of view into the inner part of the
+cave; then after a while, the creature lay still.
+
+"Let us smell him!" said the He-jackal.
+
+They smelt him. "He smells nice," said the She-jackal; "not a bit like a
+snake."
+
+"Let us taste him!" said the He-jackal.
+
+They took a bite; the Camel stirred restlessly. They took another bite,
+and liked that better still. They went on biting. The Camel curled round
+his head to see what was going on; but before the Camel's head could get
+back more than a mile or two, he grew so weak from loss of blood, that
+he could move no more, and he died.
+
+So died the idle Camel, because the god granted him his foolish wish.
+Perhaps our wishes are often just as foolish, if we only knew it; and
+perhaps if they were fulfilled they would be the bane of us, as happened
+to the lazy and religious Camel.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Quail and the Fowler
+
+
+A FOWLER once caught a Quail. Said the Quail to the Fowler--
+
+"O Fowler, I know four things that will be useful for you to know."
+
+"What are they?" asked the Fowler.
+
+"Well," said the Quail, "I don't mind telling you three of them now. The
+first is: Fast caught, fast keep; never let a thing go when once you
+have got it. The second is: He is a fool that believes everything he
+hears. And the third is this: It's of no use crying over spilt milk."
+
+The Fowler thought these very sensible maxims. "And what is the fourth?"
+he asked.
+
+"Ah," said the Quail, "you must set me free if you want to hear the
+fourth."
+
+The Fowler, who was a simple fellow, set the Quail free. The Quail
+fluttered up into a tree, and said--
+
+"I see you take no notice of what I tell you. Fast caught, fast keep, I
+said; and yet you have let me go."
+
+"Why, so I have," said the Fowler, and scratched his head. He was a
+foolish Fowler, I think. "Well, never mind; what is the fourth thing?
+You promised to tell me, and I am sure an honourable Quail will never
+break his word."
+
+"The fourth thing I have to tell you is this: In my inside is a
+beautiful diamond, weighing ten pounds. And if you had not let me go,
+you would have had that diamond, and you need never have done any more
+work in all your life."
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear, what a fool I am!" cried the Fowler. He fell on his
+face, and clutched at the grass, and began to cry.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the Quail. "He is a fool who believes everything
+he hears."
+
+"Eh? what?" said the Fowler, and stopped crying.
+
+"Do you think a little carcase like mine can hold a diamond as big as
+your head?" asked the Quail, roaring with laughter. "And even if it were
+true, where's the use of crying over spilt milk?"
+
+The Quail spread his wings. "Good-bye," said he; "better luck next time,
+Fowler." And he flew away.
+
+
+ The Fowler sat up. "Well," said he, "that's true,
+ sure enough." He got up and brushed the mud off
+ his clothes. "If I have lost a Quail," said he,
+ "I've learnt something." And he went
+ home, a sadder but a
+ wiser man.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The King of the Kites
+
+
+A MOUSE one day met a Frog, whom he knew very well; but the Frog turned
+up his flat nose, and would not speak to him.
+
+"Friend Frog," said the Mouse, "why are you so proud to-day?"
+
+"Because I am King of the Kites," said Froggie.
+
+You must not suppose that this means a paper kite with a tail. There is
+a kind of bird called a Kite; it is like a Hawk, only bigger. How absurd
+it was of this Frog, who could not even fly, to call himself the King of
+the Kites! And the Mouse was just as absurd, for he answered--
+
+"Stuff and nonsense! I am King of the Kites!"
+
+I don't know whether they really believed this themselves, or whether
+they were only trying to show off. Anyhow, both stuck to it stoutly, and
+a pretty quarrel was the result. The Mouse grew red in the face; and as
+for Froggie, he was nearly bursting with rage.
+
+At last they agreed to refer the decision to a council. The council was
+made up of a Bat, a Squirrel, and a Parrot. The Parrot took the chair,
+because he was the biggest, and also because he could talk most, and was
+therefore thought to be wise.
+
+"I vote for the Mouse," said the Bat; not that he knew anything about
+it, but you see a Bat is very like a Mouse, and he wanted to stand up
+for the family.
+
+"And I," said the Squirrel, "vote for my friend Froggie." He knew
+nothing about it either, but he wanted to show that even a Squirrel has
+an opinion of his own.
+
+So it fell to the Parrot to give the casting vote, and decide the
+matter. He took a long time to decide, about two hours; and while he was
+thinking, and the others were all intent to hear what he should say,
+down from the sky swooped a Kite; and the Kite stuck one claw into the
+Mouse's back, and one claw into the Frog, and carried them both away to
+his nest, and ate them for dinner.
+
+ So that was the end of the two Kings of the Kites.
+ The other three creatures, in a great fright,
+ made themselves scarce, lest the
+ Kite should come back and
+ eat them too.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Jackal and the Camel
+
+
+ONCE a Camel was grazing in a forest. He had a ring in his nose, as the
+custom is, and to the ring was tied a string, by which the Camel's
+master used to lead him about. As the Camel grazed, this leading-string
+became entangled in a bush, and the Camel could not get it loose. This
+misfortune so much confused the mind of the Camel that he did not know
+what to do.
+
+Suddenly, as the Camel was struggling to get free from the bush, a
+Jackal appeared.
+
+"Brother Jackal," said the Camel, "do please set me free from this
+bush."
+
+"Brother Camel," said the Jackal, "I will set you free, only you must
+pay me for it. Do not the wise say, 'Even a brother will not serve thee
+for nothing'?"
+
+"What shall I pay you, brother Jackal? I am a very poor Camel."
+
+"You shall pay me," quoth the Jackal, "a pound of your flesh."
+
+This was a hard condition, but there was nothing for it, "Better to lose
+a pound of my flesh," thought the Camel, "than lose my life." So he
+agreed to pay the Jackal a pound of flesh.
+
+Then the Jackal set the Camel free, and the Camel sat down on the ground
+and said--
+
+"I am ready; take your pound of flesh."
+
+"Open your mouth, then," said the Jackal.
+
+"Why?" asked the Camel.
+
+"Because I choose to take my pound of flesh from your tongue."
+
+This was a terrible blow. The Camel could not agree, because he knew
+that if his tongue were torn out, he was bound to die.
+
+So he said, "I did not promise you my tongue."
+
+"You did," said the Jackal.
+
+"Don't tell lies," said the Camel; "where are your witnesses?"
+
+Away trotted the Jackal to find a witness. First he asked the Lion if he
+would bear witness that he heard the Camel promise to give his tongue.
+He promised to give him the half of all he should get, as a reward.
+
+"Go away," said the King of Beasts; "I am a Lion, not a liar."
+
+Then he asked the Tiger, but the Tiger said--
+
+"I don't care for Camel's meat, so it isn't worth my while."
+
+And so the Jackal tried one beast after another, but none of them would
+help him, until he came to the Wolf.
+
+"Friend Wolf," said the Jackal, "if you will only swear that you heard
+the Camel promise me his tongue, you shall have half."
+
+"Half a tongue?" quoth the Wolf; "that's poor provender."
+
+"No, no," said the Jackal, "half the Camel. Don't you see that if we
+tear out his tongue, the Camel will soon bleed to death."
+
+"True, so he will," said the Wolf. "Well, I agree."
+
+So the Wolf and the Jackal went back to the Camel, and the Wolf said,
+raising his right forepaw to heaven--
+
+"I swear by heaven that I heard this Camel promise to give his tongue to
+this Jackal."
+
+Of course this was a lie, and they all knew it; but the Camel did not
+like to appear mean, and besides, they were two to one.
+
+"Very well," said the Camel; "come and take it." The Camel opened his
+mouth wide. The Jackal put his head in the Camel's mouth, and as he did
+so, the Camel curled his tongue backward, so that the Jackal could not
+reach it.
+
+The Jackal pulled his head out again, and said to the Wolf--
+
+"My mouth is too small, you try now--you have a big gape."
+
+Then the Wolf put his head in the Camel's mouth. The Camel curled his
+tongue back and back, and the Wolf pushed in his head further and
+further; at last all the Wolf's head was inside. Then the Camel snapped
+his jaws together upon the Wolf's neck.
+
+"O Daddy Camel," said the Wolf, half throttled; "what is this?"
+
+"This," said the Jackal, rolling up the whites of his eyes to the sky in
+a most pious fashion; "this is the result of telling a lie." The Camel
+said nothing at all, but simply throttled the Wolf to death, and the
+Jackal ran away.
+
+ I think you will agree with me, that the Jackal, who
+ made the Wolf tell a lie, was wickeder than the Wolf
+ who told it; but yet he laughed at the Wolf, and
+ got off himself scot-free. That often happens
+ in this world; but we will hope that some
+ other time his sin was bound to
+ find him out.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Wise Old Shepherd
+
+
+ONCE upon a time, a snake went out of his hole to take an airing. He
+crawled about, greatly enjoying the scenery and the fresh whiff of the
+breeze, until, seeing an open door, he went in. Now this door was the
+door of the palace of the King, and inside was the King himself, with
+all his courtiers.
+
+Imagine their horror at seeing a huge Snake crawling in at the door.
+They all ran away except the King, who felt that his rank forbade him to
+be a coward, and the King's son. The King called out for somebody to
+come and kill the Snake; but this horrified them still more, because in
+that country the people believed it to be wicked to kill any living
+thing, even snakes, and scorpions, and wasps. So the courtiers did
+nothing, but the young Prince obeyed his father, and killed the Snake
+with his stick.
+
+After a while the Snake's wife became anxious, and set out in search of
+her husband. She too saw the open door of the palace, and in she went. O
+horror! there on the floor lay the body of her husband, all covered
+with blood, and quite dead. No one saw the Snake's wife crawl in; she
+inquired from a white ant what had happened, and when she found that the
+young Prince had killed her husband, she made a vow, that as he had made
+her a widow, so she would make his wife a widow.
+
+That night, while all the world was asleep, the Snake crept into the
+Prince's bedroom, and coiled around his neck. The Prince slept on, and
+when he awoke in the morning, he was surprised to find his neck
+encircled with the coils of a Snake. He was afraid to stir, so there he
+remained, until the Prince's mother became anxious, and went to see what
+was the matter. When she entered his room, and saw him in this plight,
+she gave a loud shriek, and ran off to tell the King.
+
+"Call the archers," said the King. The archers came, and the King told
+them to go into the Prince's room, and shoot the Snake that was coiled
+about his neck. They were so clever, that they could easily do this
+without hurting the Prince at all.
+
+In came the archers in a row, fitted the arrows to the bows, the bows
+were raised ready to shoot, when, on a sudden, from the Snake there
+issued a voice, which spoke as follows:--
+
+"O archers! wait, and hear me before you shoot. It is not fair to carry
+out the sentence before you have heard the case. Is not this good law,
+an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth? Is it not so, O King?"
+
+"Yes," replied the King, "that is our law."
+
+"Then," said the Snake, "I plead the law. Your son has made me a widow,
+so it is fair and right that I should make his wife a widow."
+
+"That sounds right enough," said the King, "but right and law are not
+always the same thing. We had better ask somebody who knows."
+
+They asked all the judges, but none of them could tell the law of the
+matter. They shook their heads, and said they would look up all their
+law-books, and see whether anything of the sort had ever happened
+before, and if so, how it had been decided. That is the way judges used
+to decide cases in that country, though I daresay it sounds to you a
+very funny way. It looked as if they had not much sense in their own
+heads, and perhaps that was true. The upshot of all was, that not a
+judge would give any opinion; so the King sent messengers all over the
+country-side, to see if they could find somebody somewhere who knew
+something.
+
+One of these messengers found a party of five Shepherds, who were
+sitting upon a hill and trying to decide a quarrel of their own. They
+gave their opinions so freely, and in language so very strong, that the
+King's messenger said to himself, "Here are the men for us. Here are
+five men, each with an opinion of his own, and all different."
+Post-haste he scurried back to the King, and told him he had found at
+last some one ready to judge the knotty point.
+
+So the King and the Queen, and the Prince and the Princess, and all the
+courtiers, got on horseback, and away they galloped to the hill
+whereupon the five Shepherds were sitting, and the Snake too went with
+them, coiled round the neck of the Prince.
+
+When they got to the Shepherds' hill, the Shepherds were dreadfully
+frightened. At first they thought that the strangers were a gang of
+robbers; and when they saw that it was the King, their next thought was
+that one of their misdeeds had been found out, and each of them began
+thinking what was the last thing he had done, and wondering, was it
+that? But the King and his Court got off their horses, and said good-day
+in the most civil way. So the Shepherds felt their minds set at ease
+again. Then the King said--
+
+"Worthy Shepherds, we have a question to put to you, which not all the
+judges in all the courts of my city have been able to solve. Here is my
+son, and here, as you see, is a Snake coiled round his neck. Now, the
+husband of this Snake came creeping into my palace hall, and my son the
+Prince killed him; so this Snake, who is the wife of the other, says
+that as my son has made her a widow, so she has a right to widow my
+son's wife. What do you think about it?"
+
+The first Shepherd said, "I think she is quite right, my lord King. If
+any one made my wife a widow, I would pretty soon do the same to him."
+
+This was brave language, and the other Shepherds shook their heads and
+looked fierce. But the King was puzzled, and could not quite understand
+it. You see, in the first place, if the man's wife were a widow, the man
+would be dead; and then it is hard to see how he could do anything. So
+to make sure, the King asked the second Shepherd whether that was his
+opinion too?
+
+"Yes," said the second Shepherd; "now the Prince has killed the Snake,
+the Snake has a right to kill the Prince, if he can."
+
+But that was not of much use either, as the Snake was as dead as a
+door-nail. So the King passed on to the third.
+
+"I agree with my mates," said the third Shepherd, "because, you see, a
+Prince is a Prince, but then a Snake is a Snake."
+
+That was quite true, they all admitted; but it did not seem to help the
+matter much. Then the King asked the fourth Shepherd to say what he
+thought.
+
+The fourth Shepherd said, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth;
+so I think a widow should be a widow, if so be she don't marry again."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+By this time the poor King was so puzzled that he hardly knew whether he
+stood on his head or his heels. But there was still the fifth Shepherd
+left, the oldest and wisest of them all; and the fifth Shepherd said--
+
+"O King, I should like to ask two questions."
+
+"Ask twenty, if you like," said the King. He did not promise to answer
+them, so he could afford to be generous.
+
+"First, I ask the Princess how many sons she has?"
+
+"Four," said the Princess.
+
+"And how many sons has Mistress Snake here?"
+
+"Seven," said the Snake.
+
+"Then," said the old Shepherd, "it will be quite fair for Mistress Snake
+to kill his Highness the Prince, when her Highness the Princess has had
+three sons more."
+
+"I never thought of that," said the Snake. "Good-bye, King, and all you
+good people. Send a message when the Princess has had three more sons,
+and you may count upon me--I will not fail you." So saying, she
+uncoiled from the Prince's neck and slid away among the grass.
+
+ The King and the Prince and everybody shook hands
+ with the wise old Shepherd, and went home
+ again. And as the Princess never had any
+ more sons at all, she and the Prince
+ lived happily for many years;
+ and if they are not dead
+ they are living
+ still.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Beware of Bad Company
+
+
+A BEAUTIFUL young Swan lived by a beautiful lake. All day long he used
+to sail gracefully over the water, curving his neck to look at his own
+image, or pluming his white wings; and when he was tired, he would go to
+his nest in the rushes, and sleep, or play with his brothers and
+sisters.
+
+In a tree above that lake was a Crow. You know that Crows are dirty
+birds, and they feed on offal and refuse, and people dislike them; but
+the Swan was white and clean. Still, strange as it may seem, this Swan
+struck up a fast friendship with the Crow. His mother and father begged
+him to keep out of bad company, but he would not listen to them. He had
+done better to keep to his own kind, but wilful will have his way, and
+the Swan was sorry for it too late.
+
+One day the Crow said to his friend the Swan, "Come, old boy, let us go
+and have some fun."
+
+"I'm your Swan," says the other, and away they flew.
+
+They came to a tree, and under the tree was a very pious man, saying his
+prayers.
+
+"Here's a joke," said the Crow. "Now we shall see sport."
+
+He picked up a lump of mud from the ground, and flew up into the tree,
+and then he dropped the mud, splash, on the pious man's head.
+
+This interrupted his prayers, and he could not help feeling angry,
+although he was so pious. So up got he, and looked about to see who had
+done the mischief.
+
+By this time the mischievous Crow had flown off, and he was
+caw-caw-cawing on another tree, out of reach. But the Swan sat still: he
+was not learned in mischief, and he did not know what to do. Then the
+pious man looked up into the tree, and saw the Swan sitting there, so of
+course he thought it was the Swan who had dropped a piece of mud on his
+head. He had a big catapult with him, so he put a stone in his catapult,
+and slick! he shot the Swan.
+
+Down fell the Swan with a great thud. He felt that his end was near, and
+how sorry he was now that he had had anything to do with the bad Crow.
+However, it was too late now to be sorry, so he began to sing. They say
+that Swans never sing in all their life, but when they are about to die
+they sing beautifully; and this is what the Swan sang to the pious
+man:--
+
+ "I am no Crow, as you must know,
+ But a Swan that lived by a lovely lake;
+ With bad companions I would go,
+ And now I die for a bad friend's sake."
+
+ Then the Swan died, and the pious man finished
+ his prayers.
+
+
+
+
+The Foolish Wolf
+
+
+A WOLF and an Ass were great friends, and they spent most of their time
+playing at an original game of their own. The game was easy enough to
+learn; you could play it yourselves; and it was this. First the Ass used
+to run away from the Wolf as hard as he could, and the Wolf used to
+follow; and then the Wolf would run as hard as he could from the Ass,
+and the Ass would follow.
+
+One day, as the Wolf was running away full tilt from the Ass, a Boy saw
+them.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha," said the Boy, "what a coward that Wolf is, to run away
+from an Ass." He thought, you see, that the Wolf was afraid of being
+eaten by the Ass.
+
+The Wolf heard him, and was very angry. He stopped short, and said to
+the Boy--
+
+"So you think I am a coward, little Boy? You shall rue the word. I'm
+brave enough to eat you, as you shall find out this very night; for I
+will come and carry you off from your home."
+
+If the Wolf was no coward, at least he was a foolish Wolf to tell the
+Boy if he meant to carry him off, as I think you will agree with me.
+
+The Boy went home to tell his mother. "Mother," said he, "a Wolf is
+coming to-night to carry me off."
+
+"Oh, never mind if he does," said the Boy's mother, "he won't hurt you."
+
+The Boy did not feel quite so sure about that, for he had seen sharp
+teeth in the mouth of the Wolf. So he chose out a big and sharp stone,
+and put it in his pocket. Why he did not hide, I can't tell you, for he
+never told me; but my private opinion is, he was almost as foolish as
+the Wolf.
+
+Well, when night came, the Boy's mother went to bed, and she was soon
+snoring, but the Boy stayed up to wait for the Wolf. About ten o'clock
+came a knock at the door.
+
+"Come in," said the Boy.
+
+The Wolf opened the door, and came in, and says he, "Now, Boy, you must
+come along with me."
+
+"All right," says the Boy, "mother doesn't mind."
+
+I have never been able to understand why his mother did not mind, but
+perhaps he was a very naughty Boy, and she was glad to get rid of him.
+If he did nothing but pull his sisters' hair, and put spiders down their
+necks, he was just as well out of the house, I think.
+
+So the Boy got on the Wolf's back, and the Wolf trotted off briskly to
+his den. Then the Wolf thought to himself, "I have had my dinner, and I
+don't want any Boy to-night. Suppose I leave him for to-morrow, and go
+for a spin with my friend the Jackass."
+
+So he left the Boy in his den, and off he went after the Jackass.
+
+What makes me think more than ever that he was a foolish Wolf, is that
+he never even tied the Boy's legs together. So when the Wolf was gone,
+the Boy went out of the den, and climbed up a tree.
+
+In an hour or two back came the Wolf, ready for bed. He looked in at the
+mouth of the den, but no Boy.
+
+"Where on earth has that Boy got to?" said he; "I left him here safe and
+sound." It never occurred to this Wolf that legs can walk, and Boys can
+climb trees. He felt very anxious, and as many people do when their wits
+are puzzled, he opened his mouth wide.
+
+The Boy saw him standing at the opening of the den, with his mouth wide
+open, so he pulled the sharp stone out of his pocket, and threw it in.
+This Boy was a very good shot with a stone, and the stone went straight
+into the Wolf's inside, and cut his inside so much that he died.
+
+ Then the Boy climbed down from the tree, and
+ he was at home in time for breakfast. I don't
+ know whether his mother was pleased
+ to see him or not; but there he was,
+ and there he stayed, and if he
+ has not gone away, he is
+ there still.
+
+
+
+
+Reflected Glory
+
+
+THERE was a Shepherd who owned a multitude of goats. Among these was one
+Goat, weak and lame. You might suppose that the shepherd took especial
+care of this lame Goat, but not he; on the contrary, he beat him and
+bullied him, and made his whole life a misery.
+
+A time came when the lame Goat could stand it no longer. So watching his
+chance, he gave his master the slip, and into the forest and far away.
+As he hobbled along, he trembled to think of the ferocious beasts that
+the forest was full of; but even to be devoured by an evil beast was
+better far than to be for ever beaten.
+
+The lame Goat made up his mind that the only way by which he could save
+his life was to gain the protection of some powerful beast. So he kept
+his eyes open as he hobbled along; and, by-and-by, what should he see
+but a dark cave, and at the mouth of the cave, a Lion's footprints. Now
+a Lion was just the beast the Goat wanted, for to begin with, he is the
+King of Beasts, and all the other beasts fear him; and then, too, he is
+a noble beast, and if he passes his word he will never break it. Of
+course, it might be that the Lion would eat our Goat first, and ask
+questions afterwards; but the Goat had to take his chance of that.
+
+The upshot of it was, that the lame Goat sat down by the Lion's den, and
+waited.
+
+By-and-by, trippity trip, trippity trip, and up came a Jackal. Said the
+Jackal to the Goat, "God bless you, Gaffer Goat, you'll be the first
+food that has passed my lips this many a day."
+
+"Dear grandson," said the Goat, "God bless you too. I'm here to be
+eaten, that is true enough; but I'm meat for your betters. He whose
+footprints you see here has bidden me wait until he wants me."
+
+The Jackal looked at the footprints, and saw they were a Lion's. "Aha,"
+thought he, "let sleeping dogs lie. If I eat the Lion's meat, the Lion
+will devour my cubs." Then he went away sorrowful.
+
+A little while, and trappity trap, trappity trap, up came a Wolf. Quoth
+the Wolf--
+
+"Well met, Nuncle Goat; you make my mouth water. A five days' fast is
+sauce for the dinner."
+
+"Well met, my dear nephew," says the lame Goat. "But you had better
+leave me alone. I'm food for your betters. Look upon these footprints,
+and let me tell you that he who made them has bidden me wait here until
+he is hungry."
+
+"Oho," said the Wolf, "a Lion. Who tackles the strong will not live
+long. If I eat King Lion's meat, King Lion will make a meal of my cubs."
+Away went the Wolf, trappity trap, trappity trap.
+
+A little while more, and swish, swish, swish, the Lion himself came
+stalking slowly along, whisking away the flies with his tail. When he
+saw the Goat sitting beside his den, says he--
+
+"Friend Goat, what want you here? Are you anxious to make a meal for
+me?"
+
+"O King Lion," said the Goat, bowing before him very humbly, "here I
+have been sitting these two hours, and wolves and jackals came to eat
+me; but the sight of your footprints was safety for me: I told them I
+was yours, and they took to their heels for fear. Now eat me if you
+will; for yours I am."
+
+Then the Lion said, "O Goat, if you have called yourself mine, never
+will I devour you. I will see to it that you are well treated."
+
+Then the Lion went out and found an Elephant, who greeted him with the
+greatest respect. "Elephant," said the Lion, "I want you to do something
+for me."
+
+"Speak on," said the Elephant, "do it I will."
+
+The Lion said, "There is a poor lame Goat has thrown himself on my
+mercy, and I have thought of a plan by which he can be fed. If you will
+suffer him to mount on your back, then while you go grazing about, he
+can browse upon the young shoots of the trees as you pass under."
+
+"That is a good idea," said the Elephant, "and I'll do it for you
+willingly, and indeed anything else in my power."
+
+ If the Lion was pleased at the kindness of the
+ Elephant, more pleased was the lame Goat; and a
+ happy life was his from that day. Never again was he
+ beaten by a cruel goatherd: but he fed on the fat
+ of the land, and lived to a green old age; and
+ I hope we may be half as happy as he was.
+
+
+
+
+The Cat and the Sparrows
+
+
+THERE was once a pair of Sparrows that lived in a tree. They used to hop
+about all over the place, picking up seeds or anything they could find
+to eat. One day, when they came back with their pickings, the Cock had
+found some rice, and the Hen a few lentils. They put it all in an
+earthen pot, and then proceeded to cook their dinner. Then they divided
+the mess into two equal parts.
+
+The Cock was rather greedy, so he would not wait while his wife put out
+the fire and got ready to join in the meal. No! he gobbled up his share
+at once, before she could begin.
+
+When at last the poor Hen came up, her greedy mate would not let her
+rest even then. "Go and get me a drink of water," said he quite rudely.
+
+She was a very kind wife, so without taking any notice of his rudeness,
+off she went for the water.
+
+While she was gone the Cock-sparrow's eyes fell on his wife's share of
+the dinner. "Ah," thought he, "how I should like another bit! Well, why
+shouldn't I have it? A man does all the work, and women don't want much
+to eat at any time." So without any more ado, he just set to, and
+gobbled up his wife's share.
+
+Back came the Hen-sparrow with a drink of water for her husband. When he
+had drunk it up (and I am afraid he forgot to say thank you), she turned
+round to look for her dinner. Lo and behold! there was none. What could
+have become of it? As she was wondering, she happened to look at her
+husband; he looked so guilty that there could be no manner of doubt
+where her dinner was.
+
+"You greedy bird," said she, "why have you eaten my dinner?"
+
+"I haven't touched your dinner," said the Cock angrily.
+
+"I'm sure you have," said she, "or you would not look so guilty. Why,
+you are actually blushing." And so indeed he was; the tip of his beak
+was quite red.
+
+However, he still denied it, and grew angrier and angrier, as people do
+when they know they are in the wrong. They had a terrible quarrel. At
+last the Hen-sparrow said, "Well, I know a way to find out whether you
+are telling lies or not. You come along with me." And she made him go
+with her to the well.
+
+Across the top of the well she stretched a piece of string, and she sat
+on the middle of the string, and began to chirp, "If I am telling lies,
+I pray I may fall in." But though she sat there a long time, chirping
+away, she did not fall in.
+
+Then came the Cock-sparrow's turn. He perched on the string and began to
+chirrup, "If I am telling lies, may I fall into the well;" but hardly
+had he got the words out of his mouth, when--splash! down he went.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Then the Hen was very sorry that she had proposed this plan; she began
+to weep and cheep, and said--"Alas, alas, why didn't I leave it alone?
+What does it matter if he eats my dinner, so long as I have my dear
+husband? Now I have killed him by my folly."
+
+Just at that moment up came a Cat.
+
+"What's the matter?" said the Cat.
+
+"Cheep, cheep, cheep," went the Hen-sparrow. "My husband has fallen into
+the well, and I don't know how to get him out."
+
+"If I get him out," said the Cat, "will you let me eat him?"
+
+"Of course you may," said the Hen-sparrow.
+
+So the Cat climbed down, and pulled out the Cock-sparrow. When she had
+brought him to the edge of the well, said she, "Now I'm going to eat him
+as you promised."
+
+"Oh, all right," said the Hen. "But stop a minute, your mouth is dirty.
+I am sure you have been eating mice. Now haven't you?"
+
+"Why, yes," said the Cat, "so I have."
+
+"Well," said the Hen-sparrow, "you must get yourself clean. We birds are
+clean creatures, and you must positively wash your mouth before you
+begin."
+
+Away went the Cat, and washed her mouth clean, and came back again.
+
+The Hen-sparrow looked at her carefully. "You have not washed your
+whiskers," said she; "they are still dirty."
+
+The Cat went obediently and washed her whiskers.
+
+ Meanwhile the Cock-sparrow had been sitting on the
+ edge of the well in the sun, and by this time his feathers
+ were quite dry. So his Hen chirped to him, "Now,
+ dear, you can fly, let's be off." And off
+ they flew together, and the Cat was
+ left licking her chops and
+ wishing she had not
+ been such
+ a fool.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Foolish Fish
+
+
+A FISH was once flapping and flopping on the sand by the banks of a
+river. She was a lady Fish--how she got there I don't know; but she had
+been better to stay at home, as you shall hear. Well, she flapped away
+on the sand, and couldn't get off; she began to feel very dry. A man
+came by, riding upon a horse. "O Man," shouted the Fish, "do carry me
+back to the water again, or I shall be dried up and die."
+
+"No, no," said the Man, "not I, indeed! You are a she, and I have had so
+much bother with shes in my life that I shall keep clear of you."
+
+"O dear good Man!" cried the Fish, "do please help me, and I will
+promise not to behave badly; I'll be as nice as any man could be. Just
+think! if you leave me here, I shall dry into a stick, or somebody will
+come along and eat me."
+
+The Man scratched his head, and wondered what he ought to do; but at
+last he took pity on the Fish, and got down off his horse. Then he
+picked up the Fish and put her on his shoulder, and walked down to the
+water. "Now then," said he, "in with you."
+
+"Take me into deep water," said the Fish; "this won't do for me." So the
+good-natured fellow took her and waded into the water till he was
+neck-deep. Then the Fish opened her mouth wide, and said--
+
+"Now I'm going to eat you! I'll teach you to say nasty things about
+women."
+
+That was a nice way of showing gratitude to the Man, wasn't it? I wonder
+the Man did not eat the Fish, instead of the Fish eating him. But I am
+afraid the Man was rather stupid. It never occurred to him that he might
+eat the Fish, and all he did was to scratch his head again. "That's not
+fair," said he; "I saved your life, and now you want to eat me. We must
+find some one to decide between us, and say which is right."
+
+"All right," said the Fish; "take me up on your shoulder again, and let
+us find somebody."
+
+So the Man took her up on his shoulder again, and out of the water came
+he. On the bank of the river grew a Crab-apple Tree, and the Man
+appealed to this Tree to decide their dispute. "O Tree," said he, "this
+Fish was lying on the sand, and I saved her life, and now she wants to
+eat me. Do you think that is right?"
+
+"Of course!" said the Tree--whose temper was as crabbed as his
+apples--"of course! Why not? You men are always doing mischief. Here am
+I, an innocent Crab-apple Tree, and people come along and cut off my
+branches to shade themselves from the sun. I call that cool!"
+
+"Well," said the Man, "they want to be cool, and that's why they cut
+your branches off."
+
+"Don't be a fool," squeaked the Crab-apple Tree; "you know what I mean.
+So as you do all this damage to us, we are right to do all we can to
+hurt you, and therefore this Fish has a right to eat you if she
+chooses."
+
+"Come along," said the Fish, as she opened her mouth; "jump in!"
+
+"Wait a bit," said the Man, "we must try somebody else. I feel sure
+there is something wrong with this judgment." The Fish did not wish to
+ask anybody else, but she had to agree, because they were on dry land.
+
+So they went along until they saw an Elephant.
+
+"O Elephant!" cried the Man, "do you see this Fish? I saved her life,
+and now she wants to eat me. Do you think this is right?"
+
+"Right?" said the Elephant, "I should rather think so! Why, you men are
+horrid brutes, always making us carry half-a-dozen of you about on our
+backs, or prodding us with a spike, or something nasty. Eat you up? I
+only wish _I_ could eat you up, and I would do it too, but nature makes
+me eat leaves, and you are too tough for me to digest."
+
+So there was no comfort to be had from the Elephant.
+
+The Fish opened her mouth wider than ever, for she was getting hungry,
+and said, "Now then, look sharp--in with you!"
+
+The Man was in despair. What was he to do? "Give me one more chance,"
+said he, "and if they all say the same, then you shall eat me."
+
+He looked round, and not far off he saw a Jackal. "Friend Jackal," he
+called out; "I say, Jackal! Stop a minute, I want to ask you something."
+
+"All right," said the Jackal, "ask away."
+
+"This Fish," said the Man, "was flip-flap-flopping on the sand and
+gasping for breath, and I saved her life; and then as soon as she got
+safe back into the water again, she wanted to eat me. Do you think
+that's right?"
+
+"Hm," said the Jackal, "I don't quite understand. Where was the Fish?"
+
+"Lying on the sand, you booby," said the Fish, getting angry.
+
+"How?" asked the Jackal.
+
+"Why," said the Fish, "what does that matter, I should like to know?"
+
+"Can't understand," said the Jackal, looking stupidly all round and then
+up at the sky.
+
+"Well," said the Fish, angrier than ever, "all you are asked to do, is
+to say whether or no I am to eat this Man. Can't you do that without all
+this bother?"
+
+"No," said the Jackal.
+
+"Oh dear," said the Fish, "what a stupid you must be! All right then,
+come along, and we'll show you." So she made the Man take her on his
+shoulder again, and carry her to the place where she had been lying on
+the sand.
+
+"That's the place," said she.
+
+The Jackal was not satisfied yet, but he must needs see how she lay. So
+the Man put her down on the sand, and the Fish began flip-flap-flopping
+again.
+
+"Now then," said the Jackal to the Man, "up on the horse with you, and
+be off! What does the Fish matter to you? Let her die, she deserves no
+better."
+
+The Man thought this a good idea, so he got up on his horse, and off,
+and was more resolved than ever to keep clear of women.
+
+But the Fish was very angry at being tricked so neatly. "You shall pay
+for this!" she gasped to the Jackal; "I'll come and eat you in your
+den."
+
+"All right, you may try," said the Jackal, "but I fancy you will get
+eaten yourself." And so saying, away he scampered.
+
+The Fish flapped and flopped, until somehow or other she managed to flap
+herself into the river.
+
+After this the Fish used to sit by the roots of a fig-tree which went
+down into the river, with her mouth gaping, in the hope that something
+might fall in. The Jackal used to come down to this place to drink, and
+one day, as he was drinking, the Fish caught him tight by the leg.
+
+"Oh you silly Fish," said the Jackal, "why didn't you catch my leg? You
+have got hold of the wrong thing," said he; "there's my leg, if you want
+it," pointing to the root of the fig-tree. The foolish Fish believed she
+had made a mistake, and let go the Jackal's leg, and took a good bite of
+the root. The Jackal laughed, and scampered away, crying, "Oh what a
+fool you are! You don't know wood from meat!"
+
+"Never mind," said the Fish, "next time it will be my turn, and then we
+shall see. I'll come and eat you in your den."
+
+Next day, when the Jackal had gone into the forest to find food, our
+friend the Fish jumped out of the water, and went roll, roll, rolling
+into the forest, until she came to the den of the Jackal; and inside the
+door of the Jackal's den she stood on her tail, waiting for him to come
+back. By-and-by back came the Jackal, sure enough; but Jackals are very
+cunning creatures, and he came up slinking quietly, and saw the Fish
+before the Fish saw him. So he called out in a loud voice, "Den, Den!"
+
+No answer. Again he called out, "Den, Den!" This time the Fish thought
+that the Den was no doubt accustomed to reply when the Jackal called to
+it. Perhaps it was shy because she was present. Anyhow she thought she
+had better answer, so she called out in return, "Well, well!"
+
+"You there?" asked the Jackal.
+
+"Yes, I'm here all right," answered the Fish.
+
+"Just stop a minute," said the Jackal, "and I'll be back directly."
+
+Away he ran, and the Fish crept inside the hole, and hid. The Jackal ran
+about gathering dry leaves, and with the leaves he made a little pile at
+the mouth of his hole. Then he went to a fire which some traveller had
+left smouldering, and seizing a brand, he brought it and set light to
+the leaves at the mouth of the cave. The fire soon burned up.
+
+"Is that nice, dear Den?" asked the Jackal.
+
+"Very nice, thank you," said the Fish, who thought she must go on
+pretending.
+
+"I'll soon make you warm," said the Jackal, and he piled on more fuel.
+It began to get very hot.
+
+"That's enough now," said the Fish.
+
+ "No, no, Den dear," said the cunning Jackal, laughing
+ to himself. More and more leaves he piled on the top
+ of the fire. One side of the Fish got so hot that she
+ turned the other. Then it got hotter and hotter, and
+ soon the Fish expired. When the fire went out, the
+ Jackal looked into the cave, and there was the Fish,
+ done on both sides crisp and brown. He sat
+ down on his haunches, and gobbled her
+ up in a trice, and he never had a
+ nicer dinner. That was the
+ end of the foolish and
+ ungrateful Fish.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Clever Goat
+
+
+A SHEPHERD was feeding his flock on the hills; and as they were going
+home again in the evening, one of the goats lagged behind. Now, this
+Goat was very old, and goats are not like men, for the older they grow
+the wiser they become. So this Goat, being very old indeed, was also
+very wise. There was a very nice clump of grass by the wayside, and the
+wise old Goat said to herself, "Here is the nicest grass I have seen for
+a long time. I'm not hungry, because I have been eating all day; but I
+daresay I shall soon be hungry again, so I had better eat it while I can
+get it." And accordingly she set to work, and very soon she had eaten it
+all up. Then she trotted off homeward.
+
+As the old Goat went merrily trotting along, with her eyes on the
+ground, suddenly she looked up--and lo and behold! a huge Wolf sitting
+on a stump, and staring at her hungrily! What was she to do? To escape
+was impossible. She pulled her wits together, and began--
+
+"Oh, my dear Mr. Wolf!" cried she, "how delighted I am to see you. I
+have been looking for you all day, and now I've found you at last."
+
+The Wolf was so utterly astonished that he had not a word to say at
+first. But after a while, he found his tongue, and thus said he--
+
+"My good Goat, you must be out of your senses. Why, I'm accustomed to
+feed on goats, and here you say you are glad to see me. Who ever heard
+of a creature so foolish as to throw itself into the jaws of death of
+its own free will?"
+
+"Ah," replied the Goat, "you don't know my Shepherd, that's quite clear.
+He is the kindest man in the world, and he has a special weakness for
+you. He was talking of you only this morning, and saying that he owes
+you a good turn for not gobbling up any of his sheep, though it is ever
+so long since he began to feed them in your forest. So he has sent me to
+you as a token of his esteem. I'm an old Goat, you see, and not much use
+to him now. 'No _ifs_ and _buts_,' says he to me--'off with you, and let
+kind Mr. Wolf eat you for his dinner.' And so here I am. And indeed, you
+must not suppose I am here against my will; not at all. I could not
+think of disobeying our good Shepherd. And, if I did, he could sell me
+to the butcher, to have my throat cut, and be eaten by horrid beasts of
+men, who have only two legs to bless themselves with. I assure you, I
+much prefer being eaten by a noble four-legged gentleman like yourself."
+
+Our Wolf was still so surprised that he could find nothing to say; and
+the Goat went on--
+
+"Do not think, dear sir, that I am flattering you. Look at me and judge
+if a respectable old Goat of my age, and at the point of death--for I
+see you licking your chops--whether, I say, such a one would dare to
+tell lies. But, Mr. Wolf, there is one reason why I shall be sorry to
+die. You may not have heard of it, but it is true nevertheless that I am
+a famous songster, and it will be indeed a pity that a gift so rare
+should be lost. Will you do me one last favour, and let me sing you a
+song before I die? I am sure it will delight you, and you will enjoy
+eating me all the more afterwards."
+
+The Wolf was very much pleased at the Goat's politeness. "Well," said
+he, "since you are so kind as to offer, I should like to hear what you
+can do in the way of music."
+
+"All right," said our Goat, "just sit down on that hillock yonder, and
+I'll stay here; it won't sound so nice if I am too near you."
+
+The Wolf trotted off to the hillock, and sat down, and waited for the
+Goat to begin her song.
+
+The Goat opened her mouth, and uttered a loud "Baa-baa-baa!"
+
+"Is that all?" asked the Wolf. He was rather disappointed, but he did
+not say so, for fear of being thought an ignorant lout.
+
+"Oh no," said the Goat, "that was only tuning up, to get the pitch."
+Then she cried again, "Baa-baa-baa," louder than before.
+
+ Meanwhile the Shepherd was not far off, and he
+ heard this loud Baa-baa of one of his goats. "Hullo,"
+ thought he, "what's up, I wonder?" and set off
+ running in the direction of the sound. Just as the
+ Wolf was getting impatient, and the Goat was opening
+ her mouth for another Baa-baa, up came the Shepherd,
+ behind the Wolf. Thwack, thwack, thwack! came his
+ stick on the stupid Wolf, and with a groan the Wolf
+ turned over and died on the spot. The Shepherd
+ and his wise old Goat trudged happily home
+ to the sheepfold, and after that the Goat
+ took good care to keep
+ with the flock.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+A Crow is a Crow for Ever
+
+
+THERE once was a very learned Bishop, who was very fond of
+bird's-nesting. One day he saw a fine large nest up in an elm-tree, and
+when he had climbed up he saw that it was full of young Crow-chicks. One
+of these chicks had such a winsome appearance, that the Bishop put him
+inside his hat, and took him home to the Palace.
+
+In due time the Crow grew up, and as he heard around him continually the
+Bishop and his friends talking divinity, by degrees he became quite
+clever in divinity himself. He knew all the kings of Israel and Judah,
+and the cities of refuge, so that at last there was no question in a
+divinity paper he could not answer. Indeed, once when the examining
+Chaplain was ill, the Crow did his work for him.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The fame of this learned Crow spread far and wide, until at last it
+reached the King's ears. Now the Bishop had been expecting this all
+along, and ever since he found the young Crow he had been training him
+for a purpose. I am sorry to say he was rather a greedy man; and as he
+hoped to get something out of the King by the means of this Crow, he
+trained him to fly towards anything that shone bright, such as gold and
+silver.
+
+"When the King asks me to show off my Crow," he thought, "I will ask as
+a price anything the Crow may choose; and then doubtless he will fly to
+the King's crown, and I shall be King!"
+
+At the first all fell out as he looked for. The King sent word to say he
+wanted to see the Crow. He was sitting in the garden, with his gold
+crown on, and all his courtiers around him; and then asked to hear him
+say all the kings of Israel and Judah.
+
+"With pleasure, sire," said the Bishop; "if your Majesty will deign to
+grant him what he chooses for a reward. He has been well taught, and
+will not work for nothing."
+
+"By all means," said the King; "let him choose his reward, and I will
+give it."
+
+Then the Bishop took his Crow out of his hat, and the Crow said all the
+kings of Israel and Judah quite right, forwards and backwards, without a
+single mistake. The King was delighted: he could not have done as much.
+
+"And now, sire," said the Bishop, "I will let him go, and tell him to
+choose his own prize."
+
+So the Bishop let the Crow loose. The Crow was flying straight for the
+King's crown, when all on a sudden what should he spy but a dead cat! He
+turned off on the instant, and down he swooped on the dead cat. You know
+Crows eat dead things and offal; and this Crow liked a dead cat for
+dinner better than a gold crown.
+
+The King laughed, the courtiers roared with merriment.
+
+"Bishop," said the King, when he had done laughing, "your Crow is easily
+pleased, it seems! Well, he has chosen his reward, and by my royal
+beard, he shall have it. Ha, ha, ha!"
+
+But the Bishop felt very rueful indeed. All his pains and trouble lost,
+and nothing to show for it! He shook his head and went away, singing to
+himself a little chant he made up on the spot, all out of his own head--
+
+ "I kept my Crow in a lovely cage,
+ And taught him wisdom's holy page;
+ But still 'tis true, whate'er he may know,
+ A dirty Crow is a dirty Crow."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Grateful Goat
+
+
+ONCE upon a time a Butcher bought a Goat; but as he was going to kill
+the Goat, and make him into meat for the table, the Goat opened his
+mouth, and said--
+
+"If you kill me, Butcher, you will be a few shillings the richer; but if
+you spare my life, I will repay you for your kindness."
+
+This Butcher had killed many goats in his day, but he never before heard
+one of them talk. Goats can talk to each other, as you must have heard;
+but most of them do not learn English. So the Butcher thought there must
+be something special about this Goat, and did not kill him.
+
+The Goat felt very grateful that his life had been spared for a few more
+happy summers; and when he found himself free, the first thing he did
+was to go into the forest to see if he could find some means of repaying
+the Butcher's kind deed.
+
+As he trotted along under the trees, stopping now and then to crop some
+tender shoot that came within reach, he met a Jackal.
+
+"I am glad to see you, Goatee," said the Jackal; "and now I'm going to
+eat you."
+
+"Don't be such a fool," said the Goat. "Can't you see I am nothing but
+skin and bones? Wait till I get fat. That's why I am here, just to get
+fat; and when I'm nice and fat, you may eat me and welcome."
+
+The Goat was very skinny, in truth, and he pulled in his breath to make
+himself look more skinny. So the Jackal said--
+
+"All right, look sharp, and be sure you look out for me on your way
+back."
+
+"I shan't forget, Jackal," said the Goat. "Ta ta!"
+
+By-and-by he fell in with a Wolf.
+
+"Ha!" said the Wolf, smacking his lips; "here's what I want. Get ready,
+my Goat, for I am going to eat you."
+
+"Oh, surely not," said the Goat; "a skinny old thing like me!" He drew
+in his breath again, and looked very skinny indeed. "I have come here to
+fatten myself, and when I'm fat, you shall eat me if you like."
+
+"Well," said the Wolf, "you don't look like a prize Goat, I grant you.
+Go along then, but look out for me when you come back."
+
+"Oh, I shall look out for you!" said the Goat, and away he trotted.
+
+By-and-by he came to a church. He went into the church, and there he saw
+last Sunday's collection plate, full of gold coins. In that country, any
+one would have been ashamed to put coppers into the plate, not because
+they were rich, for they were not, but because they were generous. Now,
+Goats are not taught that they must not steal, but they think they have
+a right to whatever they can get hold of; so this Goat opened his
+mouth, and licked up all the sovereigns, and hid them under his tongue.
+
+The Goat next went to a flower-shop, and asked the man who sold the
+flowers to make some wreaths, and cover him up with them, horns and all.
+So the man covered him up with flowers, till he looked like a large
+rose-bush. Then the Goat popped out a sovereign from his mouth, to pay
+the man, and very glad the man was to get so much for his roses.
+
+Then the Goat set out on his homeward way. He looked out for the Wolf,
+as he had promised to do; and when the Wolf saw him coming along, he
+thought he was a rose-bush. The Wolf was not at all surprised to see a
+rose-bush walking along the road, for many were the strange things he
+had seen in his life; and if you come to think of it, this was no
+stranger than a Goat that could talk English.
+
+"Good afternoon, Rose-bush," said the Wolf; "have you seen a Goat
+passing this way?"
+
+"Oh yes," said the Goat, "I saw him a few minutes ago back there along
+the road."
+
+"Many thanks, Rose-bush," said the Wolf; "I am much obliged to you," and
+away he ran in the direction in which the Goat had come.
+
+By-and-by he came to the Jackal.
+
+"Hullo, Rose-bush!" said the Jackal. "Have you seen a Goat anywhere as
+you came along?"
+
+"Oh yes," replied the Goat, out of the roses; "I saw him just now, and
+he was talking to a big Wolf."
+
+"Good heavens!" said the Jackal, "I must look sharp, if I want some Goat
+to-day," and off he galloped, in a great hurry.
+
+In the evening he got to the Butcher's house.
+
+"Hullo!" said the Butcher, "what have we here?" He knew that rose-bushes
+could not walk, but he could not make out what it was at all.
+
+"Baa! baa!" said the Goat; "it's your grateful old Goat, come back to
+pay you for your kindness." And with these words, he spouted out all the
+sovereigns he found in the church, except the one he paid to the
+flower-man.
+
+ The Butcher was delighted to see so many sovereigns:
+ he asked no questions, because he thought it wiser. He
+ took the sovereigns, and found they were enough
+ to keep him all his life, without killing any
+ more goats. So he lived in peace, and
+ the Goat spent his remaining years
+ browsing comfortably in the
+ Butcher's paddock.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Cunning Jackal
+
+Or, The Biter Bit
+
+
+A JACKAL lived on one side of a deep river, and on the other side were
+fields upon fields of ripe melons. The Jackal was always hungry, and he
+had eaten everything within reach; so he used to sit on the river bank
+and bemoan his luck. "All those ripe melons," said he, "and nobody to
+eat them but men. It is really a shame. I don't know what Providence is
+doing, to treat me so scurvily."
+
+Perhaps Providence knew what it was about, and the Jackal, as you shall
+hear, deserved no better than he got.
+
+As he sat one day by the river, moaning and groaning, a big Tortoise
+popped up his funny head out of the water. There was a big tear in each
+of the Tortoise's round eyes.
+
+The Jackal stopped moaning and groaning when he saw the Tortoise.
+"What's the matter, Shelly?" said he. "Aren't you well?"
+
+"Quite well, thank you," said the Tortoise, and the tears slowly rolled
+down his nose. He was going to call the Jackal Snarly, which was the
+nickname the Jackal went by; but he thought better of it, because it
+would have been rather rude. All the same, he did not like being called
+Shelly in that offhand way.
+
+"Wife and brats all right?" asked the Jackal. "No measles or mumps?"
+
+This was also very rude of the Jackal, because a Tortoise is sensitive
+about mumps. If he gets mumps when his head is inside his shell, he
+can't put it out; and if his head is outside, that is still worse, for
+it swells up so that he can't get it in again.
+
+"No, thank you, my wife is all right," said the Tortoise, who was rather
+confused; "at least, she would be all right if I had one, but that's
+just it--I can't get a wife! Nobody will look at me! and that is my
+trouble," and two more big tears trickled down his nose.
+
+At this moment an idea came into the Jackal's crafty head. "What a pity
+you didn't tell me before," said he; "I could easily have found you a
+wife last week, but now she has gone to live on the other side of the
+river."
+
+"Do you really mean it?" said the Tortoise.
+
+"Honour bright," answered the Jackal; "do I look like a person who would
+tell a lie?" He certainly did, only the Tortoise was too simple to see
+it.
+
+The Tortoise rubbed away his tears on a stump, for he had no
+handkerchief, and brightened up considerably.
+
+"I can carry you across, friend," said he, "if you will jump on my
+back."
+
+The Jackal wanted nothing better, so down he jumped on the back of the
+Tortoise, and the Tortoise swam across. When they got across, the
+Tortoise was quite tired, because the Jackal was very heavy for a
+Tortoise to carry.
+
+A fine time the Jackal had on the further side of the river. He ran
+about among the fields, and ate melons till he was nearly bursting.
+Every day the Tortoise came to the bank, asking whether the match was
+yet arranged, and every day the Jackal told him that all was going well.
+"You have no notion how pleased they are," said the Jackal. "Just see
+how fat I am getting. They feed me like a fighting-cock, all because of
+you." It was indeed because of the Tortoise that the Jackal was so well
+fed, but not as he meant it.
+
+By-and-by the season of melons came to an end, and all that the Jackal
+had left were cut and sold in the market. Melons were dear that season,
+because the Jackal had eaten so many of them before they could be cut.
+Then the Jackal stole a white dress and a veil, and hung them on the
+stump of a tree which stood near the river side; and next day, when the
+Tortoise popped his funny head out of the water, said the Jackal--
+
+"There's your wife at last, old Shelly! There she stands, dumb as a
+stone. Not a word will she have to say to you till I am out of the way,
+because she is too modest. Come, hurry up, Shell-fish, and take me
+across."
+
+The Tortoise was angry at being called a shell-fish, because tortoises
+are not fish at all, and they feel insulted if you call them so.
+However, he was so glad to get a wife at last, that he said nothing,
+only presented his back for the Jackal to jump on. Flop! came the
+Jackal, so heavy by this time that it was all the Tortoise could do to
+get him across safely. If he was tired before, he was nearly dead now.
+But he swam across at last; and the Jackal ran off into the forest,
+chuckling at the simplicity of the poor Tortoise.
+
+Back went our Tortoise across the river, and climbed up on the bank.
+
+"Wife!" he called out, in a tender voice.
+
+No answer.
+
+Again he called "Wife!" but still no answer.
+
+He could not make it out a bit. He crawled up to the stump which the
+Jackal had decked out in wedding finery, and put out his flapper to
+touch his wife's hand: lo and behold, it was only an old tree-stump.
+
+The rage of the Tortoise knew no bounds, and he determined to have his
+revenge.
+
+Next day the Jackal came down to drink at the river. The Tortoise was
+watching for him under water; and while the Jackal was drinking, the
+Tortoise nipped his teeth into the Jackal's leg.
+
+How the Jackal did howl, to be sure! He was a great coward, and even
+used to cry when his teeth were pulled out by the dentist. So now he
+howled at the top of his voice, "Let me go! Let me go!"
+
+ But the Tortoise held on like grim death. He was
+ too weak to pull the Jackal under, but he was too heavy
+ for the Jackal to pull out; so there he bides his time.
+ By-and-by the tide began to rise. The tide rose to the
+ Jackal's middle, it rose to his head; and his last howls
+ came up from underneath the water in big
+ bubbles, which showed that the crafty
+ Jackal would play his mean
+ tricks never more.
+
+
+
+
+The Farmer's Ass
+
+
+THERE was once a Farmer, who had an Ass. It was the habit of this Ass to
+lift up his voice and bray, whenever he heard the church bells
+a-ringing. Now in the country where this Farmer lived, they used to
+believe that a man's soul passes when he dies into an animal, or
+something else. So this Farmer thought that any Ass that was fond of
+church bells, must have been a great saint in some former life.
+Accordingly, he named his Ass St. Anthony.
+
+All his life long, this Ass served the Farmer faithfully, and earned him
+a great deal of money. At last the Ass died of old age.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The Farmer was very sad and sorry when his Ass died. "My Ass served me
+faithfully," said he, "and it's only fair he should have a good
+funeral." So he sent for the undertaker, and told him to make a big
+coffin, and put it on a hearse, and buried the Ass with great splendour.
+Then he shaved off every scrap of hair from his head, as the custom was
+in those parts when anybody died, and gave a funeral feast to all his
+relations, and dressed himself in black.
+
+Next time he went to the Grocer's to buy sugar, the Grocer noticed his
+head shaved bare, and the black clothes, so he knew some one must be
+dead, a relation or a great friend.
+
+"I am sorry to see you have lost some one," said he; "who is it?"
+
+"St. Anthony is dead," said the Farmer.
+
+"Dear me," said the Grocer, "and I never heard of it. How very sad!"
+Thought he to himself, "I had best have my head shaved too, or else
+people will call me hard-hearted."
+
+So when the Farmer had bought his sugar, and was gone, the Grocer went
+to the Barber and had his head shaved. Then he put on a black coat and
+necktie.
+
+By-and-by a Soldier came to have a chat with his friend the Grocer.
+
+"Ods bobs!" said he, "what's the matter, man?"
+
+"St. Anthony is dead," said the Grocer solemnly, and wiped away a tear.
+
+"You don't say so," said the Soldier. Off he went straight to the
+Barber, and made him shave his head; then he bought a piece of crape to
+tie round his left arm.
+
+He told the news to all the men of his regiment, and they all felt so
+much sympathy with this soldier that they shaved their heads too.
+
+Next day on parade, there was the whole regiment shaved to a man.
+
+"What's the meaning of this?" asked the General.
+
+The Sergeant saluted, and told him that St. Anthony was dead.
+
+"Is he? By Jove," said the General, "then I dismiss this parade," and
+off he galloped on his war-horse to the nearest Barber, who shaved his
+head like the men's. On the way back, he saw the Prime Minister going to
+Court. "May I ask," said the Prime Minister suavely, "to what untoward
+circumstance is due the erasure of your capillary covering?"
+
+"St. Anthony is dead," answered the General.
+
+"Dear, dear," said the Prime Minister, "you don't say so. He was
+doubtless an ornament to the party, and it is meet that I should testify
+my respect." Then the Prime Minister too went off to get his head
+shaved, and appeared before the King without a single hair.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked the King; "anybody dead, hey, hey, hey?"
+
+"If it please your Majesty," said the Prime Minister, "St. Anthony is
+dead."
+
+"What a loss for our kingdom," said the King; "what a loss! what a loss!
+Excuse me a moment," and away he went to get his head shaved.
+
+When the Queen saw him, she wanted to know why his head was shaved.
+
+"St. Anthony is dead," answered the King.
+
+"And who is St. Anthony?" asked the Queen.
+
+"I don't know who he is," said the King, "a friend of the Prime
+Minister's."
+
+So the Prime Minister was asked who St. Anthony was; and replied that he
+did not himself know him, but the General spoke of him in the highest
+terms. The General said that St. Anthony was not a personal friend, but
+he was well known in the regiment. After inquiry amongst the men, it was
+found that only one of them could tell anything about St. Anthony, and
+all he knew was that his friend the Grocer shaved his head in memory of
+him. The Grocer referred them to the Farmer, and the Farmer was out in
+the fields.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Then the King sent a messenger on horseback to find the Farmer and bring
+him to court. The Farmer was brought into court, and when he saw the
+King and the Prime Minister and General all in mourning, he was very
+much surprised. The King said to him, "Farmer, who is St. Anthony?"
+
+"If it please your Majesty, he was my Ass."
+
+ The King, and the Prime Minister, and the General
+ felt very foolish to have gone into mourning for an
+ Ass. They put off their black clothes, but it was not
+ so easy to get their hair back again; and so for a
+ month or two the King, and the Prime Minister,
+ and the General, and all the regiment of
+ Body Guards, went about in wigs.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Parrot Judge
+
+
+THERE was once a Fowler who caught a young Parrot. He kept the Parrot in
+his house, hoping that it would pick up something to say, but the Parrot
+learnt nothing at all. Then he set to work at teaching it; but after six
+months the Parrot had only learnt to say two things: one was "Of
+course," and the other was "Certainly."
+
+Seeing that his trouble was wasted, the Fowler took him to market in a
+gilt cage, in order to catch the eye of customers. He cried in a loud
+voice, "Who'll buy! who'll buy! here's a Parrot which can say anything
+in the world! Here's a clever Parrot who knows what he is talking about!
+If you want a question answered here's the Parrot to answer you, no
+matter what it may be! Who'll buy, who'll buy?" Everybody crowded round
+to see the wonderful Parrot.
+
+The King happened to be passing by, and heard all this to-do about a
+Parrot. Said he to the Fowler--
+
+"Is it really true about your Parrot?"
+
+"Ask him, sire," said the Fowler.
+
+"Parrot," said the King, "do you know English?"
+
+"Of course," said the Parrot, in a tone of scorn, turning up his beak;
+as who should say, "What a question to ask _me_."
+
+"Can you decide knotty points of law?" the King went on.
+
+"Certainly," said the Parrot, with great confidence.
+
+"This is the bird for me," said the King, and asked his price. The price
+was a thousand pounds. The King paid a thousand pounds to the Fowler,
+and departed.
+
+A big price, you will say, for a Parrot. So it was; but the King had a
+reason for paying it. The Judge of the City had just died, and the King
+could not find another. Hundreds of men offered to do the work. Some
+wanted too much money, more than the King could pay; some were
+reasonable, but knew no law; and the cheaper ones who professed to know
+everything were all Germans, whom the King would not have at any price.
+When he heard of this wise Parrot, thought he, "Here's my Judge; he will
+want no wages but sugar and chickweed, and he will take no bribes."
+
+So the Parrot was made Judge, and sat on a big throne, with a white wig
+and a red robe lined with ermine.
+
+Next day, the Parrot was in Court, and a case came up for judgment. It
+was a murder case, and when the evidence had been heard, the pleader on
+the murderer's side finished up his speech by saying, "And now, my Lord,
+you must admit that my client is innocent."
+
+Said the Parrot, "Of course."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Everybody thought this rather odd, because the other side had not yet
+been heard; and, besides, the man was caught in the act. However, they
+held their tongues and waited.
+
+Then the prosecutor got up, and made a long speech, at the end of which
+he said, "It is no longer possible to doubt that the prisoner at the bar
+is guilty. Two witnesses saw him do the deed, and half-a-dozen caught
+him just as he was pulling the knife out of the body. I therefore call
+upon you, my Lord, to pass sentence of death."
+
+Said the Parrot, "Certainly."
+
+At this the King pricked up his ears. The man could not be innocent of
+course, and yet certainly guilty, at the same time. So he turned to the
+Judge and said--
+
+"If you go against evidence so clear, Judge, I shall begin to suspect
+that you killed the man yourself."
+
+Said the Parrot, "Certainly."
+
+You may imagine the hubbub that arose in Court when the Judge said this!
+Everybody saw that the King had made a mistake in his Judge, and even
+the King himself began to suspect that something was wrong. So he said,
+rather angrily, to the Parrot--
+
+"Then it is your head ought to be chopped off."
+
+Said the Parrot, "Of course."
+
+ "Chop off his head, then," cried the King; and they
+ took away the Parrot and chopped off his head
+ without delay; and all the while he was
+ being dragged along, he called out,
+ "Certainly," "Certainly,"
+ "Certainly."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Frog and the Snake
+
+
+A FROG and a Snake had a quarrel as to which could give the more deadly
+bite. They agreed to try it on the next opportunity.
+
+A Man came to bathe in the pond where these two creatures lived. The
+Snake bit him under the water, while the Frog floated on the top.
+"Something has bitten me!" the Man called out to his friends.
+
+"What is it?" they asked.
+
+Then he saw the Frog swimming on the top of the water. "Oh, it's only a
+Frog," said he. Then he went away, and no harm came of it.
+
+The next time that Man came to bathe in the pond, the Frog bit him under
+the water, while the Snake swam on the top.
+
+"Oh dear!" said the Man, "a Snake has bitten me!" The Man died.
+
+"Now," said the Frog, "you will admit that my bite is more poisonous
+than yours."
+
+"I deny it altogether," said the Snake.
+
+So they agreed to refer their dispute to the King of the Snakes. The
+Snake King listened to their arguments, and decided in favour of the
+Snake, and said the Man had died of fright.
+
+"Of course," grumbled the Frog, "the Snake King sides with the Snake."
+
+ So both of them bit the Frog, and he died, and
+ that was the end of him.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Little Miss Mouse and her Friends
+
+
+THERE was once a little Lady-Mouse that lived in a field. She was all
+alone in the world, a little old maid, and she very much wanted a
+friend. But every creature turned up his nose at the poor little Mouse,
+and not a friend could she get; until at last a Clod of earth took pity
+upon her. Then the Mouse and the Clod became firm friends, and went
+about everywhere together. The Mouse walked upon her four legs, and the
+Clod rolled along like a cricket ball.
+
+One day the Mouse wanted a bathe; and nothing would serve, but the Clod
+must go bathe along with her. In vain the Clod protested that she did
+not like water; that she had never washed in her life; that she could
+not swim: Miss Mousie would take no denial, and said severely, that if
+the Clod had never washed before, it was high time to begin. So at
+length the Clod was persuaded, and into the river they went. Mousie went
+in first, and the Clod rolled in afterwards; but no sooner had the poor
+Clod rolled into the river, than what was Miss Mousie's horror to see
+her melt away in the water, and disappear.
+
+Mousie was now friendless again, and loudly complained to the River that
+he had stolen away her favourite Clod.
+
+"I am very sorry," the River said; "I really couldn't help melting a
+thing so soft. I can't give you back your Clod, but I will give you a
+Fish instead."
+
+This comforted Mousie, and she took her Fish and went home. Then she put
+the Fish on the top of a post, to dry. Down swooped a big Kite, and flew
+away with the Fish.
+
+"O my poor Fish," wailed Miss Mousie, "to be taken away before we had a
+word together." Then she went to the Post, and demanded her Fish back
+again. "I gave him to you," said Mousie, "and you are responsible for
+him."
+
+Said the Post, "I am very sorry that I cannot give you back your Fish,
+but I will give you some Wood."
+
+Mousie was grateful for this kindness on the part of the Post. So she
+took a piece of Wood in exchange for the Fish.
+
+Mousie and the Wood went off to buy some sweets at the Confectioner's.
+While Mousie was eating the sweets, the Confectioner's wife burnt the
+Wood in the fire.
+
+Mousie finished the sweets, and when she turned round to look for her
+Wood, lo and behold it was gone. With tears in her eyes she begged the
+Confectioner's wife to give her back the Wood, but the Confectioner's
+wife said--
+
+"I am very sorry I cannot give you back the Wood, because it is burnt;
+but I will give you some Cakes instead."
+
+This made Miss Mousie happy again, and she took the Cakes. Then she paid
+a visit to the Shepherd's pen; and while she was talking to the
+Shepherd, a Goat ate up her cakes.
+
+"Give me back my Cakes, Mr. Shepherd," said Mousie, not seeing the Cakes
+anywhere.
+
+"I'm very sorry I can't do that," answered the Shepherd, "because I am
+afraid one of my goats has eaten them; but if you like, you may have a
+Kid instead."
+
+This was better and better. Mousie was charmed with her Kid and led it
+off to the music-shop, where she had to pay a bill. While the man was
+writing a receipt to the bill, his wife killed the Kid, and began to
+roast it for dinner. Mousie looked round, and wanted to know where her
+Kid was?
+
+"I rather think," said the Music-man, "that the nice odour of roast meat
+which tickles your nostrils, comes from that Kid. I'm sorry I can't give
+you the Kid back, but you may have the best drum in my shop."
+
+Mousie did not like the Drum so well as her Kid; but needs must, and she
+picked out a drum, and went away with it on her shoulder. By-and-by she
+came to a place where women were beating rice, to get the grains away
+from the husk. She hung up her Drum on a peg, while she watched the
+women husking the rice. Bang! flap! a woman drove her pestle right
+through the Drum.
+
+Poor Mousie. It seemed as if her misfortunes would never end. When she
+asked the woman for her Drum again, there it was, burst. The tears ran
+down her cheeks.
+
+"We are very sorry," the women all said, "that we cannot give you back
+your Drum; but you can have a Girl instead, if you like."
+
+ This brought smiles to Miss Mousie's sad face, and
+ she dried her tears. The women gave her a nice Girl,
+ and Mousie took the Girl home. They set up house
+ together, and planted a crop of corn. The corn ripened,
+ and they went out to cut it. Miss Mouse was a
+ wee mousie, and was quite hidden among the
+ stalks of the corn. While the Girl was
+ cutting the corn with a sickle, she did
+ not see poor little Mousie, so she
+ cut her in two, and that
+ was the end
+ of her.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Jackal that Lost his Tail
+
+
+THERE was once a Farmer, who used to go out every morning to work in his
+field, and his wife used to bring him dinner at noon. One day, as the
+Farmer's wife was carrying out the dinner to the field, she met a
+Jackal, who said--
+
+"Where are you going?"
+
+Said she, "To my husband, and this is his dinner."
+
+Said the Jackal, "Give me some, or I will bite you."
+
+So the woman had to give the Jackal some of this food. And when her
+husband saw it, he said--
+
+"What a small dinner you have brought me to-day!"
+
+"A Jackal met me," replied his wife, "and threatened to bite me if I
+gave him none."
+
+"All right," said the Farmer, "to-morrow I'll settle with that Jackal."
+
+On the morrow, the Farmer's wife went after the plough, and the Farmer
+dressed up in her clothes and carried out the dinner. Again the Jackal
+appeared.
+
+"Give me some of that," said he, "or I'll bite you."
+
+"Yes, yes, good Mr. Jackal," said the man, "you shall have some, only
+don't bite me."
+
+Then he set down the plate and the Jackal began to eat.
+
+"Just scratch my back, you, woman," said the Jackal, "while I am eating
+my dinner."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Yes, sir; yes, sir," said the man. He began gently to tickle and
+scratch the back of the Jackal, and in the middle, suddenly out with his
+knife, and slish! cut off the Jackal's tail.
+
+The Jackal jumped up and capered about. "Yow-ow-ow!" he went, "what has
+come to my tail? Oh dear! how shall I swish away the flies? Oh dear, how
+it hurts! Yow-ow-ow!" Away he scuttled, as fast as his legs could carry
+him.
+
+When he got home, all the Jackals came round him, and asked what had
+become of his tail. The Jackal was ashamed to have lost his tail, which
+was a particularly long and fine tail; but he pretended to like it.
+
+"Poor fellow!" said the Jackals, "where is your tail?"
+
+"I had it cut off," said the Jackal, "and good riddance. It was always
+in my way. Why, I never could sit down in comfort, and now look here!"
+He sat down on the place where his tail used to be, and looked proudly
+round. "Now, you try!" said he.
+
+They all tried, and found that their tails got underneath them when they
+sat, and it hurt their tails rather.
+
+"We never thought of that before," said they; "we must get rid of these
+things. Who cut off yours?"
+
+"A kind Farmer's wife," said the first Jackal. Then he told them where
+the Farmer's wife lived.
+
+That evening, a knock came at the Farmer's door, as the Farmer and his
+wife were sitting at tea.
+
+"Come in!" said the Farmer.
+
+The door opened, and in trooped a number of Jackals. "Please, Mr.
+Farmer," said they, "we want you kindly to cut off our tails."
+
+"Willingly," said the Farmer; whipt out his knife, and in a jiffy slish!
+slish! slish! off came the Jackals' tails.
+
+"Yow-ow-ow!" went the Jackals, capering about, "we didn't think it would
+hurt!" Away they went, and all the woods echoed that night with yowling
+and howling.
+
+When they all got home, they found the first Jackal waiting for them. He
+laughed in their faces. "Now we're all alike," said he, "all in the same
+boat."
+
+"Are we?" said the other Jackals, and set on him and tore him to pieces.
+
+"Now we must have our revenge on the Farmer," said the Jackals when they
+had eaten up their friend. So next morning they scampered off to the
+Farmer's house.
+
+The Farmer was out, and his wife was gathering fuel.
+
+"Good morning, Mrs. Farmer," said the Jackals; "we have come to eat the
+Farmer for cutting our tails off."
+
+"Ah, poor fellow," said the Farmer's wife, "he is dead. When he saw how
+it hurt you to have your tails cut off, he just lay down on the bed, and
+died of grief."
+
+"That's unlucky," said the Jackals.
+
+"But we are preparing the funeral feast," she went on, "you see I am now
+getting fuel for it. Will you give us the pleasure of your company to
+dinner?"
+
+"Gladly," said the Jackals; "we should like to see the last of the poor
+fellow;" then they ran away.
+
+At dinner-time, they all came back, and found chairs put for them, and
+plates round the table, with the woman at one end.
+
+"You can sit like Christians now," said the Farmer's wife, "so I have
+set you a chair apiece."
+
+"Thanks," said the Jackals; "that is thoughtful."
+
+"But I know," the Farmer's wife went on, "what quarrelsome creatures you
+are over your meat. Don't you think I had better tie you to your chairs,
+and then each will have to keep to his own plateful?"
+
+"A good plan," the Jackals said, wagging their heads. They had now no
+tails to wag, and they had to wag something. So the Farmer's wife tied
+them tight to their chairs.
+
+"But how shall we eat?" said the Jackals, who could not stir a paw.
+
+"Oh, no fear for that, I'll feed you."
+
+Then she brought out a steaming mess, and put it in the middle of the
+table. All the Jackals sniffed at the steam, and all their eyes were
+fixed greedily upon the meat. They began to struggle.
+
+"Softly, softly, good Jackals!" said the Farmer's wife.
+
+But what a surprise awaited the Jackals! They were so intent upon
+watching the Farmer's wife and the meat, that none of them heard the
+door open, and none of them saw the Farmer himself creep softly in, with
+a great club in his hand. The first news they had of it was crack!
+crack! crack!
+
+All but three of the Jackals looked round, and they saw these three of
+their comrades with their heads smashed in, lolling back in the chairs.
+The Farmer held the club poised in the air; down it came crack! on the
+head of the fourth Jackal. Then all the others began yowling and
+struggling to get free; but in vain, the cords held them fast, they
+could not stir; and in five minutes all the Jackals lay dead on the
+floor.
+
+ After that the Farmer ploughed in peace,
+ and no one molested the Farmer's
+ wife when she brought
+ his dinner.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Wily Tortoise
+
+
+A FOWLER was bird-catching in the jungle, and snared a wild goose. As he
+was carrying home his goose, he sat down by a pond. In this pond lived a
+Tortoise, and the Tortoise put up his nose out of the pond to sniff the
+air. He saw the Fowler and the Goose, and being a very innocent
+Tortoise, he feared no harm, but began to waddle towards them.
+
+"Take care, friend!" said the Goose. "This Fowler has caught me, and he
+will catch you!"
+
+The Tortoise waddled into the water again. "Many thanks, friend," said
+he. "One good turn deserves another." So saying, he dived down into the
+pond, and brought up a ruby.
+
+"Here, Mr. Fowler," said he, "take this ruby, and let my friend the
+Goose go."
+
+The Fowler took the ruby, but he was very greedy, so he said--
+
+"If you will bring me a pair to this, I will let the Goose go."
+
+The Tortoise dived down, and brought up another ruby. Then the Fowler
+let go the Goose, and said to the Tortoise, "Now hand over that ruby."
+
+The Tortoise said, "Forgive me, I have made a mistake, and brought up
+the wrong ruby. Let me see the first, and if it does not match, I will
+try again."
+
+The Fowler gave back the first ruby. "As I thought," said the Tortoise.
+Down he dived into the pond.
+
+ The Fowler waited a good long time, but nothing
+ was seen of the Tortoise. As you have guessed, when
+ the Tortoise found himself safe at the bottom
+ of the pond, he stayed there. The Fowler
+ tore his hair, and went home,
+ wishing he had not been
+ so greedy.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The King of the Mice
+
+
+FAR away in the forest was the Kingdom of Mouseland. There was a great
+city, where every Mouse had his little house, with doors and windows,
+tables and chairs, books for the grown-up Mice, and toys for the
+children; there were little shops, where the Mice bought clothes and
+food, and everything they wanted; there was a little church where they
+went on Sunday, and a reverend little Mouse in a little lawn surplice to
+preach to them; there was a little palace, and in this palace lived the
+little Mouse King.
+
+Now it happened that a caravan passed through the Kingdom of the Mice.
+Not that the men of the caravan knew what a wonderful kingdom they were
+in. They thought it was just like any other part of the forest, and if
+they did happen to pass a Mouse fortress, or farmyard, they thought them
+nothing but heaps of earth. Just so if you were to fly up in a balloon,
+and look down on your own house from the air, it would seem like a
+little doll's-house, not fit for a child to live in. This caravan, as I
+have said, was passing through Mouseland, and encamped in part of it
+once to spend the night. One of the Camels was very sick, and as the
+owner of the Camel thought it was sure to die, he left it behind when
+the caravan went away.
+
+But the Camel did not die; he very soon got as well as ever he was. And
+when he got well he also got hungry; so he strode all over Mouseland,
+eating up the crops of the Mice, and treading their houses down, until
+at last he came to the Mouse King's park. He ate a great many trees in
+the Mouse King's park, and the Keeper went in a hurry and flurry to tell
+the King.
+
+"O King," said he, "a mountain several miles high has walked into your
+park, and is eating everything up."
+
+"We must make an example of this mountain," said the King, "or the whole
+earth may be moving next. Sandy," said he to his Prime Minister, who was
+a Fox, "go and fetch that mountain to me."
+
+So Sandy the Prime Minister went to seek the mountain that was eating
+the King's park. Next morning, back he came, leading the Camel by his
+nose-string.
+
+When the Camel saw how little the King of the Mice seemed to be, he
+began to grunt and gurgle, and sniffed with his funny mouth. You know a
+Camel has a mouth which looks as though it had two slits in it, of the
+shape of a cross; and when he wants to show his contempt for anything he
+pokes out his mouth like a four-leaved clover, and makes you feel very
+small. "Hullo," said the Camel, "is this your King? I thought it was the
+Lion who sent for me. I would never have come for a speck like this."
+Then he turned round, and walked out of court, and began to eat
+everything he came across.
+
+The King was very angry, but what could he do? He had to swallow the
+insult, and make the best of it. However, he determined to watch his
+chance of revenge; and soon he got it. For after a few days, the Camel's
+nose-string became entangled in a creeper, and he could not get away, do
+what he would. Then Sandy the Fox came by, and saw him in this plight.
+Imagine his joy to see his enemy at his mercy! Off he ran, and soon
+brought the King to that place. Then the King said--
+
+"O Camel, you despised my words, and see the result. Your sin has found
+you out."
+
+"O mighty King," said the Camel, quite humble now, "indeed I confess my
+fault, and I pray you to forgive me. If you will only save me, I will be
+your faithful servant."
+
+The Mouse King was not of a spiteful nature, and as soon as he heard the
+Camel ask forgiveness his heart grew soft. He climbed up the creeper,
+and gnawed through the Camel's nose-string, and set the Camel free.
+
+The Camel, I am glad to say, kept his word; and he became a servant of
+the Mouse King. He was so big and strong that he could carry loads which
+would have needed thousands of Mice to carry; and by his help the King
+made very strong walls and forts around his city, so that he had no fear
+of enemies. When there was nothing else to do, the Camel even blacked
+the Mouse King's boots, rather than be idle.
+
+So things went on for a long time. But one day some Woodcutters came
+into the forest. These men lived all together in a village of their own,
+and they used to build houses of wood. When anybody wanted a house, he
+told the Woodcutters, and they used to leave their village and go into
+the woods. Then they cut down the trees, and sawed them into planks, and
+shaped them into the parts of a house. When the house was finished,
+they put numbers on all the parts, and took it to pieces again, and put
+it on a raft; and the raft floated down the great river to the place
+where the house had been ordered. Then they put up the house in a very
+short time, because you see it was all ready made, and only had to be
+put together.
+
+These Woodcutters, then, came and settled for a while near the borders
+of Mouseland; and in the course of their wanderings they found the stray
+Camel. They promptly seized him, and carried him off.
+
+When Sandy told the King what had happened, the Mouse King was very
+angry indeed. He sent a detachment of his bodyguard, armed cap-à-pie, to
+fetch the Woodcutters into his presence. The bodyguard captured two of
+them, and led them back bound. Then the King demanded his Camel.
+
+"Pooh, silly little Mouse," said the Woodcutters. "If you want it, you
+must fetch it."
+
+"I will," said the King of the Mice. "Tell your chief, whoever he is,
+that I hereby declare war upon him."
+
+The Woodcutters laughed, and went away.
+
+Then the Mouse King gathered together all his subjects, millions and
+millions of sturdy Mice; and they set out for the village of the
+Woodcutters. The Woodcutters had by this time finished their job, and
+they had been paid a good round sum of money for it; and the money was
+carefully put away, with all the other money they had, in a treasury.
+
+Now the Mice were not able to meet big Woodcutters in the field, but
+they had their own tactics. Night and day they burrowed under the earth.
+First they made for the treasury; and though the treasury had stone
+walls, they got up easily through the floor, where no danger was
+expected, and one by one they carried off every coin from the treasury,
+until it was as bare as the palm of your hand. Then they got underneath
+all the houses of the village; and thousands and millions of Mice were
+busy all day and all night in carrying out little baskets of earth from
+beneath the foundations. Thus it happened, that very soon the
+Woodcutters' village was standing on a thin shell of earth, and
+underneath it was a great hole.
+
+Now was the time to strike the blow. The layer of earth was so thin,
+that the least shock would destroy it. So the Mouse King wrote a letter
+to the Woodcutter Chief, asking once more for his Camel, and in the
+letter he hid a little packet of snuff. He put the letter in the post,
+and waited.
+
+Next day, as the Woodcutter Chief was sitting in his house, the postman
+came to the door--Rat-tat. The footman brought in a letter, and the
+Woodcutter Chief opened it. He read it through, and laughed. Then he
+waved it in the air, and said, "Let them come." As he waved the letter
+in the air, all the snuff fell out of it upon his nose. The Woodcutter
+gave a terrific sneeze, Tishoo! Tishoo! The thin shell of earth could
+not stand the shock; it trembled, and crumbled, and fell in, and all the
+Woodcutters fell in too, and all their village, and nothing was left of
+them but a big hole.
+
+Then the Mouse King and his army went back to Mouseland; and though they
+never got the old Camel back (for he was swallowed up along with the
+Woodcutters), yet no one ever molested Mouseland again.
+
+
+
+
+The Valiant Blackbird
+
+
+A BLACKBIRD and his mate lived together on a tree. The Blackbird used to
+sing very sweetly, and one day the King heard him in passing by, and
+sent a Fowler to catch him. But the Fowler made a mistake; he did not
+catch Mr. Blackbird, who sang so sweetly, but Mrs. Blackbird, who could
+hardly sing at all. However, he did not know the difference, to look at
+her, nor did the King when he got the bird; but a cage was made for Mrs.
+Blackbird, and there she was kept imprisoned.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+When Mr. Blackbird heard that his dear spouse was stolen, he was very
+angry indeed. He determined to get her back, by hook or by crook. So he
+got a long sharp thorn, and tied it at his waist by a thread; and on his
+head he put the half of a walnut-shell for a helmet, and the skin of a
+dead frog served for body-armour. Then he made a little kettle-drum out
+of the other half of the walnut-shell; and he beat his drum, and
+proclaimed war upon the King.
+
+As he walked along the road, beating his drum, he met a Cat.
+
+"Whither away, Mr. Blackbird?" said the Cat.
+
+"To fight against the King," said Mr. Blackbird.
+
+"All right," said the Cat, "I'll come with you: he drowned my kitten."
+
+"Jump into my ear, then," says Mr. Blackbird. The Cat jumped into the
+Blackbird's ear, and curled up, and went to sleep: and the Blackbird
+marched along, beating his drum.
+
+Some way further on, he met some Ants.
+
+"Whither away, Mr. Blackbird?" said the Ants.
+
+"To fight against the King," said Mr. Blackbird.
+
+"All right," said the Ants, "we'll come too; he poured hot water down
+our hole."
+
+"Jump into my ear," said Mr. Blackbird. In they jumped, and away went
+Blackbird, beating upon his drum.
+
+Next he met a Rope and a Club. They asked him, whither away? and when
+they heard that he was going to fight against the King, they jumped into
+his ear also, and away he went.
+
+Not far from the King's palace, Blackbird had to cross over a River.
+
+"Whither away, friend Blackbird?" asked the River.
+
+Quoth the Blackbird, "To fight against the King."
+
+"Then I'll come with you," said the River.
+
+"Jump into my ear," says the Blackbird.
+
+Blackbird's ears were pretty full by this time, but he found room
+somewhere for the River, and away he went.
+
+Blackbird marched along until he came to the palace of the King. He
+knocked at the door, thump, thump.
+
+"Who's there?" said the Porter.
+
+"General Blackbird, come to make war upon the King, and get back his
+wife."
+
+The Porter laughed so at the sight of General Blackbird, with his thorn,
+and his frogskin, and his drum, that he nearly fell off his chair. Then
+he escorted Blackbird into the King's presence.
+
+"What do you want?" said the King.
+
+"I want my wife," said the Blackbird, beating upon his drum,
+rub-a-dub-dub, rub-a-dub-dub.
+
+"You shan't have her," said the King.
+
+"Then," said the Blackbird, "you must take the consequences."
+Rub-a-dub-dub went the drum.
+
+"Seize this insolent bird," said the King, "and shut him up in the
+henhouse. I don't think there will be much left of him in the morning."
+
+The servants shut up Blackbird in the henhouse. When all the world was
+asleep, Blackbird said--
+
+ "Come out, Pussy, from my ear,
+ There are fowls in plenty here;
+ Scratch them, make their feathers fly,
+ Wring their necks until they die."
+
+Out came Pussy-cat in an instant. What a confusion there was in the
+henhouse. Cluck-cluck-cluck went the hens, flying all over the place;
+but no use: Pussy got them all, and scratched out their feathers, and
+wrung their necks. Then she went back into Blackbird's ear, and
+Blackbird went to sleep.
+
+When morning came, the King said to his men, "Go, fetch the carcass of
+that insolent bird, and give the Chickens an extra bushel of corn." But
+when they entered the henhouse, Blackbird was singing away merrily on
+the roost, and all the fowls lay around in heaps with their necks wrung.
+
+They told the King, and an angry King was he. "To-night," said he, "you
+must shut up Blackbird in the stable." So Blackbird was shut up in the
+stable, among the wild Horses.
+
+At midnight, when all the world was asleep, Blackbird said--
+
+ "Come out, Rope, and come out, Stick,
+ Tie the Horses lest they kick;
+ Beat the Horses on the head,
+ Beat them till they fall down dead."
+
+Out came Club and Rope from Blackbird's ear; the Rope tied the horses,
+and the Club beat them, till they died. Then the Rope and the Club went
+back into the Blackbird's ear, and Blackbird went to sleep.
+
+Next morning the King said--
+
+"No doubt my wild Horses have settled the business of that Blackbird
+once for all. Just go and fetch out his corpse."
+
+The servants went to the wild Horses' stable. There was Blackbird,
+sitting on the manger, and drumming away on his walnut-shell; and all
+round lay the dead bodies of the Horses, beaten to death.
+
+If the King was angry before, he was furious now. His horses had cost a
+great deal of money; and to be tricked by a Blackbird is a poor joke.
+
+"All right," said the King, "I'll make sure work of it to-night. He
+shall be put with the Elephants."
+
+When night came the Blackbird was shut up in the Elephants' shed. No
+sooner was all the world quiet, than Blackbird began to sing--
+
+ "Come from out my ear, you Ants,
+ Come and sting the Elephants;
+ Sting their trunk, and sting their head,
+ Sting them till they fall down dead."
+
+Out came a swarm of Ants from the Blackbird's ear. They crawled up
+inside the Elephants' trunks, they burrowed into the Elephants' brains,
+and stung them so sharply that the Elephants all went mad, and died.
+
+Next morning, as before, the King sent for the Blackbird's carcass; and,
+instead of finding his carcass, the servants found the Blackbird
+rub-a-dub-dubbing on his drum, and the dead Elephants piled all round
+him.
+
+This time the King was fairly desperate. "I can't think how he does it,"
+said he, "but I must find out. Tie him to-night to my bed, and we'll
+see."
+
+So that night Blackbird was tied to the King's bed. In the middle of the
+night, the King (who had purposely kept awake) heard him sing--
+
+ "Come out, River, from my ear,
+ Flow about the bedroom here;
+ Pour yourself upon the bed,
+ Drown the King till he is dead."
+
+Out came the River, pour-pour-pouring out of the Blackbird's ear. It
+flooded the room, it floated the King's bed, the King began to get wet.
+
+"In Heaven's name, General Blackbird," said the King, "take your wife,
+and begone."
+
+ So Blackbird received his wife again, and they
+ lived happily ever after.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Goat and the Hog
+
+
+A GOAT and a Hog were great friends, and for a long time they lived
+together. But they were poor, and one day the Goat said to the Hog--
+
+"Good-bye, friend Hog! I am going to seek my fortune."
+
+"Ugh! ugh! ugh!" said the Hog. It was kindly meant, for that was all the
+ignorant Hog could say. He intended to bid good-bye to his friend, and
+to wish him good luck.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The Goat trotted along till he came to the nearest town. He found a
+grain-shop with nobody in it; so in went our Goat, and ate his fill of
+the Grain, and whatever he could find. Then he went into the inner room,
+and sat down.
+
+By-and-by the shopman came in; his little girl was with him, and the
+little girl began to cry for sugar.
+
+"Go and get some out of the cupboard," said the shopman.
+
+The little girl ran into the inner room to get the sugar, but the Goat
+was there. And when the Goat saw the little girl, he cried out, in a
+solemn and loud voice--
+
+ "Little girl, go run, go run,
+ Or your life is nearly done!
+ And my crumpled horns I'll stick
+ Through your little body quick!"
+
+The little girl ran out shrieking. "What is it, my dear?" said her
+father.
+
+"A demon, father!" she said; "save me from his crumpled horn."
+
+What a terrible thing to happen in a quiet household! The poor man did
+not know what to do. So he sent for all his relations, and they advised
+him to try what the parson could do.
+
+So the Parson was sent for, and the Clerk, and the Sexton, with bell,
+book, and candle. They lit the candle, and opened the book (I think it
+was a Latin Grammar, which they judged would be enough to scare any
+demon), and rang the bell; and then the Parson, with his heart in his
+boots, advanced into the room.
+
+Instantly a horrid groan burst upon his ears (or so he thought), and a
+deep voice said--
+
+ "Parson, fly! or I will poke
+ This my crumpled horn into you!
+ You'll admit it is no joke
+ When you feel its point go through you!
+ Sexton, dig his grave, and then
+ Let the Clerk reply, Amen!"
+
+The Parson dropt his Latin Grammar, and ran away, nor did he stop until
+he was safe in his own church.
+
+At this the Shopman went down on his knees, and put his hands together,
+and said--
+
+"O most respectable Demon! whoever you are, I pray you do me no harm;
+and I will worship you, and offer you anything you may desire."
+
+Then the Goat came majestically out, walking upon his hind legs, with
+his grey beard flowing from his chin, and he said--
+
+"Put wreaths and jewels about my neck, and on each of my horns, and
+round my paws and my tail, and give me sweetmeats to eat, and I will do
+you no harm."
+
+The Shopman made haste to do all this; he wreathed the Goat with
+flowers, and put all his wife's jewels upon the horns and paws, and all
+the jewels he could borrow from his neighbours.
+
+The Goat went home, and showed all this magnificence to his friend the
+Hog. The Hog winked his greedy little eyes, and somehow made his friend
+understand that he would like some too. Then the Goat told him how he
+got the things, and showed him the way to the place.
+
+So the Hog went to the same shop, and found it empty. The Shopman and
+his little girl had gone out to tell all the town what adventures they
+had passed through. The Hog grubbed up all he could find to eat, and
+then went and sat in the inner room.
+
+Soon the Shopman and his little girl came back. The little girl ran
+inside to take off her little hat, and what does she see but a big black
+Hog sitting there! The Hog remembered his lesson, and wanted to say some
+terrible thing as the Goat had done; but all he could get out was--
+
+"Ugh! ugh! ugh!"
+
+This did not frighten the little girl at all. She ran out to her father,
+saying--
+
+"O papa! there is a big black Hog inside!"
+
+The Shopman got out his knife, and whetted it on the grindstone, and
+then he went into the room.
+
+"Ugh! ugh! ugh!" said the Hog.
+
+ The Shopman said nothing, but stuck his knife into
+ the Hog. Then there was a squealing and squalling,
+ if you like! But in two minutes the Hog was dead,
+ and in two hours he was skinned and cut up, and by
+ nightfall, the Shopman and his little girl, and all
+ their friends, were sitting round a delicious
+ leg of roast pork, and the Sexton rang
+ the bell for dinner, and the Parson
+ said grace, and the Clerk
+ said Amen.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Parrot and the Parson
+
+
+THERE was once a Banker who taught his Parrot the speech of men. The
+Parrot made such progress that he was soon able to take part in any
+conversation, and he astonished every one by his intelligence.
+
+One day a Parson came by the Parrot.
+
+"My respects to your Reverence," said the Parrot.
+
+The Parson looked all round him, he looked down at his feet, he looked
+up into the sky; but no one could he see who might have spoken to him.
+He could not make it out; he thought it must have been a ghost. Then the
+Parrot spoke again. "It was I who saluted you," said he. The Parrot was
+close to the Parson's ear, and now at length the Parson saw him. The
+Parrot went on--
+
+"O reverend Sir, you teach men how to get free from the chains of their
+sins. May it please you to tell me how to escape from this cage?"
+
+This was a practical question, but the Parson's advice was not usually
+asked on such points. He did not know what to say.
+
+"I fear I can be of no use to you," said he, "but I will consult my
+Solicitor."
+
+The Parson went to see his Solicitor, and paid him six and eightpence.
+He might have bought the Parrot, cage and all, for half that; but, as I
+said, he was not a practical man. When he told the Solicitor what
+business he came about, the Solicitor said nothing at all, but fell down
+in a faint.
+
+"What can I have said to make him faint?" the Parson thought. "Perhaps
+it is the hot weather." He poured water over the Solicitor's face, and
+by-and-by the Solicitor came to.
+
+The Parson was much distressed at having thrown away six and eightpence;
+but he knew it would be of no use asking the Solicitor to give any of it
+back, so he did not try. He went back to the Parrot and said--
+
+"Dearly beloved bird, I much regret having no information to give you
+which may be of use. The fact is, no sooner did I put your question to
+my worthy Solicitor, than he fell down in a dead faint."
+
+"Oh," said the Parrot, "many thanks, Parson."
+
+The Parson went away to the parish meeting. When he had gone, the Parrot
+stretched himself out on the bottom of his cage, and shut his eyes, and
+cocked up his feet in the air.
+
+By-and-by the Banker came in, and saw his Parrot lying on his back, with
+his feet pointing to the sky.
+
+"Poor Poll," said he, "you're dead, my pretty Poll."
+
+ He opened the door of the cage, and took
+ out the bird, and laid him on the
+ ground. Immediately the Parrot
+ opened his wings and
+ flew away.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Lion and the Hare
+
+
+ONCE upon a time there was a Lion, who used daily to devour one of the
+beasts of the forest. They had to come up one after another, when called
+for. At last it came to the Hare's turn to be eaten, and he did not want
+to be eaten at all. He lingered and he dallied, and when at last he
+plucked up courage to come, he was very late. The Lion, when he saw the
+Hare coming, bounded towards him. The Hare said--
+
+"Uncle Lion, I know I am late, and you have cause to be angry. But
+really it is not my fault. There is another Lion in our part of the
+jungle, and he says that he is master, and you are nobody. In fact, when
+I showed him that I positively would come to you he was very angry."
+
+"Ha!" said the Lion, roaring; "who says he is my master? Show him to me.
+I'll teach him who rules the forest."
+
+"Come along then," said the Hare.
+
+They went a long way, until they came to a well. The Hare looked down
+into the well. "He was here just now," said he.
+
+The Lion looked in, and at the bottom he saw what looked like a Lion in
+the water. He shook his mane--the other Lion shook his mane. He
+roared--the echo of a roar came up from the bottom of the well. "Let me
+get at him!" roared the Lion. In he jumped--splash! Nothing more was
+ever heard of that Lion, and the beasts of the forest were glad to be
+left in peace. They put their heads together, and composed a verse of
+poetry, which is always sung in that forest on Sundays:--
+
+ "The Hare is small, but by his wit
+ He now has got the best of it;
+ By folly down the Lion fell,
+ And lost his life within the well."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Monkey's Bargains
+
+
+ONCE upon a time an old Woman was cooking, and she ran short of fuel.
+She was so anxious to keep up her fire, that she tore out the hairs of
+her head, and threw them upon the flame instead of fuel.
+
+A Monkey came capering by, and saw the old Woman at her fire.
+
+"Old Woman," said the Monkey, "why are you burning your hair? Do you
+want to be bald?"
+
+"O Monkey!" quoth the old Woman, "I have no fuel, and my fire will go
+out."
+
+"Shall I get you some fuel, mother?" said the Monkey.
+
+"That's like your kind heart," said the old Woman. "Do get me some fuel,
+and receive an old Woman's blessing."
+
+The Monkey scampered away to the woods, and brought back a large bundle
+of sticks. The old Woman piled the dry sticks on the fire, and made a
+fine blaze. She put on her cooking-plank, and made four cakes.
+
+All this while, the Monkey sat on his tail, and watched her. But when
+the cakes were done, and gave forth a delightful odour, the Monkey got
+up on his hind legs, and began dancing and cutting all manner of capers
+round about the cakes.
+
+"O Monkey," said the old Woman, "why do you caper and dance around my
+cakes?"
+
+"I gave you fuel," said the Monkey, "and won't you give me a cake?"
+
+It seems to me that she might have thought of that without being asked;
+but she did not, so the Monkey had to ask for it.
+
+Well, the old Woman gave the Monkey one cake, and the Monkey took his
+cake in high glee, and capered away.
+
+On the way, he passed by the house of a Potter; and at the door of the
+Potter's house sat the Potter's son, crying his eyes out.
+
+"What is the matter, little boy?" asked the Monkey.
+
+"I am very hungry," whimpered the Potter's son, "and I have nothing to
+eat."
+
+"Will a cake be of any use?" asked the kind Monkey.
+
+The Potter's little Boy stretched out his hand, and into his hand the
+Monkey put his cake. Then the little Boy stopped crying, and ate the
+cake, but he forgot to say thank you. Perhaps he had never been taught
+manners, but the Monkey felt sad, because that was not the kind of thing
+he was used to.
+
+The Potter's little Boy then went into the shop, and brought out four
+little earthenware pots, and began to play with them. He took no more
+notice of the Monkey, now that he had eaten his cake; but when the
+Monkey saw these earthenware pots, he began to dance and cut capers
+round them, like mad.
+
+"Why are you dancing round my pots?" asked the little Boy. "Are you
+going to break them, Monkey?"
+
+The Monkey replied, capering about all the while--
+
+ "One old Woman, in a fix,
+ Made me go and gather sticks;
+ Then she gave me, for the sake
+ Of the fuel, one sweet cake.
+ That sweet cake to you I gave:
+ In return, one pot I crave."
+
+The Potter's little Boy was very much afraid of this dancing and singing
+Monkey, and perhaps he was a little bit ashamed of his ingratitude; so
+he gave the Monkey one of his four pots.
+
+Away capered the Monkey, in high glee, carrying his pot. By-and-by he
+came to a place, where was a Cowherd's wife making curds in a mortar.
+
+"What an odd thing to do, Mrs. Cowherd," said the Monkey. "Have you a
+fancy for making curds in a mortar?"
+
+"No," said the Cowherd's wife, "but I have nothing better to make my
+curds in."
+
+"Here's a pot which will do better than a mortar to make curds in," said
+the Monkey, offering the pot which he had received from the little Boy.
+
+"Thank you, kind Mr. Monkey," said the Cowherd's wife. She took the pot
+and made curds in it. She took out the curds from the pot, and put them
+ready for eating, and some butter beside them. The Monkey watched her,
+sitting upon his tail.
+
+Then the Monkey got up off his tail, and began to dance and cut capers
+round the curds and the butter.
+
+"Why are you dancing about my butter?" said the Cowherd's wife. "Do you
+want to spoil it?"
+
+Then the Monkey began to sing, as he capered about--
+
+ "One old Woman, in a fix,
+ Made me go and gather sticks;
+ Then she gave me, for the sake
+ Of the fuel, one sweet cake.
+ Potter's son ate that, and he
+ Gave a pot instead to me.
+ Since to you I gave that pot,
+ Give me butter, will you not?"
+
+The wife of the Cowherd was much pleased with this song, as she was fond
+of music. "If your kindness," said she, "had not already earned the
+butter, your pretty song would be worth it." Then she gave him a good
+lump of butter.
+
+Off went the Monkey in high glee, capering along with the lump of butter
+wrapped up in a leaf. As he went, he came to another place, where a
+Cowherd was grazing his kine. The Cowherd was sitting down at that
+moment, and enjoying his dinner, which consisted of a hunk of dry bread.
+
+"Why do you eat dry bread, Mr. Cowherd?" asked the Monkey. "Are you
+fasting?"
+
+"I am eating dry bread," quoth the Cowherd, "because I have nothing to
+eat with it."
+
+"What do you say to this?" said the Monkey, cutting a caper, and
+offering to the Cowherd his lump of butter, wrapped up in a leaf.
+
+"Ah," said the Cowherd, "prime." Not another word said he, but spread
+the butter upon his dry bread, and set to, with much relish.
+
+The Monkey sat on his tail, and watched the Cowherd eating his meal.
+When the meal was eaten, up jumped the Monkey, and began capering and
+dancing, hopping and skipping, round and round the herd of kine.
+
+"Ah," said the Bumpkin, "what are you a-doing that for?" The Bumpkin was
+so ignorant that he thought the Monkey wanted to bewitch his cattle, and
+dry up all their milk.
+
+The Monkey went on with his skips and capers, and as he capered, he sang
+this ditty:--
+
+ "One old Woman, in a fix,
+ Made me go and get her sticks;
+ Then she gave me, for the sake
+ Of the fuel, one sweet cake.
+ Potter's son the sweet cake got,
+ Gave me, in return, one pot.
+ Cow-wife had the pot, and she
+ Butter gave instead to me.
+ This I gave to you just now:
+ Will you give me, please, one cow?"
+
+"Ah," said the Bumpkin, "'spose I must." He was afraid of the Monkey's
+spells, and so he gave him a cow.
+
+Away capered the Monkey, in high glee, leading his cow by a string. "I
+am indeed getting on in the world," said he.
+
+By-and-by, what should he see coming along the road, but the King
+himself. The King was fastened to the shafts of a cart, which he was
+slowly dragging along; and jogging by the side of this cart was an ox;
+and upon the ox sat the Queen. This King had very simple tastes, and so
+had the Queen.
+
+"O King," said the Monkey, "why are you dragging your cart with your own
+royal hands?"
+
+"This is the reason, O Monkey!" said the King. "My ox died in the
+forest, and I drag the cart because this cart will not drag itself."
+
+"Come, sire," said the Monkey, "I don't like to see a King doing
+draught-work. Take this cow of mine, and welcome."
+
+"Thank you, good and faithful Monkey," said the King. He mopped his
+brow, and yoked in the cow.
+
+The Monkey began to dance and caper, jump and skip, round the Queen.
+
+"What is the matter, worthy Monkey?" asked the King.
+
+The Monkey began his ditty:--
+
+ "One old Woman, in a fix,
+ Made me go and gather sticks;
+ Then she gave me, for the sake
+ Of the fuel, one sweet cake.
+ Potter's son the sweet cake got,
+ Gave me in its place, one pot.
+ Cow-wife had the pot, and she
+ Butter gave instead to me.
+ Bumpkin ate the butter, then
+ Paid me with this cow again.
+ Keep the cow, but don't be mean:
+ All I ask for, is the Queen."
+
+This seemed reasonable enough, so the King gave his Queen to the Monkey.
+
+Away went the Monkey, capering along, and the Queen walked after (you
+see the King could not part with his ox as well as the Queen).
+
+By-and-by they came to a Man sewing a button on to his shirt.
+
+"Why, Man," said the Monkey, "why do you sew on your own buttons?"
+
+"Because my wife is dead," said the Man.
+
+"Here is a nice wife for you," said the Monkey. He gave the Queen to the
+Man. The Monkey then began his capers again, but all he could find to
+caper about, was a drum.
+
+"You may have that drum, if you like," said the Man. "I only kept it
+because its voice reminded me of my wife, and now I have another."
+
+"Thank you, thank you!" said the Monkey. "Now I am rich indeed!" Then he
+began to beat upon the drum, and sang:--
+
+ "One old Woman, in a fix,
+ Made me go and gather sticks;
+ Then she gave me, for the sake
+ Of the fuel, one sweet cake.
+ Potter's son the sweet cake got,
+ Gave me in its place, one pot.
+ Cow-wife had the pot, and she
+ Butter gave instead to me.
+ Bumpkin ate the butter, then
+ Gave a cow to me again.
+ King took cow, but was not mean,
+ For he paid me with a Queen.
+ Now I have a drum, that's worth
+ More than any drum on earth.
+ You are worth a queen, my drum!
+ Rub-a-dub-dub, dhum dhum dhum!"
+
+ So the Monkey capered away into the forest in
+ high glee, beating upon his drum, and he
+ has never been heard of since.
+
+
+
+
+The Monkey's Rebuke
+
+
+IN a certain village, whose name I know (but I think I will keep it to
+myself), in this village, I say, there was once a Milkman. I daresay you
+know that a Milkman is a man who sells milk; but I have seen milkmen who
+also sell water. That is to say, they put water in the milk which they
+sell, and so they get more money than they deserve. This was the sort of
+Milkman that my story tells of; and he was worse than the more part of
+such tricksters, since he actually filled his pans only half full of
+milk, and the other half all water. The people of that village were so
+simple and honest, that they never dreamt their Milkman was cheating
+them; and if the milk did seem thin, all they did was to shake their
+heads, and say, "What a lot of water the cows do drink this hot
+weather!"
+
+By watering his milk, this Milkman got together a great deal of money:
+ten pounds it was, all in sixpences, because the villagers always bought
+sixpennyworth of milk a day.
+
+When the Milkman had got ten pounds, that is to say, no less than four
+hundred silver sixpences, he thought he would go and try his tricks in
+another place, where there were more people to be cheated. So he put his
+four hundred silver sixpences in a bag, and set out.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+After travelling a while, he came to a pond. He sat down by the pond to
+eat his breakfast, laying his bag of sixpences by his side; and after
+breakfast, he proceeded to wash his hands in the pond.
+
+Now it so happened that this was the very pond where the Milkman came to
+water his milk. He came all this way out of the village, because he did
+not want to be seen by the people of the village. But there was one who
+saw him; and that was a Monkey, who lived in a tree which overhung the
+pond. Many a time and oft had this Monkey seen the Milkman pour water
+into the milk-cans, chuckling over the profit he was to make. This was a
+very worthy and well-educated Monkey, and he knew just as well as you or
+I know, that if you sell milk, you should put no water in it. When the
+Man stooped down to wash his hands in the pond, quietly, quietly down
+came the Monkey, swinging himself from branch to branch with his tail.
+Down he came to the ground, and picked up the bag of sixpences, and
+then up again to his perch in the tree.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The Monkey untied the mouth of the bag, and took out one sixpence, and,
+click! dropped it into the pond. The Milkman heard a tiny splash, but it
+did not trouble him, because he thought it was a nut or something that
+had fallen from the tree. Click! another sixpence. Click! went a third.
+
+By this time the Milkman's hands were dry, and he looked round to pick
+up his bag, and get him gone. But no bag! Click! click! went the
+sixpences all this while; and now the Milkman began to look around him.
+Before long he espied the Monkey sitting on a branch with his beloved
+bag, and--O horror! dropping sixpences, click! click! click! one after
+another into the pond.
+
+"I say, you Monkey!" shouted he, "that's my bag! What are you doing?
+bring me back my bag!"
+
+"Not yet," said the Monkey, and went on dropping the sixpences, click!
+click! click!
+
+The Milkman wept, the Milkman tore handfuls of hair out of his head; but
+the Monkey might have been made of stone for all the notice he took of
+the Milkman.
+
+At last the Monkey had dropt two hundred sixpences into the pond. Then
+he tied up the mouth of the money-bag, and threw it down to the Milkman.
+"There, take your money," said the Monkey.
+
+"And where's the rest of my money?" asked the Milkman, fuming with rage.
+
+"You have all the money that is yours," said the Monkey. "Half of the
+money was the price of water from this pond, so to the pond I gave it."
+
+ The Milkman felt very much ashamed of himself, and
+ went away, a sadder but a wiser man; and never again
+ did he put water in his milk. And that is why
+ I have not told you the name of the village
+ where he lived; for now that he has
+ turned over a new leaf, it would
+ hardly be fair to rake up
+ his old misdeeds
+ against him.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Bull and the Bullfinch
+
+
+UNDER a certain tree lived a wild Bull, and a Bullfinch had his nest in
+the branches. A Bull in a field is vicious enough, as I daresay you
+know; but a wild Bull is worse than anything. Wild Bulls are
+tremendously strong, and they can fight with almost any beast of the
+forest, even Lions and Tigers.
+
+This wild Bull used to attack every creature that came near; and that,
+not for the sake of food, as Lions and Tigers do, but out of pure
+mischief. When the creature (were he man or beast) was killed, this wild
+Bull would leave the corpse lying, and begin to eat grass. But the
+little Bullfinch harmed nobody, unless it were a worm he would eat now
+and again for a treat. All day long he hopped about, picking up seeds,
+and singing away with all his throat. Many a time he saw the wild Bull
+gore some creature to death; and when he saw such things, tears would
+roll out of his eyes, because he could do nothing to help.
+
+At last he thought to himself that he could at least warn the wild Bull
+of his wickedness, and clear his own conscience. So one morning, when
+the wild Bull was sitting under his tree, and looking around him,
+Bullfinch piped up, and said--
+
+"Good brother Bull, I suppose we are akin somehow or other, because of
+our names."
+
+"Yes, I daresay it may be so, Cousin Bullfinch," said the Bull.
+
+"Well," says the Bullfinch, "allow me the right of a near kinsman to say
+something to you."
+
+"All right, go ahead," said the Bull gruffly.
+
+"Well," said the Bullfinch, clearing his throat (for he was a little
+frightened), "don't you know that murder is a very evil deed, and yet
+you do it every day of your life?"
+
+"Impertinent speck!" said the Bull, getting up and walking away. He
+thought it cheeky that a bird so little should presume to rebuke a great
+big Bull. He did not remember, you see, that big bodies are often big
+fools, and precious goods are done up in small parcels. The warning of
+the little Finch was as the blowing of the wind; at least, so it seemed
+at the time, though afterwards (as you shall hear) the Bull did remember
+it.
+
+So the Bull went on tossing and goring all that came within reach; and
+now he would have nothing to say to the poor little Bullfinch.
+
+This went on, until one night a certain Lion had a dream. This Lion was
+King of the Forest, and he could conquer any creature who fought with
+him. In his dream the Lion thought that an angel stood before him, and
+said: "O Lion! in such a place, under a tree, lives a wild Bull, who
+does cruel murders every day upon innocent folk. By that tree is good
+pasture, and the wild Bull has grown very fat. I think he would make a
+nice meal for you; and at the same time you would be doing a good
+action in ridding the world of such a monster."
+
+When day dawned, the Lion made no delay, but set out at once towards the
+place of the wild Bull. By-and-by he caught scent of the Bull, and then
+he uttered a terrible roar. The Bull heard the roar and was afraid; and
+still more feared he, when he saw this Lion approach, whom he knew to be
+the King of the Forest, and invincible.
+
+"O Bull!" roared the Lion, "your hour has come. I am come to eat you, as
+a just punishment for your sins, and also because I am hungry."
+
+At this the Bull trembled greatly, for he knew now that his sins had
+found him out. His knees gave way beneath him, and he was just about to
+sink to the ground, when the words of the Bullfinch came into his mind.
+Then he said--
+
+"O mighty Lion! I have indeed deserved to be eaten, but I beg of you one
+last favour. Give me leave to bid farewell to a little kinsman of mine,
+Cousin Bullfinch, who lives in this tree, and at this moment is picking
+up seeds not far off."
+
+The Lion was a good fellow, and had no wish to be hard on the Bull, so
+he said: "I give leave, O Bull, if you will promise on your honour to
+come back and be eaten."
+
+The Bull gave his word that he would come back, and then went slowly
+away in search of the Bullfinch.
+
+Master Bullfinch was at the moment eating his frugal breakfast of seeds.
+Suddenly he was aware that the wild Bull was approaching. He looked up,
+and seeing the dejected air of the Bull, he greeted him as cheerfully
+as he could, and then asked what the matter was? This Bullfinch bore no
+manner of grudge for the Bull's rudeness, because in his little body was
+a great heart, and he never thought of mean things.
+
+"O Finchy, Finchy!" moaned the Bull, "look upon me for the last time! A
+hungry Lion has come to devour me, and it is of no use to resist; for he
+says that an angel has sent him to punish me for my sins."
+
+"Poor old chap!" said the Bullfinch, "tell me all about it."
+
+Then the wild Bull told him the dream which the Lion had seen.
+
+"Ah," said the Bullfinch, "that is curious."
+
+"Why?" asked the Bull.
+
+"Because," said the Bullfinch, "I too had a dream last night, which I
+think the Lion ought to hear."
+
+The wild Bull was not interested in the Bullfinch's dream; would you be
+interested in dreams, I wonder, if you expected to be eaten the next
+minute? However, he said nothing; and when Bullfinch fluttered his
+wings, and flew away towards the Lion, our friend the wild Bull followed
+slowly behind.
+
+"Good morning, King Lion," said the little bird. "So you have had a
+dream?"
+
+"Yes," said the Lion, and then he told the Bullfinch his dream.
+
+"I had a dream too," said the Bullfinch, "and this it was. I dreamt that
+the same angel who came to you, came afterwards to me, and said, 'O
+Bullfinch! when the Lion comes to eat your friend the Bull, tell him
+that he was sent not to destroy, but to cure; and that now the Bull
+repents of his evil ways, the Lion may go back again to his forest.'"
+
+"Oh, I am so glad!" said the Lion. "I am hungry, it is true, but I
+daresay I can find some other creature, who has committed no sins, and
+wants no curing. So good-bye, friend Bull, and don't do it again." So
+saying, the Lion shook hands with both of them, and went to look for a
+fawn.
+
+ Then the Bull, wild no longer, thanked his friend the
+ Bullfinch for saving his life, and they became faster
+ friends than ever. The Bull gored no more creatures,
+ indeed he welcomed them as his guests; and in the fat
+ pastures around that tree you might have seen, if you
+ had been there, whole herds of deer and antelopes
+ grazing without any fear; and the Bull lived
+ in their midst to a green old age, till
+ he died respected and went
+ to a happier world.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Swan and the Crow
+
+
+ONCE upon a time, two Swans had to leave home on account of a famine;
+and they settled by a lake in a distant land. By the side of this lake
+lived a Carrion Crow. The Swans built a nest, and Mrs. Swan laid two
+beautiful round eggs in the nest, and sat upon them. She had to sit on
+the eggs for weeks, in order to keep them warm, so that the little ones
+might grow up inside and be hatched. While she sat there, the Crow used
+to help Mr. Swan to find food for his wife; and when the cygnets came
+out of their shells, the Crow helped to feed them also.
+
+So all went happily for a time, and Mr. and Mrs. Swan were deeply
+grateful to the kind Crow. But Crows are not kind without some reason,
+and what this Crow's reason was, you shall now hear.
+
+Time went on, and one day Mr. Swan said to Mrs. Swan--
+
+"My dear, the famine must be over by this time. What do you say? shall
+we go home again?"
+
+"I am ready," Mrs. Swan said, "and we can start to-morrow if you like."
+
+"Stop a bit," says Mr. Crow, "I have a word or two to say first."
+
+"Why, what do you mean?" the Swans said, both together.
+
+"I mean," said the Crow, "that you may go, if you like, but these
+cygnets are as much mine as yours, and may I be plucked if I let them go
+with you!"
+
+"Yours!" said Mrs. Swan. "Who laid the eggs? who hatched them?"
+
+"And who fed them, I should like to ask?" said the Crow, with a
+disagreeable laugh: "Caw, caw, caw!"
+
+Here was a bolt from the blue! The Crow stuck to it, and the end of all
+was, that Mrs. Swan stayed behind to look after her little ones, while
+Mr. Swan flew off to lay a complaint in court against the greedy Crow.
+
+But you must not suppose that this Crow meant to sit still, and let the
+Swan have things all his own way. Not he; off he flew secretly to the
+Judge, and to the Judge said he--
+
+"O Judge, a Swan is going to lodge a false charge against me, and I want
+your help!"
+
+"If it is false," said the Judge, "you want help from no one."
+
+"Caw, caw, caw!" said the Crow, "you understand me." Then this vulgar
+Crow winked one eye at the Judge.
+
+"Hm, hm," said the Judge, looking at the Crow. It is a pity to say it,
+but it is quite true, that this Judge was an unjust Judge; and he was
+ready to give any decision, right or wrong, so long as he was bribed
+well for his trouble. In that country, you see, there was no jury to
+decide matters, but all power lay in the hands of the Judge.
+
+The Judge winked one eye at the Crow. Then he said, very softly, "~What
+will you give me?~"
+
+"Silver and gold have I none," said the Crow, "but I'll tell you what I
+will do. I'll carry your father's bones to the Holy Land, and bury them
+in Jerusalem, and then your father will be sure to go to heaven."
+
+The Judge was so foolish that he really believed his father would go to
+heaven at once, if only his bones were buried in Jerusalem, although his
+father had been as wicked as himself while he was alive. So he agreed to
+the Crow's proposal.
+
+When the case came into court, of course the Judge gave decision in
+favour of the Crow, though there was no evidence on his side except his
+own word: and who but a fool would trust the word of a Carrion Crow?
+When the court rose, the Crow flew to the house of the Judge, and asked
+for the bones of the Judge's father. So the Judge tied up his father's
+bones in a bag, and hung the bag round the Crow's neck. Away flew the
+Crow, but he didn't fly far; for as the Judge watched him, the Crow
+hovered over a filthy drain; and untying the bag, began dropping the
+bones one by one into the mud.
+
+"Hi, you brute!" shouted the Judge, "what are you doing!"
+
+"Oh, you pumpkin!" said the Crow, "did you verily think that I should
+take the trouble to carry your father's rotten old bones to Jerusalem?
+No, no; I only wanted to see what rogues the race of Judges can be.
+Caw!" Flop! went the last bone into the mud, and away flew the Crow, and
+never came back there any more.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ So the Judge had to pick his father's bones out of
+ the gutter. And the next thing he had to do was to
+ reverse his own decision, and give the Swan his
+ young ones again; because, you see, a great many
+ people had heard what the Crow said to the Judge,
+ and knew (if they didn't know it before) that the
+ Judge was a rogue. So the Swan got his young ones
+ back, and as for the Judge, he became the
+ laughing-stock of the whole city, and he
+ was obliged to go and try his
+ tricks elsewhere.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Pride shall have a Fall
+
+
+THERE was once a great drought in the land. For weeks and months not a
+drop of rain fell; and the sun beat down, and dried up the whole
+country, so that there was no water to be found. Now there was a certain
+pond in that country; and as day after day the sun blazed, the water
+sank lower and lower, until it was hardly an inch deep. Numbers of Frogs
+used to live in this pond; but as the water dried the Frogs died, so
+that the dry mud on the banks of the pond was covered all over with dead
+bodies of Frogs.
+
+There came a Jackal out of the forest. He was glad to see this pool,
+because the pool where he used to drink had been quite dried up. So he
+made a little platform of mud, and stuck up four posts at the four
+corners; and then he gathered bundles of dry grass, and put them upon
+the top of the four posts for a thatch. Then his eye fell on the corpses
+of Frogs lying about; and being a foolish animal, he thought these
+corpses were uncommonly pretty. And what do you think he did? He
+gathered a lot of the dead Frogs and hung a fringe of them all round the
+thatch; and in each of his ears he hung a dead Frog, like an earring.
+
+From far and near swarms of Rats used to come to this pond for drinking,
+since it was the only water to be found for a long distance, and all the
+rest was dried up. Then the Jackal kept guard over the pool; and not a
+drop might any Rat so much as taste, unless he would first bow down and
+worship the Jackal, and sing the following psalm, which the Jackal made
+up himself:--
+
+ "A temple all of gold I found,
+ With golden lamps hung all around;
+ And see! the God himself is here,
+ With two big pearls in either ear."
+
+Even a Rat can tell a dead Frog from a pearl, but willy nilly he needs
+must sing it, or else no water. So when the Rat had sung this psalm, and
+bowed himself down three times before the Jackal, worshipping him as if
+he were a God, he was allowed to go down and take a sip of the water.
+
+One day, what should come down to the water to drink but an Ox with one
+eye.
+
+"Ho! ho! one-eyed Ox!" screamed the Jackal, "not a drop till you sing
+your psalm."
+
+The Ox blinked his one eye stupidly, and looked round. "What psalm?"
+asked the one-eyed Ox.
+
+"Mine," said the Jackal, who was very proud of his psalm, "my own
+composition." Then he sang it over to the Ox, that he might hear it.
+
+ "'A temple all of gold I found--'
+
+"That's this, you know," he explained, pointing to the scraggy thatch--
+
+ "A temple all of gold I found,
+ With golden lamps hung all around;
+ And see! the God himself is here,
+ With two big pearls in either ear."
+
+"Ah," said the one-eyed Ox, "I'm rather stupid, I fear, and it will take
+me a minute or two to learn that psalm. It's a mighty fine psalm, that;
+I never heard the like in church. Suppose I say it over to myself while
+I'm a-drinking? that will save time, and it would be a thousand pities
+to spoil a thing like that."
+
+This flattered the Jackal so much that he agreed.
+
+One-eye went down to the pool, and took a long, long pull at the water.
+Then he came out of the water, and went slowly up to the Jackal, as he
+was sitting under his thatch, with its string of dead Frogs, and the two
+Frogs in the Jackal's ears.
+
+"Now then, booby!" the Jackal said, "look sharp, the God is waiting."
+
+The Ox opened a big mouth, and in a very hoarse voice he sang--
+
+ "A nasty dirty thatch I found,
+ With dried-up Frogs hung all around;
+ And see! the mangy Jackal here,
+ With two dead Frogs in either ear."
+
+You may imagine the rage of the Jackal to hear this! He fairly foamed at
+the mouth. "You blasphemous beast!" screamed he, "I'll teach you to
+abuse a God!" And with that he jumped down off his seat, and gave chase.
+
+Away scuttled the Ox; and as he ran, the water he had been drinking went
+gurgling inside him, flippity-flop, flippity-flop.
+
+This sound rather frightened the Jackal. "What's that?" he cried.
+
+"A dog at your heels," said the Ox.
+
+ The Jackal was so scared at the very name of dog,
+ that he turned about in no time, blind with terror,
+ and away he scampered as hard as he could pelt.
+ He was so frightened, that he did not see where
+ he was going; so he ran straight into
+ the midst of a pack of hounds, who
+ made short work of the
+ conceited Jackal.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Kid and the Tiger
+
+
+A NANNY-GOAT and a Tigress were near neighbours in a certain wood, and
+fast friends to boot. The Tigress had two tiger-cubs; and the family of
+the Nanny-goat were four frolicksome kids, named Roley, Poley, Skipster,
+and Jumpster.
+
+But the Tigress was jealous of her friend the Nanny-goat, because Nanny
+had four young ones, while she had only two. One day, as she was musing
+on the injustice of her fate, she thought to herself, "What if I eat up
+two of Nanny's kids, and then things will be equal? They do say, friends
+have all things in common." So to Nanny-goat she hied, and said she--
+
+"Sister Nanny, my little ones have gone out, and I am very lonely at
+home. Do let one of your dear kiddies come and sleep with me, for
+company. Will you, please?"
+
+"Gladly will I, sister," said honest Nanny-goat, thinking no evil of her
+friend. Then she ran out to the fields, where Roley and Poley were
+rolling over each other, and Jumpster was jumping over the back of
+Skipster.
+
+"Children, children!" said Nanny-goat, "a treat for you! A kind friend
+has asked one of you out to spend the night."
+
+"Baa baa baa!" cried the Kids, running up; and then three of them called
+out all together, dancing about old Nanny, "Let me go! Let me go! Let me
+go!" But the fourth, who was a wise little imp (and Roley it was, to be
+sure), asked in a quiet tone, "Who is it, Mammy Nanny-goat?"
+
+"Why, who should it be but your Aunt Yellowstripe?" said Nanny.
+
+At this they all looked rather crestfallen; for although Nanny-goat
+loved her friend dearly, all the youngsters were afraid of her, for what
+reason they could not say. Children have a way of finding out their
+friends; and these Kids had noticed at times a gleam in the eyes of
+Auntie Yellowstripe, which boded ill to little Kids.
+
+"No-o, thank you, Mammy Nanny-goat," said Skipster, skipping away.
+
+"No-o-o, thank you, Mammy," said Jumpster, and jumped after her.
+
+"No-o-o-o, thank you," said Poley, and rolled away by himself.
+
+Why did Poley roll away by himself? Because Roley stayed behind. Roley
+did not say No, thank you; on the contrary, he said Yes. Why Roley said
+yes instead of no, was his own concern; and I think Roley knew what he
+was about.
+
+This was how Roley went with the Tigress; and that night the Tigress put
+him to sleep by her side. She cuddled him up, and made a great fuss of
+him, thinking to herself, "Soft words cost nothing; and when he is fast
+asleep, we shall see what we shall see."
+
+But Roley was no such fool as the Tigress thought him. So he did not go
+to sleep, but only pretended; and no sooner did Dame Yellowstripe begin
+to snore, than up jumps Roley, as soft as you please, and fetches out
+one of Yellowstripe's own cubs, who were sleeping away at the back of
+the cave. He laid the cub in his own place, and went into the corner to
+sleep with the other cub.
+
+About midnight the Tigress awoke, and as she felt the warm little thing
+nestling beside her, she chuckled to herself. Then she gave him one tap
+with her mighty paw; crack! went his neck, and his dancing days were
+over; the Tigress gobbled him up, skin, bones, and teeth. It was pitch
+dark, you know, and she could not see that she was eating her own cub.
+"One less of the brood now," thought the Tigress; turned over, and went
+to sleep again.
+
+Next morning, they all woke up; and Yellowstripe, to her dismay, saw
+that Roley was rolling about, right as a trivet. She looked round for
+her own cubs, and lo and behold! one was missing. At first she could not
+make it out in the least; but when it dawned upon her what had happened,
+she nearly turned yellow all over with rage and disappointment.
+
+"Did you have a good night, Roley dear?" said she in a wheedling tone to
+the Kid.
+
+"Oh yes, Auntie," said the little Kid, "only a gnat bit me."
+
+This astonished the Tigress, who thought that the Kid must be stronger
+than he appeared to be. "Never mind," said she to herself; "come
+to-night, we shall see what we shall see."
+
+That night all went as before; only this time Roley put a huge stone in
+his place, and then he ran off as fast as his legs could carry him. When
+the Tigress awoke, she gave a pat to the stone: it hurt her paw sadly.
+
+"Good heavens," said she, "what a mighty Kid it is, to be sure! I must
+make short work of him now I have the chance, or there is no knowing
+what may happen. When he grows up, he may kill me." So she gave a fierce
+bite at the stone, and broke all her front teeth.
+
+Now the Tigress' fury knew no bounds. She went raging about the cave,
+hunting in every corner for Roley; but Roley was not to be found,
+because, as I have told you, he was not there. So the Tigress was forced
+to wait until morning for her revenge.
+
+All night long the Tigress lay awake with the pain of her teeth; and
+when morning came, she sought out a familiar friend to take counsel
+with. This friend was an old one-eyed Tiger. The Tigress and the
+one-eyed Tiger talked for a long time together, and as they talked they
+walked. When they came to the end of their talk, their walk was also at
+an end, and they found themselves at the mouth of Yellowstripe's den.
+There in the den, as calm as you please, playing with the one remaining
+Tiger cub, was Roley.
+
+"Ha ha," laughed One-eye, "so there you are. Let us sit down, and I will
+tell you a story."
+
+"Do, do, Nuncle One-eye," cried Roley.
+
+So they all sat down, and One-eye began. "When I eat little Kids," said
+One-eye, "four of them make me a mouthful; and I'm coming one of these
+days to make one mouthful of you and your brother and sisters."
+
+"Capital, capital, Nuncle One-eye!" said Roley, clapping his paws;
+"what good stories you do tell, Nuncle One-eye! Now I'll tell you a
+story. When you come to eat us up, Skipster will hold you by the
+forelegs, and Jumpster will hold you by the hind legs, and Poley will
+hold your head, and Roley will chop it off, if only mother will give us
+a light."
+
+This terrified One-eye extremely, for he was a great coward. He thought
+it all as true as gospel, so he took to his heels, and left Yellowstripe
+in the lurch.
+
+On the way, he met six other Tigers, friends of his. "Oh my friends!"
+said he, "I have such a treat for you! A fine fat Kid, crying out to be
+killed! Come along, come along, I'll show you the way, and all I ask is
+the pleasure of serving you." Cunning old One-eye!
+
+The six Tigers believed all that One-eye said, and away they all trotted
+together towards the place where Roley lived. They knew he would go home
+sooner or later; and indeed he was there already, and saw them coming,
+so he climbed up a tree. Goats are wonderfully good at climbing rocks,
+but I think most of them cannot climb trees; still, whatever may be true
+of other goats, Roley could. If it were not so, this story would never
+have been written. So Roley climbed up a tree, and sat on a branch, with
+his legs all dangling in the air.
+
+The first Tiger gave a jump, and missed him. Number two gave a jump, and
+missed him. They all jumped, one after another, and not one of them
+could touch Roley; who sat and laughed at them so heartily, that he
+nearly fell off his perch.
+
+At last, when they were tired of jumping, and jumping, up gets old
+One-eye, and says, "I know how to get at him. I'll stand here, and you
+get on my back, and then the rest of you one a-top of another, and then
+we shall catch him nicely." They all thought this an excellent idea; so
+One-eye propped his old carcass against the tree, and the other Tigers
+mounted one on another's shoulders, until there they were, all seven in
+a pyramid. Then the topmost Tiger stretched out his paw, and all but got
+hold of Roley.
+
+Thereupon One-eye cocked up his solitary eye, to see how things were
+going on up aloft; and seeing this, Roley called out--
+
+"Mother, give me a lump of mud, and I'll hit the brute in his sound eye,
+and then we will finish him off."
+
+ When One-eye heard this, he gave a great start, and
+ down toppled the whole seven in a heap, one a-top of
+ the next, spitting and roaring and scratching. They
+ were so much taken aback, that they imagined all sorts
+ of powerful beasts to be fighting with them, when it was
+ only their own selves, biting each other; and the
+ end of all was, that as soon as the seven Tigers
+ had each got his four legs to himself, off
+ they went helter-skelter into the forest,
+ and never more troubled Mammy
+ Nanny-goat and her four
+ frolicsome
+ Kids.
+
+
+
+
+The Stag, the Crow, and the Jackal
+
+
+ONCE upon a time there was a Stag living in a certain jungle, and in the
+same jungle lived a Crow. These two were bosom friends. Why a Stag
+should take a fancy to a Crow, I cannot say; but so it was; and if you
+do not believe it, you had better not read any further.
+
+It so befell that a Jackal came by one day, and his eye fell on this
+Stag, and a fine plump Stag he was. The Jackal's mouth began to water.
+How he would like to make a meal of so dainty a piece of flesh. But he
+knew it was of no use trying to attack the Stag, who seemed very strong.
+Still, by hook or by crook, that Stag he would have. So in the depths of
+his cunning heart he concocted a trick, of which you shall shortly hear.
+
+The Jackal watched his chance, and as soon as he had found the Stag
+alone, he began to say, sidling up to the Stag, and whispering in his
+ear--
+
+"Beware of that Crow; he's fooling thee. Beware, beware all birds of the
+air. There's no trusting any bird, let alone a Crow, who is worst of
+the whole feathered tribe. Now you and I, who never try in the air to
+fly, good honest gentlemen with four legs apiece, we are marked out for
+friends by Nature herself."
+
+Will you be surprised to hear that the Stag listened to the crafty and
+slanderous words, and deserted his friend the Crow? When your hair is
+grey you will know that such is the way of the world, and that a true
+friend who sticks to the end, is harder to find than a diamond mine.
+
+But although this Stag was shallow-hearted and weak, not so the Crow. He
+was a true friend, and he was cut to the heart by the unkindness of his
+friend the Stag; but he wasted no time in fruitless tears. He went about
+his work as usual, and waited for a chance of winning back his recreant
+friend.
+
+Well, Stag and Jackal scoured about the woods together, and the Jackal
+did his best to make himself agreeable. In this he had poor success; for
+though the Stag tried hard to like his new comrade, yet he could not
+help seeing that he was dirty; moreover, the Jackal ate all sorts of
+dead animals, but the Stag was a vegetarian, and did not approve of this
+kind of food. But though the Stag had qualms now and again, he was not
+strong enough to break loose from the friendship of the Jackal.
+
+But the time was ripening for the Jackal's blow. He knew a place where
+huntsmen used to set gins and snares, to catch the wild animals. So one
+day, as he and the Stag were out a-walking together, the Jackal so
+managed that they passed by this place. The Jackal took good care to
+keep clear of the snare; but the innocent Stag knew nothing of snares or
+gins, so into a snare he stept, and snap! he was fast.
+
+Now was the time for a true friend to show his friendship. But the
+Jackal, as we already know, was a humbug; accordingly, all he did was to
+sit by the side of the Stag, and try not to look pleased.
+
+"Oh dear, what shall I do?" said the Stag, when he found himself caught.
+"Oh my friend, do help me out."
+
+"You shock me, friend," said the Jackal, pulling a long face; "surely
+you have not forgotten that it is Sunday? We are told in the Ten
+Commandments to do no work on the Sabbath day. If it were not so, how
+gladly would I help you!" So saying, he wiped away a crocodile tear. He
+sat down and waited in the hope that the Stag would die, and then he
+would eat him.
+
+But the faithful Crow was not far. Though his friend the Stag would not
+so much as cast him a look, the Crow followed him ever, biding his time;
+and now the time had come.
+
+The Crow perched on a neighbouring tree, and said--
+
+"Dear friend, I am only a weak little bird, and I cannot help you; but I
+can teach you to help yourself. My advice is, pretend to be dead, and
+when the Hunter comes, he will open the snare without any care, and you
+can escape."
+
+"Thank you, long-suffering friend!" said the Stag; and so he did. When
+the Huntsman came, he thought the Stag was dead; he opened the snare,
+and before he was aware, the Stag was up and off and away.
+
+ The Stag asked his friend the Crow to forgive
+ him, and they lived happily together as
+ before. As for the treacherous
+ Jackal, he never came
+ near them more.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Monkey and the Crows
+
+
+IN a certain land, a flock of Crows built their nests in the branches of
+a huge cotton-tree.
+
+In that country, the climate is not the least like ours. It is hot all
+the year round, and for eight months the sun blazes like a fiery
+furnace, so that the people who live there are burnt as black as your
+boot; then after eight months comes the rain, and the rain comes down in
+bucketsful, with lightning fit to blind you, and thunder enough to crack
+your head. These Crows were quite happy in their nests, whatever
+happened; for when it was hot, the leaves of the trees sheltered them
+from the sun, and in the rainy season the leaves kept them pretty dry.
+
+One evening there came a terrible storm, with torrents of rain like
+Noah's flood. In the midst of it, the Crows noticed a Monkey sliding
+along, drenched and draggle-tailed, looking like a drowned Rat. The
+Crows set up a chorus of caws, and called out--
+
+"O Monkey, what a fool you must be! Look at us, dry and comfortable, in
+our nests of rags and twigs. If we, with only our little beaks to help
+us, can make comfortable nests, why can't you, with two hands and two
+feet and a tail?"
+
+[Illustration]
+
+You might have thought the Monkey would take this advice to heart. But
+not a bit of it. Monkeys are naturally a lazy tribe, and they are full
+of envy, hatred, and malice. What they like best is destroying whatever
+they can lay their hands on; and when I look upon some of the nations of
+this globe, I cannot help thinking that they really must be descended
+from Monkeys. So this Monkey snapt and snarled, and said to the Crows--
+
+"Just wait till morning, and then we'll see what a Monkey can do."
+
+The simple birds were delighted to hear this, and looked forward to
+seeing the Monkey do something wonderfully clever, with his tail and his
+two hands and two feet.
+
+Morning came, and the rain was over. The Monkey climbed up into the
+tree, and in his rage and envy he tore all the Crows' nests to pieces.
+
+ Then the Crows were sorry they spoke, and determined
+ for the future to mind their own business,
+ and let fools alone. For, as the wise man
+ said, "To give good advice to a fool
+ is like pouring oil upon
+ the fire."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Swan and the Paddy-Bird
+
+
+A WILD Swan was flying once to his home, when he paused to rest on a
+tree. This was a kind of tree you have most likely never seen. It was
+very tall, and had no branches upon it until you came to the top, but at
+the top was a large clump of green leaves, and bunches of cocoa-nuts
+hanging down.
+
+It so happened that on this tree was the nest of a Paddy-bird. A
+Paddy-bird is a bird something like a heron, which feeds on fish and
+frogs. At the moment when the Swan perched upon the tree, this
+Paddy-bird was sitting demurely on the edge of a pond that was below the
+tree, watching the water for a rise. She had no fishing-rod, but when
+she saw a little fish or a frog swim past, out went her beak like a
+flash, and the fish was pierced. Then she ate the fish, or carried it
+off to her little ones in the nest.
+
+When the Paddy-bird chanced to look round, she saw the Swan sitting upon
+her tree. She was frightened at this, thinking that perhaps it was some
+bird of prey, come to devour her chicks. So she left her fishing, and at
+once flew up to the top of the cocoa-nut tree. The Swan looked harmless
+enough when she came closer, so plucking up courage, the Paddy-bird
+thus addressed him--
+
+"Good-day, sir. May I ask who you are?"
+
+"I am a Swan," said the other, "and I am on my way home; but as it is a
+hot day, I thought I would rest awhile on your tree. I hope you have no
+objection?"
+
+"Welcome, my lord Swan, welcome!" said the Paddy-bird. "I only wish I
+could offer you entertainment. But I am ashamed to say that I have no
+food worth your taking. I am a poor bird, and you know we Paddy-birds
+eat only small fish and frogs, which your highness would hardly touch."
+
+"Oh, never mind for that," answered the Swan; "thank you all the same,
+but I can find my own food on this tree of yours."
+
+This set our Paddy-bird's heart all a-flutter, for what could he mean
+but her brood? However, all was well in a minute; when she saw the Swan
+go to one of the green cocoa-nuts hanging to the tree. You have seen, I
+suppose, three little soft places at the top of a cocoa-nut, which are
+holes in the shell filled up with pulp. The Swan pierced his bill
+through one of these holes, and drank the milk inside the cocoa-nut.
+Then he gave some of the milk to the Paddy-bird, and flew away.
+
+This milk tasted very nice, and the Paddy-bird began to say to herself,
+"What a fool I have been all these years! Here am I, watching and
+waiting all day long for a frog, and nasty things they are too, and all
+this while there was plenty of delicious milk within a yard of my nest!
+Well, good-bye fish, and good-bye frogs; I have done with you now for
+ever."
+
+The next time the Paddy-bird felt hungry, she flew to a cocoa-nut and
+began to peck at it. But she did not know the secret of the three little
+holes at the top of the cocoa-nut; so she pecked, and pecked, and got no
+further. At last she gathered all her strength, and gave a tremendous
+peck at the cocoa-nut. Snap! her bill broke off, and the blood ran out,
+and very soon the poor Paddy-bird had bled to death.
+
+ Next day, the Swan happened to fly by that way
+ again; and coming to the tree, he found his friend the
+ Paddy-bird lying dead on the ground, with her bill
+ snapt off clean. He understood at once what had
+ happened, and said to himself, "This is what
+ comes of trying to do what one is not
+ fit for. Let the cobbler stick to
+ his last, or misfortune
+ follows fast."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+What is a Man?
+
+
+IN a certain forest, a Lioness dwelt who had one cub. This cub did not
+go to school, as you one day will go; but he learned his lessons at
+home. And what do you think his lessons were? Not multiplication which
+is vexation; not the Rule of Three which puzzles me; not spelling and
+copy-books. No; the Lioness had only one lesson to teach her cub, and
+that was, to avoid mankind as if they were poison. Every day, morning
+and evening, she taught him for an hour; telling him again and again,
+that of all the beasts of the forest he need fear none, for a lion is
+stronger than any, but man he must fear and keep clear of.
+
+Well, the little Lion grew big; and as often happens to children as well
+as lions' cubs, he grew conceited too. He could not believe that his
+mother was old enough to know better than he; no, he would see for
+himself. So one fine day, this Lion set out on a voyage of discovery.
+
+The first thing he saw was an Ox. This Ox was a fine sturdy animal, and
+the Lion felt rather nervous to see such hoofs and horns. You must
+remember he was young and ignorant, and had hardly seen any animal but
+his mother and father. So he went up to the Ox, and said timidly--
+
+"Good morning, sir. Will you be good enough to tell me if you are a
+Man?"
+
+If an Ox could laugh, that Ox would have laughed in the face of the
+Lion's cub. But an Ox is always solemn, like a Turk, though he does not
+love bloodshed as a Turk does. This Ox was chewing the cud, munching and
+mouthing with great calmness, so as to get the full flavour of the rich
+grass. He turned his meek eyes, and stared at the Lion. Then he said--
+
+"A Man! God forbid. A Man is a terrible creature. He makes slaves of us
+Oxen, and puts a yoke on our necks and fastens us to a thing called a
+plough; and makes us pull the plough to and fro, up and down, till we
+are tired to death. If we won't go, he sticks a prod into us, which
+hurts us very much. I can't think what is the use of all this pother; we
+get no good of it. And when we are old, and can work no more, he kills
+us, and eats our flesh, and the skin he makes into shoes for his own
+feet. Keep clear of Men, if you value your life." Then the Ox turned his
+head away, and went on with his chewing.
+
+This gave our Lion something to think about. He thought the Ox a very
+fine animal indeed, and yet, said the Ox, Man was stronger.
+
+The Lion went his ways, and by-and-by, what should he see but a Camel.
+If the Ox was a fine creature, here was a finer; ever so tall, with a
+hump on his back, and a long neck, and great long legs. Surely this must
+be the terrible Man he had heard so much of. But to make certain, he
+approached the Camel with great respect, and said--
+
+"Good morning, sir. Pray, will you tell me if you are a Man?"
+
+The Camel turned his long neck, and sniffed and sneered as Camels have a
+way of doing, and a most unpleasant way it is.
+
+"Pooh!" said he. "Stuff! poof! you oaf! you think me a Man? I wish I
+were a Man, wouldn't I make short work of you! A man, quotha! Why, I am
+a slave to that same Man. They catch us, these Men, and make a hole in
+our noses, and put a ring in it--do you see my ring? How do you think I
+like a hole made in my nose, as if two holes were not enough! Then they
+tie a rope to the ring, and lead us about all day long just where they
+please, without a with your leave, or by your leave! And they make us
+squat down in the mud, and put a great load on our backs, enough to
+crush a whipper-snapper like you. Groan as we may, it's all of no use,
+they do what they choose. Man! the very name makes me shiver. Get out,
+and leave me alone!"
+
+This frightened our Lion, because who knew whether the great animal
+might not kill him, if it came into his head, so the Lion went away as
+fast as he could.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In a little while, he espied an Elephant. Here was a monster, to be
+sure! A great black mountain, with a long nose curling about, and huge
+white teeth sticking out, and big ears flapping. The Lion was quite
+terrified this time, and would not go near the Elephant, until he
+suddenly saw that the Elephant had a rope round his tusks, by which he
+was tied fast to a stake. Then he plucked up courage to approach, and
+said--
+
+"Good morning, my lord. Please will you tell me, are you a Man?"
+
+The Elephant trumpeted loudly. That was his way of laughing at the idea
+that he could be mistaken for a Man.
+
+"Hooroo! hooroo!" he shrieked. "A Man! Hooroo! No, but a Man is my
+master, and that's the truth. A Man tied me to this post. Cruel and
+selfish brutes, are men; and with all my strength, I am no match for a
+Man. They get on our backs, a dozen of them at a time, and make us
+fetch, and carry, and drive us about by sticking a sharp spike into our
+skulls. Don't you go near a Man, if you love your life; why, bless me,
+they will make mincemeat of you! Hooroo!" The Elephant swished his trunk
+all round him in his excitement.
+
+Our Lion had now seen three astonishing creatures, and they all said
+that a Man was stronger than they were. What could this terrible
+creature be like? He must be a mountain indeed, if he was to master such
+a beast as the black Elephant. Yet the black creature said that Men got
+on his back, a dozen of them at a time. The Lion could not understand it
+at all. He shook his head, and stalked away thoughtful.
+
+As the Lion was going along, he saw a puny and weak-looking thing,
+walking upright on two legs. He seemed to be a kind of monkey, thought
+the Lion. It never entered his head that this little thing could be a
+Man, but he trotted up to him gaily, and said--
+
+"Good morning, my friend. Can you tell me where I can find a Man? I
+have been hunting for one all the morning."
+
+"I am a Man," said the other.
+
+At this the Lion laughed in his face. "You a Man!" said he. "Come, come;
+I may be young, but I am no fool, my good fellow. Why, you are not so
+big as one leg of that mountain over there, who was tied to a stake, as
+he said, by a Man."
+
+"All the same," the Man said, "I am one of them."
+
+"But look here," the Lion went on, "my father and mother both say that
+Man is a terrible and cruel creature, and the only creature a Lion need
+fear. Now, either you are no Man, or else my father and mother are quite
+wrong."
+
+"Well," said the Man, "I am not nearly so strong as you are, or the
+Elephant and Camel, or even the Ox. As you say, I am not much to look
+at, but I have one power which you all lack."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"Indeed," said the Lion, "and what may that be?"
+
+The Man answered, "Reason."
+
+"I never heard of reason," said the Lion. "Please explain it to me, will
+you?"
+
+"It is not easy to explain what reason is," replied the Man; "but if you
+like, I will show you how it works."
+
+The Lion was pleased. "Oh please do," he said.
+
+I must tell you that this Man was a woodcutter, and he had an axe upon
+his shoulder. He now lifted this axe and drove a blow into a stout
+sapling which grew hard by. When he had split the sapling, he took a
+wedge of wood, and hammered it in with the back of his axe, until there
+was a large cleft in the trunk of the sapling. "Now then," said the Man,
+"just put your paw in that hole."
+
+The Lion obediently put his paw into the cleft, and then the Man pulled
+out the wedge from the cleft. The sapling closed tight on the paw of the
+Lion, and squeezed it. "Now," said the Man, "you know what reason is."
+
+But the Lion no longer cared to hear about reason; all he wanted was to
+get his paw out of the cleft. He pulled and he tugged, he roared and he
+struggled; but all of no use; he could not by any means get his paw
+free. The end of all was, in madness and fury he dashed his head against
+the ground, and died.
+
+ This was how the Lion learnt how terrible a being
+ is Man; but unluckily, you see, his knowledge was
+ of no use to him or any one else, because it cost him
+ his life. If he had listened to his mother's
+ teaching, he might be living still, and
+ you would not be reading
+ this story.
+
+
+
+
+The Wound and the Scar
+
+
+THERE was once a forest where a Lion dwelt. Over all the beasts of the
+forest the Lion lorded it, and of men not one durst come near the place
+for fear of King Lion; none, that is, except one only, a Woodman who
+lived in a little hut just upon the borders of the woodland; and between
+the forest and the hut a river flowed. This Woodman came often into the
+forest, to cut wood; and he had no fear to do so, because the Lion and
+he were bosom friends. Such fast friends they were that if ever the
+Woodman failed to pay his daily visit, the Lion was grieved and missed
+him sorely.
+
+It happened once that the Woodman fell ill of a fever. In his woodland
+hut he lay all alone, for no wife was there, or sister to care for him.
+So he tossed and moaned, and waited for the hours to pass.
+
+Of course during all this time the Woodman could not visit the forest,
+and his friend the Lion missed him. "What can be the matter," thought
+King Lion. "Has some enemy killed him, or has he fallen sick?" At last
+he could no longer bear the suspense, and set out in search of the
+Woodman.
+
+I do not think that the Lion had ever yet been to his friend's house;
+and for all he knew he might be walking straight into a trap. But he was
+so fond of the Woodman that he never thought of danger. All he wanted
+was to see his friend. Accordingly, he followed the path by which the
+Woodman came into the woods; and in due time this path led him to the
+bank of a wide and swift river, and over on the opposite bank was a hut.
+
+In plunged the Lion, not waiting to think; and though there were
+crocodiles in that river ready to eat him, and though the current bade
+fair to sweep him away, so strong was his love for his friend that he
+swam across.
+
+The Woodman's house stood within an enclosure, and all the doors and
+gates were shut; but the Lion jumped over the wall, and searched about,
+until he managed somehow to force his way into the house. Then he saw
+his friend lying upon a bed, and very ill, all alone, with no one to
+tend him.
+
+How grieved the Lion was to see his friend, you can imagine better than
+I can tell. The Lion knelt down by his friend's side, and began to lick
+him all over. This woke the man from his dazed condition; and when he
+found the Lion licking his body, he did not like the smell of the Lion,
+so he turned his head away, with a grunt of disgust.
+
+Now I think this was very unkind, because the Lion had no other way of
+showing how much he cared for his friend. Think what a long way he had
+come to see his friend, and think what danger he had faced; and now to
+be met with a grunt of disgust! The Lion stopped licking the Woodman,
+and got up slowly, and went away. Back he swam over the deep and swift
+river, but all the heart was taken out of him; he cared not for the
+crocodiles, indeed now he would not have been very sorry if a crocodile
+had devoured him. One crocodile did actually get a nip at his leg, and
+left a wound there. Back to his den he crept, solitary and sad. And when
+he got to his den, he lay down, sick of his friend's fever, which he had
+taken by licking him.
+
+In a week or so, the Woodman was well again; and thinking nothing of
+what had passed, he shouldered his axe, and trudged away to cut wood.
+When the time came for his midday meal, he went as his custom was to the
+Lion's den; and there he found his friend the Lion, thin and sick.
+
+"Why, friend, what is the matter?" the Woodman asked.
+
+"I am ill," said the Lion.
+
+"What is it?" asked the Woodman again.
+
+But the Lion would answer nothing; and do what he would, the man could
+not get him to say another word. So he left him for that day, and went
+home.
+
+For several days after, the man did the same thing; and gradually the
+Lion got better. At last one day, when the Lion was quite well again,
+the man said to him--
+
+"Tell me, good friend Lion, what it is that has made you so silent and
+gloomy of late?"
+
+Then answered the Lion, "O Woodman, I will tell you. When you were ill,
+I swam a swift river and faced death, all for your sake; I came into
+your house when you lay deserted, and licked your body, and took the
+fever which you had into my veins; and this wound which you see, I
+received from a crocodile as I was swimming across on my way back. But
+you received me with scorn, and turned away your face in disgust. The
+fever is gone, and this wound (as you see) is healed; but the wound in
+my heart can never heal. You are no true friend; and from henceforth our
+ways lie apart."
+
+The man was ashamed of his unkindness, but it was too late, for, as the
+poet says--
+
+ "Who snaps the thread of friendship, never more
+ Can join it as it once was joined before."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+The Cat and the Parrot
+
+
+ONCE upon a time, a Cat and a Parrot had joint lease of a certain piece
+of land, which they tilled together.
+
+One day the Cat said to the Parrot, "Come, friend, let us go to the
+field."
+
+Said the Parrot, "I can't come now, because I am whetting my bill on the
+branch of a mango-tree."
+
+So the Cat went alone, and ploughed the field. When the field was
+ploughed, the Cat came to the Parrot again, and said--
+
+"Come, friend, let us sow the corn."
+
+Said the Parrot, "I can't come now, because I am whetting my beak on the
+branch of a mango-tree."
+
+So the Cat went alone, and sowed the corn. The corn took root, the corn
+sprouted, it put forth the blade, and the ear, and the ripe corn in the
+ear. Then again the Cat came to the Parrot, and said--
+
+"Come, friend, let us go and gather the harvest."
+
+Said the Parrot, "I can't come now, because I am whetting my beak on the
+branch of a mango-tree."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+So the Cat went alone, and gathered the harvest. She put it away in
+barns, and made ready for threshing. When all was ready for the
+threshing, again the Cat came to the Parrot, and said--
+
+"Come, friend, let us thresh the corn."
+
+Said the Parrot, "I can't come now, because I am whetting my beak on the
+branch of a mango-tree."
+
+So the Cat went, and threshed all the corn alone. Then the Cat came back
+to the Parrot, and said--
+
+"Come, friend, let us go and winnow the grain from the chaff."
+
+Said the Parrot, "I can't come now, because I am whetting my beak on the
+branch of a mango-tree."
+
+So the Cat winnowed the grain from the chaff alone. Then she came back
+once again to the Parrot, and said--
+
+"Come, friend, the grain is all winnowed and sifted; come and divide it
+between us."
+
+"Certainly," said the Parrot, and came at once. You see the Cat had done
+all the work, but the Parrot was quite ready to share the profit. They
+divided the corn into two halves, and the Cat put her half away
+somewhere, and the Parrot carried his half to his nest.
+
+Then the Cat and the Parrot agreed to invite each other to dinner every
+day; that is to say, the Cat asks the Parrot to-day, and the Parrot asks
+the Cat to-morrow. The Cat's turn came first. Then the Cat went to
+market and bought a ha'porth of milk, a ha'porth of sugar, and a
+ha'porth of rice. When the Parrot came there was nothing but this stingy
+fare. Moreover, the Cat was so inhospitable, that she actually made the
+Parrot cook the food himself! Perhaps that was her way of rebuking her
+friend for his laziness.
+
+Next day the turn came to the Parrot. He procured about thirty pounds
+of flour, and plenty of butter, and everything else that was needed, and
+cooked the food before his guest came. He made enough cakes to fill a
+washerwoman's basket--about five hundred.
+
+When the Cat came, the Parrot put before her four hundred and
+ninety-eight cakes, in a heap, and kept back for himself only two. The
+Cat ate up the four hundred and ninety-eight cakes in about three
+minutes, and then asked for more.
+
+The Parrot set before her the two cakes he had kept for himself. The Cat
+devoured them, and then asked for more.
+
+The Parrot said, "I have no more cakes, but if you are still hungry, you
+may eat me."
+
+The Cat was still hungry, and ate the Parrot, bones and beak and
+feathers. Thus the tables were turned; for if the Parrot had the best of
+it before, the Cat had the best of it now.
+
+An old woman happened to be near, and saw this. So she picked up a
+stone, and said--
+
+"Shoo! shoo! get away, or I'll kill you with this stone."
+
+Now the Cat thought to herself, "I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my
+friend the Parrot, and shall I blush to eat this old hag?"
+
+No, surely not. The Cat devoured the old Woman.
+
+The Cat went along the road and perceived a Washerman with a donkey. He
+said, "O Cat, get away, or my donkey shall kick you to death!"
+
+Thought the Cat, "I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my friend the
+Parrot, I ate the abusive old Woman, and shall I blush to eat a
+Washerman?"
+
+No, surely not. The Cat devoured the Washerman.
+
+The Cat next met the wedding procession of a King: a column of soldiers,
+and a row of fine elephants two and two. The King said, "O Cat, get
+away, or my elephants will trample you to death."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Thought the Cat, "I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my friend the
+Parrot, I ate the abusive old Woman, I ate the Washerman and his donkey,
+and shall I blush to eat a beggarly King?"
+
+No, surely not. The Cat devoured the King, and his procession, and his
+elephants too.
+
+Then the Cat went on until she met a pair of Landcrabs. "Run away, run
+away, Pussycat!" said the Landcrabs, "or we will nip you!"
+
+"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed the Cat, shaking her sides (fat enough they were
+by this time), "I ate a basketful of cakes, I ate my friend the Parrot,
+I ate an abusive old Woman, I ate the Washerman and his donkey, I ate
+the King and all his elephants, and shall I run away from a Landcrab?
+Not so, but I will eat the Landcrab too!" So saying, she pounced upon
+the Landcrabs. Gobble, gobble, slip, slop: in two swallows the Landcrabs
+went down the Cat's gullet.
+
+But although the Landcrabs slid down the Cat's gullet easily enough, you
+must know that they are hard creatures, too hard for a Cat to bite; so
+they took no harm at all. They found themselves amongst a crowd of
+creatures. There was the King, sitting with his head on his hands, very
+unhappy; there was the King's newly-wed bride in a dead faint; there was
+a company of soldiers, trying to form fours, but rather muddled in mind;
+there was a herd of elephants, trumpeting loudly; there was a donkey
+braying and the Washerman beating the donkey with a stick; there was the
+Parrot, whetting his beak on his own claws; then there was the old Woman
+abusing them all roundly; and last of all, five hundred cakes neatly
+piled in a corner. The Landcrabs ran round to see what they could find;
+and they found that the inside of the Cat was quite soft. They could not
+see anything at all, except by flashes, when the Cat opened her mouth,
+but they could feel. So they opened their claws, and nip! nip! nip!
+
+"Miaw!" squealed the Cat.
+
+ Then came another nip, and another great Miaw!
+ The Landcrabs went on nipping, until they had nipped
+ a big round hole in the side of the Cat. By this time the
+ Cat was lying down, in great pain; and as the hole was
+ very big, out walked the Landcrabs, and scuttled away.
+ Then out walked the King, carrying his bride; and out
+ walked the elephants, two and two; out walked the
+ soldiers, who had succeeded in forming fours-right, by
+ your left, quick march! out walked the donkey, with
+ the Washerman driving him along; out walked the old
+ Woman, giving the Cat a piece of her mind; and last
+ of all, out walked the Parrot, with a cake in each
+ claw. Then they all went about their business,
+ as if nothing had happened; and the
+ Parrot flew back to whet his
+ beak on the branch of the
+ mango-tree.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Notes
+
+
+
+
+Notes
+
+1.--The Talking Thrush
+
+ Told by KÁSHI PRASÁD, village school, Bhingá, district
+ Bahráich, Oudh.
+
+Man sows cotton-seeds in garden--Phudki bird sees him--Makes her nest of
+the cotton--Goes to a Behana, and says, "If I bring you cotton, will you
+card it, and give me half, keeping half yourself?"--He does so--"Now
+make it into balls" (Piuni)--Does so on the same terms--A Kori spins
+thread on the same terms--And weaves it into cloth--Similarly a tailor
+makes it into clothes--She flies to court and sits on a peg--Says the
+King, "Give me your suit"--She does so, and says, "The King covets my
+suit"--"Come here, and I will return it"--She comes, and he catches
+her--"I will cut you in pieces"--"The King will cut me in pieces
+to-day"--He cuts her up and tells his servant to wash them--"To-day the
+King is washing and cleaning"--Puts her in a pan of oil--"To-day the
+King is frying me in oil"--Eats her--"I shall go into the King's
+stomach"--The Bird puts out its head--Two soldiers attempt to cut it off
+and mutilate the King so that he dies.
+
+The _motif_ is much the same as in No. 2 of the collection. The pieces
+of the Thrush speak like the fish in the tale of the "Fisherman and the
+Jinni" (Burton, "Arabian Nights," Library Edition, I. 59).
+
+
+2.--The Rabbit and the Monkey
+
+ Told by DANKHAH RABHA, in the Bhutan Hills. Taken
+ without essential change from _North Indian Notes
+ and Queries_, iv. § 465.
+
+
+3.--The Sparrow's Revenge
+
+ Told by SHIN SAHÁI, teacher of the village school
+ of Dayarhi Chakeri, Etah District. Another version
+ of the _Podnâ_ and the _Podnî_, _N.I.N.Q._ iii.
+ 83. Compare the _Valiant Blackbird_, No. 28 below.
+
+Hen Sparrow tells her husband to go into the jungle and fetch firewood
+to cook _khîr_ (rice milk)--A _Chamâr_ kills him--Hen makes carriage of
+straw, yokes two rats to it, and drives off to take vengeance--Meets a
+Wolf--"Where are you going?"--"To take vengeance on the Chamâr who
+killed my husband"--"May I help?"--"It will be kind"--Meets a Snake, who
+salutes her with, "Râm! Râm! Whither away?"--Replies as before, and same
+thing happens--So with a Scorpion--They arrive at the house of the
+Chamâr--Wolf hides near the river--Snake under pile of cow-dung
+fuel--Scorpion under the lamp--The Sparrow flies up to the eaves and
+twitters--Out comes Chamâr--Says she, "A friend awaits you near the
+river." To the river he goes--Wolf seizes him--His wife goes to the heap
+for fuel--Snake bites her--She calls to her son, "Bring the
+lamp"--Scorpion stings him--They all die--Hen Sparrow gets another mate,
+and lives happily ever after.
+
+It is part of the Faithful Animal cycle (Temple, "Wide-awake Stories,"
+412; Clouston, "Popular Tales and Fictions," i. 223 _seqq._). This form
+of tale, in which the weaker animal gets the better of its more powerful
+oppressor, is common in Indian folk-lore. Compare No. 1 of this
+collection.
+
+
+4.--The Judgment of the Jackal
+
+ Told by SHIUDAN CHAMAR, of Chaukiya, Mirzápur.
+ _N.I.N.Q._ iii. 101.
+
+Merchant puts up at house of Oilman--Oilman ties the horse to his
+mill--Next morning Merchant asks for it--He replies, "It has run
+away!"--"But what is that horse?"--"My mill gave birth to it in the
+night"--Appeal to Siyar Panre, the Jackal--"Go back and I will come"--He
+bathes in a tank--Delay--They seek him, and find him sitting by the
+tank--"Why did you delay?"--"Too busy; the tank caught fire, and I have
+just put it out"--"You are mad; who ever heard of a tank on fire?"--"Who
+ever heard of a mill bearing a foal?"--Oilman returns horse.
+
+A parallel may be found in the Buddhist _Jātaka_, No. 219 (Cambridge
+translation, ii. 129), another Version from the Frontier in Swynnerton's
+"Indian Nights' Entertainment," p. 142. Compare Stumme, _Tunisische
+Märchen_, vol. ii., Story of an Oilman.
+
+
+5.--How the Mouse got into his Hole
+
+ Told by BISRAM BANYA and recorded by MAHARAJ SINH,
+ teacher of the school at Akbarpur, Faizabad district.
+
+
+6.--King Solomon and the Owl
+
+ Told by MUNSHÍ CHHOTÉ KHÁN, teacher of the village school
+ at Ant, District Sitápur, Oudh.
+
+ [A new legend of the Fall.]
+
+Solomon hunts alone--An Owl asks him to receive him--Solomon asks, "Why
+do you hoot all night?"--"To wake men and women early for prayer:
+travelling is difficult, for treasure is dearer than life"--"Why do you
+shake your head?"--"To remind mankind that the world is but a fleeting
+show, and to show my disapproval of their delight in worldly
+things"--"Why do you eat no grain?"--"_Adam ate wheat in heaven, and was
+turned out of it on that account._ Adam prayed, and God sent him into
+the world, and blessed him to be the father of mankind. If I eat one
+grain I expect to be cast into hell"--"Why do you drink no water in the
+world at night?"--"Because Noah's race was drowned in this world in
+water. If I drink, it would be hard for me to live"--Solomon is pleased,
+and asks the Owl to remain with him, and advise him on all points.
+
+There is no verse in the original.
+
+All through the eastern world the owl, from its association with
+graveyards and old ruins, is regarded as a mystic bird, invested with
+powers of prophecy and wisdom (Crooke, "Popular Religion and Folk-lore
+of Northern India," i. 279).
+
+
+7.--The Camel's Neck
+
+ Told by BACHÁÚ, a Kasera, or brassfounder, of Mirzápur,
+ North-West Provinces.
+
+Camel practises austerities--Bhagwán is pleased, and appears to
+him--"Who are you?"--"Lord of the Three Regions"--"Show me your proper
+form"--Bhagwán appears in his four-handed form (Chaturbhuji)--Camel does
+reverence--"Ask a boon"--"Let my neck be a _yojan_ long"--"Be it
+so"--The neck becomes eight miles long--He can now graze within a radius
+of four miles (sic)--It rains--He puts his neck in a cave--A pair of
+Jackals eat his flesh--The Camel dies--A wise man says--
+
+ "Álas dókh mahán dekhyo phal kaisá bhayá;
+ Yátén únt aján, maran lagyo nij karm se."
+
+"Idleness is a great fault: see what was the result of idleness. By this
+the foolish Camel died, simply owing to his own deeds."
+
+This is one of the very common cycle of tales where the fool comes to
+ruin in consequence of a stupid wish. In the "Book of Sindibad," it
+appears as the "Peri and the Religious Man" (Clouston, "Book of
+Sindibad," 71); La Fontaine has adopted it as the "Three Wishes," and
+Prior as "The Ladle." The Italian version will be found in Crane,
+"Italian Popular Tales," 221. The four-hand god is Vishnu in his form as
+Chaturbhuja.
+
+
+8.--The Quail and the Fowler
+
+ Told by RAMESWAR-PURI, a wandering religious beggar
+ of Kharwá, District Mirzápur.
+
+Fowler catches a Quail--"I'll teach you three things, and if you free me
+I'll teach you a fourth: (1) Never set free what you have caught; (2)
+What seems to you untrue you need not believe; (3) What is past you
+should not trouble about"--He sets the Quail free--Says the Quail, "I
+have in my stomach a gem weighing 1¼ seers, and worth lakhs of rupees;
+had you not let me go you would have that gem"--Fowler falls on the
+ground in misery--Says the Quail, "You forget my teaching: (1) You set
+me free; (2) You did not ask how a body so light could contain such a
+gem; (3) You are troubled about what is past"--Flies away--Fowler
+returns home a wiser man.
+
+Compare the "Laughable Stories of Bar-Hebraeus," E. A. W. Budge (Luzac,
+1897), No. 382, where a Sparrow acts as this Quail does. See also the
+"Three Counsels worth Money" in No. 485.
+
+
+9.--The King of the Kites
+
+ Told by RÁM DÉO, Brahman, of Mirzápur.
+
+Frog and Mouse dispute, each saying he is King of the Kites--The dispute
+lasts for several years--They refer it to a _Panch_ (Committee of
+Five)--The other three are Bat, Squirrel, Parrot--They cannot decide--A
+small Kite appears--Carries off both Frog and Mouse, and eats them--The
+rest depart--The dispute does not arise again.
+
+The belief that each species of bird and beast has a king of its own is
+common. Thus, we have a king of the serpents, of mice, of flies,
+locusts, ants, foxes, cats, and so on (Frazer, "Pausanias," iii. 559).
+Also see No. 27 of this collection.
+
+
+10.--The Jackal and the Camel
+
+ Told by HAR PRASÁD, Brahman, of Saráya Aghat,
+ District Etah, N.W.P.
+
+Camel grazing, entangles nose-string in a tree--Confused in mind,
+appeals to Jackal--"Brother, I will free you for one _seer_ of
+flesh"--He agrees--Jackal asks the tongue--"Have you a witness?"--Jackal
+tries all the beasts, offering half of all he gets--Wolf refuses--Jackal
+explains that the Camel will die, and they will get all his body--He
+then agrees, and swears it--Camel opens his mouth, curls back
+tongue--Jackal cannot catch the tongue--Wolf tries--When the head is
+well in, Camel closes his jaws--"O _Dâdâ_ (father), what is this?"--Says
+Jackal, "The result of lying," and runs away--Wolf dies.
+
+In Oriental folk-lore the jackal takes the place which the fox occupies
+in the Western world, and numerous tales are told of his cunning. This
+fact has formed the base of an argument to prove that the European Beast
+tales originated from the East (Tawney, "Katha Sarit Ságara," ii. 28).
+
+
+11.--The Wise Old Shepherd
+
+ Told by MUNSHI FAZL KARÍM of Mirzápur.
+
+A Nága (Snake) goes out of his hole to take an airing--Enters the Raja's
+court--All flee in terror--Raja orders the Snake to be killed--The
+Prince kills it--Snake's wife goes in search--Enters the court and
+learns his fate--Vows to make his wife also a widow--Coils round the
+Prince's neck in the night--He dares not stir--Queen-mother goes to see
+what is the matter--Sees the Snake--Raja sends archers--They prepare to
+shoot--Snake pleads fair reprisals, and asks that the matter be decided
+by Panch--They find five Shepherds holding a Panchayat--They all go
+thither--The men all agree that the Snake is right except one--He asks
+how many sons has the Snake--"Seven"--"Then you must wait till the
+Princess has three more, and then you may kill him."
+
+There is a universal taboo in India against killing a snake. When a
+cobra is slain it is supposed that its mate always avenges its death
+(Crooke, "Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India," i. 226).
+
+
+12.--Beware of Bad Company
+
+ Told by JAGAT KISHOR, master at the Government School,
+ Gondá, Oudh.
+
+A Swan made friends with a Crow--They fly away from Mánsarowar to find
+some sport--Perch on a pipal tree under which a pious Raja is
+worshipping his Thákurji (idol of Rám or Krishna)--Crow drops filth on
+his head and flies away--He sees the Swan and shoots it--Swan says:--
+
+ "Kák náhin, ham hans hain,
+ Mán karat ham bás;
+ Dhrisht kág ké mél són,
+ Bhayo hamaró nás."
+
+("I am no Crow but a Swan, dwelling in Mán Sarówar; being friend of an
+ignoble Crow I am destroyed.")
+
+The Crow, as in several tales in this collection, is in Oriental
+folk-lore the representative of all that is thievish and mischievous.
+
+
+13.--The Foolish Wolf
+
+ Told by MAHÁDEVA PRASÁD, pupil of branch school, Nau
+ Shaharah, District Gonda, Oudh.
+
+Wolf and Ass were friends--Played as described in text--Boy sees Wolf
+running away from Ass, and says, "What a timid Wolf"--Says the Wolf,
+"You shall rue it, I'll carry you off to-day"--Boy tells his
+mother--"Never mind, he won't hurt you"--Hides stone in loin-cloth--Wolf
+comes for him--Leaves him in his den for the morrow--Goes to play with
+the Ass--Boy climbs a tree--Wolf finds no Boy--Stands gaping with
+perplexity--Boy throws stone into his mouth and kills him.
+
+
+14.--Reflected Glory
+
+ Told by MÁTÁ DÍN, assistant teacher, Pili-Bhít district, N.W.P.
+
+A Shepherd had a lame Goat which he beat--It ran away--Fearing the wild
+beasts, it sat down beside a cave where were footsteps of a Lion--A
+Jackal comes up--"Rám, Rám, grandfather! I have found food after many
+days." "Rám, Rám, grandson, I was told to sit here by the owner of these
+footprints."--"A Lion! if I eat you, he will eat my cubs"--He goes--A
+Wolf comes, and the same thing happens--The Lion comes--Says the Goat,
+"By the influence of your footprints I have been safe; beasts came to
+devour me, and I became your man: they fled." "If you have called
+yourself my man I will not eat you"--Lion finds an Elephant: "I have a
+lame Goat; let him go on your back and eat the young leaves as you
+graze"--He agrees, and the Goat says, "Khoj pakar liyo baran ko hasti
+mili hai ái gaj mastak achchhi charhi ajayá kopal khâya" ("By betaking
+myself to the footprints of the great, I have got an
+Elephant")--Mounting on the Elephant's head, the Goat feeds well on new
+leaves.
+
+
+15.--The Cat and the Sparrows
+
+ Told by TULSI RÁM, Brahman, of Sadabad, Mathura
+ district. For the _motif_, compare _Jātaka_, No.
+ 333 (translation, vol. iii. p. 71).
+
+16.--The Foolish Fish
+
+ Told by HARI CHAND or HEM CHANDI, teacher of a
+ village school, Mirzápur district. A variant of
+ the same, told by SHEO-DÁN, Chamár, Chankiyá,
+ Mirzápur district.
+
+Banya sees Tiger sunk in the mud--Tiger tries him to release him--Swears
+he will not hurt him or his family--Banya saves him--Says Tiger, "Shall
+I eat you or your ox?"--Banya protests--Tiger: "It is the way of my
+family"--Banya says, "Let the Jackal arbitrate"--Jackal asks to see the
+place the Tiger was in--Then to be shown exactly how he was--The Tiger
+goes in again, and the Jackal advises the man to go home and leave him.
+
+
+17.--The Clever Goat
+
+ Recorded by MÁTÁ DÍN, assistant teacher, Pili-Bhít district.
+
+
+18.--A Crow is a Crow for Ever
+
+ Told and recorded by SÁHIB RÁM, Brahman, of Nardauli,
+ Etah district.
+
+The verse is:--
+
+ Kág parháe pinjra: parhi gaye cháron Ved:
+ Jab sudhi ai kutum ki rahe dhed ke dhed.
+
+ "I kept my crow in a cage, and taught him all four Vedas;
+ When he thought of his family, he became filthy as ever."
+
+
+19.--The Grateful Goat
+
+ Told by BIKKÚ MISRA, Brahman, Achhnérá village, Agra district.
+
+Butcher buys a Goat--"Spare my life, and I will repay you"--He spares
+him--The Goat goes into the forest and meets a Jackal--"I am going to
+eat you." "Wait till I get fat in the forest." "Good: look out for me
+when you come back"--Meets a Wolf--Same thing happens--Finds a temple of
+Mahádeva--In it are gold coins--Swallows them--Goes to a
+flower-seller--"Cover me with flowers"--He does so, and the Goat voids
+two mohurs--Sets out to return--Meets the Wolf--"Have you seen a Goat?"
+"No"--Meets the Jackal--"Have you seen a Goat?" "Yes, some distance
+back"--Proceeds to the Butcher, and voids the rest of the coins--The
+Butcher is grateful, and never kills him as long as he lives.
+
+Agra district. Tales of animals spitting gold are common, as in Grimm's
+"Three Little Men in the Wood" ("Household Tales," i. 56) and in
+Oriental Folk-lore (Tawney, "Katha Sarit Ságara," ii. 8, 453, 637;
+Knowles, "Folk-tales of Kashmir," p. 443).
+
+
+20.--The Cunning Jackal
+
+ Told by BAL BÍR PRASÁD, teacher of the school at
+ Sultánpur, Oudh.
+
+A Jackal sees melons on the other side of a river--Sees a Tortoise--"How
+are you and your family?" "I am well, but I have no wife." "Why did you
+not tell me? some people on the other side have asked me to find a match
+for their daughter." "If you mean it I will take you across"--Takes him
+across on his back--When the melons are over the Jackal dresses up a
+jhau-tree as a bride--"There is your bride, but she is too modest to
+speak till I am gone"--Tortoise carries him back--Calls to the stump--No
+answer--Goes up and touches it--Finds it is a tree--Vows revenge--As
+Jackal drinks, catches his leg--"You fool, you have got hold of a stump
+by mistake; see, here is my leg," pointing to a stump--Tortoise leaves
+hold--Jackal escapes--Tortoise goes to Jackal's den--Jackal returns and
+sees the footprints leading into the den--Piles dry leaves at the mouth,
+and fires them--Tortoise expires.
+
+This is an unpublished variant of the "Jackal and the Crocodile"
+(Temple, "Wide-awake Stories," 243).
+
+
+21.--The Farmer's Ass
+
+ Told by RÁM SINH, Haidar-Garh, district Barau Banki.
+
+A Washerman has an Ass that brays on hearing a conch-shell, thinks he
+must have been a saint in a former life, but something went wrong (kahin
+chuk gaya) and he became an Ass--Names him Tulsi Das--Ass dies--"He was
+valuable to me," shaves head, performs obsequies, gives feast to
+clansmen--Goes to shop of a Banya--"Why are you in mourning?" "Tulsi
+Das, who was a great saint, is dead"--Banya shaves, too--Raja's sepoy
+asks him why--"Tulsi Das is dead"--Shaves, too--Comrades ask why--Same
+thing--Same with the chief of the sepoys--The minister, the raja, all
+shave--Queen asks why--Raja tells her--"But who is Tulsi Das?" "A friend
+of the minister's"--So the report is traced back to the Washerman, who
+says, "He was my Ass."
+
+_N.I.N.Q._, iii. § 104, gives the same tale about an ass named Sobhan
+(beautiful): told by Shyam Sundar, village accountant of Dudhi, Mirzápur
+district, recorded by Ahmad Ullah. Compare Temple's "Wide-awake
+Stories," 'The Death and Burial of poor Hen Sparrow;' Lady Burton's
+"Arabian Nights," iii. 228, 'The Unwise Schoolmaster who fell in Love by
+Report;' Jacob's "English Fairy Tales," 'Tetty Mouse and Tatty Mouse,'
+and _note_, p. 234.
+
+
+22.--The Parrot Judge
+
+ Told by MAKUND LÁL, Mirzápur.
+
+A Bird-catcher had a Parrot which knew only two words, Beshak
+(undoubtedly) and Cheshak (what doubt)--Took it to market, and gave out
+that it knew Persian, price 5 lakhs of rupees--Nobleman asks it, "Do you
+know Persian?"--"Cheshak"--Buys it--Puts it in a gold cage, and gives it
+good food--King one day began to talk to the Parrot in Persian--It could
+say nothing but these two words--The owner threw it on the ground and
+killed it.
+
+
+23.--The Frog and the Snake
+
+ Told by AKBAR SHÁH, Mánjhi, one of the jungle-folk
+ of Manbasa, Dudhi, Mirzápur, and recorded by
+ Pandit Ramgharíb Chaubé. _N.I.N.Q._, iii. § 101.
+
+No change. The King of the Snakes is Vásuki Nága.
+
+
+24.--Little Miss Mouse
+
+ Told by AKBAR SHÁH, Mánjhi, of Manbasa, Dudhi,
+ Mirzápur. _N.I.N.Q._, iv. § 19.
+
+No change in first part. The music-shop is in the original the house of
+the Chamâr (a caste of labourers and leather-workers), who gives a drum,
+which is broken by a woman husking rice, who strikes it with a pestle.
+The crop in the last scene is rice.
+
+
+25.--The Jackal that Lost his Tail
+
+ Told by PARMANAND TIWÁRI, student, Anglo-Sanskrit School,
+ Mirzápur. _N.I.N.Q._, iv. § 17.
+
+A Kurmi (one of the agricultural tribes) used to go to his field--At
+noon his wife brought the dinner--Meets Jackal, and all falls out as in
+tale till the tail is cut off--Jackal returns and finds wife gathering
+cow-dung--"Your son (_sic_) has cut off my tail, and I must bite you."
+"He is dead, come to the funeral feast?"--He and his friends come--"To
+prevent you squabbling, let me tie you up"--Ties them to the cattle
+pegs, tailless Jackal with specially strong chain--Kurmi comes out with
+bludgeon--They break their ropes and flee, all but tailless Jackal,
+which Kurmi kills.
+
+This is connected with the Æsopian fable of "The Fox who Lost his Tail."
+
+
+26.--The Wily Tortoise
+
+ Told by BRIJ MOHAN LÁL, second master, High School, Manipuri,
+ N.W.P. The bird is a _Hansa_. _N.I.N.Q._, iii. § 295.
+
+
+27.--The King of the Mice
+
+ Told and recorded by BABU GANDHARAB SINH, of Etah.
+
+Kingdom of Mice--Mouse King and Fox Wazir--All animals of forest did
+homage--Caravan passed--Camel left behind--Eats the Mouse King's
+garden--Fox brings him in--Mocks the King--Nose-string gets
+entangled--King says he is served right--He begs release and promises
+service--Mouse gnaws string--Camel serves him--Woodcutters find Camel
+and take him--King sends to fetch them--Demands his Camel--The
+Woodcutters tell their King--He refuses--King of Mice collects armies
+and burrows under Woodcutter's treasury--Brings all the money out in
+charge of a detachment of Mice--Wise man sees it--Covets the money--Old
+Mouse says, "Why do you covet? our King will give you service"--Goes to
+the King--The King bids him fetch more of his brethren--With these the
+Mouse King invades the realm of Woodcutters--Mice undermine the walls of
+the enemy's fort--Woodcutters' army flee--King of Mice gets back his
+Camel, and makes the Woodcutter King his vassal.
+
+(The episode of the wise man seems to be interpolated, as the men play
+no part in the attack.)
+
+Another version in _N.I.N.Q._, iii. § 292, told by THÁKUR UMRÁO SINH of
+Sonhár, Etah district, N.W.P. For Kings of Animals, compare No. 9 of
+this book.
+
+
+28.--The Valiant Blackbird
+
+ Told by WAZÍRAN, a Mohammedan servant of Mirzápur, and
+ recorded by MIRZA MUHAMMAD BEG.
+
+A Podna (weaver bird) and his mate lived in a tree--The Raja catches the
+wife--Podna builds carts of reeds, yokes pairs of frogs, makes
+kettle-drum, armed with piece of reed, sets out drumming--Meets a
+Cat--"Where are you going?" "Sarkande ki to gári, do mendak jote jaen,
+Raja mári Podni, ham bair bisahne jaen" ("My carriage is of reed with
+two frogs yoked thereto; the King has seized my Podni; I go to take my
+revenge"). "May I go with you?" "Get into my car"--Meets in same way
+Ants, Rope and Club, River--Drives into King's courtyard and demands
+Podni--King orders him to be shut in henhouse--"Nikal billi, teri bári.
+Kán chhor, kanpati mári" ("Come out, Cat, your turn now: come out of my
+ear and hit them on the head")--Cat comes out and kills fowls--Next
+night shut in stable--"Niklo rassi, aur sonte tumhari bari. Kan chhor,
+kanpati mari"--Rope ties horses and Club kills them--Next night shut in
+with elephants--"Niklo chiunti tumhári bári. Kán chhor, kanpati
+mári"--Ants run up trunks and sting their brains--Next night tied to the
+Raja's bed--"Niklo darya teri bári. Kán chhor, kanpati mári"--River
+begins to drown King and bed--"For God's sake, take your wife and go."
+
+Here, as in other tales of this collection, we have the incident of the
+Helping Animals, for which see Tawney, "Katha Sarit Ságara," ii. 103,
+596; Crooke, "Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India," ii.
+202. See _N.I.N.Q._, iii. § 173.
+
+
+29.--The Goat and the Hog
+
+ Told by SÚRAJ SINGH, assistant master of the Kándhla school,
+ district Muzafarnagar, N.W.P. See _N.I.N.Q._, iv. § 430.
+
+Goat and Hog friends--Goat goes to seek his fortune--Enters shop of a
+Banya--Eats all he can find--Goes into inner room--Banya returns--Little
+girl cries for sugar--Goes in to get some--Goat says, "Ek sing anrur
+ganrur; dusri sing meri, soni marhawal. Banya beti awo nahin, dhenruki
+phoron" ("One of my horns is twisted, one is gilt with gold. Don't come
+in, Banya girl, or I will tear your stomach open")--Runs out--Father
+sends for the Kotwal--Same thing--Prays to him--Goat comes out: "I want
+sweetmeats, ornaments for my head, neck, feet, horns, tail"--Gives them,
+putting on all the jewels he has in pawn--Goat shows all this to the
+Hog--Hog goes to try his luck--Knew no verses--No one frightened--Banya
+drives him out with stick and dogs.
+
+
+30.--The Parrot and the Parson
+
+ Told by BACHAU KASERA, Mirzápur. _N.I.N.Q._, v. § 72.
+
+Banker taught his parrot to speak--A Sadhu passed by--Quoth Parrot,
+"Salaam, Maharáj, how can I get out?" "Let me ask my Guru"--Guru when
+asked swooned--Sádhu told Parrot what had happened, and apologised for
+not being able to help--"I understand," says Parrot--Feigns death--Cage
+opened.
+
+
+31.--The Lion and the Hare
+
+ Told by SURYABALI, Mirzápur.
+
+No change. The verse is:--
+
+ Biná budhí ke bágh biláná:
+ Kharhá san kahún bágh maráná.
+
+
+32.--The Monkey's Bargains
+
+ Told and recorded by RAMESWAR-PURI, teacher, Khairwá
+ village school, district Mirzápur.
+
+The Story of Gangá Bûrhi (name of the old woman). No change in the
+incidents, except that the cowherd is grinding corn, and the last
+sentence is added. The verses are:--
+
+ Wáh, jangle men se lakari láyá,
+ Wáh, lakari main burhyá ko dinh,
+ Burhiyá monkon roti dinh,
+ Wáh rotiyá main tokôn dinh
+ Kyá tun mokôn mataki na degá? 5
+
+"Hullo! I brought fuel from the forest. (2) I gave it to the old woman.
+(3) The old woman gave me cake. (4) I gave that cake to thee. (5) Wilt
+not thou give me jugs?"
+
+ U roti main kohrá ko dinh, 4
+ Kohrá monkôn metuki dinh,
+ U metuki main tokôn dinh,
+ Kyá tu mujhko makkhan na degá?
+
+"I gave that cake to the Potter. (5) The Potter gave me an earthen
+vessel. (6) I gave that earthen vessel to thee. (7) Wilt not thou give
+me butter?"
+
+ Wáh roti main kumhará ko dinh, 4
+ Kumhará monkon metuki dinh,
+ Wáh metuki main gwálin ko dinh
+ Gwálin monkon londi dinh,
+ Wáh londi main tokôn dinh,
+ Kyá tu monkôn ek bail bhí na degá?
+
+"(6) I gave that earthen vessel to the cowherd's wife. (7) The cowherd's
+wife gave me a lump of butter. (8) I gave that lump to thee. (9) Wilt
+not thou give me an Ox?"
+
+The others are not given, except the last lines:--
+
+ Baj meri dholaki dhámak dhûn;
+ Râni ke badle ái tun.
+
+"O my drum, make sounds like _dhámak dhûn_: thou art come in exchange
+for a Queen."
+
+
+33.--The Monkey's Rebuke
+
+ Told and recorded by LÁLÁ BHAWÁNÍ DÍN, teacher of Majhgáon
+ district Hamirpur.
+
+A Banya sold milk mixed with water--Earns 100 rupees--Sets out for
+home--Stops to wash at a tank--Lays the bag down--Monkey takes the bag
+up a tree--Drops 50 rupees in the tank--Throws down the bag to the
+man--"You sold half water and half milk: therefore I have thrown half
+your money into this tank"--Banya goes home a better man.
+
+
+34.--The Bull and the Bullfinch
+
+ Told by PANDIT JAGANNÁTH PRASÁD, master of Marári
+ Kalán village school, and recorded by Pandit
+ Madhuban, second master of the same, Unáo
+ district, Oudh.
+
+Khusat Bird and Bull--The rest as in the story, save that "the Almighty
+King of the Universe" promises his help to the Lion--Bull tells
+Bird--Bird says, "Did not I warn you? still I will help"--Tells him that
+he has dreamt a marriage has been arranged for himself with Mahadeva's
+spouse--They apply to Mahadeva for explanation--Mahadeva thinks, "If I
+say visions are real things, this Bird will claim my wife"--So says,
+"Dreams go by contraries: go home and don't be foolish."
+
+See the value of friendship.
+
+
+35.--The Swan and the Crow
+
+ Told by LÁLA SHANKAR LÁL, village accountant, and
+ recorded by CHANGAN SINH, master of the school at
+ Chamkari, Etah district, N.W.P.
+
+No change, except Wazir for Judge and Gayá for Jerusalem. The Judge is a
+Hindu, and the Crow promises to take his father's bones to the sacred
+city of Gayá, in Bengal.
+
+
+36.--Pride shall have a Fall
+
+ Told by AKBAR SHÁH, Mánjhi, one of the jungle-folk of
+ Manbasa, district Mirzápur.
+
+No change. The animal with one eye is supposed to be cunning and uncanny
+(Crooke, "Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India," ii. 37,
+51). Compare No. 37 of this collection.
+
+
+37.--The Kid and the Tiger
+
+ Told by AKBAR SHÁH, Mánjhi, and recorded by PANDIT
+ RAMGHARÍB CHAUBÉ. A favourite nursery tale of the
+ Kharwárs of Mirzápur.
+
+Tigress and She-goat great friends--Tigress has two cubs, Goat four kids
+named Khurbhur, Muddil, Goddil, and Nathil--Tigress thinks: "It is hard
+that I have only two, and the Goat has four: suppose I eat two of hers
+to make things even"--Asks the Goat to let one kid sleep with her--Only
+Khurbhur consents--Khurbhur puts one of her cubs in his place--She eats
+it--Puts a stone in his place--She breaks her teeth--One-eyed Tiger
+calls--Tells a "story": "When I eat goats, all the four kids are one
+mouthful"--Khurbhur says, "When you come to eat us, Muddil will hold
+your head, Nathil the fore-paws, Goddil the hind-paws, Khurbhur will cut
+off your head, if mother holds the light"--Tiger runs away--Meets six
+more--They go to Goat's house--Khurbhur climbs tree--They jump and miss
+him--They climb one on another, One-eye at bottom--Khurbhur says,
+"Mother, a lump of mud to throw in his eye"--One-eye jumps--They
+fall--They run away, and trouble the goats no more.
+
+The one-eyed animal appears in No. 35 of this collection.
+
+
+38.--The Stag, the Crow, and the Jackal
+
+ Told and recorded by BALBÍR PRASÁD, Brahman,
+ of Mirzápur.
+
+Stag and Crow are friends--Jackal covets Stag--Says, "A crow is not a
+friend for you; choose a denizen of earth like me"--They become
+friends--Jackal leads him to snare--Stag is trapped--"I cannot help you,
+because there is leather in the snare, and it is the Ekádashi (eleventh
+day of the lunar fortnight) when I fast"--Crow advises him to feign
+death--He does so, and escapes.
+
+
+39.--The Monkey and the Crows
+
+ Told by SARIJU PRASÁD, teacher of the school at Subhikha,
+ Bahraich district, Oudh.
+
+Crows build nests in a cotton-tree (_semal_)--In the rains a Monkey
+arrives soaking--Said the Crows, "We build nests with only a beak: can
+you not make a better with two hands and two feet?" "Wait till
+morning"--Then he tears down their nests--"Good advice given to a fool
+only kindles his malice."
+
+
+40.--The Swan and the Paddy-bird
+
+ Told by DEVI DÍN, student, and recorded by BADARI PRASÁD,
+ of the school at Musanagar, Cawnpur district.
+
+No change. The lake in the original is the famous Mana Sarovar lake in
+Tibet. The Swan at the end repeats this couplet:--
+
+ Bit chhoto, chit saugun, bit men chit na samáe:
+ So murak binsat sadan, jirni bakuli nariyar kháe.
+
+("Desire is one thing, capacity is another. The desire exceeds the
+power. Thus die the foolish, as did the Paddy-bird when she tried to eat
+the cocoa-nut.")
+
+The Paddy-bird is the Bagla, or Bagula, a sort of small heron (_Ardea
+torra_), which frequents the banks of ponds and catches little fish and
+frogs. In folk-lore, from its quaint appearance, it is the type of
+demure cunning, and a sanctimonious rogue ascetic is often compared to
+it.
+
+Compare a similar tale of a crane: _Jātaka_, No. 236 (Cambridge
+translation, ii. 161).
+
+
+41.--What is a Man?
+
+ Told by _Shibbá Sinh Gaur_, Brahman, resident in
+ Saharanpur, N.W.P.
+
+No change, except that the order of the animals is Elephant, Camel, Ox.
+
+Another version makes the man a carpenter--He goes away and makes a
+cage--Induces the Lion to enter--Leaves him to starve.
+
+The complaints of the animals against men form the subject of a very
+amusing Hindustani book derived from the Persian, the Akhwán-us-safa.
+
+
+42.--The Wound and the Scar
+
+ Told by SHAIKH FARÍD AHMAD, and recorded by the teacher of
+ the village school, Barhauli, district Bahraich, Oudh.
+
+No change, except the Wound is dealt by the Woodman's axe, at the
+command of the Lion, when first he visits him after the sickness. The
+verses are--
+
+ Samman dhaga prem ka jin toryo chatkay
+ Jore se na jurat hai, aut ganth par jay.
+
+
+43.--The Cat and the Parrot
+
+ Told by BISESHAR DAYÁL, Banya (or corn-chandler),
+ of Bindki, district Fatehpur, N.W.P., and recorded
+ by PANDIT BALDEO PRASÁD, teacher of the Tahsili
+ school, Bindki.
+
+No change, except the Parrot says, "I am sitting on the branch of a
+mango-tree and getting a bill made." Number of cakes not given. And
+after meeting the Raja, the Cat meets (1) four young of the wild cow
+(Surahgáya), which she eats, and (2) a pair of Surahgáya, which fall
+upon her, and tear her stomach open, when all those she has eaten troop
+out.
+
+Here, as in other tales of this collection, the Parson is the Guru or
+spiritual adviser of pious Hindus.
+
+
+ PRINTED BY
+ THE TEMPLE PRESS AT LETCHWORTH IN GREAT BRITAIN
+
+[Illustration]
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+Varied accenting was retained. This hyphenation was so varied that
+images of the original "Notes" pages were included in the HTML version.
+You may see these images by clicking on the pages numbers.
+
+A smaller typeface indicating a quiet voice was indicated by surround
+the text with ~.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
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+William Crooke and W. H. D. Rouse
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