Tibetan Folk Tales, A. L. Shelton [early reader books txt] 📗

run away. He went into a far country and I expect he still dwells there.

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THIRTY-SIX The Story of a Juggler

The traveler is delayed by the men who stop—to the incurable medicine is of no use.

Tibetan Proverb.

ONCE upon a time, in a mountainous country, there was located a big city, in which dwelt a king. He had under him in different parts of his kingdom several ministers. One day he sent word to them that they were to come to the city, so they left their homes and came at his bid-ding. As one of the head-men was returning home, a juggler who was his exact counterpart, passed along before him; he was dressed the same, his speech was the same, and in every particular he was as near his double as could be found. When he arrived at home all the servants thought their master had returned and showed him to his bedroom.

When the true master returned after finishing his business with the king and found this stranger in his rooms, he asked his servants who this was who had taken possession of his house. The juggler heard him say this and called out, “Who is that fellow or beggar out there claiming this is his house? Put him outside.” Then the true man exclaimed, “Don’t you know me? This is a juggler that has come into my home, and you are putting me, the real owner, out.”

“What is the matter with you all?” the juggler said. “You get out of here, this house and servants are all mine. Put him outside, you know these things belong to me.”

They quarreled and quarreled, but finally the true man was put outside and ran and told the king what had happened to him. They were both called before the king and there they were standing before him, alike as two peas. “Well,” he said, “I can not tell one from the other. I can’t tell who is the right man, but both of you sit down and write a list of things that are in the house.” The true man sat down and began to write, but would stop and think and make additions, so that his list might be complete. In the meantime, the juggler created a third man whom he sent back to the house, and this third one was just like the two men, and he brought back a list written from the house as he saw it.

The king now said, “I’ll now see who is the true man.” In fact, the true man had forgotten to write some things, while the list made by the other man was much more complete. So the king said to the juggler, “Well, I think you are the right man;” and gave him the house and land. The true man was very angry and said, “Well, here I am a beggar with nothing at all.” In a few days the juggler got tired of being a big man, went to the king and said, “I hope you won’t be angry, but the other man is the right fellow. I took his place by juggling, and it is really all his.”

The king was not angry, but was much pleased to meet him, as he had heard of such men but had never seen one before. He showed him many honors, while the other man was restored to his rightful property and home.

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THIRTY-SEVEN The Story of a Turquoise

Whether you love or hate him a dumb man cannot tell —whether a thing is dirty or clean a blind man cannot tell.

Tibetan Proverb.

ONCE upon a time, away in the midst of some high, high mountains, there was a mud house. In it dwelt an old father and mother and a son and daughter. As the custom is in that country they gave their daughter to a man for a wife and the son took two wives, bringing them both into the home, making five in the family. The son’s wives were called the little and the big wife, the one he married first being the big one with the most authority.

Suddenly one day the mother and her son died, so the two daughters-in-law took things into their own hands and proceeded to make a slave of the old father, sending him out on the mountain every day to tend the cattle, and giving him nothing to eat but a little sour cheese and blood. They got this blood by tying a yak so he couldn’t move and sticking a needle into the jugular vein, letting him bleed a few bowls full, then turning him loose, and the next day bleeding another. The blood coagulated and became jelly-like, so they sliced it, warmed, cooked and ate it. The poor old man was very bad off and was about to starve to death, when he decided he would send to his daughter and see if she would give him some food. So he went down to the road to see if he could find any one going to her home, and as he sat waiting he fell asleep.

A big caravan of merchants came along and called out, “Old man, why are you sleeping here in the road?” He wakened and asked where they were going and when they named the place where his daughter lived he asked them to take a message to her. “Tell her that her mother and brother are both dead, that I am very happy, for I am a shepherd with great power, and have cheese and dried blood to eat; that there is no other man so powerful as a shepherd. Sometimes I have a little wine to drink, but in making the wine I don’t need to beat up any barley, as there are no bubbles on top.” (His wine was only water.) The merchants traveled on, found his daughter and delivered the message. She asked what time they were going back, as she wanted to send a message to her father. When they were ready to return they went for her message. She had a very valuable turquoise, and she made a brick of mud, put the stone in its center and said, “Tell him if he wants to live well to keep this brick, that he mustn’t sell it, but may use it to gain influence.”

The old man watched eagerly every day for the return of the caravan. At last it came and delivered the message and the brick. He understood at once, and took the brick up on the mountain, broke it open and got the stone, then he went down to the home where his daughters-in-law ruled supreme and showed it to the big wife, saying, “See what my daughter sent me. I’m not going to sell it, and when I die I will give it to you.” So she decided to feed him and clothe him well, for she thought, “He won’t live long and I’ll soon get it.”

One day when the big wife was not there he showed it to the second wife and said, “Look what I have; now I don’t want to give it to the big wife and I don’t want to sell it, but when I die I want to give it to you.” So she was greatly pleased and thought, “Well, the old man won’t live long, I’ll be good to him and feed him well.” So they both vied with each other to see who could treat him the best, but neither knew why the other was doing it. One day he became very ill and thought he was about to die, so he hid the stone on a cross beam of the house, just above a big water tank. His daughters-in-law were not home. He called the servants and told one of them to go to his daughter with this message, “Tell her to come to see me, and if she has no horse to ride, tell her to ride a donkey, and if I am dead when she arrives there is a great treasure on the neck of a big dragon and its image appears in the sea.”

Soon he died and his daughters-in-law looked through everything he had, but could not find the stone. So the big wife said they must have a lot of lamas and read prayers for his soul. One day his daughter came and asked if there was any last message from her father and they told her “Yes.” He said, “Tell her that there is a treasure on the back of the dragon’s neck and its image appears in the sea.” She understood at once, and looking in the water tank saw the image of the turquoise, climbed up on the beam and got it, tucked it in her bosom and went home.

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THIRTY-EIGHT A Wise Idiot

If shortsighted you cannot see far, but with sharp ears you can hear far.

Tibetan Proverb.

A LONG time ago there lived a family of good lineage that had been very rich, but had grown poor. In the same place also was a family who had been very poor but now was rich. Two women, one the wife of the former rich man and the other the wife of the present rich man, met one day in a temple where they had gone to worship. The rich woman said to the poor one, “Yes, we are rich, but everybody says our ancestors are bad or that we have none at all. Now you are poor, but your ancestors are fine, so let me have your son for my daughter.” The poor woman said, “All right, you can have him.” Her son had been very bright, but now he was going crazy. The rich people found out about the son’s condition and without telling the poor family, secured a son from another family, whom their daughter married.

When the poor people saw this they were very angry with their son and said, “If you had any sense you would have gone to that rich family, but now, half idiot as you are, nobody wants you.”

The son said, “Do not blame me, for if my ancestors had been all right, I would have been all right. It is their sins being visited upon me.”

His father and mother gave him four gold pieces and told him to go away to a distant city and see if he could not improve.

As he journeyed along the road a shepherd was walking before him, and before the shepherd tripped a little bird, singing very sweetly. As soon as the shepherd came close to him he stopped singing and the shepherd said to him, “Your voice is very sweet, but why do you stop singing when I come near?”

The half idiot walking behind the shepherd now came up and said, “Teach me to say what you said to that bird and I will give you a gold piece.” So he taught him, and the boy gave him one of his gold pieces and went on. Soon he heard a hunter say to a fox, “You have nice fur, and some day I will kill you and get it.” So the idiot said to the hunter, “You teach me to say what you said to the fox and I will give you a gold piece.” They talked a while and he taught him how to say it, and the boy gave up another of his gold pieces to the hunter.

Now this fool went on until he came to a place where there were two bridges, one made of one log, the other of two logs, and here were two men talking. One said to the other, “Let’s run a