Folklore of the Santal Parganas, Cecil Henry Bompas [sad books to read .TXT] 📗

and they had no fire

with which to cook it; then the tigers said to the cat "You are small,

go and beg a light from yonder village." But the cat said that he was

afraid to go; however they urged him saying "You have a thin tail and

plump feet; you can bring it in a trice." So, as they all insisted on

his going, he at last consented; and said "Well, I will go; but don't

expect me to be very quick; if I get a good opportunity for fetching

the fire, I will come back soon." They said "All right, go and run

off with a small fire-brand and we will meet you outside the village."

 

So the cat went off and coming to a house, went inside to pull a

firebrand from the hearth. On the fire some milk was boiling; and

the cat thought "This smells very nice, I will have a taste of it"

and he found it so nice that he made up his mind to drink it all,

before he took away the fire-brand. But in order to lap the milk

he had to put his feet on the fireplace, and it was so hot that he

burnt his feet and had to get down; so then he sat down and waited

till the fire went out and the hearth grew cool, and then he lapped

up the milk and ran off with a piece of smouldering wood.

 

Meanwhile the tigers had got tired of waiting and had eaten the deer

raw; and they were very angry at being made to eat raw flesh and swore

that they would eat the cat too. When they saw the cat bringing the

fire they ran to meet him and abused him and cried out "You have made

us eat raw flesh; we will eat you too, dung and all" On hearing this

threat the cat ran back to the village in fear of his life; and the

tigers followed in pursuit; but when they got near the village, the

village dogs all ran out barking and the tigers were frightened and

turned back and the cat was saved. From that day tigers and leopards

have eaten raw flesh; and cats bury their excrement, because of what

the tigers had said.

 

Every day the tigers went to the village in search of the cat; but when

the dogs barked they slunk away; for the tigers were very frightened

at the sight of the dogs' curly tails; they thought that the tails

were nooses and that they would be strangled by them. One day one

of the tigers met a jackal and called to him "Nephew, listen to me;

a cat made us eat raw flesh and has escaped into this village and I

want to catch it, but the dogs come barking at me. I don't mind that,

but I am very frightened of their nooses. Now, you are very like a

dog, cannot you go and tell them not to use their nooses." The jackal

answered, "Uncle, you are quite mistaken; what you see are their tails,

not nooses; they will not strangle you with them." So the tiger took

courage and the next day went to the village to hunt for the cat,

but he could not find it. And when the dogs barked he got angry and

caught and killed one of them; and from that time tigers and leopards

eat dogs.

CXV. (The Elephant and the Ants.)

 

In the days of old there was a great deal more jungle than there is

now, and wild elephants were very numerous; once upon a time a red ant

and a black ant were burrowing in the ground, when a wild elephant

appeared and said "Why are you burrowing here; I will trample all

your work to pieces;" the ants answered "Why do you talk like this;

do not despise us because we are small; perhaps we are better than

you in some ways;" The elephant said "Do not talk nonsense: there is

nothing at which you could beat me; I am in all ways the largest and

most powerful animal on the face of the earth." Then the ants said

"Well, let us run a race and see who will win, unless you win we

will not admit that you are supreme." At this the elephant got into

a rage and shouted; "Well, come we will start at once," and it set

off to run with all its might and when it got tired it looked down

at the ground and there were two ants. So it started off again and

when it stopped and looked down, there on the ground were two ants;

so it ran on again, but wherever it stopped it saw the ants, and at

last it ran so far that it dropped down dead from exhaustion.

 

Now it is a saying that ants are more numerous in this world than

any other kind of living creature; and what happened was that the

two ants never ran at all, but stayed where they were; but whenever

the elephant looked at the ground, it saw some ants running about

and thought that they were the first two, and so ran itself to death.

 

This story teaches us not to despise the poor man, because one day

he may have an opportunity to put us to shame.

 

From this story of the elephant we should learn this lesson; the

Creator knows why He made some animals big and some small and why

He made some men fools; so we should neither bully nor cheat men who

happen to be born stupid.

CXVI. (A Fox and His Wife.)

 

Once upon a time there were a fox and his wife who lived in a hole with

their five little ones. Every evening the two foxes used to make their

way to a bazar to feed on the scraps thrown away by the bazar people;

and every night on their way home the following conversation passed

between them. The fox would say to his wife, "Come tell me how much

wit you have," and she would answer him by, "Only so much as would

fill a small vegetable basket." Then she in her turn would ask "And

how much wit have you?" "As much as would load twelve buffaloes."

 

One night as they were on their way home as usual, the two suddenly

found themselves face to face with a tiger, who greeted them by saying

"At last my friends, I have got you."

 

At this the fox for all his wit, could not utter a word but crouched

down and shook with fright. Mrs Fox however was not at all inclined

to give way to despair. She saluted the tiger and said "Ah, uncle,

do not eat us up just now; I and my husband have a dispute and we want

you to settle it for us." The tiger was mollified by being addressed by

so respectful a name as uncle, and answered in a gentler voice "Well,

my niece, tell me what is the point and I will decide it for you."

 

"It is this," went on Mrs. Fox, "we have five children and we wish

to divide them between us but we cannot decide how to do so; I say

that I will take three and leave him two; while he wants to take

three and leave me two. We came out to look for some man to settle

the dispute but have not met one: and now providentially you have

appeared before us like a god; no doubt you will be able to make the

division for us." The tiger reflected that if he managed things well,

he would be able to eat not only the two foxes but their young ones

as well, so he graciously agreed to make the division.

 

The foxes then invited him to come back with them to the hole in which

they lived, and when they reached it, Mr. Fox bolted into it saying

that he was going to bring out the children. As however he did not come

out again, Mrs. Fox said that it was clear that he could not manage the

children by himself, and she would go and help; and thereupon proceeded

to back into the hole, keeping her face turned towards the tiger.

 

Seeing her disappearing the tiger thought to seize her, but as she kept

her eyes on him he could only say "Hullo, what is the matter? Why are

you going in backwards?" "Oh, uncle," replied Mrs. Fox, "how could

I turn my back on so great a personage as you?" and with that she

disappeared. Presently the tiger heard the two foxes calling out from

inside "Goodbye, uncle, you can go away now; we have arranged how to

divide the children ourselves." Then he saw how he had been fooled

and flew into a terrible rage and tried to squeeze his way into the

hole; but it was much too small and at last he had to go away baffled:

and so the foxes were saved by Mrs. Fox's wit.

 

 

CXVII. (The Jackal and the Crocodiles.)

 

Once upon a time there was a Raja who had an only son. As the boy grew

up his father sent him to a school to learn to read and write. One

day on his way back from school, the boy sat down by the road side to

rest, and placed his school books on the ground by his side. Suddenly

a jackal came along and snatched up the bundle of books and ran away

with it; and though the boy ran after it, he failed to catch the jackal

and had to go and tell his father how he had lost his school books. The

Raja told him not to mind, as it was a very good omen and meant that

he would grow up as clever as a jackal; and so the matter ended as far

as the boy was concerned; and his father bought him a new set of books.

 

But the jackal ran off to the side of a tank and taking a book from

the bundle sat down and began to read it aloud. He kept on saying over

and over again "Ibor, obor, iakoro sotro" "Ibor obor iakoro sotro."

 

Hearing the noise a crocodile who lived in the tank poked his head

out of the water and began "Well, nephew, what